I watched Hull batter Leicester City on TV last night without putting the ball in the net. The sheer volume and quality of chances entitled Hull fans to some consolation in the valid football adage, ‘these days happen’. Those absent from Celtic Park on Saturday are likely to assume we similarly battered Ross County, but they would be wrong. County defended throughout but were never under anything close to intense pressure.
This is one of the right times of the season to have a performance like that, they are of little use in the first week in February, when the transfer window is closed. Clues abound as to where we need to strengthen, most pointing to the forward line. John Guidetti’s drop in form over the last month has dropped like a stone, but he’s still comfortably holding onto the striker position. Neither Stokes, Griffiths nor Scepovic are putting pressure on a young off-form player.
There is also the playmaker position, which appears to be on the bench. Kris Commons has been dropped before in his Celtic career, often for important games in Europe, where more industrious, but less talented, players were chosen. I spent most of Saturday’s game waiting on Kris coming on, but if his general level of fitness counts against him for a starting position, his lack of 90 minute outings since his injury earlier in the season means that his late-game cameos look even less industrious.
As I’ve been saying since July, we only have one playmaker and if he’s not playing or off form, we’ll struggle. With a match-fit Commons on from the start yesterday, we would have won comfortably. I’m happy to accept we need a playmaker who’ll cover 15k in 90 minutes, so sign one, but if we’re going to let Commons go, or wither on the bench, sign two, before we end up dependent on one man again.
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Big 31 days coming up for RD
So far its all been about fitness/stamina/pace ??
Assuming RD keeps this strategy – thank you and good bye to Commons and Kayal and one or two others
And hello to Christie and Armstrong
I expect a youthful looking Celtic that runs and runs and runs (Johansen types)
As for play makers like Lubo forget it a) because they are few and far between and b) they cost a lot and c) they generally don’t run and run and run
Quality cost money – energy and enthusiasm are better value
67 ECW
67 european cup winners
15:24 on 29 December, 2014
Armstrong & Christie would both improve us. Add McGinn as a back up to brown/Johansen.
67 European Cup Winners
Much was that Lubo guy ?
bournesouprecipe
Johansen gets opportunities by running about like the T-1000, getting in players’ faces and intimidating them into gifting possession to him. It works, kinda.
You’d put his recent bad form down to Bitton? I’d say he always plays like that, but fear not, I won’t entertain the blog with my splenetic opinion on the Norwegian dynamo. I think you’ve gathered by now I think he’s terrible. Bitton and Brown doesn’t seem to work, but what does? Whoever’s in there will bomb forward at Ronny’s behest, leaving poor Efe braced for the next angry Celtic fan weatherbomb.
Commons only works in the tried and tested 4-3-1-2 (i.e. 4-4-2 diamond), which Ronny refuses to use. He’ll be off in January and then it won’t be an issue.
Would prefer Scott Allan to Armstrong.
Cifcti being heavily linked too. Aint fussed for him.
leftclicktic 15:05 on 29 December, 2014
We need a fit winger.
three options against packed defences
Round,through or over them, No winger takes away the 1st option.
till later all
—————————————————————-
We currently don’t have a winger in our squad. I class a winger as an wide attacking player who can consistently deliver quality crosses into the box to give our strikers a chance to score from. Both Davie Provan and Johnny Doyle (RIP) were classed as wingers but only one, Provan could regularly deliver decent balls into the box. To me, James Forrest is more Johnny Doyle than Davie Provan only JD had a lot more heart.
BIG-CUP-WINNERS
15:30 on
29 December, 2014
67 European Cup Winners
Much was that Lubo guy ?
£350K – Do you know another we can get for £350k ??
I take your point – but reality is that was 10 years ago – now £2.5m gets you Skeptovic
BTW my post at 15.24 was an attempt at sarcasm??
67ECW
saint leo
Much sense in your post.
Great post paul. This window is reminiscent of when we didn’t buy when oldco were banned from buying. Something’s not right with the squad/lack of strength in some positions/form of some players/ the manager and progress is erratic. Don’t buy at our peril. Aberdeen won’t face clubs who raise their game every game against them and will no doubt now benefit from honest mistakes.
