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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Kittoch
10:39 on 1 August, 2014
____________________
How does what Neil said, square with him signing the confidentiallity thingy?
LiviBhoy
10:35 on
1 August, 2014
Correct thats the self agenda on the media, no morals, no fair play
No any pundit buying in to that is a soup taker……………………………. right ?
Ooooooooops now i have went and said it
lennon’s passion
10:34 on 1 August, 2014
Wee question if super manager is so good can anyone give me a explanation to why Izzy was dropped for Matthews. Serious question.
—————————————————————————
We’ll never know, will we?! If you want me to guess I’d say that Matthews must have shown more in training that Izzy did?
Allegedly it is the usual prematch press conference right enough.
big wavy
I’m just getting frustrated with our policy of signing players who are not performing at their current clubs and assuming they will romp the SPFL when they do arrive and struggle. The players themselves seem surprised at their inability to perform in our league like they expected to walk it!
Getting players in who can at least perform in our league is a start!
LB
RRDH,
Won’t have me argue that on the signing front. We’ve become slavishly one dimensional risking too much on too many small bets.
Malky says he’s coming nowhere near a club that has posters who don’t have him in the same sentence as legends Henrik and Paul. Don’t they remember he scored the goal on Henrik’s debut ffs :)
lennon’s passion
10:34 on 1 August, 2014
Wee question if super manager is so good can anyone give me a explanation to why Izzy was dropped for Matthews. Serious question.
Izzy got taken off injured at Murrayfield. Maybe he wasn’t 100% fit.
Your free trial continues today with:
Welsh Bard
4.25 Bangor (8pts win)
5-y-o trained by Donald McCain. Just two chase runs so far, 2nd in a novice event and then winning the latest, a handicap, at Market Rasen over 2m 6f. Just 5lbs higher today and with the step up to 3 miles sure to suit can win again under Sam Twiston-Davies. 2/1
Bella Varenna
5.50 Newmarket (4pts e/w)
Lightly raced filly, trained by Marco Botti. Just two runs this season, staying on into fourth in a Doncaster maiden over 1m2f before winning handicap at Lingfield over today’s trip. Still improving and with a capable claimer negating the 4lb rise, can score again tonight. 5/1
LB
Lennybhoy
Thanks as always. Losing last year’s Kris Commons without a goal and creative replacement would require large cojones :)
Could be a very different team come 1st September.
Big W @ 10.31
Player spend is probably based on figures of the AV variety.
You remember he cost £1.5mill.
If he won the Golden Boot, a Nobel prize and the Ayr Gold Cup all in the same year.
Those were the days — all the exceptional write downs in the accounts to keep the figures straight.
big wavy
ye have just named the next dream team
malky n henke
MadMitch
10:40 on 1 August, 2014
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.
————————————————————————
Difficult to disagree on the ways you identify to maximise income. Re: the CEO bonus – how is this calculated? What are his KPIs?
GCT @ 09:03
It’s a special night in more ways than one for you then, my favourite nemesis :) I’ve a feeling with it being a family thing now, that we might just wing this – even though it’s in flamin Tram City ! :)) Glad to hear you’re enjoying your return to close family.
big wavy
10:45 on 1 August, 2014
As I posted earlier, WBA a Club looking at Matthews. Twitter world over last few days hinting at Southampton being linked to VVD and FF. Heard this a couple of weeks ago.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Fast forward 3 years
Interview with Ronny after last 16 in CL
So Ronny how did you feel after losing 4 1 away to legia
” shocked at how poor the squad was after I joined , I had said at the interview that if I had most of the squad from CL from last year, that I would make those players better without any new signings , I was really surprised that Peter Lawell thrust a contract under my nose at that point, I soon learned that the squad was poor , I tried to play football in a way I wanted to play but the players I had were sadly lacking
What changed Ronny?
” well after drawing with legia in the 2nd leg , Peter lawell suddenly was not there , I was told that all transfer funds from any players sold would be given straight to me ,the new CEO was great, all he talked about was the team on the park,I heard later that his bonus only kicked in with trophies and progression in Europe, I also become aware of my own limitations and changed tactics to get men behind the ball, it made a difference that I could bring in experienced pros
I had said to the CEO that these guys might not have any sell on value , but he said he was only interested what happened on the park
I asked Ronny about the balance sheet and income Ronny replied ” well as you know we have brought through projects from the youth development and those players have excelled playing alongside top pro’s. We sold a few of them for good money ,we tend not to have players on the bench now who are foreign and earn good salaries, 2 out of the 4 last week are under 20. Also being in last 16 for last 2 years means our sponsorship money and merchandise sales have rocketed
I then asked Ronny what his first old firm game was like, Ronny replied ” well I never attended Celtic park when we played rangers in past years , all I can go on is playing a new club from ibrox called Sevco , it was funny , we won 7 0 and their manger ally spent the whole game eating pies
Oh I wish :)))
Jungle spy ghuy:
If Neil has signed a confidentiality agreement it will cover specifics like what his budget was going to be, or how much if anything Sammy was actually offered. It can’t and won’t legally be able to cover such things as he discussed recently, the result, the spend in general, thats opinion that he is sharing and not fact’s
Hope that helps
Kittoch
timaloy29
10:05 on 1 August, 2014
Agreed….
