Negatives out of the way first: we’re not good enough, this is a low achievement by a Celtic team who have reached a group stage. There’s no disputing that, but amid the predictable ‘Throw them all overboard’ reaction, I know I’m not the only one who is not panicking right now.
When I heard we were playing three wingers (Forrest, Mackay-Steven, McGregor) I anticipated a thrashing. Gordon Strachan would often drop all his craft players for the more industrial types in European football, with good reason.
As it turned out, we had the majority of the chances, and all the better ones, as we spent most of the second half pushing for a winner.
No arguments with Leigh Griffiths assessment immediately after the game, that was his worst performance in a Celtic shirt. Nor is there dispute in Ronny Deila’s retort that he’s scored plenty for us before and will continue to do so. Even the greats have days like that, including the Swede.
The midfield formation was fluid throughout the game. Tom Rogic initially played as a defensive mid, before moving in front of Stuart Armstrong (who moved everywhere) and Callum McGregor. The defensive mid role Rogic played isn’t one carried out by either Nir Bitton or Scott Brown. We’ve not had anyone in this role since the departure of Victor Wanyama (still pining) and it remains a large gap in the offering.
Lesson: we need a defensive mid. The deep lying playmaker + box-to-box player isn’t robust enough in Europe.
Callum McGregor carried possibly the lowest expectations of everyone in a Celtic shirt but he put in an excellent shift. His goal was outstanding, losing possession immediately before Ajax equalised took the shine off things a bit, but it was still a strong performance.
Do you know the last time McGregor started a game? October 2014. Under those circumstances that was a remarkable performance.
General consensus is that the defence played well. Kieran Tierney is as good a left back as we’ve had in years. Had he not gone off with an injury the result might have been different.
Jozo Simunovic is clearly out best central defender. I know I’m not setting the bar too high with that statement, but he’s a move in the right direction. He’s also young, still working on his fitness, and will continue to progress.
A week ago Celtic Underground’s Harry Brady suggested Dedryck Boyata plays better alongside Simunovic than without him. Dedryck still has a long way to go but the evidence suggests partnered with a game-reader like Jozo has helped him. Let’s see where he is at the end of the season.
And Craig Gordon? He could have stopped both Ajax goals. That’s not to say he was to blame for either, he wasn’t, but these were the kind of stops he was making in last season’s Europa League.
Ronny is 18 months into the job and has contributed to the situation we find ourselves in (tactical mistakes in both Molde games), but this is not the time to lurch off plan. We’re not good enough largely because we’ve recruited too few players since 2012 who have improved the team.
We need to continue to develop players like Tierney and we need to recruit better. Get this right in January, and again in the summer, and we will be vastly better. The alternative is likely to be to pick up a best from the SPFL pool, or someone from the English circuit who cannot get a better paid gig. And then it would take until November 2017 before we could assess them properly.
Return of the Bampots
Tonight, for one night onlyt, Phil Mac Giolla Bháin, John Fallon and myself are in the Hibs Club, Carfin, for a Q&A in aid of Mary’s Meals, with Phil Agnew hosting. The event starts at 7:30, £5 entry, can pay at the door.
Looking forward to seeing you there.
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ps,
if that is the search criteria, i dont think there would be many , but then you knew that.
Or maybe ethnic disabled extremist socialist lesbian chartered accountants are a bit thin on the ground at the moment. – S
I wouldn’t have been surprised if the PLC had appointed Dave King as the new Financial Director.
Clueless in the boardroom, Gutless on the park.
CL club…..right you are.
Farce.
HH
I remember reading something quite a while ago , might have been Barca bhoy, about the intertwined business relationships of our appointed directors.
Think I will go look see.
Along the lines of London Docklands – London City Airport, Peel Holdings, etc etc.
are any of the board not masons ?
I really am beginning to feel not paranoid enough.
JOE FILIPPIS HAIRCUT on 27TH NOVEMBER 2015 6:36 PM
I dont believe that there is a Celtic class player in any of the 3 players we bought from Dundee Utd. the step up appears to be to much for any of them. H.H.
In your opinion how many ‘Celtic class players’ do we currently have ? or to put it another way what is Celtic class player
You know its bad…when the people who run the club award themselves massive bonuses, while they deny a living wage to other employees of the club.
No shame whatsoever.
These are the kind of people who run Celtic.
HH
Am I right in saying that Peter Lawwell’s total pay package last year was more than six times that of the Prime Minister of the UK?
Such financial largesse, yet zero hours contracts are invoked in the club shops and ticket office. Despite the presence of a former Labour Government minister on the remuneration committee of the board.
And this very blog only weeks ago claimed we were the most ethical club in the world. Aye right.
More than a club? Once yes that was the case. Now? Just another company whose main purpose appears to be extreme enrichment of a chosen few.
where is the best place in glasgow to buy vinyl ?
Whitedoghunch
De Courceys arcade in Partick or if it’s dance music Yer after rubadub.co.uk
WDH
at the Glasgow Vinyl Emporium
Happy to help.
thumbsup
hankray on 27th November 2015 6:06 pm
Couldnt agree more on reaching for the stars, however the facts are that with a few glorious exceptions we are European also rans for most of our history.
SANDMAN @ 6:30 PM,
“Or maybe ethnic disabled extremist socialist lesbian chartered accountants are a bit thin on the ground at the moment.”
Thin on the ground, what Clubs do you go to? You need to get out more:-)
Hail Hail
I wonder if the PLC will have anything to say about Celtic supporters being attacked by Ajax fans?
They had plenty to say last week.
