Midway through the second half, I chastised myself for being so downbeat about our prospects last night. For 81 minutes, the game was there to be won. Neither team was at full strength, but if Celtic had a little of Maeda’s industry, or Hatate’s control, the outcome could have been different.
As it was, the game turned when Lazio benefited from a late deflection. It officially brought to an end hopes of Europa League games after Christmas, but those surely did not exist after Lazio scored a last-minute winner at Celtic Park earlier in the campaign.
Being competitive, as we were twice against Lazio, once against Atletico and while we had 11 men away to Feyenoord, is our Champions League stake in the ground so far this season. The results, however, tell a story of defensive fragility, and an inability to create a sufficient volume of chances to make sure we are the team who benefits from a late deflection.
Paulo Bernardo was a surprise starter and should feel pleased with his contribution. I suspect there is a player in him, but he will need a run of games in the team if we are to properly develop his talent.
He can look to Liam Scales, who is the left-sided central defender practically every team is looking for. Against St Johnstone earlier this season, Liam looked miles short of a player who could deliver a shift away from home in the Champions League. Game time and the correct coaching changed that. This is our place in the world: find talent and realise its potential. There is no other sustainable model for Celtic.
A lot more rides on the Feyenoord game than the table suggests. For so many reasons, nothing less than a win against the Dutch champions will do.
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Immobile has looked like he might be finished so far this season, he’s lost a bit of whatever pace he had and he was dropped last night for a reason and they’re looking to the Argentine kid who started last night to be his replacement but he’s not stepped up. But yiu saw instantly from his movement and intelligence why he’s scored so many goals and why he was able to supply the only but of real quality in the game
The Holy Father meets Celtic fc.
https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/events/event.dir.html/content/vaticanevents/en/2023/11/29/football-scozia.html
Click pics to expand or Zoom and enlarge
HH
find talent and realise its potential. There is no other sustainable model for Celtic.
……
No one is going to tell me that with our resources we could not have went out last summer and signed a better left back than Taylor.
You’re shameless on occasion, Paul.
More
https://twitter.com/colmflynnire/status/1729813740009165146?s=19
HH
CELTIC40ME on 29TH NOVEMBER 2023 1:22 PM
My bad, I had thought he arrived there via Sevilla, perhaps this was a loan? Either way, a Chris Sutton comparison to be had perhaps – didn’t fit one club but clearly showed enough promise previously in Italian football (with Torino ?) enough for Lazio to take the gamble.
Not that we could afford/attract a Sutton type even after a Chelsea type season these days either to be fair :(
PRESTONPANS BHOYS on 29TH NOVEMBER 2023 1:07 PM
Big Jimmy@12:15
Tom McLaughlin and I are getting the 10am chariot from Edinburgh. Although I think Tams still under the mod88 ban
……………………….
Being banned by the MOD….Does NOT exclude you from joining ” The SHIPWRECKS”…
Some may see it as a ” Badge of Honour” when the MOD bans someone ?
LOL
HH
Good afternoon fellow Celts.
Many suggestions have been proffered to explain Celtic’s poor European results in recent years, but as soon as I saw the players take the pitch last night I knew we were doomed. The reason? The kit!
If you look back through our Euro competition results this century, we only beat big teams when we play in the hoops or in gold. Dark or pale green, black, grey or white just don’t deliver. When Olivier Ntcham stroked in that exquisite winner against Lazio last time he looked absolutely resplendent in his gold shirt. Had we worn the same shirts again last night we’d have won comfortably! :o)
AN DÚN on 29TH NOVEMBER 2023 1:26 PM
I think Paul67 is talking about a bigger picture than improving on one position. I’d hope the club are thinking in those terms
Since I down loaded DUCKDUCKGO yesterday….apparently DUCKDUCKGO have BLOCKED over 7,000 ATTEMPTS TO TRACK ME ?
Why would anyone wish to spend their time ” Tracking” me on CQN ?
CHUMPS.