Birthday today, name work and off to Rothsea for a wee day oot.
GCT @ 09:10,
FFS, now you’re starting to sound like an EOAP.
My worst nightmare. “Oh son, ken a loast ma bus pass oan thu flamin trans”.
Or, posh Edinburgh speak, which when put into writing, is clearly just another terrible slang “Oooh, aigh lorst moy boos poss oun the charm”.
Sydney Tim owns a DeLorean.
FACT.
:)
big wavy
10:11 on 1 August, 2014
I think maybe HE’s struggling with his ‘vision’ …….. hope not, but I fear the worse….!!!!
junglejim
10:56 on 1 August, 2014
Happy birdie to you, happy birdie to you….
Happy birdie dear junglejim, happy birdie toooo yoooooooouuuuuuuu….!!!!
Sydney Tim
can you take us all back to 7:00pm on Wednesday please and we can have another go at it.
KittochWhoWantsBackToTheFutureForRonny’sSake.csc
Sydney Tim
You make a good point about having a team with top pro’s plus youth development players. This is definitely the way to go. Otherwise we might as well scrap youth development.
I believe we buy too many players and have far too big a squad. It just means a lot of squad players get to play in meaningless friendly matches.
Denny Johnstone has just signed for Birmingham. When he decided to leave Celtic this summer there were 5 strikers ahead of him in the pecking order: Pukki, Stokes, Griffiths, Watt and Balde. He realised there was no chance of playing and so no-one can say he did the wrong thing in moving to Birmingham.
Morning all
Still beelin’
I do not think the Cloak of the Mineshafter sits particularly kindly on me but it’s on now.
Wednesday was stinking and could have been worse. Qualification for the next round looks unlikely and there will be some good teams lurking in the draw for the Europa League as well. This was not how it was meant to be.
But it is how it is and there is no doubt in my mind that it should not be like it. I and others around here feel that lessons were not learned when we only scraped through to the CL last season after failing to make major investments in the team during the 2013 summer window even in the three days after we knew we were in the Champions League. I wasn’t convinced by the arguments of those who defended the Board’s position then but don’t expect them or the board itself to admit to any error in this respect. It’s all about the ‘strategy’ I’m told.
Well I think the ‘ strategy’ has led to Celtic having a bad team that will decline further. The money that was taken in from player sales in the summers of 2012 & 2013 as well as the revenue from the Champions League should have been used for the football and the upkeep of Celtic Park itself. Not a penny of it should go on vanity projects like the Celtic Way, a museum and yet another superstore. None of the , ahem, revenue streams generated by these projects will be given to team building because , as is probably right in any commercial concern, they’ll be used to keep these projects going. It disgusts me that Celtic should be about money and that I am so concerned by what Celtic do with it but that is the way football and our club is. The custodians of our club see themselves as Celtic as surely as the Kellys and Whites did and as long as 40000 people by season tickets they will be more untouchable than those rogues ( some of them anyway) of the past.
The ‘strategy’ which saw one popular flawed manager leave for no reason that I have been told to be replaced by a manager from a league no better than our own with a CV that did not scream out ‘get this guy before somebody else does’.
Ronny Deila should not be moved on just now. I can think of another Scandinavian who looked a complete pudding when we first saw him and he turned out to be rather good. WGS started ignominiously and 16 months later we were beating Manchester United. But…
He made such a mess of Wednesday that any belief that we had found a gem has receded almost to invisibility. The line up was bizarre and the players , especially the defenders, seemed unsure of what was expected of them. He may get away with it and he should be given time but it is entirely reasonable for people to have their doubts already. He will be luckier than Tony Mowbray who had a strong albeit cheating Rangers to contend with in the league but coaches watching Wednesday will be thinking about getting stuck into Celtic in a way that they almost never did under NFL
The players were a huge disappointment, lacking in basic skills and worse showing neither fight nor pride. It is understandable that the players – 9 of the starting line up were NFL signings – are a bit unused to the the (slightly) different approach but there were several out there who were unacceptably bad. The team which beat Rangers 6-2 in MON’s first Derby was mainly not ‘his team’ and contained several players apparently on their way out- they played out their skins for the new man. Aside possibly from McGregor and Forster I didn’t you could say any of the team did their own careers at Celtic any good.
