I was widely predicting 3-0 last night so the result didn’t come as a disappointment. Bayern could have punished us (or pretty much any team in Europe) by more, while we could have scored a deserved consolation in the second half.
It is seldom a manager will make three changes which improve the team, but Brendan Rodgers did just that last night. Tom Rogic grabbed the stage like no other Celtic player when he replaced Stuart Armstrong. Celtic’s game plan left Leigh Griffiths isolated against towering defenders. This was never a fair fight, but plays to Moussa Dembele’s strengths. The French youth international looked back to his pre-injury best.
Patrick Roberts is our most accomplished player at unlocking packed defences, but that was never on the agenda in Munich. Instead, he most often took possession acres from goal, forcing him to dart into space before being blocked by the weight of red jerseys.
The game was more suited to James Forrest, who needs space in front of him to be at his best. The winger regularly stressed the Bayern defence and created chances.
Bayern clearly identified Cristian Gamboa as Celtic’s potential weak spot. Cristian was isolated repeatedly but used his pace and agility to put in a performance few of us expected.
When was the last time we lost three cross/header combination goals? Bayern are a tall team. Celtic played with two small(er) full backs, where they would otherwise play the ubiquitous Mikel Lustig at right. A lack of height perhaps contributed to Bayern’s third, an inexcusable free header at a set piece, but we switched off at the loss of the first two goals.
We didn’t execute our normal (simple) passing game during the first half. Lots of things can contribute to players not passing the ball, rushing their passes, or, more crucially, not making themselves available for a pass.
The most obvious contributory factor was the ability of the opposition, but the problem was not as superficial as this. We didn’t pass well during the opening period, even without Bayern pressing particularly high.
Football is a game of 1000 small decisions, where to move on the field being the most common decision. Repeatedly last night I couldn’t see good options for an easy pass for the Celtic player in possession. For Celtic to play their natural game there needs to be a close proximity between players when we are in possession.
Last night we stretched the game. Sinclair, Armstrong and Brown were too far forward, often by as little as 10 yards.
Special mention to Craig Gordon, who having picked the ball out of his net three times, kept the score from reaching the epic proportions that Arsenal recently endured at the Allianz Arena.
Bayern will be confident ahead of the game at Celtic Park in two weeks, but Celtic know they can play better. I’m sure when Brendan Rodgers looks at the Champions League table, he will concede nothing yet.
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Celtic Fans in Allianz Arena pic.twitter.com/EGbQbkWt6G
— Celtic Videos (@CelticVideo) October 19, 2017
OUR SECOND CQN PODCAST this week, featuring interviews with ex-Celts Alan Stubbs and Chris Sutton, previewing the big games this week against Bayern Munich and Hibs at Hampden on Saturday.
Stubbs gives an insight into Liam Henderson as a player and talks about where his career should go from here.
Speaking on behalf of BT Sport, Alan Stubbs also spoke about his regret at leaving Hibs, and looks ahead to the League Cup semi-final between two of his former clubs.
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On another subject I see Scotland are proposing to ban smacking ( never did me any harm twitch twitch).
I wonder if buses will run to Carlisle for smacking tours :)(
ITALIABHOY on 19TH OCTOBER 2017 4:53 PM
Random thoughts after last night…Worried about Jozo. Far too many injuries. if he cannot manage 4-5 games on the trot he isn’t much use to us I’m afraid.
*there seems to be this perception that he’s a sick note and yet he did pass his medical in Turin, or did he, it was only their shifting the goal posts that caused that move tae collapse. or was it.
The question should be why were we so keen to sell him back then.
THETIMREAPER @ 5.07 –
Thanks for that link. Just spent 10 minutes getting my RobMcLeanAnger aff ma chest. Doubt it’ll change anything but at least I feel better for having a good moan about him!
Bada….,
Exactly, we’ve seen our defensive frailties too often this season, babbling about how easy players fit into the system is all well and good if the system is balanced and we have the quality to do that but that’s no what’s happening. Defensively we struggle when we lose a player, defence is a big part of the game and teams need to know how to play it. St Jonston was a big warning for me and a sign post for munchen, with higher quality they have the result was a fore gone conclusion if we tried to play the same game.
BIG PACKY on 19TH OCTOBER 2017 5:11 PM
is mclean any worse than uber hun alex cameron .incidentally always thought arthur montford was fair dont know about ian archer
*fully concur here, I thought that Morton fan Arthur sports jaiket wisnae too bad. BTW you missed out george davidshun
Canalamar- if we go to Paris with the same game plan…..
Bad a…,
Ach we’ll take about 5aff them
:)))
Sleep
I like Brendan agree that getting beat sitting back is not what the Dr ordered, much rather get beat at least giving it a lash.
IMO Mclean was a disgrace last night
Most noticeable was his failure to acknowledge the great backing the celtic support gave the team throughout .
No one is asking him to ignore the negatives but jeez ,he could not even hide his bias last night .
TOTAL DISGRACE
HH
TONTINE TIM yes bruv forgot about mr davidshun. loved listening to david francie dont know where his allegiances lied. but remember the guy who used to do the football results who has sadly passed away im getting old cant remember his name. think he was celtic minded ktf
Big packy
Think it was
James Alexander Gordon
Ian Archer
https://goo.gl/images/9nvVWp
NuffSaidCSC
HH jamesgang
Re the ‘Old Gaurd’ commentators
Arthur was pretty neutral
Archie was on the Hun side but had a great relationship with big Jock
David Francie lived Jinky
BUT none of them treated Celtic in Europe like that skid mark McLean last night
Of course Mclean knows is not the only one guilty of not hiding his bias
JOPHES thanks pal just remembered.
https://youtu.be/qESajuczPjY
third time lucky
MacLean is freelance and knows the SMSM tune, it’s the producers and editors who are instructed by Jabba , to mass produce the propaganda.Been saying for years ,we have our own media ,which should be the only place for news , interviews etc, we do not need to be set up every week by these clowns.Get smart Celtic.
