This was a defensive and tactical failure. Efe Ambrose was slow to follow his man for the first goal (Fraser was the beaten easily, though redeemed himself later). Efe was also brushed off the ball at the second goal. Strength in the six yard box is imperative for a central defender.
Mikael Lustig was caught underneath his man for the cross which led to the second goal, a feature of our defending all night. All he could do was attempt to block the header back across goal, instead of challenge for the ball. He was also in the wrong starting position, and therefore, unable to stop the cross which led to the fourth goal.
With Lustig and Ambrose already culpable at the second goal, Virgil van Dijk was caught napping. He may have expected better from his team-mates, but he should have remained alert with the ball inside the penalty area. The space afforded to Radovic, Virgil’s man, should never have existed.
I’ve no idea why Emilio, our only left back, was omitted from the starting line-up. He offered balance when he came on, until his late horror show when he was turned inside out, then inside out again, at the third goal. It was like watching a clip from the 50s, when full backs didn’t know to get tight and close-off one option for the attacker.
Charlie Mulgrew had a nightmare beyond the level of the others, which is saying something. Two penalty kicks, failing to attack the ball with his man, who headed the third goal, failing to track the run for the fourth, and the debacle which led to possession being lost when Efe was red carded, was a calamitous return.
I’ve heard transfer rumours about everyone who played in defence last night apart from Lustig and Izaguirre. It looked like the defenders had been listening to them too, and had minds on other things.
The squad’s weaknesses were exposed by Legia.
It’s probably too late to lament the absence of Wanyama, but with Brown again out through injury, we’re short of bite in central midfield, exactly what we needed when the defence was comatose. Stefan Johansen and Charlie Mulgrew had the senior combative roles, it just didn’t work. We need to fix this gap as soon as possible.
Ronny got things wrong.
I agree with the manager’s assessment in his post-match BBC interview, the back four didn’t defend as a unit, which is fatal at any level of football, and we didn’t press as a team. I’ll make no excuses for the defenders, but playing this specific 4-3-3 away from home in Europe was asking for trouble.
If we’re short of bite with Johansen and Mulgrew, we’re shorter still if the third man in the middle is the creative Kris Commons. Love him, though we do, he is neither a tackler nor a box-to-box player. The middle three in this formation need to be mobile, covering as much ground as four, sometimes five, opponents. Johansen, Mulgrew and Commons was wrong on all levels. As a result, the Legia midfield probably had their easiest game of the year.
Callum McGregor delivered a goal, as much as anyone could reasonably expect of him, but this was his first game against top-flight full-timers. He needs people to ease him into the role. Jo Inge Berget hasn’t trained with the club, has played only twice since January and there’s a reasonable chance he didn’t know the names of all his team-mates.
If you want to know why we didn’t press as a team as soon as Legia got in amongst us, the clues are everywhere. Of course we didn’t press as a team.
On top of this, we ran the same Pukki experiment as last year, with the same outcome. We’ve seen a lot more of this Celtic team than Ronny, who might now be on the same page as the rest of us.
“Anywhere but Warsaw” was title of the CQN article on the day of the draw as this one was entirely predictable, and that was before Legia won in Dublin. The new manager has yet to get his feet under the table. The squad are in a state of flux. We are short of experienced, reliable, players in several positions, and football in July is often a lottery. There was a chance Legia would capitulate but it was more likely that they would be fitter and better rehearsed.
Seven days is a long time in preseason terms, and as you don’t need me to tell you, we’ve been here before. Don’t think this is over.
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RogueLeader
Good to see you posting:)))
train station here I come :)))
The truth does hurt….be we should all face up to it.
Excuses wont do, blind loyalty wont get to the root of the problem.
Its so simple….if you don’t know what you are doing, you will eventually get found out.
If we want Celtic to be Celtic….we are going to have to fight for what we believe in.
If we continue to accord legendary status to PL and his PLC toadies, we will be in a dark place very soon.
Responsibility begins at the top, to claim otherwise is just nonsense.
PL is being very very well paid….for what exactly?
Sack the board
HH
Anybody got any TV highlights from last nights game ?
:)
New signing on from the start??
10 men.. 2-1 down 7 mins to go.. most sides would have parked the bus successfully
Naive!!!
Will be there next week looking for better.
I think the problem is not so much we haven’t invested in the team – it’s how we’ve invested. Millions have been spent on:
Boerigter
Balde
Biton
Pukki
Three of whom didn’t play last night and one who is – sad to say – simply not going to make it as a Celtic front man.
