It’s a well-established fact that we don’t have Beckenbauer and Baresi at the back, so the reason why we chose to play so high up the field is the most alarming element of last night’s debacle.
Dedryck was bound to misplace a pass, or Efe was bound to misread play. We all knew this. Regret over the last time mistakes like this were made doesn’t mean they won’t happen again. So when the inevitable occurred, our two full backs were 30 yards in front of the line of opposition attack, with our defensive mids well into opposition territory.
Efe’s failure to cover Kamara and Dedryck’s pass were consequences of the main mistake of the night, which was tactical. We didn’t lose the opening goal because of a bad pass, it was lost because we left an acre of Norway unattended.
Ronny, you should never have left so much space at the back away from home in Europe, we’re clearly not good enough for such an open system, not even close. We’ve learned nothing since what was supposed to be a lesson in Warsaw, when the same expansive errors cost us. Molde played rope-a-dope football, they could have watched us against Malmo, Maribor and Legia, as each opened their home games against us in exactly the same manner.
It must be an absolute joy to face a European opponent at home who leaves so much space at the back, begging to be exploited. If we had played with the same tactics we used in Amsterdam I’ve no doubt we would have won the game – no one in that Molde squad would get into the Celtic team.
There’s more. After dominating possession and creating genuine chances, the defeat looked inevitable from the 11th minute when we went behind. Body language changed in an instant and Celtic went out like a light. I’ll spare you what I said at the time in case it’s misconstrued, but the evidence suggests there’s more to worry about than repeating the same tactical mistakes.
Celtic have nine months and one and a half transfer windows to get ready for the next Champions League qualifiers. There’s plenty of time to put things right, but we can’t sleepwalk into another failure. More immediately, we could be out of a cup if we don’t pull our act together this week.
The original Holy Goalie, our own John Fallon, will be signing copies of his book, and no doubt giving you his thoughts on current events, at the Supporters’ Club on London Road on Sunday from 12:30. All are welcome. There’s live entertainment too, so get along and check it out.
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This song will confuse the oldies ;o) gawd we’re all old
Wheatus – “BMX Bandits”
https://youtu.be/9ZqKttlfOhM
And one for oldies
Mr. Hitler – Leadbelly
https://youtu.be/VQva5wKSfzM
BGX. You have a point about crucial positions
1. A dominant Center half
2. A hard dominant midfield player
3. A big hard striker
All successful teams have those
Our Center half failure has really only occurred this year , we have been not too bad there
Midfield we have had brown
Upfront. Well what was our last strike partnership ??
Mcdonald /jVoh ??? Am I wrong
Strikers do more more a team than just score goals They provide a target for midfield to pass to or run to
Our present troubles in midfield stem from this
Stats on Thursday night prove this. Lots of possession but nowhere to go
Goals make prizes Of all the failings of peter lawell. I think this is his greatest By his his refusal to break his wage structure we have been denied goal scorers for years
Two in 5 years in hooper in Griffiths is just not on
The selling of hooper for 5m then buying two projects for that money cost millions to our club
He had made too many wrong decisions
But his striker policy has cost us the most
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCObON5sJzU
John prine & iris de ment
Sftb the support has lost its faith in RD. We all know it. If he is going to turn this around he better do it quickly however I do not believe he has the nous to play a different way. HH
Disappointed but not surprised about last night. I didn’t watch live, but asked a mate to check the score predicting we’d lost 2-1. Like many, the most disappointing thing having watched the game was the same mistakes being made and the players yet again chucking it or, in Brown’s words, not turning up! Thinking about the whole thing, it does feel like I am about to repeat myself.
Tactics: unsurprisingly we all see the issues – we play too high up the park – leaving the centre halfs isolated and frantically chasing back, the midfield and full backs with little options up front so passing sideways, and the front four all compressed into a small area providing little movement for the players further back. Then, we get hit on the break fairly simply – one guy up front pulls wide, dragging one of our centre halfs out of position and then supporting runners flood the spaces while the rest of our team rush back into any area with little semblance of shape or organisation. We largely got away with it last year because VVD and, in particular, Denayer were quick, had a decent appreciation of space and opponents, and were comfortable enough on the ball that when they needed to move forward and join in the play they made a difference.
