Sandman’s Definitive Ratings – Celtic v Carrot and Tattie

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The Celtic Star

·21 agosto 2025

Sandman’s Definitive Ratings – Celtic v Carrot and Tattie

SANDMAN’S DEFINITIVE RATINGS: CELTIC v CARROT AND TATTIE…

Peter Lawwell, Michael Nicholson and Christopher McKay watch on as Celtic draw 0-0 with Kairat at Celtic Park in the UEFA Champions League play-off match, worth over £40m to the winners.

“It is hardly possible to build anything if frustration, bitterness and a mood of helplessness prevail.” – Lech Walesa

Alistair Johnston of Celtic lies injured during the UEFA Champions League Play-offs Round First Leg match between Celtic and Kairat Almaty at Celtic Park on August 20, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

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THE FRIENDLY GHOST – 6/10 – Surprisingly unfettered given the number of times they encroached into our box/appeared threatening. Kasper kept his head, kept the urgency demands blaring from the deep; sadly unheeded.

Alistair Johnston of Celtic challenges for the ball with Dastan Satpayev of Kairat Almaty during the UEFA Champions League Play-offs Round First Leg match between Celtic and Kairat Almaty at Celtic Park on August 20, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

WAYNE GRETZKY – N/A – Oh, no. An early signal it may be one of those nights as The Moose goes lame on the half hour mark. By the time he’s been re-shod and the hoof heals properly, it’ll be Christmas.

KATIE – 5.5/10 – To be honest, I expected more. KT one of the few who had the Champions League vibe going early but also caught FBV (Final Baw Virus) and a host of great positions were squandered before fatigue curtailed his gig.

Liam Scales of Celtic challenges for the ball with Ricardinho of Kairat Almaty during the UEFA Champions League Play-offs Round First Leg match between Celtic and Kairat Almaty at Celtic Park on August 20, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

OF JUSTICE – 7/10 MOTM – Well, here we are again. The most-maligned does come up trumps to steady the ship and provide a foundation at the back most welcome. As many old heads around him fluttered in the pressure, The Ginger Baresi went through the motions like it was another SPL jobber contest. Calmest head on the park, sharpest wits too.

Cameron Carter Vickers of Celtic gestures to the assistant referee during the UEFA Champions League Play-offs Round First Leg match between Celtic and Kairat Almaty at Celtic Park on August 20, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

GET CARTER – 5.5/10 – Obviously, laughing too much at the Brugge performance yesterday incited near-fatal muscle memory and CCV almost dropped a clanger as loud as his Brugge OG with a moment of complete abstraction. So close to being punished by an audacious, unlucky, 40-yard pitch Tiger Woods would have applauded. Phew. That incident was a suitable metaphor to describe the collective Celtic mindset. Around it CCV was habitually combative but never seemed too comfortable with their sprightly forward play.

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CALMAC – 5.5/10 – Oh, skipper, where art thou? It might not have been evident in the SPL attrition wars against low blocks, but up against an ambitious foreign side who press, spring, and go man-on-man across the middle, Calmac needs an Engels in beside him rather than being isolated while Reo and Negan chase the spaces ahead. Going Han Solo against rabid hustlers gives him the only option of ball-retention, turning back, and our forward thrusts are blunted time and time again.

Benjamin Nygren of Celtic and Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers are see during the UEFA Champions League Play-offs Round First Leg match between Celtic and Kairat Almaty at Celtic Park on August 20, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

NEGAN – 5.5/10 – Midfield or wing, the Swede looks settled in either, yet not dazzling. He’s not bad, but lacked a final ball of real quality to complete the match-winning link-ups we so desperately needed. He had plenty company.

Reo Hatate of Celtic is put under pressure by Dastan Satpaev and Yerkin Tapalov of Kairat Almaty during the UEFA Champions League Play-offs Round First Leg match between Celtic and Kairat Almaty at Celtic Park on August 20, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

HAKUNA HATATE – 6.5/10 – Wrigglesome Reo was so close to being the mhan of the hour – for a while in the second 45 he appeared to be revving-up to unplayability levels…But, frustratingly, the rub of the green eluded him, and the eastern promise faded to Glesgae grief.

Reo Hatate of Celtic challenges for the ball with Yerkin Tapalov of Kairat Almaty during the UEFA Champions League Play-offs Round First Leg match between Celtic and Kairat Almaty at Celtic Park on August 20, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

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Daizen Maeda of Celtic arrives at the stadium prior to the UEFA Champions League Play-offs Round First Leg match between Celtic and Kairat Almaty at Celtic Park on August 20, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

LORD KATSUMOTO – 5.5/10 – Damn, Daizen, just batter it…Shifts in the CL from Daizen are our secret weapon; best from that central front position, right down the middle meaning he can shuttle side to side and terrify their entire backline. He was pretty constricted by their intense defensive drills until the freedom of the second-half. But the legs were getting heavy. Rest him at the weekend. Start him central next week. You know it makes sense.

Adam Idah of Celtic vies with Aleksandr Martynovich of Kairat during the UEFA Champions League Play-offs Round First Leg match between Celtic and Kairat Almaty at Celtic Park on August 20, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

DUNCAN IDAHO – 2/10 – *sigh* How long do we wait? Nights like these – made for goal-hungry swashbuckling strikers who want to write themselves into history. I think I saw him kick someone at one point, just as the ball failed to stick again and they countered. Apart form that his game took me back to an 80s John Hughes classic movie scene…”Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?…Bueller?”