I see Lenny taking Commons to Bolton in the window. Good move for a great player. He should play for someone who appreciates him. Jury still out on Ronny. As incoming Celtic manager he had a tundra of margin for error vis-a-vis winning the league and he appears intent on exhausting every last part of it. I’m actually delighted to see Aberdeen and Dundee Utd emerge again from the malevolent shadow of the hun. Proof again that Scottish football really doesn’t “need a successful Rangers”. Malign baloney used to justify decades of cheating in our game. I enjoyed Sandman’s long view re-posted above. Whatever short term tribulations we experience this or any other season, for me nothing compares to the outright historical victory we have achieved over the hun. We might not be very good this season (for me our worst team since Macari), but I did live through the dog days of 9-in-a-row, with all the supremacism, triumphalism, press veneration of Murray and the utter hopelessness that we might ever be able to compete again. I don’t see us doing anything great in the window or on the park for the foreseeable, but I don’t think I could be any happier than in the knowledge that I’ll never again live through a decade like I did then. Credit to our Board over the past 10 years for knowing when to step back from the arms race.
http://mobile.newsnow.co.uk/A/750996818?-10583:834
So true, applies to a few on here HH
Good Article Paul
At the meoment ,we have three variations of Peter Grant , but no Paul McStays
Scott Allan of Hibernian is as good as any young player in Scotland,.I know he didn’t settle in England and moved around a number of clubs,but after that experience he may just be about to reach his true potential.Will be on small wages at Hibernian so that is not a problem.Commons is on his way out, he may just be his replacement.
Notthebus
great insight however how much would a Maestro cost?
notthebus
15:43 on 29 December, 2014
At the meoment ,we have three variations of Peter Grant , but no Paul McStays
Brilliant. The current problem summed up in one simple sentence.
Am bak too my lurkin corner, where the spider lives ;-))
All take care
H.H.
jackie mac
Aberdeen or any other ‘would be’ title contender don’t
have parked buses to negotiate week in ,week out either.
Sir Paul
Wheeeooooooooooo….
Paul, Ah am Astonished!
This is the FIRST time.. that You n I hiv Differed… hiving Conflicting opinions..oan the
Merits o’ a Celtic Player.
Commons, is his Name..
Kris ,has PLATEAUED..But..unfortunately,in His case ..it’s In the VALLEY!
He has had hiz Last “Hurrah”
Faither Time.. That Auld Rascal.. hiz Scythed Kris’s Auld Legs,fae under him..
Pffffft!! Wan fell Swoop..n.. They’re Gone.!
Hey.. Folks.. It Happens..
Kris is Finished… as an Effective Force.. He still retains his Fitba’ Skill..
But.. The Legs ur Gone..
Legs, ur very Important..especially, fur getting from A tae B..in the quickest time.
In Kris case..
He is Noo .. far too Slow.. Pity.. but , The Bell Hiz Knelled..fur Poor Kris.
Ah wull miss him.
Kojo
Still,Laughin’
e
greenpinata
14:30 on 29 December, 2014
Cheating is where you gain an advantage by nefarious means
The tie was deid and buried when the fella came in
I suppose you would also be so embracing of Uefas rule book if they decided to sanction Celtic by closing Celtic Park for a couple of games due to the recent and continuing indescretions by some sections of the support at recent away games
But hey oh I always enjoy a comedy act at this time of year
Kojo
kris is 4 years the junior of pirlo and i would say neither have relied on pace. The formation is the issue.
Question for regular match go-ers….have you seen even any benefit of our newly toned, leaner, fitter than ever team?
i anticiapted this would be benefitting us in the latter stages of games but havent seen much evidence.
Celtic’s games against PSV & Sparta Prague being shown live by Premier Sports.
http://t.co/KWX8MUbGqX
Good afternoon all.
Zico-Maltese Bhoy….
Thoughts with you, your wife and the family at this sad time. KTF.
Weefra HH praying to Wee Oscar.
Any truth in the rumours circulating Glasgow just now that a pal of wee Eddie Jordan is looking to offload his stakeholding in Celtic to a billionaire Motherwell business man
CelticRay
“Question for regular match go-ers….have you seen even any benefit of our newly toned, leaner, fitter than ever team?”
Yes occasionally, but we seem to have problems sustaining it. If you watched a highlights reel of goals we’ve scored this season, I’m sure you’d find a lot of them have come from us pressing the opponents aggressively deep in their own half and winning the ball back in dangerous areas. This is something Ronny talks about a lot. In the recent Motherwell & St Mirren games, some of the football was excellent and if we got the goals our overall play deserved, I suspect Ronny wouldn’t be getting quite as much flak. I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve any criticism(you can see some of MY own further up the page), but it would be wrong to say he hasn’t brought anything positive IMO.
