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
- ...
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- ...
- 37
- »
If as some are saying due to the financial situation in England ie Mc Cormack being sold for 11 million etc. Celtic cannot compete and some are saying it will only get worse.Should we forget about Europe and just concentrate on Scottish football and winning the treble every year? or how can we become competitive in Europe there is no point in saying leave Scotland as we know this is not going to happen in the near future.Was it finance or lack of it that got us gubbed last night by a team who pay there players less than Celtic and who dont spend half the money on transfers that we do ? So while finance is a large part of football if it was everything we would have beaten Legia last night.Last night was a combination of things all within Celtics control 1) the managers team selection was wrong 2) the money we have spent recently has not been spent well 3) the players let themselves and the Celtic support down with an inept performance.H.H.
What are these match fixing allegations about?
LB
Madmitch
I was looking at Malmo not as an example of a community club- I had no idea they were until I looked at their Web site- but in relation to what if they had lost to Rangers in 2011 who were given a licence to play them by the SFA ie Res12.
Whenever anyone on CQN tries to look beyond the personalities to the policies and the reasons for those policies, they risk coming under attack from those who prefer the simple option of blaming the personalities.
If you stick to blaming the personality the absurdity of that argument is found in the argument itself. That is in the pursuit of his bonus PL Is cutting off the income on which such bonus depends.
Of course if PL Is mad then your analysis is correct and removing him would change everything.
I suggested an alternative to current policy to Sidney Tim not based on personality ( and ST is no PL fan) and nearly fell off my keyboard when ST agreed with that alternative. ( Dump development and reduce squad size to increase wage structure).
PL Is a Celtic employee doing a difficult job in difficult circumstances. If I have a criticism it is that I would like him to show greater leadership in taking our game forward and Celtic with it.
When I say show I do not know of he is already attempting that ” under the radar” but if he is I think it’s time to become more visible in that respect. There is never going to be a better opportunity than now with Scottish football a rudderless ship with no captain.
Good afternoon all.
DBBIA
Congratulations and good luck on your retirement. Since I retired I sometimes wonder were the heck I had time to work. You will probably find it the same. :-)
Not so long ago on here the general consensus was that we were more suited to the EL rather than the CL. So why are so many upset at the outcome of last nights game. Agreed, the team looked toothless (I am one to talk) but I’m sure we will see a different Celtic next week. Hopefully. KTF.
Weefra HH praying to Wee Oscar.
LiviBhoy
Not entirely sure but that account, prior to last nights match, made strong suggestions that Celtic should be making strong investigations into the choice of referee for the match. No reason was given…
HH
Joe Filippis Haircut
14:14 on
31 July, 2014
It’s more just an indicator of where the transfer market it. Last season there was so much talk of a £5-6M striker being the difference.
In light of Ross McCormack would you be sure?
It all filters down and I bet Stephen Thompson put £250k on the price of all his boys after seeing that.
RD has also said in his meek attempts at explaining last nights debacle , that he must take the blame because he must be clearer in his instructions to the players, because some closed high, some low.
Sorry RD, that one doesn’t wash because that’s what a captain is for.
Keep looking closer to home – or rewind the clock 4 weeks and read what you said about how you were goin to begin tactically – and then analyse it against what you actually did.
Then ask yourself why you did the complete opposite..
efe=liability
just another tim
Ambrose is not a bad player, however never a centre back in a million years. Has caused more goals at the top level than anyone else. He has no upper body strength and is easily shrugged off the ball. I watched home being rag dolled by numerous opponents last season. He is also very poor in the air and is frequently seeing mistiming his jump. Why any manager plays him as a centre half is beyond me.
I think he is best moved to full back or midfield where he can better use his abilities.
any nags news to replenish the pot after last nigh??
BECAUSE…we’re a club like no other.
BECAUSE…there’s always something to play for.
BECAUSE…it’s 3-in-a-row and counting.
BECAUSE…we just can’t get enough.
BECAUSE…it’s a grand old team to see.
BECAUSE…I’m very disappointed.
BECAUSE…we haven’t invested in the team.
BECAUSE…we could be out of Europe before the league season begins.
traditionalist88
Thanks
weebobbycollins
We will not be out of Europe before the season starts. Impossible.
LB
weeminger. I understand the point being made however,if it was 100% accurate Legia Warsaw would not have turned up last night but some one forgot to tell them.Football is 11 players v 11 players if you use the financial arguement Celtic would have been winners last night however,as I said earlier last nights defeat was of Celtics own making.H.H.
