DMAA

Unlikely tbh. Those who did catch it have isolated and the rest of their squad are negative. I don't think it would transmit easily on a pitch either. Definitely a risk in the week ahead with so many players coming back to our camp from all over the world though.

That’s Elhamed confirmed as positive. Funny how the only two Israel players to test positive were Celtic players. Surely it’s not a coincidence Edouard was positive too joining the French camp.

I had the same thought, he isn’t doing a very good job of hiding the fear

That guy is a nut job. Absolutely mind numbing reading that drivel.

If true it’s another blow because him and Bitton largely compete for the same spot, one of the back 3 spots. If he misses out it would force them to throw in Jullien who hasn’t played in over a month and clearly isn’t fancied to play on the right side of a back 3.

Yes but you are right that we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves. We have dropped points away from home to sides far worse than a slightly weakened Celtic side.

Anyone know if 4th official have a track record of being reliable?

Biggest squad in the country, absolutely no excuses. Have a £2m signing sitting on the bench at centre mid actually who must be itching for a game. Won’t get any sympathy from the rest of the league when that is money they could only dream of being able to spend and their backups are kids. Same will go for us of course.

I was right to be skeptical, he says there’s been no contact from us. He’s considering La Liga, Serie A etc.

It could have been Clancy

Yes I like Defoe. I think it is a sign that Roofe isn’t far off because that would leave Defoe 4th choice in that position. I still think Defoe would play better than Morelos in many games if he was given the chance, he is much better at taking the ball to feet and linking up with the midfield.

Jones left out for Barker is a strange one. I don’t know why the management rate him so highly.

While I'm at it, one more random fact. Walter Smith only lost the first Old Firm game of the season once and it was the 94/95 season. For his very high standards, that was one of his worst seasons. Knocked out of Europe, the League Cup and the Scottish cup very early. Won the leaugue of course but only won 1 of 4 games against a very poor Celtic side who finished 4th. That loss didn't bode well for the season.

Since promotion, our record in the first Old Firm of the season is horrendous. 16/17 - 5-1 Loss Away 17/18 - 2-0 Loss at Home 18/19 - 1-0 Loss Away 19/20 - 2-0 Loss at Home Incidentally, in each of Walter Smith's 4 seasons in his second spell as manager, he didn't drop a point in this fixture. I think it carries a lot of weight psychologically and sets the tone for the season. The winner of this fixture almost always goes on the win the league. Even without them missing some big players, this is a great opportunity for Gerrard to put this record right and send the message that this is our season.

This guy doesn’t know anything. Another one trying to seem ITK on the back of one reputable person tweeting on Monday night that we had shown an interest.

All their players returned negative tests again today by the way so it seems they haven’t caught it from him. Though it is still possible that they have.

Monday night he left I’m sure, they were afraid he was flying out for a last minute deal. I don’t know what the rules are in terms of how far back you have to go, test must have come back positive Tuesday afternoon. My understanding is that the average incubation period is about 4-5 days.

Very much agree. It is not a coincidence that Christie is always in top 2-3 of the assists table. Scorers a lot too. Losing Forrest is a big blow too. His stats for the past few seasons have been very good and Frimpong is all they have on that side now.

Professional footballers don't. He does have to abide by UK rules in France though, which means a 10 day self-isolation instead of a 7 day (French rules).

I thought maybe it was worth just having an open thread for any chat on the game until we are ready to create a match thread. It's just breaking that Christie has to self isolate for 14 days after being in close contact with Scott Armstrong. He will miss the game. Edouard has tested positive. He needs to self isolate for 10 days in France, before returning to Glasgow the day before the game. It seems he will be available for selection. James Forrest is injured for about 6 weeks so he is out too.

It sounds like he is fine, which is good news. I actually think Balogun is a big downgrade on Helander.

FWIW, I hope I am proved wrong on this.

I didn’t say I didn’t want him, I said I didn’t believe the link because it didn’t make sense to me that we would sign Zungu when, realistically, Wilshere didn’t just suddenly become available as @JohnMc says. If there is truth in the links we would have been aware before Monday that he was negotiating a release.

The signing of Zungu made it 2 players to each of the 3 midfield positions. Why would we do that if we were just about to sign Wilshere on what would be a big contract? We probably enquired but maybe Zungu was left late because he was the backup. Signing both just doesn't make sense so I don't believe it.