Celtic struggled for much of the afternoon against Aberdeen but a second half goal from Charlie Mulgrew secured the win. The home team opened well and had a patience about their play which prevented Aberdeen from seeing much of the ball.
Aberdeen had the best chance in the opening stages of the game when Fraser Fyvie crossed from the left but Fraser Forster did very well to intercept an awkward cross under pressure. Celtic soon regained control and profited after 17 minutes when Beram Kayal found Gary Hooper, who squared to Ki in space. The Korean midfielder shot low and hard; Aberdeen keeper David Gonzalez could only slow its progress into the net.
Glenn Loovens, who put in a solid shift in Rennes on Thursday and opened well today, retired injured immediately after the goal, giving Daniel Majstorovic a return to the team.
Aberdeen, who lost by 9 goals in the corresponding fixture last season, slowly played their way back into the game as Celtic perceivably wilted. The early fluency from Celtic was clearly absent as the second half got underway. Anthony Stokes was combative up front but struggled to link with Gary Hooper, who is clearly playing below his best.
Ryan Jack drew Aberdeen level just before the hour mark when he jinked past Joe Ledley and Victor Wanyama, and shot into Forster’s bottom right corner.
Celtic then realised they were in a game and applied themselves with greater effect, forcing Aberdeen to defend four consecutive corners within minutes of drawing level, but without a cutting edge up front, they failed to work Gonzalez.
With 20 minutes remaining Neil Lennon recalled Paddy McCourt from a lengthy period out of the team but before Paddy could work his magic Celtic were ahead. Majstorovic knocked a free kick onto Charlie Mulgrew who took a touch before firing high into the net.
McCourt was an effective relief on an uninspiring game and clipped the ball narrowly wide after one of his trademark runs, proving beyond any doubt that he possesses unique abilities.
With 10 minutes remaining referee, Stevie O’Reilly, who has having a poor game, ordered off Ryan Jack for a second bookable offence. The Aberdeen goal-scorer will miss next weekend’s game against Rangers.
Aberdeen’s 10 men caused Celtic a few anxious moments in the final minute of the game but could not find a way past Forster.
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The Jury’s out,
I don’t expect you to be upset nor would I want you to be.
You made a daft statement about goalkeeping, used it as a stick to beat Forster with and now can’t justify it.
Now you’re claiming the bookies will pay out on Rangers before Christmas and everyone at Celtic is useless.
Are you on the right site?
TJ
Gordon_J,
Come on now, stop the positivity. Don’t you know were already doomed ?
Paddy Gallagher says:
23 October, 2011 at 19:26
Texted him.
….PFayr says:
23 October, 2011 at 19:28
Totally agree with you mate, we are too flat, no creativity. I wish I could put it down to the exertions of Thursday but that would be making an excuse. However, it was a welcomed three points, especially as the orcs won.
We need to do better much better.
I could disect the team’s performance but I wont, you were there, so it is evident how poorly we performed.
Matthews, Stokes and Mulgrew apart, we were poor alround.
Too many are quick to slate Samaras but Hooper is poor and has been all season, he plays a lot more than Samaras.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
PF Ayr
Always look forward to your match report as you tell it like it is.
So;
1. What needs to happen?
2. What will happen?
If the answer to 2. is nothing – then I can resign myself to more of the same.
My opinion – we need the “soft loan” Reid spoke about. That money needs to be used for a complete rebuild of the team, but, needs to start with the removal of the management team. No point in us spending any more money on players of the ilk we have seen come through the doors for 5 years+ now.
If we cannot get funding – then we may as well stick with what we have, since poor budget buys can be made by any manager.
Interested in your thoughts mate.
Why does joe ledley get played at left back,
he is the only midfirlder who goes beyond the strikers….
This Celtic team is truely awful,it would appear that Lenny is not getting his ideas across to the players,or the players are just doing their own thing.Their workrate is unacceptable,they should watch Barcelona and see how good players play the game.Slan
Tommy Joad,
One day, when you’ve seen a few more games, seen a few more ‘keepers, you’ll know what I mean.
Let’s leave it there.
Re my post at 19:36 ……
Paddy G can you pass on my best wishes to Damion and Paddy, I got the news from Damions wife via FB. What a tackle that must have been and Damions a big lad innaw.
Ps thanks for the heads up CQN’ers
V
this celtic team require 2 quality centre back 1 quality creative midfielder and a quality centre forward, and the return of Izzy. a 20 million investment in four quality player would change our fortune. but it aint gonna happen unless we can move on dan, hooivel, radmussion, cha du ria, mcginn, mccourt, jaurez, odea, loovens, zaluska, sammy, brown which will free up 150k or so wages to pay the salary. i would let ki and hooper go for the right price as well and to increase our chance of bringing in more quality. we do have some very good young player, but we need the experienced quality players to develop the squad.
