It’s probably easier to start with what went right last night, than what went wrong. Efe Ambrose was the epitome of composure, trying to retain possession whenever possible, his transformation since Juventus has been remarkable. van Dijk, Lustig and Izaguirre each did well. Fraser Forster had a few saves to make, but this was one Champions League game he didn’t need to pull off a wonder-save. He was totally exposed for the goal but otherwise Ajax didn’t really stress the Celtic goalkeeper, a clue, perhaps, to the solid performance of those immediately in front of him.
Our top two Champions League performers, Georgios Samaras and Kris Commons, both put in their least effective game at this level. Samaras’ normally-reliable touch and ability to hold the ball deserted him, while Kris looked like a guy returning from injury. Slowly.
The minutia of these games are analysed by each team and after last month’s game, Frank de Boer clearly identified that Georgios was the major cog in Celtic’s machine. The striker was triangulated by opponents each time the ball came near him.
Neil Lennon was left with few choices in the middle of the park. Mulgrew and Kayal would not have been his first choice partnership, given a free hand, but the only practical change there would have been to introduce Joe Ledley. It’s far from clear what difference this would have made.
Celtic persisted in playing down the left long after it was evident this strategy was unproductive. Late in the first half one wag text me to say, “Time to bring Forrest on”, which told the whole story. Anthony Stokes was adrift, largely unconnected to the ankle clipping going on behind him. In short, our play was predictable and correctly predicted by do Boer. We didn’t have a Plan B, which even the best of teams need to avoid defeat occasionally in the Champions League.
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Predictable as Paul67 says.
We have a very limited coach and our style (or lack of) play reflects this.
We have struggled all season long as every opponent’s coach knows what to expect and easily counters.
Not creating chances. Lack of ball retention are not just exclusive to champions league.
We are floundering and the plc’s approach of buy to sell is having a dispiriting effect on team as is Neil’s cautious system of not giving our talented youth a chance as we cannot develop a team strategy.
79caps
Willis biggest failing was that he wasn’t Steven Fletcher?
Flood has been player of the year at most clubs he’s been at and is currently shaping up for the prize at Aberdeen.
Gene’s a Bhoy’s name
09:21 on 7 November, 2013
First training session -trapping and controlling the ball
that would be a good start
………………………………………………
How about keeping them away from the Corinthian in the small hours of the morning?
The players look far to unfit for me to think the problem lies with lack of excercise.
Disappointing result, but in the cold of day. We’ve played Ajax twice and we’ve each won our home games, no surprises there. We’ve lost away to AC and home to Barca. This group is going exactly the way the majority expected it to. If we can beat Milan at home, which is a possibility, then Europe after Christmas is still a target going into the last game. As the old widows on the cruise ships say clutching their champagne glasses, “It’s what he would have wanted!”
A few posters have referred scathingly to the ‘long ball game’ we resorted to last night with FF launching many a searching hoof upfield.
This is NOT a ‘tactic’ as some have bemoaned. It is simply the inevitable result of a malfunctioning midfield and front line, unable to hold the ball and create, who are pressurised by the opposition into moving play all the way back to our own keeper who then must clear his lines due to no other avenue of distribution being available.
It’s how modern football works. It’s the gift Barcelona gave to the world along with their scintillating passing and numbing possession football.
Stop referring to it as a Celtic ‘tactic’ and extrapolating discussion on it; understand how it develops before you start ranting and attributing it as some deliberate ploy of Lenny or the players.
Jee-sus.
Don’t think it worked but picture on my twitter if you want a look
@Summa 06.55 previous thread.
Thank you for removing the gloom hanging over me this morning.
H.H.
TTLT – it worked mate. Thanks for putting that up.
Please make sure The Herald see it….!
T4
Hooligans
58 arrests re last night’s Napoli v Marsiglia .
6 policemen injured.
Here’s one happy clapper who wasn’t happy with last night’s performance.
Truly devoid of any spark. No excitement in the game apart from the 2 v 1 situation which James contrived to make a mess of – in line with the rest of the midfield and forwards. I would exempt Kayal from that criticism as I thought he did very well even with a yellow hanging over him.
Keeper and defenders were tremendous IMO.
