I don’t know if there is a good way to go out of Europe but that was certainly not one. Copenhagen won their first match by more than a solitary goal since 3 November. That they had a two-month winter break since then is not a mitigating factor. We could not have hoped for a better opponent in the knock-out stage of a European competition.
Neil Lennon was correct to say individual errors was to blame; he was also correct in not throwing players under the bus, but this does not tell the whole story. Copenhagen, tactically and individually, played the game of their season. They knew what to do to leave Glasgow with a result and set about doing it.
Celtic were the better team until Copenhagen took the lead, but that superiority never overwhelmed the visitors. In particular, we were short in midfield, where Copenhagen had greater mobility. Odsonne Edouard was a spectator for much of the game and he often found himself surrounded with three defenders when the ball came his way.
Christopher Jullien was very good, Mohamed Elyounoussi was a real danger until the tank ran dry. The same affliction befell Tom Rogic, who looked dead on his feet long before the second Copenhagen goal.
While this was a poor performance and dreadful result, it does not compare to the Cluj defeat in August. Going out of the Europa League at this stage, the last sixteen or quarterfinals makes little difference. As I said a few days ago, this week’s biggest game in St Johnstone on Sunday. That becomes our immediate focus.
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If Brendan Rodgers had a defensive coach – he wasn’t very good. If Brendan had a defensive scout – he wasn’t very good.
Being too open and error prone in Europe is a long standing issue at our club.
Winning trebles has become the norm as well so it’s not all bad.
Last night was way down my list of priorities for this season – have to say though given the first round results and other recent form the 2 results didnt go the way I felt they would – be interesting to see if paul factors the supposed extra 5-6 million £ the newco get from TV into his ‘theyre deid in the summer’ spreadsheet
I ‘ll leave the Defensive Coach Question too one side at the minute – first things can people stop comparing Julien to VVD – he is in fact closer to Varga – yes hes been very good for us but any 8 mill 26 year old should be – but he is relatively slow by close to top flight standards
I dont even really blame the defence for last night after about 60 mins the midfield stopped showing and lost their legs – was brown fit – didnt look it – calmac stopped at same time – once forrest dropped back to halfway line he became ineffective – lenny for some reason – trying to prove a point about remaining calm – waited until 70 too do one thing
Team for sunday – given long season – a few new legs needed
Fraser
Bauer Bitton o’connor
Frimpong Boli
Christie Ntcham soro
Klimala Griff
WESTCRAIGS on 28TH FEBRUARY 2020 1:11 PM
Agreed
For all those who loudly applauded their support for Lawwell at the AGM
“There Are None So Blind As Those Who will Not See”
Poor result last night but to be honest we did not do enough to win and so we move forward. We can moan about tactics all day long, means nowt as the games gone. We simply need to move onto the next game.
Emotions run high immediatetly after game we lost. We need to focus again
HH
Poor ragin,as Copenhagen drew Turkish team,from Istanbul.G,rrrrrr.Perfect for me,and great trip for the fans.
Also,not a great team.Would have fancied our chances.C,est La Vie.
So for the perennial Neil and PL bashees.
You are put in charge, you are interviewing the new manager and he asks whats my KPI’s ? how will I be measured? please define a successful season on the pitch for this club.
Your answer will be….
Hotel De Paris,
“For all those that showed their support for PL”
What,the whole 5 sitting beside him?.
Neil Lennon was brought in as the best man to deliver 9 and 10. Everything else is secondary.
BELFASTBHOY0 on 28TH FEBRUARY 2020 1:28 PM
Last night was way down my list of priorities for this season – have to say though given the first round results and other recent form the 2 results didnt go the way I felt they would – be interesting to see if paul factors the supposed extra 5-6 million £ the newco get from TV into his ‘theyre deid in the summer’ spreadsheet
13.6 million divided by the 16 remaining teams minus consolidation payment to all other teams in top flight, so 6 million is fanciful and anyway why focus on that lot???
Sort own house out first
HH
Nothing else matters to me,if we continue to keep our foot on the throat of the evil hordes who follow the Hun.
Get this Treble done Hoops.
Paul67
Seen it all before, Celtic with better players but can’t keep ‘hens oot a midden’
Defensive team like Copenhagen picked us off, all down to the manager and the manager before him and the manager before him etc.
Four fit full backs including the bench, and none of them playing as a full back.
Play to your strengths which is attack a one tactic team since Martin O’Neill, who did rather better in Europe.
Bizarre CSC
I wonder if people will still hammer Brendan for his Euro record or his signing record for that matter.
Last night was rotten. We move on.
does nick hammond get any blame for players brought in.?
Immediately after we score, a clearly half pace Brown is surrounded by the entire Danish midfield. Where on earth is ours?