People here have been talking about the system (4231) being the issue – it may play a part given the personnel we have, but it’s less the system and more the game plan that’s the issue. I would drop the defensive line back 15 yards or so – open up the pitch a bit, allow some of our midfielders/forwards a bit of room to run into and options for those further back, provide an option to knock it long occasionally, leave less space at the back. This does mean you have a potential gap between the lines, so we need a proper defensive midfielder as cover and to stop our full backs both bombing forward all the time – they need to be on a pulley system, one forward, one back and tucking in. If we are to stick with 4231, we need the right guy up front – Cole is as close as we have, but he is not as mobile as you would like for that role, and it excludes Griffiths our only real finisher. Given the players we have I’d go 4-4-2 diamond – choose a back four and stick with it. Midfield 3 of a defensive midfielder (based on who we have Ambrose or Mulgrew), with Brown and Bitton either side of him, Commons in the hole, then Cole and Griffiths up front. When we lose possession, Commons, Griffiths and Cole need to press quickly while the others drop back into two banks of four and three, then the front three need to close off passing lanes – let the opposition knock it between two centre halves and goalkeeper until they eventually ‘launch it’.
Players: I said some time ago that I thought our assessment of the success of our money all approach was skewed by the wanyama (and to a lesser extent Ki) success. Instead, our most routine profits come from players we have picked up from England – Hooper, Forster, Matthews, Ledley, Kelvin Wilson. Those five, plus Commons, also have us a good 3-4 years service before moving on. By contrast, of our foreign purchases, only Ki, Wanyama and VVD have really worked out in terms of contribution to the team and profit (perhaps Bitton will too) whilst we have wasted considerable funds on the likes of Derk, Bangura, Pukki, etc. you have to kiss some frogs to get a prince and all that, but I feel of the two approaches, we have focused too much on the less successful of the two. I am not saying we should compete with the EPL teams (we can’t) but we should be picking up gems or even just some solid players from the Championship and League 1, supplemented by the best Scottish based players (I actually agree with signing Allan, Christie, Armstrong – less so GMS and Cifti, and feel we missed a trick with the left back Aberdeen signed from Caley Thistle) and room for one or two gambles from abroad.
However, that’s for January/summer. Right now we have a group of players who don’t turn up on the big occasion or seem to lack heart when they lose a goal. That’s more difficult to solve without knowing the reasons for it, but the manager, captain and senior players need to sort it quickly – players should be told in no uncertain terms that poor performances will be tolerated but the absence of fight and work rate will see them in the stands for a good long time. If there is a poisonous clique as some suggest, free transfer them – they are more harmful than the failed buys like Banguea or Balde, so let’s not keep them in the hope of making some money when we are quick to free others.
The manager – I really wanted Ronnie to do well – he seems a nice guy and has some really good thoughts about the way the game should be played. I don’t think it helps that his supporting coaches have no track record of managerial success. If the aim was to have someone who knows the league and club to guide Ronnie, I fail to see the logic in the choice of Collins and Kennedy. There would be other candidates I’d have gone for – an elder statesman like Davie Hay for example. Or a manager who would accept being number two for Celtic – John Hughes, Mark McGhee, Wright at St Johnstone maybe? Or a guy who is a perennial number two and finds themselves out of work but has little ambition or the aptitude to be a number 1 – The guy Phelan who was Fergusons number 2 at Man U, Carver who was at Newcastle, Eric Black (remember him?). I could have seen a role for Collins or Kennedy as the number three had Ronnie brought his own number two, but he didn’t.
So I do feel that Ronnie has been working with his hands tied behind his back with regards to recruitment of coaching staff and players. However, he just isn’t learning from the same old mistakes – that’s Legia, Maribor, Salzburg, Zagreb, Malmo, Molde who have beaten us, largely using the same wait until they give the ball away and hit them on the break approach (Malmo was set pieces, but how did they get those set pieces in the first place?).
He needs some big performances in the next few games, at least two wins in the rest of the Europa League group, and a lengthy winning run in the league and domestic cups now to keep his job in my opinion. Even then, I can’t help feeling he will just be keeping the chair warm until summer and the Board, fearful of the return of the others, will bring in someone new (perhaps there was some truth in the Michael O’Neill rumours, him to come in after Northern Ireland have played in the Euros?). For me, I think we need to change, and I’d probably look for someone with experience and plays a no frills game. Not sure who, but perhaps take a chance on Curbishly? Been out of the game for a while, would be desperate for a chance to get back in, can set up a decent side on a budget. I’d jump at the chance of MON or WGS again, but that just isn’t going to happen. It’s a unique challenge being Celtic manager, you need to be good enough to set up an attacking team that’s able to dominate and win most games whilst also being able to set up a defensive, underdog side around 10 or so games each year, so no owner it’s hard to find the right guy, but surely it can’t be beyond the Board to find a suitable candidate? Or at the very least find a strong, experienced number two to tell Ronnie he needs to learn and learn quickly!
Carlton Cole better be the answer to PL’s prayers.
