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.
[calameo code=000390171ae033f39a0c4 lang=en page=120 hidelinks=1 width=100% height=500]
1,406 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- ...
- 30
- 31
- 32
- 33
- 34
- 35
- 36
- 37
- »
IGC
The bulk of our transfer activity has to be done in January. Whether that be signing players then or getting players tied up on Bosman deals. A change of gaffer limited us to very little action in January and also we signed no players on the Bosman deal which was the first time we haven;t used this option for a long time. Patience is required with the new gaffer.
We were all dissapointed with Wednesday but it’s how the players react next Wednesday that may tell us more about this squad.
LB
What’s this latest nonsense about Anto leaving. Well if true we are fooked only semi decent striker on the books. Do not get started on LG being our only striker(still do not rate the guy)
The reason we are not investing in proven quality players is two fold.
One it doesn’t fit with the strategy of trying to find gems in untapped markets that we can then develop and sell on at profit and repeat….
Two we can do this because we do not face challenge in the league. This was an inevitable consequence of the demise of them. The Board see no reason to over invest in the squad when they are nearly 100% confident that we are going to win the league each season.
Ronny has been brought in because they see in him a manager who can bring through the youth and begin to make our academy pay back in the investment in there.
Now you can either back this strategy or you can grin and bare it.
I dont think that until we are in a different footballing environment that this strategy will change.
What’s the odds for a 4-1 win next Wednsesday?
I think we’ll need that just to get to extra time.
Does anyone think we are strong enough to keep them out for 90mins.
RRDH
Fair enough. I’ve written before that our model and our need for ECL qualification will make us feel in a constant state of upheaval. I think we have to get used to it.
We stumbled upon the golden ticket when buying Henrik and growing Paul – 2 genuisues who I equally adored watching. I always think we can have new heroes. Why not ?
You could be right about Ronny but I don’t believe anyone can make an informed judgement about him after 2 minutes. I remember thinking we had stumbled upon a potential great when John Barnes started winning handsomely at the start of his reign – look where that went !
Keep the faith
Celtic came off the back of a poor season last season in my opinion, we won the league and got trounced in the CL, not great, Neil left pretty much at short notice, I’m not sure it was planned and that gave us a short time to get someone in before the qualifiers and I agree with Neil when he said it was perhaps on the cards, there were some other things that he said that I didn’t agree with, like Rangers coming out of liquidation???? He also said something about a strong Celtic and a strong Rangers being good for Scottish football and a strong selling point for the game here now correct me if I am wrong but is that not diametrically opposed to the majority of opinion on here about the dead team so where do we stand when our last manager and Celtic Legend says we need the strong Glasgow Two again?? I haven’t seen much comment on Neil’s interview and if you haven’t heard it you can listen to it on the BBC and get a load of the interviewer when Neil suggests that the ready bears might not come back to see exactly what we are dealing with here..
The time to strengthen the squad was after we beat Barca and had a high profile again in Europe, we bought a load of duffers and that can has to be carried by all the management team and the scouting team, now we find ourselves with a mountain to climb just to get to the next round.
FFS Celtic think about it..
We’ll done Lenny. He is right to voice an opinion, and he was only stating the obvious. Lack of investment equals results like Wednesdays.
Vinniethedog @ 10.10
Neil should not have said anything. Did former Celtic managers talk to the media about his first season in Europe – pumped by Braga and the mighty Utrecht.?
We laugh at McCoist for getting knocked out of the CL qualifiers and then the Europa League qualifiers within a few weeks. Well, Lenny did exactly the same in his first season. He should keep quiet.
Celtic Rumours twitter
Been told to expect bids for Matthews soon.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p023xsss
Link to Neil’s interview if you haven’t heard it…
gary67
10:18 on 1 August, 2014
WBA are interested.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Not trying to get Neil into trouble but, did I not read on here that he’d signed a confidentiallity clause with Celtic?
Gary67
Right back is an area where we can afford to sell with 3 good ins (for our level) there.
