I liked a lot about what we did last night. Leigh Griffiths provided more evidence that he is a remarkable predator. Kris Commons delivered another driven corner, his third of this European campaign to result in a goal, Lustig made first contact leaving Griffiths with only instinct to produce a shot on target. That same instinct clicked an instant later to turn the second shot over the keeper and into the net.
Do you remember a moment, before the first goal, when Fenerbahce enjoyed their best spell of pressure, and we cleared our lines aimlessly four times in a couple of minutes? It looked ugly and invited Fenerbahce to continue to pile the pressure on, but it was a salutary indication of how tactically well Celtic played. When under pressure, clear your lines, regroup, and get ready to go again.
On two occasions we dribbled out of a defensive position leading to a goal. Nir Bitton had ample opportunity to clear forward, but with opponents closing space all around him, he hesitated until he could play-in James Forrest, who surge forward to cross for Commons to score.
Scott Brown as immense all night, but having held-off a challenge 20 yards from his own goal on the wing, he should have cleared deep inside Fenerbahce territory instead of trying to make a pass. We didn’t get the ball back until the score was 2-2. Johansen and Lustig were both caught similarly in the second half but neither was punished. Being brave in possession isn’t always wise.
Some of the passing football we played was a treat to watch. Bitton and Brown played their best game as a partnership, if not as individuals in a Celtic shirt; Brown was certainly that good. James Forrest, now fit, is drinking-in responsibility. He was effective last night, but not because he used his unparalleled pace, instead he delivered link play.
You’ll have noticed Craig Gordon likes a leg save. Few keepers do, they seem to try to get their hands or torso to a ball, but I like that Craig likes getting any hard part of his body in the way.
Don’t let it bounce.
“Don’t let it bounce.” There’s not a central defender in the world who doesn’t hear that phrase every week. When a ball is coming towards the danger zone in the air, get your head on it. If you let it bounce, anything can happen.
This was Efe Ambrose first mistake last night. He failed to read the flight of the ball. The moment it bounced, he was in trouble. With Fernandao waiting to feed on the scraps, Efe should then have concentrated on winning the physical challenge as the ball dropped a second time, but instead he found his ‘don’t let the ball bounce’ instinct too late and committed a second inexcusable error.
Think back almost three years to the opening minutes of the Champions League game against Juventus, Efe committed pretty much the same mistake. He lost the flight of the ball and we were a goal down and out before we warmed up.
Although Efe is taking a large slice of the blame in some places for the second Fenerbahce goal, I’m not convinced this is a fair assessment. To give due credit, it was an excellent corner and header – from a zone in front near post it’s difficult to score from. The point about zonal marking is you defend areas it’s easy to score from, at the cost of leaving less-risky areas unattended. Fernandao’s header didn’t come from a high-risk zone.
For some reason, wispy Leigh Griffiths was delegated to man-mark bulky target-man Fernandao. Wee guys can block big guys, but they need to be standing ball-side of the attacker, preferably facing his chest with arms out, so that when movement happens, he’s at least the right side of the attacker. Leigh was on his heels, completely unprepared.
Before the kick was struck, Fernandao was on the move, gambling on a near-post run. Should Efe have also gambled similarly? On first glance it looked like it, but that’s only because the ball went to that area and ended up in the net. Fernandao could afford to gamble by running into a space the ball may or may not arrive at. This is not the case for a defender. He has to wait until the ball is in the air. If he leaves his zone before the ball’s kicked to follow an attacker who has move early, he’s not doing his job.
It’s all about the block.
Great corner aside, we lost the second goal because we didn’t get a block on Fenerbahce’s target man. Before the kick was taken, Leigh Griffiths was adjacent to and looking at Fernandao, having been delegated the task by the impressive Kieran Tierney, but Leigh was also looking all around him and made no attempt to block.
Griffiths (5’ 8”), the smallest man in the Celtic team, should never have been near Fernandao (6’ 4”), the tallest man in the Fenerbahce team. That’s 8 inches of disadvantage and double figures of kilos weight.
There are two big questions to be asked about this goal:
Why didn’t we have a physical equal on Fernandao, capable of withstanding a shove, or better still, getting his own shove in first? Fenerbahce had one target man striker, we didn’t notice him. It doesn’t matter if you play zonal or man-to-man, if we are conceding 8 inches to the opponent’s main physical threat, we’ll continue to lose goals at corner kicks.
But the real curious question is why was it left to 18-year-old Kieran Tierney to instruct who picks up whom at a corner kick? Action moves so quickly at corners that everyone needs to understand they have a responsibility to take control, not just the central defenders, captain, or keeper. Or 18-year-old novice.
