When looking back on last season I suggested we would not have won the league if we persisted with the 4-2-3-1 formation that brought us to the brink of crisis in December. Creativity was ponderous and the players looked out of ideas. We switched to three at the back after the winter break and rolled towards the title. The same players looked commanding and worthy winners.
There were many failures last night, but reverting to the tried-and-tested-and-failed formation is high on the list. If there is another reason we failed to score more with so much possession, I don’t think it had a material impact.
After the Hamilton Accies demolition, it felt churlish to gripe about the volume of chances we conceded, but I could foresee having to write today’s article. High on my mind that day was what some unknown, but infinitely better, European striker would do to us in qualifying. We are wide open to the counter attack. Ferencvaros’ winner was a dreadful goal to concede – a clearance from the middle of their own half that we failed to defend. Although Elhamed was culpable, it was a consequence of how we play.
You have seen the opening goal before this season. Accies threw a set piece into the box, which was headed to the edge of a penalty area that was a Celtic Free Zone. We have conceded three goals this season, two of them as a consequence of not getting out to the edge of the box for the second ball at set pieces.
Neil Lennon seemed more upset about the second goal – which involved a clear individual error – than the first, which was a systemic failure to defend set pieces. We do not push out with rehearsed purpose. Motherwell will know that and if we do not fix it by Sunday, they will exploit what Hamilton and Ferenvaros already profited from.
For years I have written here that suggestions players do not look interested is a naïve comment by people that do know little about football, which is usually borne out when they burst into creativity following a tactical change. Neil threw this theory (and his players) under the bus after the game. Whatever mistakes Neil Lennon made last night, we know the man well enough to be sure something significant lay behind his post-match comments about players not wanting to be at Celtic.
We have been here before, from Kelvin, to Moussa to Dedryck. Based on the manager’s comments, I have no doubt some of the current crop are up to the same tricks. This is very disappointing, but it is not why we were knocked out of Europe, again, by a team with that cost a fraction of our own, and on this occasion to a team who have played fewer games than us.
The value for money return on our wage and player investment spend has brought historical highs domestically. Money spent is the blunt weapon that’s delivered nine-in-a-row, three trebles and counting, but we are regularly out boxed by European financial minnows, and if you blame Hatem Elhamed for last night, you are missing the big picture.
On a tactical note, I am not getting into whoever wants a move until the window closes. There are very important weeks ahead. Eye on the (remaining) prize.
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I think we all need some cheering up. This is without a doubt the funniest (and yet also strangely touching and uplifting) live music performance I have ever seen.
Make sure you watch it to the end :-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK4lD3Uf8_o
BIG WAVY on 28TH AUGUST 2020 10:22 AM
In KT’s interview he also mentioned that he has been in direct contact with the Arsenal executives- they have offered to meet up, go for meals, and made sure to check that he is settling in well; all for a Scot living in London- hardly a culture change.
He was then asked if he had a relationship with the Celtic executives. Long story short, nope! He said he wouldn’t even know how to address them, I.e. like a schoolboy.
Makes you wonder what support was offered up to She’d, Soro etc and probably explains how the hell Boli can go Awol without anyone knowing where the hell he is.
Again, for me it’s another example of our club living in the past. A board room of executives suited to running a club in the 80s. Completey detached from the team, archaic dinosaurs, with a pretty high opinion of themselves as well.
We talk of Moneyball. That’s data driven. There is not a chance that’s what is happening behind the scenes at CP.
new article posted.
67ECW
What makes a difference this time beyond blind hope mate?
I hope we turn the corner but the bluster from him afterwards suggests he still hasn’t fathomed his own part in our demise.
I will watch for a reaction of course but I think too many bad habits have set in. Go to 3-5-2, drop Brown, buy a feckin LB, drop the undroppables, make changes in games, etc etc….
‘Want away’ players – in this day and age, most players fit that description. In that, if they get the chance to earn more and play at a higher level, they’d like to do so.
So Turnbull was a ‘want away’ at Motherwell.
VVD was a ‘want away’ with us, and after a time, at Southampton.
Few go out there to do or die for our cause.
But Ntcham played well and professionally on Wednesday. So too did Ajer. And Christie showed no lack of commitment.
The weakest link was NFL – his bizarre team lineup, has inability to flex tactically. And a post match meltdown of the type we gloat about when it’s delivered by Gerrard.
HH jg
Jamesgang Ntcham, Ajer and Christie all played ok but hardly with intensity and passion, or commitment. Any or all could be playing their ticket. I don’t have the insights than Lenny does, maybe you know something else or you are just filling the gap. Don’t know why Celtic went out in that formation or why Ajer wasn’t on the half way line fir the second goal. I know I wake up and we are still going for ten. That is enough for me. Scratcher here so night all.