We were ordinary today.
Our work rate and general effort is very poor. Standstill football a lot of the time!
Attitudinal/ fitness seems to be a major issue in the team for me.
Ho hum – three points.
Bring on the Hibees.
Did anyone else think Aberdeen were overly physical today?
fanadpatriot,
Lenny has no ideas.
Night all.
Lenny on Sky
thinks we should have had the game wrapped up before the sheep scored and thought we played good football,,,,,,absolute BS
Not long in from game – good 3 pts but a patchy and sometimes lacklustre performance.
Worries me that everytime we need to play Ledley (or MW/ AM) at leftback – we end up rejigging the midfield/ left side to accommodate them. Ledley worked hard but he is not a leftback and Ki left him exposed several times 2nd half and that’s where their goal came from.
Our slow movement allowed them to reform their 2 banks of 4 too often throughout the match – we looked more dangerous when we counter-attacked.
Kayal wins ball but then turns his back on his opponent inviting a tackle instead of releasing an early pass. Forrest looks lost on the left and looked like he can’t handle 3 games in 9 days – Hooper still looks off the pace.
Mathews, Charlie, Ledley, Victor and Stokes put in a shift – Kayal put himself about and Ki scored but both contributed little to the team performance. We survived Dan and FF still makes me nervous.
We need to get 8 or 9 players firing on all cylinders and playing as a unit – sooner rather than later!
Paul67 says:
23 October, 2011 at 19:29
lionroars67, yes, funny game for Stokes. He played well but we got very little from the front pairing. Hooper badly off-form. Don’t know if he is playing with an injury, suspect he might be.
Hooper does not warrant a starting place, shocking performance today by any set of criteria
lostinbonnybridge
too true re our lack of effort and poor workrate …we were out grafted by the sheep for large parts of that game
Jury’s out:
Seen lots of games, lots of keepers, I have no idea what you mean.
“Tall goalkeepers are better equipped to save low shots but tall keepers are just too far away from the floor”
Let’s leave it there.
TJ
Mybhoysnowatim,
There’s a lot of football to be played yet. Seems to me the huns are being praised for winning while playing poorly while we are criticised for the same thing.
3 points, all that was required.
Next.
Why do we bring in a left-back on loan and then not play him? Hard to fathom.
Today was another example where a lone striker would have worked better. The problem is we don’t have anyone who can do this.
A lone striker has to be able to win the ball, hold it and score. 4-4-2 can be easy to negate by flooding a midfield.
Instead of collecting average squad players we should only sign players who will walk into the first team and can play to the preferred formation.
If Mowbray had put that shamble of a midfield out today serious questions would be rightly asked.
Do Thompson and Mjallby help NL with advice? If they do they are all responsible for that today.
This “management team” need to learn to go back to basics. Our most effective period last season involved a balanced midfield of Brown/Kayal/Ledley, a striking partnership of Hooper & Stokes and the guile of Commons drifting in off the left wing.
The front two need a run of games together and we need to get Commons back in the team or play Paddy from the start. The midfield just hasn’t looked right from the start of the season, with Wanyama being the only effective defensive midfielder (today’s goal aside!).
Ledley playing at LB to accommodate the inclusion of Ki and Forrest is a piece of nonsense. Why was El K not on from the start today, he was brought in on loan until Izzy is fit, so play him.
IMO Ki is overrated and Forrest has a tendency to disappear, like today. In this league, a midfield of Kayal/Wanyama/Ledley should be capable of winning any battle and providing the possession to the front two and a creative player. For me, that leaves Ki/Commons/McCourt/Forrest fighting it out for the creative role.
It’s all about opinions though, as a booze-soaked hack might say!
TTTT
We all want better – some think the current squad need to do better – some think we need a better squad. same story re manger…same story re Board (CEO)….
Right Bhoys, I’m out of here, cream crackered and working tomorrow…
Until we meet again…
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
JazzCapone, deleted. Language.
Twisty
nothing will happen
cheap option as usual
we will not spend
imo we are hoping the huns go belly-up
however ..we do have good players who are injured ..lets hope that we are not too far out of it by the time they are fit
the CB situation needs rectifying …we don`t have a decent CB other then Charlie Mulgrew ..
i`m afraid i foresee more of the same
jhilday
23 October, 2011 at 19:21
“While they are “wearing our strip”, they are not, “make do”, players. They are Celtic players.
They are playing for Celtic.”
Ah admire your total backing of anyone who wears the Celtic strip.