I’m sure Ernie posted this one, great tune
Alex Glasgow-Turning the Clock Back
https://youtu.be/GRyfliDfN1Y
These pop ups when trying to log in need to get sorted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpHAsb2XQOY
I saw Mark Wilson on the telly tonight. He quoted exactly what I said on here last night re Ronny asking us to judge him on his results in Europe this season. That was my criteria for Ronny and I’ve never until I quoted him last night, said a negative word about him.
He has failed us in Europe this season and my judgement based on what he asked me to do is that he needs to go.
John Collins can GTF as well.
DD, might as well strip the big man up for Sunday and give him the first five minutes:_)
18 pages and counting, if we won 3-1 last night we would be lucky to be at 8 pages….
Sometimes you need to take the good with the bad, but spare me all the “this is the worst team I have ever saw wearing the hoops push”
It’s nearly Halloween, I can assure you there were many times I never witnessed the Hoops at this time of year in Europe…..never mind we will be playing Fenerbache of Turkey in December
Good night and God bless fellow Celtic fans…….
I love Weezer
Weezer – Pork And Beans
https://youtu.be/PQHPYelqr0E
Spidey. We must play 442. Cole and Griffiths up front
Spidey101, everybody wanted Ronny to do well but he hasn’t, in the context of Europe.
BTW, I wish I could write a post of that length. I probably could but I’d mis an opportunity to rip the pish oota Sipsini:_)
HH bruv
SydneyTim: We must play 442. Cole and Griffiths up front.
……………………..
Add to that, that the four behind the four behind the two need to defend and you have probably cracked it ST.
See this floating a ball into the box, or in most cases into the stand as happens regularly when we are on the attack.
Read Bobby lennox’s book… The most dangerous ball is low and hard into the six yard box with a poacher waiting to pounce.
Maybe we have to go back the way to go forward as other teams know our style before we lace our boots up. Just saying.
Still, we should have option two, as in two up front. Head wall. FFS.
A Moon Howler comeback by special request.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4duOIDKlbos
Now that’s what I call Moon Howling.
Acgr…
That’ll be the day, kept your pool ball :)
Sipsini, “floating the ball into the box”?
Ya auld romantic ye.
I’m not going there ya fud.
Ye need to get one of these vapour fags, I do worry about how much you smoke wee mhan. delaneys would love it, a bit of oil in it and away you go :)
Ceiler. I can remember in 87 when big billy said our first line of defence is walker and Macca He meant that the more possession those two had, the less chance an opposition player would have the ball
Something’s are simple in football
One goal scorer up front gives all the cards to the opposition
ACGR…
Luckily my two are rooted, I can imagine not having to moan at them constantly and missing them, I know that time will come and I’ll turn into my da,hopefully not :)
Enjoy your time with your bhoy, deffo kip time, need to get up to put grumpies bookies lines on tomorrow. HH
Btw Norwegians have a great sense of humour. Dag on sky arts.
Sipsini
Is the vapour fag Mary Jane friendly?
Me thinks RD had underestimated the patience of the Celtic support. His self belief can come across as arrogance. His ridiculous roar ain’t going to cut it at CP.
As for DD and PL they can take their puppet and disappear off into the sunset. They have allowed our club to be dragged back into the dark ages. Shame on them.
DD, wrap it in skins and it will be:_)
Spidey101 on 24th October 2015 12:34 am,
Good comment.
I think that Ronny has been fighting against the senior players because they are to set in their ways. Just go and watch Norwegian fitba on Bet365, they are all playing that forward pass quickly, Molde were tactically solid as a rock, I know Ronny will have the backing of the Board, and he can finally get the players out now, that frankly, are letting the Celtic support down continuously now.
Keep the Faith.
Zoe
The team that showed the world how to play attacking football has now become a laughing stock under their watch. If they had any self respect they would chuck it.
Too high, too far, too soon, you saw the whole of the Moon
viva la quita brigada
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQbXO828Vio
McAvennie in 87/88 a masterclass in the hardest working forward players get the most breaks of the ball.
superb from the milton tim
to us in our 50’s , it really doesnt seem so long ago.
but we are stronger now, youve showed us how,
freedoms fight can be won
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXdaEihEyUc
Saint Stivs,
Frank was incredible that Season.
He liked the vices, but my God he really was pivotal to that amazing League Title win.
Amazing.
sitting by the window,
that sad song for susan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QInCOkzw9bM
if i owned celtic plc,
i would hava a big, giant, Apollo type statue, over the bus park, facing the calton, as a tribute to the real people who built celtic park,
Video for the song “These Hands” by The Wakes about Vol. James Maley of the Scottish section of the 15th International Brigade.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI23eUo4ohA