Celtic Rumours is notoriously rubbish though for rumours…
Time will tell whether Neil Lennon reached the pinnacle of his managerial career at Celtic. As player and then manager, he achieved fantastic success at Celtic.
Managing Celtic is always a challenge. When the aim of fielding a successful and entertaining football team is no longer a challenge then it is time to leave.
The main challenge for a Celtic manager is to assemble a team of players that can compete against the top sides in European club football. This is an incredibly difficult challenge given the unfairly restricted income that goes with playing in a country with a limited television viewing audience drawn from a population of ~5 million people.
Celtic has a large and demanding fan base with huge expectations including on-field success at all levels while playing attractive and entertaining football.
Meeting these expectations is an enormous challenge for any manager. Let’s support our manager and hope that he is up for the challenge and capable of meeting our realistic expectations.
Chris
Hi Lennybhoy
As you are on fella, any other snippets you can share with us ?
What happened to the mexican fella ?
Big Wavy
NL’s first transfer window brought in 11 new players with 10 moving out.
Can see a similar turnaround this summer.
Interesting numbers on KDS at the moment.
Bit of a fag packet analysis bit still valid.
The Lennon years — 2010 to 2014 — in numbers:
Player sales = £49mill
Player spend = £29mill
CL bonus — 2 seasons — prize money / ticket sales = £36mill.
We are now a selling club averaging £5mill per year.
Big change from the WGS years when we we investing in the squad.
The only figure missing from this is PL’s bonus “explosion”.
Interesting to see what happens this season.
Looks to be one out / one in and then there is the VVD / FF sellathon.
No matter what happens the support will be in for / or need to be in for £50mill this season.
The stupidity of our current strategy is now all to clear to see — unless of course your bonus depends on it.
If Celtic are not going to dine at the top table transfer wise then I think the strategy should be to buy the best players in our own league. Stevie May, Gary McKay-Stevens, Armstrong, etc would be better buys than going down the foreign route. Least we know these guys can play in our league. They won;t cost us much either.
LB
Whilst I have no problem with Neil talking out he should be wise enough to realise that these stories and their timing are NEVER done by the MSM for the appreciative benefit of Celtic FC.
The very fact that it’s caused discord here will have the newsrooms high fiving that their mission has been successful.
vinniethedog
10:10 on 1 August, 2014
We are on the same page – I have nicknamed him “The Consultant”.
NL would have – in all probability – got us to CL Group and win League
Anything less from The Consultant is poor
Now I am prepared to miss the CL and give The man a chance – but if the League ever looks on doubt – a change will be imminent
67ECW
Madmitch
Isn’t context everything ? Did season 1 not involve moving on WGS signings thus inflating the outgoing ? Could be wrong but the detail behind it would be interesting.
But ‘we are a selling club’ is hardly new news fella. Everyone outside those lunatics in Madrid and Barcelona and Munich probably are.
It’s the bad use of the reinvested money that gets my goat.
starry plough
10:17 on
1 August, 2014
The interviewer is nicky campbell a jambo
I suspect Neil will be a TV pundit very soon and i am also suspect the good ole aunty beeb will be his employer
As for Neil endorsing our old rivals………………………………..need to be careful on here
where do we stand when our last manager and Celtic Legend says we need the strong Glasgow Two again?? I haven’t seen much comment on Neil’s interview and if you haven’t heard it you can listen to it on the BBC and get a load of the interviewer when Neil suggests that the ready bears might not come back to see exactly what we are dealing with here..
Livibhoy
We are a global club and should use that reach and heritage to go for the best globally. Why limit our talent pool to the backwater that is Scotland (and Ireland).
We had a Kenyan settle and flourish, a dutchman, a nigerian, a honduran and an isreali to name a few. It can be done.
Just my opinion of course.
Wee question if super manager is so good can anyone give me a explanation to why Izzy was dropped for Matthews. Serious question.
I am hearing that Celtic have called a press conference for 9:30pm tonight in Helsinki for some reason.
lionroars67
Anyone involved in the media wants two big Glasgow clubs because it means more work for them and more exposure down South. They are interested in their own affairs.