Our game intelligence, structure, spacing and organization is simply shocking.
Man City subbed immediately Madrid scored the other night. When we go one down, we take 12 minutes to get Griffiths on. We go down 1-2, and instead of putting on another 2 subs (say Frimpong and Bayo) we do nothing, and promptly lose another. WTF is the point of having 3 full backs on the bench? In fact, what is the point of having the bench, if you are not going to use it?
Seville drew 1-1 away with Cluj then played them at home last night, exactly the position we were in in the CL. Do they go gung ho and lose 3-4? Or like us last night! 1-3? No, they simply coast to a 0-0 draw and go through. Pragmatic game intelligence.
The Danes had 3 attempts at goal and calmly put them all away. For our attempts, we just lash blindly at it (Elyounoussi) hit a prone goalkeeper with it (Griffiths) or simply chicken out of putting a head on a cross right in front of goal (Forrest).
Newco sign players who go directly into the team and help them into the last 16, while the ones we sign simply disappear into the ether. Soro, Klimala, anyone? Again, what is the point?
If Sevco press this defense high on March 15, as they undoubtedly will, it does not bode well.
Those on here who say, “Ah well, who cares anyway?” are simply condemning us to repeat this farce ad nauseam. We have lost 7 goals at home versus Cluj and Copenhagen from winning positions. That is simply inexcusable and sadly, although many are loath to see it, our coaching staff have a lot to do with it.
THE HANDS CANT HIT WHAT THE EYES CANT SEE on 28TH FEBRUARY 2020 1:39 PM
I wonder if people will still hammer Brendan for his Euro record or his signing record for that matter.
Getting it all out today aren’t we :)
INIQUITOUSIV
Should have recruited Solbakken?
Impartial boton Boyd saying ‘we’about the huns ,
Interesting Neil spoke Before game about coaching staff experience
We have John kennedy who err
And we have Damien duff who got to a Europa final.
Our problems run deep. Eg our assistant manger has zero experience but is PL man
INIQUITOUSIV on 28TH FEBRUARY 2020 1:47 PM
Sevilla were out last night if Cluj hadn’t got sawn off by VAR in the 87th minute
Game management isn’t that simple
Neil went to Ibrox and won after Cluj. We’ll go there and win again. I’m not worried about our domestic form, it’s simply superb.
If we want to make the CL most years then we simply have to stop being so naive in these ties. We simply can’t go away from home, get score draws and open the flood gates at CP. It can not happen in August.
I can’t agree that the Scottish Cup game is more important than the Europa League. We are a club with a global fan base. The whole world knows that we dominate Scottish football. Last night’s result confirms people’s opinion that that means nothing.
To compete at a high level you need fully fit players. Last night we had two not yet match fit (though Rogic is never fit to play 90 minutes) and a less than 100 per cent Scott Brown. Why was Bitton given a new contract – to be an occasional substitute? Why do we buy players in January who are not considered ready to play in the first team?
The other problem was Lenny’s tinkering. Playing Ajer at right-back – we have three right-backs! – was almost as bad as playing Calmac at left-back against Cluj. It does not inspire confidence that Lenny will get us into the CL next season.
AN DUN
Seethin’ G has somehow managed not to lose at home in Europe in 2 seasons. We have managed it twice in one season, both times from winning positions. Not consolidating our shape after Eddie scored was unforgivable, and that was down to our coaching staff. We should have immediately summoned a sub, and had Brown talk to the team about focus and concentration ( although personally, I would have taken him off. He was spent.
Last post should have been addressed to CELTIC49ME, not AN DUN. Apologies.
I normally have good rummage threw comments after all games but couldn’t face it last night or until now – in fact i haven’t read back so no idea what the general view is.
I had a bad feeling about last night before going to the game and more so at half time – we simply missed too many chances last week and first half last night and that will eventually catch you out especially against opposite that are half decent and well coached.
NL was 100% correct when he said that we gave them energy and belief by not finishing them off when we had the chance in both legs – goals change games and it was very evident last night and even more so when sevco got their first goal last week. They grew enormously and we shrank……
For what its worth i think had Christie or Ntcham been available Brown would not have played last night – he was clearly not fully fit or sharp and think that was a big hole in the team.
Disappointed doesn’t cover it and i sensed a similar atmosphere as huns game in Decemeber in the crowd – we were a little spooked and anxious and so were the team.
Need a boost at the weekend and a solid game plan for castle greyskull as we don’t want to be giving them any oxegen for the run in……
The most important game is always the next game. Last night is over, there is nothing we, ( and in we I include, Supporters, Management Team, Players, Pedro & The Tea Lady) can do about it.