In that time we have watched players like Johnny Russell and Ryan Gould go elsewhere. We have missed out on targets like the Portuguese fella and the Finn playing in Holland, both of whom you suspect were higher up Neil’s wanted list than the ones we actually signed.
It’s great we got Wanyama, Hooper, VVD, and Forster. But if they are signed simply to be sold we need to replace them with quality, otherwise all we are is a revolving door for players and their agents, and whoever is the manager never gets the chance to actually build a team.
Would somebody take the cut and paste function off Sydneys keyboard please…
I still think Deila was a good appointment, and will come good. But my fear at the time came true, he said he wanted to play attacking football home and away, and we know we cannot do this at the top level. Not with these players.
I hope he’s not too stubborn to alter his philosophy or he won’t last long.
Last night WAS a disaster, we could easily be discussing an 8-1 defeat. Like everyone else I will cling to any hope and come next Wed. I will probably believe that we can turn it around. Ronny must shoulder a huge portion of the blame, but why did so many normally reliable players all play so badly on the same vital night. Regardless of what my heart says, my brain clearly tells me that we will lose the tie. We will need a kind draw in the EL qualifier to make the group stages there. We will need a massive improvement on last night to win the SPFL. I honestly believe that Aberdeen or St. Johnstone would have done a hell of a lot better than us last night.
Italiabhoy
Agreed. Our bang for buck up front has been pitiful. We’ve just spread our bets in the hope that 1 comes good instead of gambling on a better option with more chips.
Is it the scouts ? The philosophy is too risk averse and looks painfully threadbare when it doesn’t come off.
Morning Timland from a hot hun free mountain valley
How we all feeling this morning ???
Worse than Pedro and the rest of the suits I imagine…..
Aye, the manager made a massive mistake last night, the players didn’t do what was asked of them.
But for me, the mistake/s have been made higher up the food chain.
Going into the qualifiers seriously weaker than needs be is suicide in more ways than one.
Crowds will dwindle, we will have to sell to make up for the gamble that didn’t pay off.
Most on here are not targeting their venom at the right people.
Celtic FC
Not PLC
HH
Big wavy. Keyboard stuck on ” sack lawell “. It will stay stuck until he has gone
Ps how will he stay on SFA board if he is sacked
Disaster for PL ltd
Italiabhoy
You are bang on with your analysis.
What I am asking is….who is responsible for our downward spiral?
HH
DBBIA
you may be the only happy Tim in Celticland today .Demob happy! >}
People have to remember that ronnie is still getting to grips with what he has here.Indeed if we had got out of last night with a reasonable result [2.1 defeat or 2.2] which looked likely halfway thru the second half it would have papered over the cracks.At least the new manager will be fully aware of the job in hand.Im convinced he will have 2/3 players in mind that will improve this team [probably scandanivian types]….as someone perfectly put,i did not enjoy watching us getting mauled in the champions league at times last season…..we have to be patient ..we have had our fair share of good luck in these qualifying draws in recent years and have hardly faced any reasonable opposition..indeed last night appeared to be the first time we have come up against a team with genuine pace at this level and we were exposed for the average team we really are unfortunately.
What’s this talk of player’s being trained to hard…..is it a coincidence that young McGregor was apparently our best player last night, young lad, not a great wage, loads to prove and desperate to play first team football…
On that I’ll stick with the manager and his selections in the near future, maybe he found out more about the players last night than he knew.
The Celtic shirt does shrink for inferior players.
Ayrshire is Green and White
There should be a notice on the wall of the manager’s office re how to set up team in away European ties. The midfield debacle plus playing a guy who hasn’t been playing elsewhere so soon suggest that RD will be using Celtic as part of a steep learning curve.
No investment in the squad to seriously improve it for a tilt at the CL.
What happened to getting additions in early so that they are integrated for this make or break stage of our season?
HH
It’s depressing how often a ‘ Celtic lose away in Europe by a three goal margin’ result occurs and the extent to which it still has the capacity to surprise.
The only redeeming factor is that we have turned it around in the past and that has got to be on the mind of the Legia players and management team.
Sydney
Can we get it down to just once a day then :)
That would be progress……..
And remember the next CEO after this one will follow the same guiding strategy as the current one. You’re gonna need a bigger keyboard
Dbbia
Enjoy your retirement big chap
Attacking away from home in Europe = red flag = do not appoint.
Too late to change it now.