This is not happening at Celtic right now, which is why we’re playing our European football on Thursdays this season. If you put your smallest player on an opponent’s tallest, and it’s left to an 18-year-old to delegate responsibility, you deserve to lose a goal.
Last Man Standing 5
Last call for all those wanting to take part in Last Man Standing 5, in aid of Wee Shay McGinlay who is 2 and suffers from cerebral palsy. To date CQNers and friends have raised an incredible £5400 towards the fund raising campaign, to finance treatment for Shay not available on the NHS, which will hopefully improve his quality of life.
The current entrants stand at 72, so if you want to take join the LMS5 clique, then simply drop a line to Jobo and CRC at cqnlastmanstanding@gmail.com before 12pm Saturday and they will send you more details.
Thanks for indulging me bringing the work of the Foundation to your attention all this week. The Great Scottish Run is less than 48 hours away and dozens of Celtic fans have put thousands of hours into preparing for the event. Those doing the ‘half’ are going to miss the Hamilton game, another consequence of playing Thursday night European football.
If you can support any of the runners, please do:
Click here for my linked donation page.
Thank you.
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I see others have posted regarding Efe and the Juve game,Glad to see a few agree.
Tell you what the ENG commentators on the rugger are just as bad as the soccer.
Go on the FOLEYBHOY.
HEHE
THEORIGINALSADIESBHOY on 3RD OCTOBER 2015 8:58 PM
I have not yet entered in to the Efe debate, your post gives me the opportunity.
Efe is as you surmise most probably I nice guy, that I have no doubt. He is also a professional and honest person.
We all know, Efe included that he made a mistake for the first goal on Thursday, shit happens. We were still 2-1 up at H-T and had forty five minutes to close out the game. We also had from the moment we went to 2-0. Now in my opinion the failure to close out the game rests firstly with the Manager. Secondly it rests with the Players under the stewardship of the Manager. It is a Team game, yes Efe made a mistake but not his fault that we did not close out the game having played well and scored two magnificent goals, the first from a set play, like their second goal.
I accept Efe is not the greatest but he tries and never hides. Most importantly the Manager picked him to start. To then turn round and suggest Efe cost us is wrong.
Efe is the current whipping Bhoy. However, there are other Players who also deserve to be cast as the scapegoat.
Efe was rightly blamed for the mistake, I say again, shit happens, what happened in the time left in the game, the Turks grew in confidence and smelled blood, they were the better Team in the end.
I will finish with this; we lost a goal with the last kick of the Ball, do I blame the Defence, probably but I blame one of our poorest Players of late, one who has under performed more than Efe. You could argue that his under performance has cost the Team in not creating and driving the midfield forward to create chances to score, if they had done so perhaps we may have scored more goals than we conceded, after all we drew but could we have scored one more to win.
I am of course referring to Stefan Johannsen. Cast your mind back to the Malmo game, his petulance led directly to the set play that Malmo equalised, had it not we would have gone to Malmo 2-1 up. Finally on Stefan, how the bloody hell did he last 82 minutes on Thursday. Rogic has been playing well of late why did he not start. Young Tierney done well being thrown in at the deep end, why not Rogic.
We need to get off Efe’s Back, he plays because the Manager thinks he is in both mentally and physically fit and the best man available. If we want to blame anybody let’s blame the Manager for picking Efe, Stefan or whoever else is not up to the mark.
This ain’t a dig at your post, it just gave me an in to enter the Efe debate.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Jinkyredstar….Hope you aint a Betting man mate…Just saying like..
OLD TIM 67
I already made that point and I hope that what Efe did will act as a salutary lesson to other young players who might find themselves in a similar situation in future,
It was Neil Lennon’s fault for picking him but it has cost Efe dearly and continues to cost Celtic. Efe is a nice guy who remains a bombscare.
Advance Australia fair. England oot.
9.31 Lennons Passion
Very good, so it’s now 3 mistakes Efe has made….. Funnily enough the game at tannidice has slipped my mind but cheers for the heads up……
Any chance you remember 3 tackles Efe might have stopped a goal ?
Just asking since you obviously have a far better memory than me
Engurlund humped well and truely
The wheels are aff the bogey…I mean chariot.
Good.
I don’t think any player in the world has gone through their career without making a mistake,TOHG Was close to being infallible But he must have made at least one slip up in his illustrious career.BT trying for a drink of your old man.
Box
Never been so happy to be wrong – yes I never bet
Hail hail
Saltires en Sevilla thought and prayers for you and your family on the loss of your father. Candle will be lit at Schoenstatt tomorrow for him.
