This time last year the league was in the bag, as it is today, but we had Champions League football to look forward to in the coming days, and would ultimately go on to win the Scottish Cup. The Champions League is always going to be a hard place to measure progress for a club seeded in pot 4, last season it was hard enough to Benfica, a pot 2 team who were eliminated by Celtic but still progressed to the Europa League final.
Domestic cup performances for Celtic is a more accessible measuring tool. After home defeats to Morton (good grief) and now Aberdeen we may well ask, what went wrong?
It was evident from early in the second half that whatever match plan we had was not effective, and despite the introduction of fresh faces, the performance didn’t improve. Aberdeen defended outside their box very effectively, making it difficult for Celtic to play the kind of passes which Samaras released Stokes with to score early in the game. Forrest found red shirts blocking his path whenever he got going. Commons had a day when nothing sparked. Possession was cheaply conceded throughout as Celtic continued to ask the same question of the Aberdeen defence.
While we are playing in in impoverished Scottish football Aberdeen represent the strongest possible opponents. They are second in the league and were the last team to score against us on merit. Yesterday wasn’t a fluke result, it was deserved and marked the progress of Derek McInnes’ team.
So where does this leave us? Celtic remain imperious in the Premiership, the fact that they’ve not tasted defeat against a weaker team there, or conceded in 11 games, is historically impressive, but against the best of the rest, there are question marks, as there will be for Champions League qualifiers.
If you would like to read the new CQN Magazine, GO HERE to read properly, and for FREE, the graphic below is just a taster.
[calameo code=0003901710a55b5798f06 lang=en page=1 hidelinks=1 width=100% height=500]
648 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- ...
- 18
- »
Partick Thistle Sadie.
McDowellcelt god bless wee oscar
17:45 on 9 February, 2014
You reckon they’ll all get through to the final?
Also will LG go down as the 21st century equivalent of JF.
36 years but I have never seen a more unlikely player than LG.
That we paid serious money for him is even more galling.
What was wrong with SM — this season’s on fire striker?
How much did we pay for LG?
A foolish CEO and his money are easily parted.
A Desmond – thank God I cashed out!
:-)
Yessssssssssss
Get in Darren Bent….,
Fergietime……..GIRFUY……ManUre
Guys – do we still have a CQN deal going with Executive Shaving – I remember some ads and would like to use them if this is the case
Babiesbumcsc
Prae
* Ruby Murray cancelled *
A cracking game on the radio, I feel for David Moyes but at least they didn`t lose..
AH @ 17.48
Your analysis is financially illiterate nonsense.
It ConDemNation style kitchen sink economics.
And it has no place in the debate we must have to revitalise the club.
If the next 5 years are the same as the last there will be no profits to realise.
We are living hand to mouth, lost without a plan, losing momentum at every turn.
We are one Euro debacle away from tragedy.
The Swiss mentalist saved us 4 years ago.
An 89th minute goal won us financial salvation this year.
We cannot go on like this — something has to change.
The Irish Raj is phoning it in.
PL is coining it in.
NL needs direction and help.
Madmitch
You have l m w a y I. W a SM and who was JF?
Jimbo67 supporting Oscar Knox
Theoriginalsadiesbhoy
Totally agree with your points of poor preparation .
We rarely look proactive in any form.
The preseason’s under Lennon have generally been awful.
This will be countered by people pointing out hoe Mowbary won the we blew tournament then the regular season was a disaster.
Likewise Neil’s teams performance against Liverpool in Dublin .
Both of these preseason successes were achieved by youth who then received no playing time during the subsequent regular season.
Seems our only requirements of preseason is making money not preparation .
The problem to me is we are incomplete in so many areas in the club.
Peter Lawell. Great businessman to involved in the footballing side were he lacks knowledge.
Neil Lennon. Coach who lacks the ability to implement his systems.
Incomplete playing operations with no cohesion for playing style implemented at all levels to create a path from youth to first team.
Random signings for profitability without any thought of team building strategy.
John o’neill
How could I possibly have forgotten that result:-)) possibly my ego defence mechanism blocked it out from my memory.
While it was a total shocker, jock had won many, many trophies and no one doubted his managerial abilities as a result of that game. It was a one off. However, the Morton result wasn’t a one off. We had the Ross County result as well to live down.
BSR
No – got MU @3/1 cashed out @29/10 as soon as 2nd goal hit the net!