Like most sane CFC supporters I think that Brendan has been absolutely tremendous for us.
However there is no denying that his decision to put his footballing philosophy before getting results is either arrogance or stupidity!
PSG and Bayern can both afford players of a much higher calibre than we can, that simple economics. To continue to try and play these teams at their own game will simply see history repeat itself over and over. In any football match, the weaker of the two teams will lose 98 times out of 100 if they do not try to negate the footballing advantage the other team has over them.
Brendan is a wonderful coach but he is kidding himself, if he thinks that he will coach our group of players in to being better than Bayern or PSG.
Mr Stein once said that a manager should never ask a player to do something that they cannot do. Last night Brendan asked several players to do things they are not capable of, mainly in matching them man for man against superior opponents.
The team selection and tactics were wrong, there is no way of arguing otherwise. We were lucky the score was only 3-0, anyone who thinks differently is kidding themselves, Paul’s suggestion that we deserved a late consolation is also wide of the mark or he was watching a different game from me. Yes other teams have been grubbed by Bayern and I thought we would be doing well to keep the score to three or less but I didn’t think we would be so spineless and passive. The goals we gave away were school boyish in the extreme. Bayern like all German teams were well organised and knew exactly how we would try to play. They also knew that Scott Brown is key to our team and Mueller should have been at least Yellow carded for his assault on our captain. We failed to land any blows on them. No one is advocating kicking teams off the park but we need to be able to fight fire with fire and be aggressive enough not to roll over in the manner we did last night!
HH
Celtic had over 45% possession last night and at least a few good breaks into their half with Munich’s keeper making some good saves. The Qatar gang did not give us a sniff all night and I may not watch the return in Paris, I could not sit through that again with that guy who did the BT broadcast.
Good evening CQN
Had a great day out with my daughter
At the Eden Mill Distillery
We got out played by the better team last night
Don’t think any other British teams would do any better
Roll on the weekend to face the Hibs looking forward to that
Safe travel home to all who traveled for the game last night
Hail Hail
Mt
I thought Celtic played reasonably well in Munich for a pot 4 side punching above our weight and already dissing Anderlecht from pot 3. The object is to collect the cash, and stay in Europe and most of the travelling Celtic supporters in Bavaria understand this and Rob McLean simply can’t.
The gulf between Europe’s elite is nearly as big as Celtic’s gap created in Scotland between us and Aberdeen so a 3-0 wasn’t too bad especially since we weren’t at full strength with two back ups in the back four.
BR knows our limitation better than any blogger and has to pick a side accordingly so scapegoating Gamboa or Lustig is silly, especially given that Ralston was injured and Christian wouldn’t even have played otherwise.
The Celtic midfield of Brown Ntcham and Armstrong were outclassed despite faux outraged analysis from BT Sport and the BBC we remain with the dosh and alive and well in Europe, and on course for 3rd spot.
I think we knew Jozo Simunovic’s fitness was a problem when BR arrived and we were willing to sell, but he nursed him into the side for his one sustained spell which might not prolong his stay at the club should a bid arrive in the next window.
The BT coverage of the game was dreadful including uber tim Chris Sutton whose comments usually amount to clichéd nonsense. The supporters who go to the game and support Celtic have the benefits of missing what we endure when the deeply scarred SMSM get involved.
Who would win in a fight between a Ford Focus and a Porsche?
Beautiful sunny day here. Popped onto CQN before heading out for dinner.
Hmmm.
Rob McLean, Jozo is injured, Brendan is an idealist?
Some comments resemble the negative click bait BS on Newsnow Celtic after a defeat.
We’ve got a good team, a great manager, a fantastic club structure and the best fans in the world (99.98% of them anyway).
Last night we played away against a top five European side (there are two of them in our group, most groups have none).
They had a recent bounce by rehiring the best manager they have had in a decade.
We lost.
The current European champions would have been eliminated last season by Bayern had it not been for the officials, PSG will lose there next month.
Disappointing but no disaster and certainly no disgrace.
Add a centre back, be a bit smarter, cuter and meaner and we’ll make last 16 next year.
Hail hail
Complaint sent to BT.
I suppose there is a chance that I am the eternal optimist, but there again!!
The game last night was marred by real basic mistakes. Show me a man who never makes a mistake, exactly.
Bayern is a good outfit for sure, and eliminate the silly defending and who knows what the outcome would have been. I am certain that the same mistakes will not re-occur as lessons would have been learned. Hope so anyway.
Bring on the ” Tame Papes” this weekend
KINGLuBO
BSR @ 6:26 – superb
wonder how the players will be feeling about the hibs match – we had to come from behind against them not so long ago
BOURNESOUPRECIPE
Dunno,but I reckon the repair bill for the Focus might be less.
Complaint sent to BT , not for the first time !
BSR 6-26pm
Your’e correct about Sutton , he agreed with everything Nob McClean was saying !
All these complaints have awoken me from my slumber
BT – is that you complaining?
BLANTYRETIM
Whatever it takes,good to have you back!
Who would win in a fight between Stuart Armstrong’s quiff and Antonio Conte’s syrup?