Saltires dad RIP YNWA
HH
KTF
UTLR
I am humbled by the messages of support tonight. It really is a huge comfort.
My dad lurked from time to time and admired the chat and passion shown towards one another – he will be smiling down on you guys tonight
BT – Thanks buddy, of course he was a huge fan of your dad -really appreciated.
Canamalar – many thanks buddy
parkhead cs HH buddy
DAllas Dallas – no evening due to trravel- we know you will be there in spirit cousin
nye bevan – appreciated and thanks
bmcuw- that made me laugh – see you 10/10
Corkcelt- a chara HH
67 Heaven- HH
Clink – we will stick together HH
Gerrybhoy – yes, with God’s good grace thanks
Sneker- HH buddy
roy croppie- my dad loved jug of punch and played it on his accordian – could you find that?
Ive had to change – thanks buddy
Tallybhoy- yes , we have a few good ones
Celtic mac – thanks mate
Butsybhoy – appreciated buddy
Lennybhoy – many thanks and HH
Jimmy not paul – we will always try to
Supersutton – you understand – thanks for taking time and take care
Cowie bhoy – yes they came flooding back tonite
Thunder road – they will always look out for us – glory days :-)
Joe fillipi – many thanks hh
Gearoid1998 hh buddy
Jamesgang – thanks
Googybhoy- we will thanks
Tractorbhoy – mick & tommy will share a few
Glendalystonsils- you too my friend
Winning captains- so true i never tired listening to his tales
Tontine tim -that made me laugh sounds like a great bhoy
Sipsini – appreciated HH
Originalsadiesbhoy – he deserved to be loved very much
Cosy corner bhoy – very kind. His grandad played in the same team as Peter douds before he signed for Celts. I respect the guys from your generation so much, courteous and kind. Appreciative of the good times. I kidded my dad that he only saw one league win more than me (1954) now I’m sad that if we win the league this season i’ve caught his total and 23 years younger – that doesn’t feel like the craic it was, if that makes sense. HH
ADI- Hail Hail
gene – thanks HH
CRC – appreciated Buddy HH
TBJ- thanks HH
Bognorbhoy – Thanks HH
dushanbe – Ha! I met him once never had him as a Blackburn fan – I know you still miss him very much. HH
Old tim 67 – Thanks HH
Skyislandsfill- appreciated HH
gerrybhoy64 – much appreciated thanks
So England knocked out of Football, Cricket and Rugby World Cups at group stages.
Now that’s a treble!
How sad, what a shame, never mind …
Lennybhoy….
You must have been sitting like a coiled spring, well said…..
What train are you aiming for next Saturday at sunny side ?
weeman67 @ 7:11 pm
setting free the bears
I had a gut feeling you would be first to respond, sadly you too did not mention the Russians.
Why would I have a responsibility to mention the Russians? I did not mention North Koreans, Saudis, Cubans, Latvians or the Samoan either. Did they kill MSF personnel recently? My point was not about which country had the biggest moral culpability. It was about your mis-reading of a condemnation of an Act that was illegal under most moral considerations and your inability to deal with it without muddying the water. Following a “My country: right or wrong” philosophy is a race to the moral bottom.
If you have read my posts at all, and you show no evidence of comprehending them, then you will have spotted that I do not swallow Russian propaganda either, and I have had bamboo and canamalar on my case, because I remain suspicious of KGB trained Putin. I have a lot less reverence for Russia’s case than your own fellow travellers in the neo-con movement.
Hate the US all you want, just don’t come here.
I can’t bear to think of you writhing in agony as you step onto this hallowed ground.
Did you even read the post? I was in the company of many fine Americans in Europe this summer. I hope to visit the country again next summer and you can save yourself any concern for my well being as I will be fine. I can behave myself in most company and I will certainly not be expressing myself too forcibly if I am in the presence of someone who revels in their ability to tote a gun.
Hate the US? Aye right? There are more good people than bad there- but there may be some corners – such as your backyard- that I will be happy to steer past.
God Bless America, we the people……..
Think you missed an “are” out of that last phrase
Ah well I guess ITV will be pulling the plug on the rugby
now that her majestys 15 have been horsed out
Well that was an enjoyable game
For all our Aussie Bhoys and Ghirls
Corkcelt your right that Bernard Folley sounds very timmish :-)
https://youtu.be/OFYOPyPru0Y
Jug of Punch
for Saltire’s Da YNWA
A bit late with my views on Thursday, been busy … but here goes.
Firstly, I normally sit in 105 but was above the GB the other night. I seemed a bit detached. It was like being in the “Gods” at the theatre. Half there and half not there.