LuckyWhiteHeather.com
Hi Guys,
Question on this site today who should replace Neil Lennon. GUS HIDDINK. Without a doubt. OK we win the league under lenny but lets face it, we would win the league under any manager. We need someone with tactical awareness and knowhow in games against good opposition. Samaras should not have been selected, Stokes scored a good goal and did nothing else not good enough. Aberdeen looked more likely to score a third goal than us scoring a second. We were poor frrom the time we scored in my opinion.
Lennon just does not know how to select the correct team and tactics. I love the fact he is a Celtic man through and through but thats not enough at the highest level.
Ernie lynch
Hardly when it’s only 2 teams contest a final. Minimum they will be in Brazil to near end of June if they go out after group stages. Assuming they get at least 2 weeks off they will more than likely take no part in our first qualifier.
Any top 4 side will rip Gormless Moyes’ Mankies apart this season now.
Arsenal are hurting from yesterday.
They will rip that defence a new one on Tuesday.
Having a decent bet on Arsenal minus 1 goal.
PickingupmoneyCSC
Theoriginalsadiesbhoy
Great post mate and one I mostly agree with.
In many ways this season has been a disaster , we have no divine right to win every game or every cup but we should learn from our experiences , learn from defeat. I don’t believe we have .
A lot in here have no issue with getting gubbed by lower league Euro sides in friendlies. I do. It tarnishes our reputation so in my view we are better off not playing friendlies as we learn nothing. We would be better playing against the youth team behind closed doors rather than expose ourselves to ridicule .
Friendlies pre season if used properly can improve us and I agree Borrusia showed us the way.
What was the point in not playing our ECL team for an hour of every friendly and then make the substitutions.
Instead we gave starting places and game time to some who were on the way out like Daryl Murphy.
What a wasted exercise!!
No serious preparation was given to our ECL team and that showed because we were lucky to qualify for the Group stages, very lucky .
Our inadequacies were exposed in the group stages , 3 points and our worst ever performance at that level with a humiliating end against Barca.
Failure of the board to secure quality signings early and poor preparation and we got what we deserved.
We thought we needed just to turn up to beat Aberdeen and Morton in the cups and paid the price.
So, here we are in February , league won, out the cups, the sickening prospect of Sevco parading around Paradise with the Scottish Cup , ever declining attendances , the support at war with the board and each other , intimidated by the OB act and sickened at our boards silence on all the trophies we were cheated of.
But hey, don’t get depressed ghuys, we’ve got a nice balance sheet to look at!!!!!
Yesterday – before a ball was kicked I happened to state my belief that Rankers would be drawn at home against the weakest team left in the Scottish Cup – Q comments on Paranoia etc
SFA predictable – any betting Bhoys know what oddes wee available on the draw?
Nostradamouscsc
prae
nicely done, these nuances are beyond me.
Shuggiebhoy @ 17 45.
I started going to Celtic games in season 56/ 57. I was there when Celtic lost to the likes of Queen of the South and Queens Park. I was at the 7 -1 game . I went to Artmedia, I went to Xamax.etc. My attitude has always been win ,lose or draw so be it, but in my opinion being a supporter does not exclude being allowed to say ” that was poor ” and wondering why ?
Back on for another quick moan,
The midfield Neil, the midfield, remember when you played the game – win the midfield win the game,
How could we win the midfield with a new guy still finding his feet, Samaras, Forrest and Commons against Robson, Flood and Pawlett, and our Captain pulled out of position covering for a right back clearly not match fit,
We could all see it unravelling as the match progressed, c’mon Neil you can do much better than that,
OK, thats it for me today moaning, all moaned out, hopefully tomorrow something rotten will happen to Sevco to cheer us all up.
SOT
You’re older than you look
HH
Lots of hurting Londoners jamming 5live switchboards now complaining about their team’s performance against a team from ermmmmmm…….London.
You couldn’t make it up hahaha
Fergie and Moyes GIRFUY
Come on Bhoys Leigh Griffiths has played part of a game and some on CQN are writing the Bhoy off.Get a grip give the Bhoy a chance at least to show what he can do.H.H.
Somebody mentioned that Fraser Forster is likely to at the World Cup and not available for the first CL qualifier. I had forgotten about that. I would hope that Zaluska will be given plenty of game time before the end of the season. Likewise we need to play someone else at left back other than Izzy. This is an area that we should have been looking at in the transfer window especially when Lenny knew that Izzy would be playing in Brazil.
Who would be our alternative left back?
The Manky Monkeys had 81 crosses in 90 minutes.
Big Packy Bonner would have needed CPR if he was the Fulham goalie today.