HH
QUADBHOY on 29TH NOVEMBER 2023 1:28 PM
Yes, he’d been loaned out by Dortmund. He’s like Griezman at Atletico, a player who’s great when he’s found his “home”
Lazio have a scattergun approach to signings, their owner is even less popular than our board. He loves a bit of profit from flipping development players but he’s also keen on a bargain and an experienced free, most of which don’t come off.
The fans aren’t happy with what they’re seeing this season, they haven’t replaced their best player who they sold in the summer for big money and Sarri offered to leave after they lost at the weekend “if that’s what people want”
The so-called sustainable model is signing as many young prospects as possible in the hope that one or two can be sold on for big bucks. It is a hit or miss strategy. There is no ambition to achieve anything in Europe. BR is now lamenting a lack of quality just after telling us that he has the last word on all signings. So he is just as culpable as the Board.
After our failure to score against St Johnstone and Hibs and the failure to score from open play against Motherwell it is hardly surprising that we can’t score away from home in the CL. I wish I was as confident about winning the league as so many others seem to be.
nice to see all the board members could make the trip.
Glasstwothirdsfull –
Good point about “net” starting position of improving the squad.
I don’t have an answer but … in relation to the summer departures … I have some sympathy for Brendan and the board.
Three significant contributors left.
Aaron retired injured. Nowt we could do.
Carl followed his heart. We could have kept an unhappy player but, reluctantly, I think the right decision was made (plus we certainly addressed the gap).
Jota left for top whack. And Palma, who is far less spectacular, has done a reasonable job in the early days of his Celtic career.
Although he started least I think we are feeling Aaron’s absence most.
At start of the season, taking into account Aaron’s performance data, I felt Holm could come close to matching it …..
….. IF …..
He was supporting a fully functioning McGregor-O’Riley-Hatate axis.
Cue injuries and disruption.
😟😟😟
I know it’s hard to compete, ability wise, in Europe. Surely we should at least be able to compete physically. We pose little threat in Scotland, let alone Europe, at corners, free kicks and often lose possession at our own throw-ins. An abysmal return for the amount of corners and free kicks near the goal. That alone, must be improved. We (the board) have never, never, had any ambition. We were lucky to have a great manager and a great squad of players (when there were many in Scotland) from 1965-1974. Since then apart from the odd foray, it’s been downhill all the way. In 1974, we’d lost Lou, were about to lose Davie and would soon lose Kenny and George. At no time did we look to add to a still a very good squad. Peter Lawwell rattled off all the domestic trophies last week and laughed that we had no competition. One guy reeled off all the European beatings in his tenure. Doesn’t mean a thing to him or most of the others. I won’t be at the Feyenoord game and won’t be buying a euro game package for next year. I’d love to see us all refuse the game package next year.
My friends in Celtic,
Cast your mind back a couple of years ago about this time when we played Real Betis in a ” Dead Rubber”
We won with a much changed team of youngsters. It was a morale boosting victory giving us impetus to kick on. We did not seize that moment and a lot of the players have actually regressed.
The mental pressure was off and we won. Our losing habit may be down to a psychological trait.
Not for the first time on hear do I recommend psychological assistance prior to our next European journey.
The pope didny help, perhaps a psychologist would.
HH.
BACK TO BASICS – GLASS HALF FULL on 29TH NOVEMBER 2023 1:48 PM
Good point about Mooy, it’s very difficult for Celtic to replace that sort of player with that sort of experience.
Although saying that he wasn’t great got us last season in the CL when he was still getting up to full fitness – his best football was from just before the World Cup onwards
You could safely argue that the time to worry about ‘signing’s might be when BR starts waving the chequebook.
See Liverpool, see Leicester, see Compper.
Of course Brendan will have the final say on who gets signed, he may not want any of those offered to him, but as he said before, any player is better than no player.
So I don’t hold him responsible for the recruitment, this is down to the boards strategy of trying to find the diamond in the rough who sells for the big bucks.
“There’s method in the Magners”
CiderdrinkersCSC
BSR
The Telegraph has us linked with a 22 year old Portuguese left back this morning. If true it looks like he’s being kept away from the bank logins
A good afternoon from the Victoria Bar. Baltic out there. 🥶
And another thing…..
Who wiz that guy up there in the picture wi Brendan?