The whole occasion seemed really flat. Certainly nothing like a CL night. Not helped by the fud who decided to play YNWA before anyone was ready for it. The visiting fans must have been completely underwhelmed by the experience – given our global reputation for it. It bordered on cringeworthy.
From my seat in the Gods we play uninspiring crab-like football. Square passing across the back four followed by square passing across the midfield four. We never pass forward. It’s a miracle that Griff is averaging a goal a game. He’s living off scraps…like the opening goal. I can count on one hand the number of passes he’s had in the past 4 home games where he can get a shot away. Actually, make that one finger!
I’ve just read that SJ has had a back injury for the past month! You would have had to think long and hard about playing Henrik with a back injury. But SJ? Seriously?
Totally agree with those who say that Kris should be playing in a central role. He’s wasted out on the wing. He’s been reduced to the odd cameo moment recently. Fortunately for us, and Ronny, his cameos almost always result in a goal or an assist. On Thursday he scored, had an assist and had another two great efforts-one well saved and another just over the bar. Apart from the early shot by JF which went narrowly wide we created nothing and only our corners gave us any hope of a goal. And yet Kris is sacrificed to ensure injury ravaged SJ plays in his preferred role. I bought in to the Ronny experiment last season but it’s starting to wear thin now. i’m not seeing anything remotely like steady progrees.
GERRYFAETHEBRIG on 3RD OCTOBER 2015 9:18 PM
He saved us against Hearts, took one for the Team , had he not we would have one point less right now.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
England hammered. Just hope Scotland get through to next round. Might be able to tune in to Radio 5 now. They were in overdrive from very very early this morning. Awful cringe-worthy stuff. Jingoistic nonsense. they need to learn that they are the BBC not the EBC. Never going to happen, of course. Institutional racism.
Swing low (er)……….
Saltires en Sevilla
Condolences to your for your loss
may your Father rest in peace
stay strong sir hard times ahead but just remember the good times
HH
A big well done to the Perth Saintees today on a fine win. Me thinks there is something rotten in the state of Sheepland.
Well, that was weird…I hadn’t finished and didn’t click submit!
So, apologies for any typos.
BTW WTF does IIRC mean?
Sorry BGX not Box!
I suppose I have just become cynical about Sponses, TV and Bookies
LennyBhoy
No argument from me about Stefan Johansen. I wanted him subbed at half time and Rogic on in his place. No matter what you say. Efe gave away the killer goal. Johansen is another debate and if Ronny Deila continues to play both, they will cost him his job. Johansen doesn’t merit a place in the team right now. Rogic does. Efe Ambrose should not be included in the team for a European game.
I want Celtic to be successful. Forgiving professional players time and again for shabby work will mean that we will never realise our potential. Celtic played brilliant, scintillating, inventive goal scoring football on Thursday night …… and then Efe intervened. The rest, as they say, is history.
English rugby losers just like the soccer team. That said i have no great liking for Aussie sportsmen an arrogant macho lot.
GERRYFAETHEBRIG on 3RD OCTOBER 2015 9:52 PM
Not sure what Train yet, will text you later in the week, usually get leftclicktic in on the Train if you care to get the same one?
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Once a jolly swagman … sat down by a billabong
Bully Bhoy
If I remember correctly.
zbyszek – many thanks and HH
sftb- really appreciated
Mightytim- very kind thanks
If i have inadvertently missed anyone it’s a massive double thanks to you guys
Sorry
Billy Boy.
To be fair I think England may still beat Uruguay so won’t be bottom of the pool
saltires en sevilla
Sorry for your loss
chin up
LOve
Lennybhoy
I was gutted when Efe made that mistake, him & Boyata had a great game, the mistake was something you would see at Whiflett park, not sure what the big was thinking, even heading the ball,up in the air, anyway, what’s done is done, what’s won is won and wants lost is lost and gone forever, only 2 players in my 45 years on this earth that annoyed me were Charlie Nic and Super Mo, both broke my heart for loving so am afraid I will never turn on guys like Efe, some eijits on here think (and everybody is allowed an opinion) Efe would put himself up,there to be shot down, let lol the mob cast the first stone, ….. I think Basel/Basle is in our reach
Hail hail
GERRYFAETHEBRIG on 3RD OCTOBER 2015 9:50 PM
Are you related to efe seem to be taken it very personal maybe it’s because I posted it. Efe is paid to stop goals he tries his best but sometimes comes up short that’s life. Wouldn’t be in my team but I don’t pick the team. Next time he plays for us I will support him.