We have a Cup quarter final Sunday & a very tricky away League fixture on a plastic surface next Wednesday.
Win them both and the world will seem a better place, lose them both and then we have problems.
We never strengthened team in transfer window. a wasted opportunity. ” players for £6 who are not good enough to get in team. Why not spend £6m on one plyer who improves team? Added to Bayo Schved etc
Well said MELBOURNE MICK on 28TH FEBRUARY 2020 12:57 PM
Kolo Toure FFS who hardly kicked a ball for us after the 0-7 Nou Camp debacle, he was only a coach as we were paying him a decent wedge in fact we allowed him tae join the Ivory Coast coaching staff while still with us.
When fraudgers left and we asked big JFK tae stay we were in no hurry tae hold on tae Kolo. When we signed Pearse O’ Leary my da said at the time we had signed the wrong brother, similarly here we would have been better off with Ya Ya.
As usual after a horrible defeat noticed the kirki ex-pat and breeny back on, the latter quoting jj who despises NFL and PL more than he does clarence, definitely a hun.
As for wee slippy being a better coach than Lenny, in the name of the wee mhan, the former chelski and liverpool academy coach is the is the driving force there, their recent run of poor results coincided with his suspension.
Like most on here I was disappointed at last nights result especially after pulling a goal back late on, in fact I fancied us tae go on and win it at the point. However, I’m not despondent, Europe was always going tae be a bonus, in fact I believe we don’t include it in our financial planning.
For me it was always about the 9, any cups were also going tae be a plus and so far we have the LC in the cabinet.
This wasn’t about equaling our own 9 which was 46 year ago or even going for 10. It was gutting huns out there who think they were the only ones tae achieve the 9, which was 23 year ago, well dishonestly they were.
@ CELTIC40ME on 28TH FEBRUARY 2020 1:51 PM
Well it’s not wrong. People were desperate to get the boot into Rodgers’ record even though it was pretty damn good. BR was an ideologue and it was much to our detriment in Europe. Trying to play PSG at their own game was ridiculous.
However, Neil does not seem to have an identifiable ideology. Unfortunately, we have just looked disorganised and bereft of tactics in quite a few games this year.
Lawwell saved himself a few bob getting NL in ..
We’ll always be also-rans in Europe whilst he’s the CEO..
Simple as!
So many tactical geniuses on the one blog. Remarkable.
Hola from sunny Lanzarote! Not sure there’ll quite as many voters for last nights game. However, someone is going to get Man Of The Match and the 5 points that go with it. This will be my only reminder that voting closes at 10. But feel free to copy and paste later on… Results out on Saturday morning. HH
MAY67 on 28TH FEBRUARY 2020 3:26 PM
So many tactical geniuses on the one blog. Remarkable.
===
Pity we couldn’t get a few of them into the dugout or do you think last night was a demonstration of Neil’s tactical genius?
I keep asking this and never get an answer…….What would changing the CEO achieve and who would come here ?. If its spending more money then yer livin in …………IMO
CEO takes orders from the board ( DD).
Adi Dassler,
Changing the CEO may galvanise the whole support, well obviously not the whole support (excluding CQN), but a fair chunk of it, that’d be a start, it may also save us some money too, as imho he gets far too much for what he delivers. He certainly does his masters bidding and that may not change much in the long term as theyre not interested in taking us forward. Standing still with what we’ve got causes much frustration with the current signing policy (which seems geared towards the development squad) and being the best in this football tundra.
Imagine being a so called Celtic supporter, in a position of power and influence and you dont do all you can to make us a better team and a better club, this could easily apply to PL and DD. We seem to have a fair chunk of cash sitting somewhere that could be used to progress the first team, a new CB in January might have made the difference, it might not have but having options is always worthwhile
MAY67
I know of at least 3 posters on here who have exactly the same level of coaching badge as Neil Lennon. There are almost certainly more who have attended Inverclyde/Largs/Stirling over the years and attained their A or B license.
Are you telling us that they should not offer an opinion?
Copenhagen were just like the Huns on the 29th pressed the ball and moved forward as a group as with the 29th we had no answer. We were very far apart as a team and passing was pretty woeful. Something the coaching staff need to find answer to. It was mentioned on the football weekly that Madrid one the European Cup three times with a coach in Zidane who had little technical acumen but who had the best players in Ronaldo, Modric etc. He simply set them up and let them do their stuff. In the SPL we have by far and away the most technically gifted players and this is sufficient 49 out of 50 to win games. In Europe and against the Huns we are pressed high and cant respond as the shape of the team falls apart when we face these tactics.
I think like the 29th the crowd last night sensed this.
again i dont get an answer. what is hammonds position or is it all pl fault.