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.
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Imagine if you did have to call a midwife and wee Miranda Hart turned up?
iPaddy McCourt Supports Wee Oscar
The draw was a fix……..guaranteed.
Good evening all
Glad the vitriol has calmed down, which is the reason I have been lurking for the past week. Very disappointed yesterday as the rest of you. Angry?? not really, seen it coming in the team selection. Angry with the team selection??? yes. But hey ho. Will I be renewing next season?? depends on finances, looks ok at the moment.
Weefra HH supporting Wee Oscar.
BCW
FFS his keyboard will explode now
They call it the romance of the Cup.
Over a 30 game plus season, the best team with the biggest squad and resources tends to win the league they contest. The same is not true of Cup competitions.
Though Arsenal went through one PL season undefeated and Chelsea did it with one loss, most teams sustain 5 or 6 defeats in winning a league. However as most domestic cups are sudden death affairs, one defeat ends your participation. In short, lose to Aberdeen in a league game and you may still beat them in the league race; lose to them in a cup and you are out.
Man U won the league on 6 out of 10 occasions in the 90s and on 5 out of 10 occasions in the noughties. Their corresponding figure for the FA Cup are 3 and 1 respectively and they are 1 and 3 for the LC.
Celtic won 9 titles between 66 and 74. During that period we won 5 SCs and 5 LCs, a truly sensational haul of 19 out of 29 trophies contested.
During Rangers 9iar in the 89-97 period they won 3 SCs and 5 LCs.
it is easier for a good team to win a league and a lesser team to win a cup when a league is beyond them. Restricting ourselves to the Scottish game, even during a period of dominance and excellence (at least, in one case) you should expect to lose around 50 to 60% of cups contested.
MON won 3 SC and 1 LC in 5 seasons
WGS won 2 SC and 2 LC in 4 seasons
NFL won 2 SC and 0 LC in 4 full seasons (including the current one but discounting March- May 2010)
Neil’s cup record is undoubtedly poorer. However, if he wins both cups next season, he will have equalled MON’s haul over the same period in charge.
Just a bit of perspective to the argument that we are deteriorating as a team and are back to being the worst ever.
Bsr
‘Wee’ miranda hart?
TET-I posted yesterday you could have my ticket for 1st March game,Main Stand Rear ,i’m away for the weekend.
winningemmell
20:35 on 9 February, 2014
Sorry to interrupt the self-flagellation but has mention been made anywhere of the TWO handballs in the build up to Aberdeen’s second goal?
___________________
Ye kiddin only the eyes in the back of Gollums heid work:))
Though his positioning was like his overall display shocking.
A truly poor ref, I was blinded by the fact I thought he had sold his soul for £800 a gig but now realise he hopeless IMHO.
Good night all
thank you for being here :))
What we need is a clamour for tickets.
Once they become precious then everyone will want one.
They become precious at the end of next season.
Petsy will do nowt ’til then.
PFayr
Aggression? Not sure how you work that out?
If you read back you’ll find plenty of posts suggesting the draw was a stitch up, yours included. It’s nonsense and frankly embarrassing. I guess conspiracy theory guff like this gets on my wick, especially coming from a lawyer.
bhoylo83
I know – it’s a crazy CQN thing
McDowellcelt god bless wee oscar
20:44 on
9 February, 2014
When will their luck run out?
Perhaps, after they win the Scottish Cup and UEFA tell them that this new team cannot participate in Europe?
But we bought the history………….
HH
CRC
UTLR.
No way the draw fas fixed. If it was they’d have made it Dumbarton v Raith to give Sevco an easy semi-final. Oops, hope Campbell isn’t reading or they’ll probably do a re-draw!
ipaddy
I read it as aggressive as well.
Aggression?
Whit about it?