Brendan Rodgers, Manager of Celtic with James Forrest as he is substituted during the UEFA Champions League Play-offs Round First Leg match between Celtic and Kairat Almaty at Celtic Park on August 20, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

JAMESY – 6/10 – ‘Just the tip, Jamesy, that’s all it took…’He’s heard that before and winced again as their keeper’s extendable fingertips denied Jamesy a glory goal to top off a veteran performance of incessant optimism; one of the few Hoops who looked like they believed getting a positive result was possible. Jamesy always scores when Khazaks are involved, don’t ya know – so play him on Tuesday and they’ll be locking up their Yaks.

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Celtic fans with scarves during the UEFA Champions League Play-offs Round First Leg match between Celtic and Kairat Almaty at Celtic Park on August 20, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

SUBS –

YING – 6/10 – Is his burd in the country? Energy injection by the Korean enigma sparked off a second period of hope and elevated excitement. Good feet and admirable attacking intent gave us reasons to finally think we would get something.

FEIN – N/A – Blustered about, Triaded their reserve keeper, still managing more damage than Idah in his short stint.

TONY THE TIGER – 5.5/10 – Steady as he goes. Never a worry when Tony’s thrown in, despite lack of recent game-time. Suspect he’ll see plenty now; handled this unexpected involvement with panache and a good trolling of intermediate Zombie boolin’ club committee chairman Martin Russell by guising as him.

THE TERMINATOR – N/A – The bhoy for the job. If he’s ever going to prove himself in a Celtic shirt, next Tuesday’s the game made for his aloof gallusness. He got a taster of them tonight, found plenty openings; now go win the tie with the attitude of dismissive superiority we sorely lack, yet often get slapped about in the CL by.

CRUSTY THE CLOWN – N/A – Just on to keep things tidy and safe. Did okay.

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Brendan Rodgers, Manager of Celtic looks on prior to the UEFA Champions League Play-offs Round First Leg match between Celtic and Kairat Almaty at Celtic Park on August 20, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

THE NOTAPRODDYGAL – 5/10 – Well, a conundrum. Must have been a relief to hear the crowd turn on the suits while he sat sweating in his. He’ll find the animosity a blessing as he wrestles with his own problematic truths : That 26 million bucks worth of his signings were not on the park during our best spell tonight. That the players most likely to win the game were the previous boss’s inherited jewels.

That despite two seasons at the helm and a lot of trading and spending, his squad’s not strong enough to put away the Khazak champions comfortably in front of a bursting Parkhead. So many grey areas, so many contradictions to the ‘poor BR/ big bad board’ narrative. If you were in charge of the Celtic coffers, would you allow this man to go to the well again, unchecked, unquestioned?

But…

If you were The Brodge would you want to keep working for those scrutinising, disingenuous overlords? It’s all about facts, folks… Facts, and plenty of confusion…

MIBBERY – 4/10 – Apart from VAR missing a pen on Negan, and the ref booking KT for…being there… he and his polar bear-hunting linesmen did alright, at least managing to count the extra minutes while the Almaty performing minstrels re-enacted death scenes from Khazakstan’s greatest battles: Ubi v a Yak, Baba Yanga v Cousin Ombo, Borat v wife #4…

OVERALL – 5/10 – It’s a stuffy, tricky, nasty CL play-off situation we’re in. They came, gave their all – looked like they might fold mid first-half as we exerted pressure and our press had them kicking it anywhere. But we failed, miserably, to work an opening, or to really pin them in and whip them about the heid until they lost the plot and discipline. That was due to the startling lack of CL tempo and intensity we’ve used to compete at this level.

Somehow the players just could not pick up that mojo again; a bit bizarre because they know how wild the vibes get when they’re buzzing and the crowd’s roaring.

An opportunity missed. But we didn’t concede. And if they want to beat us they’ll need to open up. And if we’re the matured, savvy, experienced CL competitors we showed up as on a few nights last season, then the result’s there for us to take. And what a moral and confidence booster that would be.

So, in summary – torpid mince with a possible silver lining…

Go Away Now

Sandman

CELTIC IN THE EIGHTIES BY DAVID POTTER, FOREWORD BY DANNY McGRAIN is published by Celtic Star Books on the fifth day of September. You can pre-order now to guarantee your copy which will be signed by Danny McGrain, while stocks last. We have LESS THAN FIFTY signed copies remaining of the ones Danny will sign next week.

And there’s another great benefit for readers who pre-order their copy of Celtic in the Eighties. You will also receive a copy of an earlier David Potter book – Celtic’ Icicle – Alec McNair – which you’ll receive for FREE when you pre-order with Celtic in the Eighties.

So you get two great Celtic books by David Potter and better still the postage is only charged on one. Click on the image below to order. (Just order Celtic in the Eighties and we’ll automatically add a copy of the Alec McNair book to your order). This offer is only available for pre-ordered copies sold via Celtic Star Books.

Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter. Foreword by Danny McGrain. Published on Celtic Star Books on 5 September 2025. Click on image to pre-order.

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