Can we buy anyone before next weeks tie to play or is Berget our lot ?
Firstly,congratulations to Mike in Toronto.
‘mike in toronto supports oscar knox
21:17 on 30 July, 2014
In case anyone needs a bit of cheering up ….
last night, I asked my lovely lady to be my wife, and she agreed !
so, even if the bhoys lose 2-1, it has still been a great 24 hours!!’
Secondly,congratulations to James Forrest,great article in On Fields of Green. He’s obviously been earwigging phone calls between my sister and I.
Thirdly,PL is an intelligent guy,knows all the great modern theories in sport like Moneyball,etc. Here’s one he should’ve remembered.
The law of diminishing returns.
We may have reached the point of no return,in fact.
LENNY TELLING ITT LIKE IT IS!
Neil Lennon spoke candidly on Radio 5 live this morning as he spoke about Celtic’s defeat in Poland last night.
Lennon had some of his major highs and debilitating lows in this competition and knows how the new manager will be feeling this morning.
He also knows what restrictions Ronny has to work under and conceded this result was coming as the board are not forthcoming with major investment.
Lennon said “I think last night’s result may have been on the cards. There has been no investment in the team.”
DBBIA – hearty congratulations mate. I hope you enjoy your well earned rest from day to day work. I’m sure you will keep yourself occupied.
Big Wavy
The current “Guiding Strategy” stinks to high heaven.
That’s what we need to get away from.
PL and his minions think they own Celtic….However, they don’t.
As soon as Celtic supporters have collectively had enough…They will be gone.
And good riddance imo
HH
DONTBRATTBAKKINANGER
And congratulations to you,mate. You’ll have all the time you need to explore the delights of Shangri-la.
Though of course I hope your retirement lasts past the weekend!!
sorry if its been discussed but why did we have ‘tennants’ on the shirt last night?…are they the same company as magners?..or did tony mowbray pick the team last night?
beamishismypint
———————-
Exactly, Neil knew what was coming and he got out..
Off to work,no point in me ranting on here.
I’ll leave it to the experts.
When I get back I know that I’ll be able to have a laugh at the confusion of those who dogmatically defend our recent policies,as they try to explain how those had nothing to do with where we find ourselves.
Which is good,as I normally need a laugh by a Thursday evening.
While Lenny is right about the result was on the cards, and no investment in the team, for me the policy is wrong.
We are on the buy cheap in the hope of finding another Vic who we make a killing on, all well and good.
When we waste millions in the quest buying the likes of Banguras and his ilk, it just disny seem to be working like it should.
Sadly the policy doesn’t seem to be flexible enough to bring in hardened players who will do a job for us, players who are plying their trade in the lower reaches of the likes of La Liga, players who are prob on a couple of grand a week if they are lucky, players who would jump at the chance to play for us.
We won’t be bringing these players in cos it doesn’t fit in with the policy………which is failing badly.
HH
Green Man
Maybe. We spend money in the market. Our return is poor and sadly that leaves a legacy on the wage bill that counts.
Nobody will want Derk and Amido and our approach to Berget seems predicated on getting the books balanced before committing to more long term spend.
FF and VVD are the easy ones. It’s the deadwood hanging about taking a wage that kills us.
frank ryan’s whiskey
09:52 on 31 July, 2014,
Best podium I’ve read on here, even if it was a re-post…agree with all you said, we lack a spine through the middle of our team.
If they are in their late twenties, so what, that is maybe the older heads we need.
Most of our projects have ended up rejects…
big wavy
In any other sphere of life….if me or you performed as badly, we would be sacked pronto.
But those rules don’t seem to apply at CP….mores the pity.
Failure should not be rewarded.
HH
DBBIA – where are you going to find the time to post on CQN when you retire?
Paul67
Good balanced summary of last nights debacle. Nothing more to add.
Fixing it is more of a challenge, I suspect there may be a few casualties along the way.
HH
TTLTim- 1 Corinthians 13:11 covers that point neatly.
What exactly was it Neil knew was coming ?
Lack of investment in playing squad ? Can Neil elaborate on specifics on the budget available to him
Who authorised the spendand who scouted the following players, did Neil have a say on any of these players being signed ? Pukki, ,Balde, Boerrigter, Griffiths, C Gordon only one of these started the match
Was there Interference in team matters above Neil ?
Some important questions needing answered
I’ll always love Lenny but if he’s saying there should be investment in the team, he should also acknowledge that he bought all the duds we now have (as well as a few quality players).