I think we have a good group of players. I can see Stephan becoming a player and Amido but we really need to invest in a general in midfield, and I mean invest for football progress not really financial. Such an experienced player will help develop our “works in progress” and that will be the return
Neil got the team and tactics wrong yesterday and will learn from that
Don’t know what part Mjalby and Parker are playing but the 3 of them cannot be making the same mistake?
Neil has everyone and organisation against him in this country, support him
IPaddy
The problem for Scottish football is the perception of many fans of many clubs that due to previous actions by Ogilvie and the SFA will deadco & Newco that it just might be.
big-cup-winners
20:53 on 9 February, 2014
Bare-faced corruption….!!!
IPaddy
Not once have I been serious re the cup draw …how on earth could a draw be rigged
If you chose to get exercised about it …fill yer boots
Whether you’re meaning to be aggressive or not it’s coming over as such …and now you’re getting personal…I don’t know you …never spoken to you …
I don’t think there’s anything left to discuss here
Why should lawyers not believe in conspiracies?
I thought it was one of the crimes listed in the law books.
Whaow, The Musketeers are on. A must watch. Laters. :-))
Weefra HH supporting Wee Oscar.
Have you pre-ordered your CQN badges yet?
Due to be launched at CQteN on Friday 14th March 2014, the third edition badges will be a collector items, just like their predecessors.
Don’t miss out, as the stock is limited and there will be only one production run.
http://twitpic.com/dug9xl
Email us on cqnbadges@gmail.com
HH
CRC
Auldheid,
I dont believe they do.
Surely they are not such heartless inconsiderate ba*****s.
All CQN is is a conduit for Paul67 to preach the gospel according to St. Peter. That’s as far as it goes. Needless to say those unable to think for themselves swallow swallow it .
HH
Right am back for a few minutes
Still proud to be a Tim
CRC, looking for a wee update, on the sales battle :-)
An accountant v’s a slippery Salesman
Hail Hail
Been reading a lot of posts regarding the way they are assisted in cup draws etc etc, we are out of two cups this season due to the mistakes of NFL. For me he doesn’t see the obvious ie midfield yesterday and why the hell Sammy is anywhere near the first team I will never know. Darnell going great guns past few weeks and gets dropped to accommodate a player who was clearly unfit. I know he has had to put up with a lot over the years but if it was any other manager we would be calling for their p45 by now. Brown never learns, always loses it in the important games, he should know by now, as for the huns, we know they will always be aided by sfa, refs, etc,
Roaster!
3-1 Messi, another peach. Game being played in a monsoon
Ahh, so CRC is ahead :-)
david peter deans
18:20 on 9 February, 2014
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.
——-
Please tell me you are at the wind up.
We went a whole calendar year and more without conceding a goal from a corner. We lose 1 and you want to ditch the system in favour of one which inevitably results in losing goals when an individual is better at heading than the player marking him.
Seriously?
Messi again
Yes.
I thought Celtic supporters would go for green badges, but no.
PFayr
Thanks for clarifying that you weren’t actually spouting conspiracy theory nonsense earlier.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WQyZfF6nx7I
brave brave undaunted.
Socialist and one who widnae be hypocritical and take a Capitalist bonus from their workplace.
Doo Doo do do do, do do, do do do do, when I see you Celtic, I go off oot ma nut.
Luke at 22:34 or elsewhere.
I am happy that the Dons are re-emerging.
SFTB
Re all your stats about how many cups – as opposed to leagues – Man U won in their heyday. Same with Liverpool from 73 to 85.
Relevance to that game yesterday? Very little that I can see. Our team is not good and the ground was half empty . That is what irritates . Not some truly useless statistic to prove your point that we are actually really good.
Jimbo67 supporting Oscar Knox
Water polo in Sevilla.
Cowiebhoy, scores on the doors so far:
Green badges 121 v Black and Gold Badges 144
…and there is absolutely o truth in the rumour that the green badges are on sale and leaseback by CQNs very own Craigy Whyte!!
HH
CRC
Off to Cork this week. Ferry Arms here I come