So where do we go from here?We are not a top European side…sorry,but true,past results in previous seasons have shown that.We sometimes punch above our weight,getting one or maybe two good results,is brilliant,then we play against other(s) and we fail.Top teams in European competitions are spending more money on one player, than we would in 5/6 years.I leave you with this,was the league cup final defeat to Partick Thistle or the Scottish cup loss to Clyde or,the result on wed. night expected…..No they were not.On to 10.
All the talk about NL takes the focus away from the real culprits — the exec level.
The Irish Raj controls the club through a 43% voting stake and takes money out the club on an annual basis. Since his dream of moving us the the EPL — arbitrage at its finest — has now gone very cold we are now a sideshow to him and he wants no financial drama from CP.
He has given up / chucked it / forgotten about us / thrown in the towel — 4 years is a long time ago..
Now it is all about safety first and no financial surprises for our man in the Caribbean.
Now it is all down to PL — second rate property bean counter of no repute to man or dog — who has been tasked with keeping the club ticking over and to make matters worse is now being paid a kings ransom to make sure DD is not disturbed.
So back to life in the slow lane.
We have a CEO who thinks he is bigger than the club.
Who has a history of willy waving / ego trips / control freakery / huge bonuses / no leadership abilities.
And a history of wasting money on agent friendly purchases and losing us money due to his inability to set the club up for CL qualifiers.
His ego and stupidity have cost us league titles as well as costing us huge amounts of revenue.
But he is cute — he plays the astroturf game / he manages the interweb / he has his own pet journalists.
This is the reason for the failure on Wednesday — failure at the top.
NL is just a consequence of this failure.
He walked in 2014 with a helping hand from those above him because he saw the money game being played and the odds were stacked against him.
He came back as a stopgap who knew the score / knew what he was getting himself in for and took up the poisoned chalice of being PL poodle in challenging times.
NL should never have been offered a job he couldn’t refuse.
The club has a duty of care and putting NL in firing line — literally to the shame of the nation — for a second time on the basis that it suited the execs in that he was cheap / malleable / available / had club connections is just a lazy exec level taking the easy option at the expense of NL’s future health and the performance of the club.
With the benefit of hindsight it can be seem that some prep work had been done regarding BR flouncing out to take up a position in the EPL …
SC turns up surprisingly at Killie.
DD(II) turns up as a coach at CP.
NL takes up a job in the SPL.
Horrible to think that when the decision was made PL championed the guy he had most control over to the detriment of all other considerations.
No matter the past surely the future will be brighter as we learn from our mistakes?
No chance.
CP coaching roster — old pals act / club connections / no innovation.
Squad set up — poor conditioning / poor coaching / poor tactics.
Player management — all a numbers game / everyone knows they have a price and finance rules.
Recruitment — back to the future at every level …
Conveyor belt of £2/3mill projects that are very agent friendly and football ability light.
Paying top dollar if we manage to cross the £5mill threshold — who cares as long as DD is not bothered.
PL has to go — his fingerprints are all over our repeated failures.
NL is just a lightning rod put out to spread the blame.
Change is required — if we fail this year we are toast.
The failure will not just be sporting and financial it will be emotional as well.
You really have to be a particular form of useless to muck it up but PL is well on his way to finishing us of.
You have to ask why and who benefits from his and our failure?
TFOD2 / the bookies?
TB @ 10.55
I hope for your sake that we win the league this year.
If we don’t then the emotional fall out from far too many will be catastrophic.
Better to shout for change now and strive to rebuild.
Than keep the faith in the face of increasing evidence to the contrary and howl at the moon when we fail.
We are not in a good place and change is needed at al levels.
RS @ 10.31
You talk about Moneyball at CP — we have the Ladybird book on Moneyball.
Specially written for second rate property bean counters with ideas above their station.
We don’t do Moneyball — we do the smell of Moneyball.
JG @ 10.30
Very interesting perspective of the situation with KT in 2018/19.
The CQN article of 12 months ago was a disgrace and needs to be highlighted.
I would have to ask about the situation that BR would not play KT and then when NL came in he went back into the team?
Don’t have the exact timings and stats but that would appear to be what happened.
That to me was BR doing the right thing — even if belatedly — and NL pushing the loyalties of KT to breaking point.
His slow start at Arsenal might be explained by the previous 12 months.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PeKdHyU80ZQ
I love this guy: upsetting story though; it’s about his mate’s wife passing away.