LB
Ooops, I seem to be hogging.
But just pleased we are talking football and not…………..
The divisive ‘other’ push :)
big wavy
We have had far too many who have flopped.
Just my opinion. A few quality foreigners with some home grown talent and a few top players from other SPFL sides.
LB
Brogan – Is that not the usual pre-match fare before Tottingham Hotspurs match ?
Lennon’s passion – An informed guess would be to stop our left back bombing down the wing and be more disciplined on that side defensively.
I know, sounds pish after the event but maybe it was that.
lennon’s passion
10:34 on 1 August, 2014
____________________
Cos he’s wasteful and, gives the ball away too much.
big wavy
barnes….until henrik broke his leg against
lyon the team was flying. could have been
the start of something big. just goes to show
one wee thing can make or break you.
(he did talk a lot of sh**e too though lol)
as for our model of needing CL.
we will only achieve CL with a decent team
on the park, lack of investment on the playing
staff makes this less likely every passing window.
i think the model has to change somewhat to bring
us back from the brink. i touched on this yesterday.
(dont trawl back through unless u can be bothered,
page 6 im sure)
did ye ask malky? ;-)
Lennie’s interview only backs what 70% of you on here are saying that the board need to support the team and invest in better quality, I didn’t read anything about him slating the players or the new management team, if he is outspoken about poor board support then that’s got to be good for all involved.
Some people are never happy
big wavy
10:31 on 1 August, 2014
It’s the bad use of the reinvested money that gets my goat.
———————————————————————————
Pukki, Balde and Boerrigter cost a combined total of about £7m if newspaper reports are to be believed. Seems like a very poor return on investment on the basis of their performances to date. From the comments NFL has been making, I’m assuming he’s had nothing to do with the recruitment of these players?
Livibhoy
Wouldbn’t disagree and it’s not either/or for me but we should look for the best talent in our price range globally. If he happens to be on our doorstep then fine by me but we shouldn’t have a positive discrimination policy of going scottish, which is what I thought you meant.
big wavy
10:25 on 1 August, 2014
Nothing fresh, just what I heard last week that we were trying to get a couple of deals done before next Wednesday. Not necessarily Players to be signed but we are looking at two that I know of Gary MacKay-Steven and Paul Dixon.
There could be a few moved on before window closes. Couple of them been spoken about, VVD, FF and Matthews. From what I also hear do not be surprised if Stokes and Commons aren’t here either. As ever I am not saying any of them will definitely leave but there is interest.
On the Mexican, his name never been mentioned to me, I have probably read what you have on twitter or the MSM.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Brogan Rogan Trevino and Hogan supports Oscar Knox, MacKenzie Furniss and anyone else who fights Neuroblastoma
I assume that is standard practice considering we are playing an English side and we want to hug some of the SSN ticker this evening.
Hopefully Ronny is joined by Hangelaand at this presser. Would be a Ramon Vega type signing.
Question is can any new signing play in the 2nd leg against Legia?
LB
Sub @ 10.24
If you play in a league where the TV money is restricted then that means you have to make the most of the opportunities that are available.
For us that means we have to focus on the following:
SPL — Filling our 60K stadium.
CL — Total focus on getting to the group stages.
Cups — Treating them with respect.
Youths — bring on 2 first team squad players per season.
Merchandising — Breadth not depth, attract new fans both at home and abroad.
The problem we have — complete stupidity at the top — is that when you get Sussex you cannot cut costs quick enough to cover the falling revenue that your “safety first / Chicken Licken” strategy will deliver.
For PL and his bonus his get out of jail card is flogging VVD and FF.
RD will be tasked with finding and developing cheap replacements.
The CL does not focus on his bonus calculations.
2014/15 = Windfall / flog our good players.
2015/16 = TFOD2 will put bums on seats.
2016/17 = Trying to regain the league will put more bums on seats.
Then it will be time to retire.
BRTH
Is it the result of the “Dope Test”?
let the jokes follow ;)))))