DraculaCSC
ernie lynch
you mentioned earlier about the hatred of man utd on cqn
i agree with you
its cringeworthy
why the hatred against them compared to other epl clubs
none of them give a toss about scottish football
should we assume that there are loads of chelsea fans on cqn because i dont hear anywhere near the hatred for them on here that i do for man utd
john o’neil
17:24 on 9 February, 2014
Who cares about the Morton result? The league cup is a waste of time and energy. Didn’t NL play some young players that night? We lost. People scolded Neil and the club for the result. Play the young guys and lose and you are in big trouble.
………………………………………….
Surely play the young guys in the right games rather than in a game where you are knocked out of the competition if it doesn’t go right. Perhaps a league game against weaker opposition when we are a couple of goals up? Incidently, to answer your question lots of us cared about the result in the Morton game.
Hoopy-do….
You’ve obviously never been in a room full of ManUre fans wearing a Hoops top?
I just seen the draw.
LOL
It will truly be only the tiny minded that follow Scottish football if questions are never even asked.
Ergo RESOLUTION 12 has been PARKED.
It must be reassuringly heartening for our PLC to read CQN and be assured that we have as many cupid stunts as Sevco to protect them against their mis management, deceit, neglect, incompetence.
We are part of the problem with Scottish football and NOT the solution.
HH
South Of Tunis @ 18.06
I agree. From Partick in 71 to Barca last December I’ve been to a helluva lot of the stinkers , always moaned on the way back to the car/bus/train/pub and even said I wouldn’t be back . I always went back and made arrangements to meet my friends for the next game by the time I’d started my second pint. I think I’ve earned the right to express my disappointment inside the stadium , in the pub or on here. Celtic’s greatest enemy may be apathy – there is not much of it in evidence round here but thousands will stay silent and not be there next Sunday
By the way what is the story re Balotelli in Naples last night? Heard conflicting stories re the treatment he got in the San Paolo
Jimbo67 supporting Oscar Knox
Still cant understand why we persists with this zonal marking system rather than pick up man for man. Giving the oposition a free run to attack the ball in the area. It was also clear that Aberdeen were in charge in midfield so why not bring on Biton to wrestle that dominance away. It hurts to see Robson and Flood players we let go come back and hurt us like they did. Sorry but tactics and selection of team cost us this game.
theoriginalsadiesbhoy
Van Dijk too and Sammi if he signs on again.
HH
latchford
17:06 on 9 February, 2014
That’s 8 trophies Lenny has tossed away. The league record this season is irrelevant.
———–
Congratulations on crossing the Rubicon of stupidity. League records are never irrelevant, it is how every footballer is judged.
If you ignore what happens week in week out, how cn you expect to be taken seriously with opinions on other matters?
TSOB
I think NFL is on record as stating we want LB cover but no one came up in January
rspecially with other more pressing needs, and we waited years for an Izzy.
Good post earlier, sadly perhaps some deeply switched on Celtic minds. don’t cover pre season.
Awenaw….
Virgil won’t be at the World Cup.
Not this one anyway.
Not a chance mate.
Crosses this weekend:
Munich: 11
A Madrid: 17
R Madrid: 19
Chelsea: 19
Juve: 21
Dortmund: 24
City: 39
United: 82
————-
Crazy, Moyes is so old school. Football has left the “British style” manager behind.
Fans Against Criminalisation have by now officially launched our single ‘’Roll of Honour’’ in association with The Irish Brigade.
FAC have done so to highlight the absurdity that is the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communication (Scotland) Act and the manner in which it has criminalised the Celtic support. One fan has already been found ‘guilty’ of contravening this act for singing this very song, whilst another fan is currently being held on remand for allegedly committing the same offence. There is also a backlog of Celtic fans awaiting trial for the same reason.
FAC contend that it is a damning indictment of the Scottish political and judicial system that legitimate expression of political opinion and cultural heritage within the context of a football match is now enough to result in a criminal conviction.
We urge the Celtic support to download this song to embarrass those who seek to criminalise us, to demonstrate that we stand by those who are being arrested at their homes and dragged through the courts and that we will not tolerate the continual harassment of our fellow fans at the hands of Police Scotland. The support for this campaign has already been overwhelming and we would like to thank all involved for their efforts so far. For those based in the UK, we have one week to attempt to push this single into the UK Official Top 40 Singles Chart. For those based elsewhere, FAC still urges people to aid this campaign by downloading this single which will help create a greater awareness of this issue whilst contributing to the FAC Legal Defence Fund.
We all have a part to play. Download the song here – https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/roll-of-honour-single/id814414107