Celtic will muddle through on the pitch and will delight us all – hopefully beginning on Wednesday- but the deeper problems caused by a board that thinks only it knows what is good for us even though it’s only good for them will not go away . The sadness for me is that I think they never will.
Jimbo67 praying to Oscar Knox and for Thomas Worth
Cheers for the reply. Izzy has his faults but I’m sure I read on here he supplied the most assists last season.
DEILA OUT
Lenny was , is and will always be a Celtic supporter. Make no mistakes about that. If he is giving his opinion it will be in that context.
A mate of mine was sat beside him recently at a football dinner. Neil expressed his disappointment at the lack of football ambition at our club.
He’s the same as most fans.
MadMitch – I’ve been hammering on the last couple of days about how the CL is not longer a route to guaranteed profit for the Club. Not as a defense of ‘the strategy’, which I endorse overall but I think needs relaxed on occasion, but as a measure of how critical times are getting if you play outwith the elite leagues.
If you look at season 12/13 when we got to the last 16 we got £18M in prize money and we had 4 home games in CL, let’s say that was worth another £8M in revenue – £26M. Out of that we put £5M in the bank and ended up with £9.7M profit.
The accounts for last season aren’t out yet but we know we got £14M CL prize money and I’ll stick with £2m per game – £20M. I reckon about £8M surplus + whatever our net profit was from players.
I reckon we’ve got about £10-15M for players and no European football before we take on debt.
This is a time when we need to bend ‘the strategy’.
NatKnow @ 09:46,
Eh?
Kittoch
10:53 on 1 August, 2014
____________________
Yeah, maybe things would have been a little different if he’d been a little more vocal when he didn’t get the Wanyama and Hooper money?
cultsbhoy
11:04 on 1 August, 2014
To be fair, we have the vision, but not the money….
FFM – I’m the only conspiracy theorist in the village)
11:05 on 1 August, 2014
NatKnow @ 09:46,
Eh?
——————————————————
LOL! Sorry mate – was getting you confused with another poster!
Anybody know if we make a signing before Wednesday if he can play against Legia?
LB
Jungle spy ghuy…
That’s a good point, but at that time he was collecting a salary and things were going relatively well, it appears that when it came to this years spend, after Neil requesting money for four top quality players that the split appeared!!
The other thing from his interview that know one seams to be discussing is the fact that top quality signings will not sign until we have secured Champions League football, that creates a completely different situation and cannot be laid at Ronny’s door, this is the same problem for any manager of Celtic
Kittoch
Wee … @ 11.04
I think you have got the numbers wrong.
If we make the CL group stages then with our current cost base we will make both a profit and a cash surplus.
CL football is critical to our business model — it should be our focus.
As noted above it is not critical to PL’s business model.
I am waiting to see what the full year accounts say.
The half year accounts suggested that the player sales were back loaded.
That is we seemed to give out a lot of tick to the buyers.
Looked to me that cash generation / bank balance is a PL KPI.
67 … @ 11.08
What is the vision?
What is your vision?
How do you want the team to progress?
Where do you see us in 5 years time?
MadMitch
11:12 on 1 August, 2014
Wee … @ 11.04
I think you have got the numbers wrong.
If we make the CL group stages then with our current cost base we will make both a profit and a cash surplus.
CL football is critical to our business model — it should be our focus.
As noted above it is not critical to PL’s business model.
I am waiting to see what the full year accounts say.
The half year accounts suggested that the player sales were back loaded.
That is we seemed to give out a lot of tick to the buyers.
Looked to me that cash generation / bank balance is a PL KPI.
————————————————————————
What are Peter Lawwell’s KPIs? Where are they documented?
I was delighted when Celtic took on Ronny.A breath of fresh air.I have liked his comments,his ideas of the way he wants to play the game.The Celtic Way.
That said,I think it was totally foolhardy ,not just by him,JC cannot escape blame either,to put out the team he did.
We were,to begin with,without our captain,inspiration,and driving force.We were without our best winger.This game was far too important to experiment in.Good God,why he thought otherwise is beyond me.To leave out Biton,away from home,leaving a great hole in midfield was unforgivable.To switch a full back,dropping Izzy,for no apparent reason was crazy.To play Bergets !!!!!!!!!?,without a shred of previous,maybe one training session,was lunacy.To introduce Kayal,lately,a headless chicken,instead of Biton,when a bit of calm,ball retention was required,was ridiculous.
This is not just me blethering my idea of tactics.We could all see it.He could not.
Very worrying.Maybe his brand of football is ok for his previous team,whom he moulded.A lot of malleable kids,open to all his ideas.
A defeat is not the end of the world for me.The way we are defeated is much more important,along with the reasons.