I would like to thank the poster who introduced me to the writings of Craig Russell during the summer with the following quote: “Some concepts are alien to the Glasgow Mind. Salad. Dentistry. Foregiveness.”
The author understands the Glasgow of the 1950s and 60s and writes so well about it.
He follows up this quote, in the same book, with “The Scottish legal system at work. A model of fairness and justice where every man is considered innocent until proven Catholic.”
glendalystonsils
15:47 on 29 December, 2014
Aberdeen have had a good month and some think there in with a shout haha embarrassing to hear some of the shit Celtic supporters say about our club
I have seen the word Rocket being used a few times today so I would like to wish all CQNers a belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year when it comes.
notthebus,
While I agree we have no Paul McStays, I think that you are overly harsh in saying we have 3 variations of Peter Grant. There was only 1 Pointer, thank Ghod.
The higher the high tempo pressing game gets, the fatter Kris Commons becomes.
CQNMince CSC
Saint Leo
thanks, good that there are some signs of encouragement. It does seem to be very slow in coming.
Celtic Ray
Pal. Ah don’t even Know Who Pirlo is!
Commons, is Done.
There… Ah hiv Said it.
He has bin done .. since the Beginning of the Season.
Like Ah said.. Hey.. Folks.. It Happens.
Let him go tae Bolton.
Meanwhile.. oan a Mair Serious Matter.
Ronny, needs the Kinda Players that wull Thrive under his Leadership.
In.. Ma opinion the Following Cast of Characters ,presently Plying thur.. fur want of a Mair Appropriate word…. TRADE.. at Celtic Park..
Are Not the Kinda Players that wull Thrive under Ronny’s Promptings.
Here ur the Culprits’ Names..
Matthews, Izzy, Efe,Mulgrew,Forrest, Griffiths, Stokes,Bitton,Broony,Forrest,,,
n.. Commons.
That leaves.. only.. Gordon, Steffi n Virgil.
Ah am sure that ye know where Ah am Goin’.. ???
Right.. Kiddo..
We Need ,Almost..a Complete Clean oot of the Parkhead..Byre.
Noo, Ye Know.
‘
Nice Chatting Pal…
Kojo
Still, Laughin’
When is payroll due, and will Mash be digging deep again..??
Just read a wee bit back but am glad folk are beginning to realise that playing for the likes of Aberdeen and the others is vastly different from pulling on the Hoops. Their players are under nothing like the pressure nor are they faced every match by teams raising their game or packing their defence. So far this season, when the media got fed up extolling the 2 tier of Scottish football when their favourites got found out, we have been told how good Hamilton, Dundee Und, Dundee and now Aberdeen are. They aren’t. Not one of their players is good enough to pull on the Hoops, imo.
How many get a result in the game after they meet us? I haven’t examined it but I would hazard a guess at gie few because they have spent a week (when most of our players will have had a mid-week game) preparing for us and then given every ounce they had to get a result.
The problem with a workman like side is they can always be outworked.
Creativity and flair are becoming obsolete in the modern game.
The diagonal ball that guys like Pirlo use so brilliantly has almost disappeared.
The obsession with possession is stifling creative thought.
Players can retain high stats by making zero risk pointless passes.
This is the new norm
We need a high tempo system but the players need more intelligent movement coached into them for this system to be successful.
Chelsea seem to have the best balance of creativity skill and workrate.
Guardiolas Bayern will fail in Europe again as his insistence on ball retention has made them less potent than the previous coaches champions league winning team.
Real Madrid will probably win Champions league again as they seem to have an even better balance than Chelsea.
Barcelona will be pretty but ineffective.
I hope RD has learned how to park the bus, I fear that is what we are going to have to do against Inter, two 0-0 draws and hopw we win on penals…..??
Kojo
you are not asking for much!
unlikely to see a clear out like that. Have to disagree on some of the names mentioned however worries me why a manger would so adamantly stick to a formation that appears so unsuitable for the squad he has.
van Gaal has had to regularly change his formation at Man U which has also achieved mixed results.
glendalystonsils
yeah – teams can play well given space. Stick two lines of four in front of them, that’s another matter- imagine of another lubo came along – aaaaaahhhh
Re Scottish signings, not so keen on Armstrong. Remember one or 2 matches where he’s played well against us, but far more where he’s been anonymous. Very quiet in Cup final vs St Johnstone last season.
Don’t know enough about McGinn or Christie.
One who always impresses me though, & whose name is never mentioned, is Peter Pawlett of Aberdeen. Seems to have the athleticism Ronny likes & a bit of devilment too.