DBBIA- a long ,happy and healthy retirement.HH
The Balance Sheet Bhoys are quiet today, as the chickens come home to roost.What’s Norwegien for Ally MacLeod?
BREAKING NEWS : Sports Direct undermines The Rangers manager with website message http://www.sportsdirect.com/rangers-walter-and-ally-t-sn-32-374955?colcode=37495501
Thank you for congratulations. It was my big pleasure to meet Pogmathonyahun here and spend few hours together with good man. As for the game, I was really very shocked to see that weak Celtic yesterday. When Legia were one down I expected us to get back to the game but did not expect this could be that easy as this was. Had few questions from my friends – what’s going on with Celtic, and I could not give proper answer. Here, I’m not going to criticise Celtic players, digging a hole under Peter Lawwell, or whatever. Apart from seing how poor Celtic team was, another thing that surprised me was – how easy this partnership Radovic-Duda worked? I read people were comparing wages at Legia and Celtic. Radovic is the player whose wages per year are 400 k euros. This kid Duda we bough for 250 euros few months back. Wish both teams all the best and it’s big shame we meet now. It’s half time.
Professor Green
I just don’t rate him and never have, in any position. He is a liability. Perish the thought of him playing in midfield, how many times have we seen him run into midfield, get tangled up in his own legs, lose the ball and put us on the back foot. No thanks
HH
The CQN latest article is titled “Defensive and Tactical Failure.” Succinctly sums it up.
If we look at the 12 CL qualifiers last night, there were 5 draws, 4 home wins, and 3 away wins. Out of 24 teams, no team, with the exception of Celtic, lost more than 2 goals. We lost double that, and we all know it could easily have been 6 or 8.
So why, out of 24 teams, are we the ones who cannot keep a game tight? The Cypriots have overtaken us. We are probably on a par with the Slovenians and Azerbaijanis. If we keep downsizing at the same rate, we might be playing the Gibralter champs in a future first round. We were seeded this year. Another disastrous performance, and that might also disappear.
We never have ambition, never seem to plan, continually repeat our mistakes. Why haven’t the lauded sports science, diet and nutrition advice, first class training facilities, etc, etc translated into players that are fit, fast, and can control a ball with one touch.
Look at the build of Radovic, and the German World Cup team players such as Mueller, Ozil, Kroos – lean like whippets, and can run all day at pace. Look at the way Dresden’s left back gave our players 10 yards in 20, and still outpaced them. (I would sign him, by the way.)
Rant over. Just sick this morning reflecting how low we have sunk. Barring a miracle, we will miss out on the increased CL funding this season, meaning we will likely sink further.
I don’t always agree with Neganon2, but you have to admit, he has been right on the money on this one.
IniquitousIV
Longtime lurker, but first time poster. Go easy on me!
Few observations from me :-
1) PLAYERS – so many poor individual performances. I struggle to remember a game where so many of our players on an individual basis played so poorly. Passing, retention, individual errors, not sticking to your man, etc. A lot of comment about Charlie M, understandably so, but he was in good company!
2) RONNY – I’ve been really encouraged by Ronny in his proposed approach to the game, and in his dealings with the press. He comes across as very confident and is able to bat back the usual agenda driven questions our media give him. However, from today he will find that heat has risen a few notches. But he needs and deserves the support of every one of us. One game won’t make or break him, but like Strachan after Artmedia, he now plays catchup.
3) TEAM SET UP – I’ve mentioned Ronny’s preferred expansive approach. In general I’m supportive of this, especially in the SPFL, but a 4-3-3 in the champions league away from home is very rarely successful, unless you are Barca or Munich, or have players long schooled in the approach. Seeing everyone in the midfield driving forward only to see it break down without any cover seemed naive to me. A throwback to some of the Euro displays in the ’80s
So…….the return leg. Can we win it? Yep we can, but a lot of our players need to take a long hard look at themselves. They let themselves and supporters down last night. Payback time.
Erskinetim
Zbyszec. Yes it is half-time but unfortunately I dont think you have much to worry about other than who Legia Warsaw play in the next round. H.H.
Well lots of opinions being flung about today so here’s mine
This new guy is never gonna make it as a Celtic Manager, he’s another Tony mowbray and unfotunateky for us its not going to work out,
Personally I’ve written off the Champions League for this season, and hoping for a favourable draw in the Europa Qualifier,
I dont think Ronny will be in charge come 2015, he’ll go at Xmas imo,
Peter Lawell should be on the phone to Neil right now asking him what will it take for him to come back,
failing that, this is going to be one extremely long and painful season,
Just my opinion guys and I would love to be completely wrong, but cant see it.