For me
the Celtic goalkeeper
Celtic Centre half
Celtic Centre forward is wer we should invest heaviest
its never changed..
Fraser Foster is a make do acquisition,a young guy learning the game should not be our number one.
We’re making do with Loovens/Dan who are clearly not good enough.
Lenny wanted a physical centre forward we signed Bangura ( who ah liked the look of against Udinese)but if we spent £4m instead of £2 it generally gets you a better standard.
We have lost appx 12000 season books people who may have pushed the boat out an renewed if they saw proper investment in the team.
didn`t see first half as I was coaching another bunch of fragile boys who went to bits when the opposition equalised.Thankfully the financial investment today was 3 bags of Asda wine gums for a quid or I would have fely short changed.
I did see the second half and it was obvious we are fragile and tired, cannot understand Ledley at LB ,why was El Kadr on the bench? Matthews impressd me and Paddy looked hungry.the rest were sh*te to my eyes, sorry to say but we do not look like a team. I hoped we had turned a wee corner last week, the fat that the Mankies were playing a dispirited Hertz scuppered any notion that we would get some outside assistance,seems like we have to do it ourselves. Nothing wrong with that,but are we good enough?
Paul67 good to catch up with you before game glad to see you survived the last few days it must have been a nightmare.
I thought we played with no confidence, something does not look right with our team
We need a settled team you suggest a return for Commons he must have fell out of favour with the management team. I would go with Paddy he has brilliant technique and can get goals and supply them.
We need inspiration I think Paddy can give us that.
Any news on Kelvin and a return.
3 points today was all that mattered.
Winning is all that is important right now.
The team will gel, it just takes time.
Lenny sacked will mean a lengthy search for another manager willing to attempt to win the league while being starved of the resources needed to improve our team. When or if we ever get shot of DD and his no1 PL then we will see real improvement.
Back Lenny sack the board for not backing him.
Simple as that CSC
Ps don’t feed the Orc.
V
BT
Ledley has chipped in with a few goals this season
our front pair are struggling for goals and we play him at LB………………………….hhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
good result today, but one we were never sure of.. at home to Aberdeen. We are stuttering badly just now….i am worried
On a side note does anyone know anything about tropical fish tanks? I have very high Nitrite levels and wonder whats the best remedy before i loose any more fish.
applogies for the fish intrusion
Today we passed it well in the first half and created enough to win the game easily enough but the nerves soon set in. Diamond midfield does not do it for me. Ok when we have the ball but a gaping chasm of space in the centre of the pitch when we don’t.
Will take the 3 points and move on. Improvement needed defensively and offensively for Wednesday.
Moan about the ref – 10 Aberdeen players left the field to celebrate today. Several had already been booked. The ref booked only the goalscorer. Surely they all commited the same offense? Chuck did not leave the field, he was also booked for celebrating. If they are going to have this silly rule it should be implemented consistently. Overall the ref was a nightmare! Aberdeen kicked us off the park in the 1st half.
We have good midfielders, but no balance in the midfield. Today we played our best, or at least most consistent, midfielder at left back to accomodate both Wanyama and Kayal. We don’t need two defensive midfielders at Celtic Park against Aberdeen.
When everyone is fit our midfield should be Ledley, Ki, either Wanyama or Kayal as the more defensive midfielder and either Forrest or Commons as the wide attacking player. Get shot of the captain, he has some attributes but we can’t justify paying him the salary he is on when there are areas all around the pitch (in goals, central defence, up front) that require radical surgery a.s.ap.. Brown’s wages could be used on a top class keeper (Gordon?) and higher calibre centre half than we have or a big strong centre forward who can score regularly and lead the line.
jmccormick
NO
St.John.Doyle says:
23 October, 2011 at 19:54
“Any news on Kelvin and a return. ”
Sorry to ask , but a return to where ?
Just back from the game. Happy to get the 3 points but very scrappy performance.
I thought Forrest was for most of the game ineffective due to being asked to play what looked to me like a deeper role behind the two attackers. Also I think we lose a bit of drive in the midfield when Ledley is moved to left back.
Surprisingly big Dan had a fair game. Honestly not been drinking. Again Lenny seems to be tinkering with the line up and I don’t think it’s helping the team.
Thought Paddy was excellent when he came on and this was the kind of game where he could have made a big impact if he had come on sooner or even started. Ironically perhaps playing the role Forrest was asked to play.
Hope to see an improvement in the team and management performance in the coming weeks, but I would not bet on it.
Dan
FF is a good enough keeper for us.
Still think we missed the boat getting John Ruddy although a few people on here at the time said he was SPL fodder.
His performance against Liverpool yesterday was exceptional.