HH
cheers chaps
I know my thoughts on the position we are in now, here is my nineteen year old daughters thoughts, that has been going to games with me since she was a pup…
Daughter… RD was a cheap option that isn’t working, I’ve been saying that for a long time but you don’t listen.
Me… Give the bloke a bit more time.
Daughter… Why? We are going nowhere, we’re drifting towards being on par with a Hun team.
Me…ach, you know nothing :((
Another full screen ad appears
Messi
Could be worse I suppose:(
HH
Here’s a Paul McStay masterclass tae cheer ye up.
http://youtu.be/HPB7wvhjBe8
Whitedoghunch, wanting to buy Vinyl- to wear?
Afternoon all,
That was a pretty dismal end to a dismal couple of weeks for Celtic and the support.
I haven’t read Chris Suttons thoughts on Celtics latest display but have seen a lot of people calling him a soup taker. I do not fully understand what that means but I presume, in our context, it means one of our own writing/blogging to put the proverbial boot into Celtic at every opportunity and/or those same journalists/bloggers talking up Sevco, saying the Scottish game needs the hun etc etc.
Is the above true? Does it only apply to anti-Celtic writers/bloggers? Is there a similar word or phrase to describe those who write Pravda-esque stories about our club when it is very clear that our club is in the smelly stuff both on and off the field?
Just wondering?
Hail Hail
To the person in block 404 who threw their scarf away after Ajax scored their 2nd goal……
I hope you never ever ever set foot inside Celtic Park ever again.
Dannymac
Take it he is a cqner?
WHITEDOGHUNCH on 27TH NOVEMBER 2015 6:55 PM
where is the best place in glasgow to buy vinyl ?
The carpet warehouse is good. Lots of patterns and shades _:))
Whitedoghunch, wanting to buy Vinyl- to wear?
Or to lay on the kitchen floor ?
HH.
HERBO on 27TH NOVEMBER 2015 6:17 PM
Take a job at Celtic. Don’t get work for a week. Wait six weeks for your new benefits claim to be processed.
A club like no other.
The wait six weeks for benefits even if you don’t work, is an insidious aspects of zero hours contracts that a lot of folk are not aware of.
Another is the vetoing of working for anyone else while on a zero hours contract.
If some loonie lefty like Len Mcluskey inserted such a clause in an agreement to the benefit of his members, folk like Lord Livingstone would brand it a RESTRICTIVE PRACTICE.
– See more at: http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/some-perspective/comment-page-10/#comments
It’s obvious there only those who feel enthusiastic enough to make negative contributions to the blog.
Where are they when we are discussing a positive development?
In case you you haven’t noticed its a classic MSM trick.
Unfortunately it’s all we know in today’s present society. Brainwashed all of us.
1984CSC
Stairheedrammy
no ta I’m covered for options with that
Florida…,
Go on then, tell us about the positives
FLORIDA BHOY
Yeah, another classic trick is deflection.
Do you really think Celtic fans don’t know whats going on?
There are a lot of clever people in the Celtic support….and I doubt whether any of the PLC are capable of fooling anybody….they are totally transparent.
I know what they are about….and so does everybody else.
HH
Florida Bhoy (Formerly SDB) on 27th November 2015 7:41 pm
Maybe there are just more negatives than positives to comment on these days
It’s noticable to me that most who think all is rosy at Celtic Park are those who don’t travel the country and pay to watch the dross.
Chris Sutton doesn’t share my opinion. Apparently that puts me in the minority. C’est la vie. Whatever.
I’m also in the minority in that I thought it was a good game last night, we were certainly the better team second half and have every right to say, we shoulda won that game.
Maybe I’m also in the minority who thought that most players did quite well. Griff the obvious exception.
I’m also maybe one of the few that when Armstrong played a short corner to Allen said “great idea”. Alas.
I do expect I’m with the majority who uttered the FFS phrase when Izzy decided to try new and break up the resultant attack at the half way line rather than drop back and defend. You just knew what was going to happen.
Am I also in the minority when I say that European football is a bonus. League is all the matters to me. Well that’s a lie. Playing good football is more important than results as far as I’m concerned.
At the risk of bringing on the commentators curse, we have never lost 2 games in a row under Ronny Deila. So bring on the next game please.
I wonder who it is, that doesn’t like Celtic supporters making valid political points.
Could it be the Tory Lords and Freemasons, and nasty wee businessmen on the Celtic board who don’t like the traditions of Celtic.
Wonder why eh.
HH
Yes Quonno
Having done a few shifts at my local Foodbank in the past it is exactly these folk on zero- hour contracts who need them.
They get signed off the broo. Do a few shifts, the next week there’s no gig. They go to sign back on. They have to make their claim by telephone on an 0345 number and it’s 5/6 weeks before they get anything. Crisis loans have been scrapped.
It’s a shocking state of affairs and Celtic should be ashamed.
I thought we outplayed Ajax last night, created a right few chances that we then contrived to miss. Looking back at their winner, we needed a second goal, a draw wouldn’t be enough to get us through so even though our set up at the last minute corner left us exposed, it didn’t make sense to play safe. Letting that scum beat us was hard to take, but as I say we outplayed them and looked most lime scoring for almost the entire second half. The treble is still on and only the SFA can stop it.
Is there an MSSM media mole in here spreading dirt on the tic?
Herbo…
I like the cut of your jib, keep stirring the pot:)
Have we heard any condemnation from the board, of the violent attacks on Celtic supporters last night?
They were fairly bumping their gums last week.
HH
Sipsini
Some things need saying ma man
Big-cup-winners 7.33pm,
My thoughts exactly,
Prick.