Rock Tree Bhoy. Talk of giving a man a chance.with your point of view we would go through managers regularly.Lennie is in Celtics past we have moved on Rony deserves our support. H.H.
I’m not so sure I appreciate an ex-manager bemoaning a ‘lack of investment’. What does that mean? Should we splash out £2.5 million on a Dundee Utd defender who is probably worth circa £250k ?
Even if we had the cash to splash – who wants to play here? We’re back to the same old problem – the ever increasing focus on EPL, La Liga and even Bundesliga results in crumbling leagues elsewhere in Europe. Ours is crumbling faster than most and frankly there is little that can be done about it.
Fact is many primary school kids now have a Scottish team as their second team, after the Chelseas, Liverpools, Barcas and Reals.
Lastnight was not about investment or a lack thereof. It was an error in team set up and tactics (for which the manager shoulders the blame) and a lack of application (which the players carry the can for). Remember, we had a Swedish international right back, an England international keeper, a Nigerian international defender, a Welsh international and a big Dutch bloke apparently disappointed not to travel to Brazil. Investment or players getting a grip? I think the latter.
Congrats Mr. Z, You are a gentleman. I expect Legia will now go through with a bit of comfort and the best of luck in your subsequent games.
p.s. You are not the only one surprised at how weak Celtic were.
We were supposed to have been preparing for this sort of game since Ronny Deila arrived.
All preparation went out the window when Monday’s loan signing went straight into the team. I also read the new manager studied hours of player footage so he’d know the team. Did he rely on that alone? Did he ask anyone? Did he absorb Andy Walker’s and Neil McCann’s commentary perhaps?
He was so wildly wrong with team selection and tactics it’s very, very worrying.
Neil Lennon’s stock may have gone considerably higher in English boardrooms as a result of last night but I wonder if there was any handover or ‘open phone line’ there as there apparently was between Neil and WGS and MON. If not I’d like to know why not. If there was and it wasn’t used I’ll worry some more about egotism.
But as ever as a Celtic supporter as the wounds are dressed the irrational hope returns.
Assuming the same squad:
Forster
Matthews Lustig Van Dijk Emilio
Henderson Biton Kayal Johansson
Commons
Stokes
Don’t concede, 2 up on the hour, Griffiths and McGregor available to keep the tempo high late on and play the percentages. If we go chasing 4 from the off we’ll concede.
Brown or Forrest’s availability would improve things considerably.
4-1, take them in extra time.
Idiot dreamer CSC
My first post on CQN called for the head of WGS the day after Artmedia.
I was completely and utterly wrong.
I see some people doing the same with regards to Ronny.
They too now, like me then, are completely wrong.
It is impossible, simply impossible, to judge a manager after his third competitive game. There is no way anyone can be sure he will fail given how long he has been in the job.
The certainty of these posters is a giveaway that they are asserting, rather than knowing… it’s simply too early for anyone to know for sure how this will work out.
Let’s see how next week goes, how the next round goes (be that in the CL or EL). Let’s see how he gets the team playing in the SPL, and what moves (if any) he makes in the transfer market. Let’s see if he improves the players we’ve got (Lord knows, none of them is the finished article).
A manager needs at least – at least- six months to impose his ideas on the club. By the end of January we should have a better idea of where we are. Until then, despite (understandable) misgivings after last night, Ronny needs time and he needs – and deserves – our support.
Not a frequent poster, but fervent reader everyday. Sad to see so many of us hurting after that debacle last night, and that is putting it mildly. Someone mentioned back about the attitude of the players, and they were totally right. The Celtic shirt doesn’t shrink to fit inferior players, well I tell you there were a lot of people on that field that didn’t deserve to wear that shirt. I am tired of the bs coming from the website about
“because we are more than a club.” We are more than a club is because of the fans. How many of those players will be really hurting like us, seriously? We are just a stepping stone for so many people today. I have never experienced a champion’s league game at Celtic Park as I moved abroad, but I was there in the old days when 80,000 would be packed into Paradise for games against Dinamo Kiev, or Nottingham Forest. Sadly, those days are few and far between now, and seem a distant memory as I believe the vast majority of fans are now waking up to the realization that “downsizing” is a reality. What is the point of having this beautiful Celtic Way in front of the stadium if the most important part of our club, the fans, are not there to walk it. Football is an expensive sport these days, and many people cannot afford to go week in week out, and I feel that money is destroying the game and exiling the ordinary decent fan. This team should have been better prepared, we, the fans, deserved to have new players in before qualifiers, as we now realize how important Champions league money unfortunately is. But what do we do, we bring no one in except someone, not his fault, that hasn’t trained with the team and we put him on from the start. I am sorry for the long post and I know that I am going off in tangents, but I am totally scunnered. My daughter said to me yesterday why are you watching the game with your hands in front of your eyes. I was so scared that it was going to be 6-1, 7-1, as it could easily have been.