Tttt -sent it to a few Celtic groups but none picked up on it yet
Auldheid @ 11;56,
Quite right.
There was a kid who left Ireland for America and grew up to be a man that built the World’s biggest Company – GE.
Now one of Jack Welch’s business tools for continued improvement was his ABC of man- management.
You incentivise your best 20% to stay and perform ~ As
You incentivise your next 70% to improve ~ Bs
You replace the bottom 10% ~ Cs
When first posting on CQN I put this forward as a good strategy for managing a Football squad.
Now we find Celtic have to work on this upside down.
The 10% As are sold for a goodly profit
The 70% Bs are retained
The 20% Cs are let go or sold off.
Now this is a challenge to the management if the squad is not going to decline, it is hugely important we carefully select, retain and improve our Bs if we are going to improve the team to be competitive.
Hail Hail
Sandman
12:17 on
7 November, 2013
————————
Agree. Though I would perhaps put it down less to lack of ability and more to fear of trying the hard pass when the easy option is to go back.
The club’s security officer better be very active today investigating what happened last night!
Our name will be dragged through the mud by our friends in the old media, as ever, but long term damage could be done to our reputation in Europe.
T4
Paul67
It was obvious from last night that DeBoer had learned from the defeat at CP.
I am sure, we also learned, but clearly not as much.
The disappointing aspect of last night is that Ajax are a poor team.
All,
My first away from home Euro game was vs Ajax just over 30 years ago.
Our defeat made me have a hard think about the differences and similarities on the games.
– in 82, over two legs we just won, this time over 2 games we just lost on head to head
– at that time we had a reasonable team, mainly made of home grown talent. Now we have the opposite with only 1 home grown starter ( I exclude Charlie)
– we had a culture of taking the money, for our best players. Now , ……
-we had a large stadium which could be classified as acceptable, but nothing more. Now we have a good stadium, but, compared to Juve and Amsterdam Arena it is average.
– we looked with envy at other clubs with smaller fanbases, but access to greater resources. Now …..
Finally in 1982, we had a magnificent support, who IMHO were sold short of meeting their ambitions by the directors. Now…..
I would love to hold on to our best players, but when the delights of Norwich, Southampton and Nottingham outweigh Celtic we are going to struggle..
I said here last night after 30 mins that we were getting overrun in midfield.
We start with basically five across the middle but with Sammy and Forrest in that form/mood and too wide, you’re down to three. Of that three, Commons wasnt 100% and anyway his best position is in the hole behind the striker, not the engine room where a body was needed. That leaves Kayal who was overloaded with work, and CM, who was not sharp enough to cope.
It followed that Stokes got little or no service and the defence got a right good chance to successfully prove how much they’ve progressed.
Many thank’s to Johan Murdoch and Malorbhoy for your wonderful company in Amsterdam.
Daniel and myself had a great time with both of you.
Hail! Hail!
Hugh Heffner CSC
TT
TSOAL
I feel the love.
I guess we listen to what’s coming out of the club strategy-wise & are influenced by it.
Unfortunately for us it looks like we just had a “Bummer in the Summer”!
;)
HAIL HAIL
thebhoydaveJAPAN
Nice one
allymac35-Sandman-agree,we punt the ball far too many times at this level.A lack of ball playing midfielders,who can take a pass in tight areas and create space for others.
TTLT – just followed you on Twitter!
T4
Lot of the usual shoite been spread aroond……bad night at the office …end of..we are still right in there with a win at Celtic Park….enjoy your day where ever you are …braw
For James Forrest info, look up Mark Burchill,Brian mcglaughlan and Stephan Bones,well out his depth!
Blantyretim,
how do you know that we have no strength in depth ? – we have rarely if ever seen any of them.
Given the lack of quality in the SPL we are wasting an opportunity in the SPL to blood our younger and fringe players.
Lenny goes back to the same players time after time. Kris Commons tweaked a hamstring in a game when he could have been rested.
Last weekend Fisher could easily have played for Lustig – who although brilliant last night looked like he was struggling towards the end.
Biton was not going to play last night so a start last weekend would have been ideal to rest some others. Or play Rogic.
