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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Vinniethedog
I was in amsterdam-the support were as always great-good natured-singing-drinking -playing football in Dam Square
have a look on you tube “Ajax fans attack Celtic fans in bar Amsterdam”
I was in that bar with Malorbhoy and Tiny Tim -they were trying to break down the windows with bars and pick axes to get in-how did we bring that on ourselves?
The fans in the bar were a mix of young /old/male and female.
Im gutted at the result/performance last night same as everyone, what really rankles though was the lack of interest shown by Samaras. I’m not one for singling players out but his attitude last night was woeful, especially as he was wearing the armband. I also feel that we started with a very attack minded side yet showed little intention to attack, this also left us short of options from the bench when it started to go wrong. Surely we’d have been better off with the extra midfielder (Ledley) from the start leaving us the option to bring Forrest on to inject some energy in the last half hour or so.? Wouldnt be so bad but I genuinely feel Ajax were there for the taking last night
Hamiltontim is praying for Oscar
Sorry. In football as much else in life, nearly gets you nothing.
Paul67 etal.
I’ve spoken to a few Celtic supporters since the game last night,we all agreed on one thing,after 10 minutes we all new that Sammi was going to have one off his off days, If we all knew that, Why didn’t the Manager know that, why didn’t he change the system, why didn’t he take Sammi off.
I like Sammi, but you quickly know when he’s having a bad day at the office.
If Celtic and Ajax finish on level points who goes through to Europa on head to head – can’t see either making the Champions Lge knockout stage.
Oldtim67
and it was obvious commons was not match fit
When a young kid starts playing basketball in the USA and he is right handed he is not allowed to use that hand till he can fully control the ball with his other hand. Same goes for left handed kids.
First touch??? Dont make me laff cos am no in the mood the day!!! <:o(
Hankray
I would expect ajax on away goals
Mmmm,
American Military man based at the Nato base in Napoli was attacked by a group of teenagers in Napoli last night . He was then stripped of the Napoli top he was wearing. It is being reported that the teenagers removed the top because they believed that the American Military man had no right to wear a Napoli top.
Tttt…yeah got the email
sorry for the lack of reply
the email has been passed on though
kano has a new email that I will send you for comms
thanks again….as always…much appreciated
ramie
The recurring thought that I had watching the match last night was that KC makes Paddy McCourt look like an athlete.
We desperately need a creative midfielder who can retain the ball and create openings.
Ajax played a bunch of young players last night and for the most part, they gave us the run around; Big Time. Why can we not blood some of ours? We insist on spending money stacking up cheap imports and then leaving half of them on the bench or worse. I just don’t understand that concept; if it can be called a concept in the first place.
Wrong personnel on the pitch last night, with the wrong shape and no real visible plan, apart from punting the ball up the left with no discernable result. I hear us say that we just need to beat Milan to progress after Xmas. Unless there are major changes to personnel fielded and to workable tactics with basic skills and effort, then I sincerely and sadly, doubt that will happen.
StillgoodtobeatimthoCSC
oldtim67
Maybe he couldn’t see that?
Now that wolud be a problem.
A wee positive from last night.
The penny appears to be dropping with a few folk that we badly need striking and creativity qualities.
PL please note. And act. That is what you are being paid for.
I am normally a pretty optimistic person regards things Celtic, some who know me say over optimistic. I,m afraid to say my optimism is being steadily chipped away, I suppose it,s called realism. I think we need a total overhaul of all aspects of our club, out of the box thinking if you like,management,coaching, signing policy,commercial deals the whole lot. I travel from Stornoway to most of the home games-I appreciate others travel further- but I,m just not enjoying it as much as I used to,I just do,nt get the same buzz for most games. I,m now asking myself,financially, is it still worth it? I,ve been doing this for over 20 years, would appreciate others thoughts/advice to encourage me to keep going. Hail Hail Hebcelt
Oldtim.
How many times has Sammy silenced the moaners in the stand by scoring a goal minutes after they were calling for Lenny to get him off the pitch?
Answer:-
7 times this season. It’s a brave decision to take the top goal scorer off the pitch.
J Murdoch…….where the f*** did I say tic fans brought that upon themselves?????!!!!!
that my friend is the biggest misrepresentation of all time!!
I remember some research carried out into classroom teachers at primary level and their perceptions of bad behaviour. Basically, they were asked which of their classes over the course of their teaching career had been the worst in terms of behaviour. The underlying expectation would be that a teacher with 0 to 5 years experience would pick one random year from their 5 years of work and the teacher with 30 years experience would pick any class from the past 30 years.
I cannot recall the exact figures at present but the ones I use below are fairly accurate representations of the actual findings.
Over 50% of those with 5 years experience chose their current class as the worst ever, even though you may have expected them to have struggled more with behaviour management as rookie teachers in their first year.