Sorry my friends for my rant. Will still have that “we can do it feeling” next week, but more in blind faith than real optimism.
I have accepted we will not get past Legia next week (I really haven’t but I am managing my expectations)
The issue now lies with the Consultant (my new name for Ronnie)
He got it wrong last night by betraying what he told us (he would not change the team he inherited from NL in the short term) he got it wrong – big time and the tactics (long term I have no problem) but to experiment away from home in CL ???
So forgive him I do – BUT – next week I want to see the fruits of his vision – the stuff I am being fed about “the way he wants the players to play” I want to see it next week
I will forgive a glorious in defeat effort – I wont forgive a pathetic display
One other little issue that is niggling me about The Consultant – he was quick to blame the players last night (I know he said maybe I need to communicate better) not a good platform to build good team spirit (needed to win any game)
I am looking for The Consultant to make a difference – ??
67ECW
Rock Tree Bhoy, I am one who did not welcome Ronny’s appointment but to write him off after one game is plain silly. We all have to take a step back now and see how things progress both on the field and in the transfer market.
.
‘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.’
..
After PL’s treatment of Sammi..Any player/Person with some Ambition would listen to All other Offers/Speculation..
As would any other professional..Who seen a Colleague treated that way..
Summa
I was waiting on the EFE scapegoat to start, if people think that is our main problem they are living in cloud cookoo land. This is the same EFE that has qualified for the last 16, African Nations cup winner,last 16 World Cup and a player who is never injured. Granted he had a mare last night in a team that had 6 or 7 but he has achieved already more than half our squad has yet to achieve. A record for not conceding a goal in the SPFL, the question i would ask is how can he do it one year then fail so badly next two years. The answer i would suggest lies in the midfield and the set up of the team in European matches. We are simply not good enough to leave our defence exposed in Europe. Lenny did try to be more expansive last year and we got a couple of results we were overdue.
Ronny’s set up was all wrong and if we had added 3, 5 million signings to last nights team we would have still suffered a comprehensive defeat.
I know now is not the time for knee jerk reactions but i really do worry about our new manager and predicted this scenario before he signed.
He says he doesn’t want loans and does exactly that. He says he would rather have 2 good players than 5 average ones yet brings in a player who has played virtually no football in 7 months, so is he one of the good players or one of the average players?
BTM put the club back years by bringing in players who were worse than what we had and stripping the team of its spine. I was right behind Lenny because he was doing what was important winning the league and qualifying for the CL, cups were for show.
August will determine if we have got this badly wrong because we must bring in quality in this window to give us a chance to recoup losses by qualifying for the increased pot money next year.
Livibhoy
I think it would be wise to assume that the Dons will run us close this season. I have no doubt about that
For what it’s worth I think the Celtic manager who got off to the flyingest of flyin’ starts was wee John Barnes; and Hhoopslegend T.Mowbray got some good results in Europe at the beginning of his time in charge..
..and we all know how those bhoys finished.
So its too early to say ‘Dial R for rubbidge’
He will have taken stock of last night’s game [and his own performance] and hopefully emerge older and wiser.
Zbyszek
Bravo!
Zbyszek
Glad you and pog got along.
This has been coming due to lack of investment, the norwegian league is poorer than spl imo and we keep being told we are a big club but we signed a rookie manager wtf! Fans pay big money for season tickets, etc etc yet NO proper investment in the team short changed again. We are being taken for mugs and merely cash cows by this plc. I listened to colin murray and they were chatting about fans and dedication the example given was 80,000 in seville. It made me sad think that this will probably never happen again, we pushed the boat out probably too far for mon in hindsight but this current strategy is a joke. Wheres the £80M from cl x 2 and nearly £30m from player sales gone?
Is it safe yet??
Planned to give this place a wide berth for a few weeks…
But my addiction is too severe
My 2 cents… the players aren’t technically good enough to play the way Ronny wants.
Anyway i wanted a run in the Europa League this year.
Its more our level and will mean we can develop gradually…
Lets just hope we make it there at least.
Thursday nights a better night t drink anyway!!
B-)