This conservative approach is crazy – we will win the SPL by 20 points so why not risk 10 of them to develop our fringe ? It’s not like the top team are winning week in week out – they look tired.
It seems to take a long long time to gain the managers trust – then once you have it you get to play despite being half fit or off form.
As for our strikers – my God I am struggling to remember the last time any of them scored. Balde has scored 2 from the bench but that apart it feels like a long time ago.
Last night was as poor a performance as I’ve seen apart from the back 5 who all did well.
Time for a rethink Lenny – in January we need to sign the players to start in August as it will take that length of time to gain favour. Start off with a striker, then a midfielder with the ability to pick a pass – also a goal from central midfield would be welcome. A forward coach would also be a welcome addition. It pains me to watch Celtic being so toothless – my life as a Celtic fan has been a procession of quality forwards , but last night I just could not see any goal coming, especially with an unfit Sammy and Kris. Neither of them should have come out for the second half as they were both unfit and stayed on until the last 15 minutes – madness ! But out they came as the manager does not trust anyone outside the inner circle. Lot’s of managers fall into that trap and it tends to cost them their job.
Lenny – it’t time to develop the youth and fringe before you lose the support.
Seville67
We are not learning from previous mistakes in the Champion League.
Why is FF still kicking the ball the length of the pitch,we are continually giving the ball back to the opposition,,is it because Lenny has no faith in our midfield to pass their way through teams,if so why does he not give other players a opportunity to play there.
Why does he persist in making a position for Mulgrew when we all know that he is far below CL standard he is ok for league games against the bottom teams,no disrespect to the bhoy but that is his level.
The signings,apart from Van Dirk,appear to be a disaster,did Lenny sanction these signings,,
If he did why are they not playing more,if not why is he not more vocal about it?
I am quite a lucky old guy. I have absolutely no talents worth talking about, yet I have always had people in my life who have cared for me & supported me. When I try to rationalise it, I struggle. I have done nothing to justify the care & support that I have enjoyed. Being so limited myself, I make very few demands of other people.
I am in awe of all those on this site who are so talented & successful in life themselves that they feel comfortable about harshly judging the performance of the people who bring so much pleasure into my life.
Celtic is one of the things that has brought me most satisfaction & even joy through my life. I will never be able to properly thank them. All I can do is to try always to be tolerant of the times when they struggle. On those occasions I know that everybody involved with the running of the club will be hurting even more than I am.
At present the club is healthy & in as strong a situation as at any time in its history.
I hope that situation continues… It surely beats some of the situations we have found ourselves in in the past.
I suppose I am just asking that we take the bad days along with all the good ones that our great club has given us.
We are truly BLESSED.
In 10 appearances for Derby County Johnny Russell has scored 5 goals in a tough championship league.
So Pukki or Russell?
Russell for me at 750k was a steal. HH
Wonder when the MSM will tell us Amsterdam was full of Chelsea fans dressed in Hoops……
Afternoon Bhoys and Ghirls,
Accurate analysis by Paul 67.
Time for reflection : Arrived back in Glasgow in time for the last 10 minutes of the first half and watched the game in a city centre pub. To put it mildly extremely disappointed, both with the actual result but more so our performance. Seemingly the remainder of the 1st half was worse according to some bhoys in the pub.
The first thing is blatantly obvious; we punch well above our weight at Parkhead in the CL. The fans really do carry the team. There is no doubting that.
Secondly, Why spend £6 million on players and not play them, when a blind man could see Samaras and Commons were not fit.( As Paul67 stated above ) Have we bought players who are simply not capable of stepping up to the mark? Hopefully not but time will tell.
Thirdly, our overall levels of fitness look below par. This can and must be addressed.
Reading back; corkcelt @ 23.02 last night was spot on and eloquently stated that all 3 players who left the club wanted to go. He went on to say that if we want a player from another SPFL club we will likely get him.
But the other side of the coin states that if a EPL club wants one of our players they will likely get him.
This is the reality. No ifs and buts. It comes down to where we ply our trade.
As previously stated by many, the dilemma of how to entice a top class striker remains. IMO, if we could have had one £6 million player rather than three players for the £6 million then this is the road we would have gone down.