We can’t improve on one position because, you know, the bigger picture…
Goal keeper ?
We can’t improve on two positions, because, the bigger picture…
We seemingly can’t target weaknesses in the team because the board have a bigger picture that mere fans couldn’t appreciate.
Three transfer windows under Mark Lawwell that have been a bin fire but the bigger picture, whatever that is, is just fine.
GP – With you.
I think the approach to psychological preparation is worth a look.
BTW – at risk of sacrilege ….
… Is an audience with the top man in an organisation which preaches charity, piety and humility ….
The right preparation for a critical athletic contest?
I also think the January transfer window will be indicative.
I sincerely hope the mantra is buy a good one or no one.
If a good one is not available in January then no one suits me fine.
PS – “Good one” can include a project … but of the Édouard, not the Yang variety.
AN DÚN on 29TH NOVEMBER 2023 2:06 PM
The bigger picture is that concentrating on improving JH and GT misses the bigger issues.
We have 3 goals in 5 games – only one team out of 32 has scored less than us this season and they’ve only played 4 games. Last season only Copenhagen and the Huns scored fewer.
We needed improving in other areas before keeper and LB at the start of the season if we had any ambitions to do better, it looks like we still do.
CELTIC40ME
I never see the point in Brendan signing, Lawwell signing debates, the strategy has seen the same ‘recruitment team’ strategy since the beginnings. Brendan is back and he’s happy with his lot, including intact CV, top salary, and top ‘elite manager’ billing some supporters give him.
We got ‘lucky’ when Ange pointed us east in the Kyogo direction then ‘unlucky’ when the well apparently went suddenly dry with Idegucci,Kobayashi, Oh, Yang, Kwon, blah, blah. Nawrocki Lagerbielke and definitely Tilio had little to do with BR, I’d imagine these names were there during Ange’s time. Wanting Brendan Rodgers to buy exclusively players he exclusively identifies is a pure waste of time.
Pragmatists will judge performance at the business end of this season, and when BR has a squad fitting in size and strength, which in his words won’t be clearer till September 2024.
CELTIC40ME on 29TH NOVEMBER 2023 2:26 PM
What areas did we improve on last summer ?
SHIPWRECK takes me back to my COBOL programming days when I was with the Ministry of Defence Navy.
FD SHIP
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01 SHIPREC
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CELTIC40ME
True but FCK were also 2-0 up away to Galatasaray before being reduced to ten men. Their performances and results have been considerably better than ours this season. Didn’t they also knock us out of the Europa League not long ago?
GEEBEE1978 on 29TH NOVEMBER 2023 2:48 PM
Looks like they did. Against a good Celtic team as well
I watched them against united, they didn’t look like a good team to me. And I’d hope weed sim higher than their record in Europe over the last ten years, it’s not much better than ours
fyuioul
BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 29TH NOVEMBER 2023 2:40 PM
True enough, it’s an outdated way of doing things, if ever it was our way.
It looks like the Huns have learned the hard way it doesn’t work. Now Beale isn’t there to sign players he spotted playing against Liverpool u17s it’s all data driven and extensive scouting networks
AN DÚN on 29TH NOVEMBER 2023 2:42 PM
We signed three wingers, two cbs, two attacking mids and a defensive mids. All with a view to improving the squad straight away and in the future
We had two left backs already at the club and 3 keepers. I don’t think those positions were seen as a priority, I’m not sure of BRs thinking but it didntt seem to be his.
When Brendan talked about needing quality last night, after we held out for 80 minutes and weren’t able to score after it to get the win I don’t think the quality he was referring to us needing was at keeper or left back
I know who we signed mate.
Were did we strengthen?
What areas are stronger this season than last ?
We had two left backs already at the club ? 3 keepers ?
Are you being serious ? Dare I suggest that it doesn’t matter how many players you have for a given position if they’re not good enough ?
AN DÚN on 29TH NOVEMBER 2023 3:17 PM
What areas are stronger this season than last ?
A different issue to what we were discussing – the failure to improve on GT and JH
And one that even you must be getting bored of
Nicholson and Lawwell rinsing us for fortunes. Change needed.