Around 30% of teachers with 10 years experience, chose their current class too.
And the figure for teachers with over 20 years experience still hovered just below 20%, even though odds would suggest this was a 20 to one chance rather than the 5 to 1 occurrence it was.
There are 2 possible explanations for this phenomenon. One is that civilisation is going to hell in a handcart, a point of view which has been continually expressed since recorded written History and Art began. The other, more likely explanation, is a variant of what Psychologists call The Recency Effect, where you have a stronger memory for events at the end of a list than those in the middle. In effect, the teachers were saying, “my current problem is my biggest problem.”
What’s that got to do with Celtic?
Well, just read the OTT comments since last night. A team and manager which has recovered a reputation for being unable to win away from home in Europe had the temerity to lose to Ajax 1:0 following on from Milan 2:0. From being accepted as punching above their weight as 4th seeds they are now portrayed as the worst Celtic team in 10, 20, 30 or 50 years, or however long the poster’s memory could recall, or more accurately, suppress.
Those Celtic teams, they have outdone in terribleness, include the 1977 team who lost a UEFA Cup 1st round tie to Wisla Cracow, the 78 team who lost in 2nd round of EC to Wacker Innsbruck, the 81 team who lost in 1st round of ECWC to Timisoara, 85 team (2nd round CWC to Rapid), 89 team (2nd round EC to Bremen), 92 team (2nd round UEFA to Xamax), 97 team (home and away loss to Hamburg- 2nd round UEFA) and the 99 team that lost in UEFA 2nd round to Zurich.
Now, I know that the qualifying rounds of the current CL are less taxing than some of those 1st and 2nd round opponents were, but only some of them, not all.
I also know that all of our CL opponents, when we are 4th seeds, are superior to the opposition faced then.
Nonetheless in our CL group stages we have managed:-
2002- 9 pts (3rd)
2004- 7 pts (3rd)
2005- 5 pts (4th)
2007- 9 pts (2nd)
2008- 9pts (2nd)
2009- 5pts (4th)
2013- 10pts (2nd)
2014 (??)- 3pts(??) 4th or 3rd or 2nd ???
Where is the story of continuous deterioration there? The teams that achieved those 2nd place finishes in recent years also got the tag as the worst team ever, under WGS.
We are where we are.
A once mighty club (66 to 74 only) in a peripheral league in a country of 5m who, by rights, should be less successful than the top clubs in Poland, Belgium, Austria, Sweden and the Czech Republic.
We are following a model based on the lessons of Ajax, Porto and Lyon. Ajax have the benefit of pursuing this model for much longer than we have, in a country of 17m, and yet those former European giants cannot buck market trends to rise above a 3rd seed position. Porto have the benefit of the Brazilian market and the large transfer fees they have received in a 11m population country, yet find themselves in 3rd place in their group and one point better off than us. Lyon, in a country of 66m, rode the Moneyball model to success, after winning its first Ligue 1 in 2002 but, after 7 straight wins, have not won the league since 2008 and failed at 3rd round qualifying to enter CL. They are joint top of their Europa group (playing against the might of Betis, Guimares and Rijeka) with 1 win and 2 draws.
So, for all those with short memories and still ranting through the Recency Effect, it is an easy thing to do, to profess ambition without contributing to its achievement. It is the Celtic players, cowards and non-triers as they are described, who have actually achieved all of the above while we were in the pub. It is a much harder thing to ask of yourself, as Celtic players, to fight out of bottom ranked position to finish 3rd or 2nd, and yet this unappreciated group of players and managers, in recent years, have done precisely that.
I know which group I have most admiration for.
We, us football fans, despite long experience to the contrary, seem programmed to expect improvement year on year.
Long term performance tends to run between the limit lines of experience, with an occasional spike upwards (or downwards) that breaks the trend.
Celtic’s performances in the Champions League last year represent such an unexpected spike, influenced by a freak ratio of Goals Scored:Chances Created, and the emergence of Wanyama and Forster as top players.
This year, performances and results have reverted to a more normal ‘Celtic’ trend. No surprise given the freak nature of the scoring stats last year and the departure of Wanyama. The special causes of last year’s results have been removed.
I was disappointed with the result last night, but by no means surprised. Equally, beating Milan at Celtic Park will be brilliant, but unsurprising. That’s what we do, it’s our level, a level we have been performing at for 10 years or so.
We will not change our level (upwards) until our environment changes, something we cannot control. The best we can reasonably expect meantime is to manage performance towards the upper end of recent trend. Over to Lenny, PL and the rest on that front, but it’s hell of a difficult.
Maybe best just to enjoy the great moments, collect and share the memories, and shrug shoulders when inevitably reality and expectation meet.
creative central midfielder needed.
does anyone have stats on number of crosses vs number of goal scored this season?