Our status in the European games is now defined by our magnificent support rather than our work on the pitch.
Our geography is dragging us down. In the longer term we must redouble our efforts to join the 20% of non English clubs in the EPL, or possibly more feasible hope for a European league.
However, on the positive side. Supporters from a newly formed team playing in the lower tier of Scottish football came in the pub after their game and were obsessed with us. They are clearly envious of European football and can only dream. We must keep this differential or hopefully have vacated Scottish football before they arrive.
Finally, hope all who made the trip to Amsterdam arrive home safe and sound. After observing the antics of the Ajax supporters in Glasgow I think it would have been naïve to think that there would be no potential for trouble. I watched the link from Hamiltontim @ 10.21 hrs and although the police actions are to be deplored it has to be said I do not think this portrays us in an immaculate light either.
HH, Always in Celtic.:
sandman……at last somebody talking sense…..with a knowledge of football
pressure pressure pressure…….takes its toll……….another myth starting to build long ball team………….don’t see it when watching spl games……..cos not the same pressure.
leading up to this game…..two things stuck out……..optimism! I for the life of me could not figure it out………the other…….was the incessant language used about being safe and watch out for extreme danger……………surely that is a given visiting any major city in this day and age………………….I have travelled many places with and without the celtic support……………and I know which one I feel safest with!!!…….I often wonder if its the same support we are talking about…………….great support great fun …..but don’t take liberties……….that has always been my impression…
I am playing catch up again.
jimmci
09:47 on
7 November, 2013
quonno
…….. It appears that, with the exception of Van Dijk, NL cannot trust any of those thrust upon him in the summer to even start games……….
This can’t be right.
If, as you suggest, the players were “thrust on him”, I would lose a huge amount of respect for Lenny because he should be resigning, telling us why, rather than accepting such a situation.
As I posted a few days ago. NL takes what he gets or walks.
If certain players were not being thrust on him, why does he simply refuse to play them.
Managers having players thrust upon them is nothing new.
A prime example was Dick Advocaat having Colin Hendry imposed on him when he himself preferred Amoruso.
Even Martin O’Neill appeared to have David Fernadez shoved at him.
Tiny TIm
Glad to hear you and Daniel are returning safe and well..great company and craic-HH
Aye Hugh Hefner indeed !
hi
i’m trying to sort out my proxy vote for the AGM.
should i allow marie mccusker at the celtic trust to be the proxy if i want to vote for the members resolutions i.e living wage and licensing etc?
many thanks
josimar
They were better in midfield than us. They retained possession and we didn’t. They controlled the tempo of the match. We needed a tactical change there I think. But they created very few real chances.
I can only assume that Joe Ledley wasn’t fit enough to play the full 90 minutes. Kris Commons clearly wasn’t either, but I guess the decision as taken to let him have an hour to create something. Kayal did some good stuff driving forward, but his shooting is so poor. Defensively he was out of position too often Mulgrew I thought was ok given that he is not a midfielder. But we were outnumbered much of the night.
Samaras, as already stated was neutralised. Forrest got little supply so couldn’t do much. But he should have done much better in the 2 v 1 situation. And with Commons struggling we created little.
For once our defenders were our best players. Virgil looked classy, Ambrose composed. Izzy did well defensively although on another night with another ref a second yellow might have come his way. Lustig was superb – pretty damned good for our second best right back.
johann murdoch @ 12:52,
“10 appearances for Derby County Johnny Russell has scored 5 goals in a tough championship league. So Pukki or Russell? Russell for me at 750k was a steal.”
Quite right.
It confounds the dual lie that is oft repeated here – Celtic can’t afford good strikers and good stikers won’t come to Scotland.
Hail Hail
Josimar is Neil Lennon
Do it online, instructions in your pack from Celtic, its a dawdle.
Forrest,Stokes, Samaras, Commons, are not midfield players, any time you have those 4 starting no matter what it looks like, or what the say or tell you they are playing 4-4-2 , 4-3-3, 3-4-3, whether you like it or, we are playing 4-2-4, so don’t kid me on, and you didn’t kid Ajax on either, only thing that stopped us from getting a real grubbing, was that Ajax played 4-3-3 they way they always do. Thank god .