40 Celtic fans arrested. No mention about the 200 Ajax fans who attacked a cafe??
SFTB
With nearly 20 years experience, CQN has been far my hardest set of pupils :-)
Hankray – Gene’s right, unfortunately. Ajax have the better head-to-head record than us, based on away goals. I don’t believe it will come down to the head-to-head scenario though.
The way i see it the next game is our must-win game, and that’s to get a Europa place. Barca will beat Ajax at home putting us into second place in the group on six points, with Milan on five and Ajax on four. If that happens, then assuming we get nothing in the Nou Camp, we will be third no matter what the result in the final Milan/Ajax game.
sftb
Good post!
However, the manager who has achieved so much for us, should surely have noted that our plan/system was not working long before half time?
That members of the side in key positions were not fit or, worse, were contributing nothing?
That changes should have been made long before they were?
The team performances since Morton, apart from the Ajax home game have been mediocre, imo.
But that’s ok, it Neil lennon and the Celtic.
Roll up! Roll up!!!
Every player has games where no matter how hard they try things don’t come off for him. One example would be Henrik Larsson.Henrik didn’t always play a blinder but,when he was having one of his rare games when things weren’t coming off for him he re-doubled his efforts so as to be making a contribution through sheer effort to help the team
This should not be confused with players who appear to pick and choose whether they will or won’t put in the hard work a professional should put in.
On a regular basis over the last few years we have had a string of players who appear to put in a shift whenever they feel like it.
You might get away with that (however annoying it is to the fans) in the SPL,you won’t get away with it for long carrying passengers or luxury players in Europe.Especially if you have at least 3 in your side at one time.
Why on earth are people laying into Commons and Samaras? These two players are the reason we are now regarded on the continent as a credible outfit as opposed to the shambles we were after the Sion games.
I can understand criticism of the decision to play them and keep them on the field but to suggest Samaras had a poor attitude or Commons’ lack of athleticism was to blame is nonsense. People do remember they are both returning from injury, right?
Commons had a hamstring issue and samaras is recovering from a huge gash on his knee (which is a terrible area for healing).
Expecting them both to be bright eyed and bushy tailed last night was out of the question. Perhaps they should not have played but the brutal truth is we have a very limited squad at this level. Lose our two game winners to injury and we are a poor team.
Clearly a decision was made to play them both half fit and hope they would produce a moment of quality to get us a goal.
setting free the bears supports Celtic’s best fighter- Wee Oscar Knox
13:20 on
7 November, 2013
………………………………..Braw!
We’ve all known we’ve need a creative midfielder since Lubo left.
The manager, the board the fans, the huns, the disinterested, the msm et al.
Yer bangin’ yer heid!
Now we all know we need a striker blah blah blah
I posted last night we aint spending serious money on anybody until the huns are back and are the main oppositon.
If I’m wrong, why don’t we sign a striker and a creative midfielder?
Not projects, trainees, but players proven in those positions.
And close the academy!
It produces very little for the money we spend on it.
Young players don’t get the opportunity often enough to justify the expense.
Ach am away back te ma work!
If we beat Milan and Barca beat Ajax it is impossible for us to finish 4th.
the green man
09:13 on 7 November, 2013
The signing policy is necessary, I’m afraid
Phikbhoy
A reasoned response.
For Neil, it is the old stick or twist dilemma
You could have subbed a lot after our first half performance. Kris and James improved, Sammi did not but who really knew it would be that way?
I seem to recall Nakamura having a stinker at tannadice and then scoring a hat trick, yet it seemed obvious he should have been subbed. Incidentally, Naka was often described in games on here as a waste of a jersey, now he is more commonly described as a genius and the type of player we are missing. He is another beneficiary of the rule that if you do not currently play for us, your form and standing will improve.
There have always been mediocre performances in every season I have watched football. We rant about them at the time but forget about them once the overall objective has been achieved.
Milan
This season they have been beaten by ——–
Verona
Napoli
Juventus
Parma
Fiorentina
sftb
Are you saying I’m Phik?
Your malkeyed the next time I see you!
Smiley face.
SFTB
Following on from my post a little earlier, it seems apposite to note that in the context of your post above, mediocre means ordinary. Average.
TBB
Dreadful scenes from the video put up by Hamiltontim.
Police brutality appears to travel the length and breathe of Europe
Seeing the state of Dam Square ,after the event,it becomes clear to me that alcohol should not be drunk on the streets,as the law is in Scotland.No way am I blaming any Celtic supporter for last night,it is just a observation
Philbhoy
Apologies
I never eve spotted that.
Fraid I was the phik one there.
If someone comes running at me in plain cloths, swinging his boot at me, THEN I would be one of the forty arrested , Dutch not to clever with that bright move, And I would be taking my case to the Haig (if that’s how you spell it)
TBB
And isn’t it terrible that, in this day and age, that 50% of the population are still below average? :-)