Let’s be clear: Anderlecht won last night’s the game because they won the tactical battle. (I have not watched this back, so forgive me if there’s a few seconds error) 55 seconds into the game Anderlecht had a 50 second period of unbroken possession, most of it in our half. We knew that early the visitors had an inappropriate levels of time and options.
By contrast, when Celtic got possession, we lacked options. Midfielders and full backs were faced with unattractive choices throughout the night. The familiar triangular patterns we have watched for 18 months existed only in fleeting moments.
Brendan twice tried to change things: initially by pulling Sinclair into the middle, pushing Armstrong left, and then by hooking these two at halftime, and introducing Ntcham and Rogic. The changes at the interval gave Celtic more presence in the centre of the field, but not enough to transform a rank bad performance.
Did you notice we didn’t press in the Anderlecht half? Out of possession, our three at the back became a flat back five as the full backs dropped deep. As a consequence, we allowed Anderlecht time to circulate the ball and build a move. Anderlecht are not a good team (few would get into the Celtic team), so they were unable to win by the necessary margin, but from 55 seconds in, it was evident the Belgians were in command of the most valuable asset in a game: space. Celtic tactics were wrong.
Let me touch on the players for a second, because they were mentioned post-match by Brendan. We watched this same squad stride imperiously around a pitch in Brussels in September. And, with one of two additions, our Invincibles were a European embarrassment under Ronny Deila. Don’t try to kid me these were bad players, who became Invincibles under Brendan, were magnificent in Brussels, but are not good enough for this level now.
This type of thinking is a fallacy. It’s all about the team, not individuals.
We were tactically masterful at Anderlecht, and I suspect did as well as we could have in both games against Bayern Munich. However, we were tactically atrocious in both games against PSG and at home to an Anderlecht, who were on the precipice of becoming the worst team in Champions League history. This is so self-evidently clear I think we are close to some form of group delusion if we don’t acknowledge the fact, and instead look for scapegoats in hoops.
Jim Craig on CQN TONIGHT!!!
Lisbon Lion, Jim Craig, will be on the blog for a chat tonight from around 18:30. Jim has seen it all in his >50 year connection to the club, so tune in and share your thoughts with him.
You can order a signed copy now at CQNBookstore.co.uk and if you would like a personal dedication added just drop an email after placing your order to david@cqnpublishing.co.uk and we’ll get Jim to sort this evening.
All pre-ordered books will be posted first thing Thursday morning.
*JIM CRAIG – RIGHT BACK TO 67, THE LISBON LION DIARY is published this week by CQN Books. You still have time to get a SIGNED copy by ordering at www.cqnbookstore.co.uk and if you would like a personal dedication added to your book by Jim then simply email your massage to david@cqnpublishing.co.uk after ordering and we’ll do the rest!
The book arrives on Wednesday and it is sensational! And if you haven’t done so already, listen to Jim Craig on the CQN Podcast below.
You will love it!
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Moonbeams.
Congratulations.
I’m delighted for you.
Hail Hail
yeah paul, we sure were crap
JIMBOB on 6TH DECEMBER 2017 3:58
Did you not read the title of today’s article?
Escaped goats are of the menu.
DENIABHOY
You cannot be serious!!!
JPMcEnroe CSC
” MWD BTW I finally have been offered a job after spending 6 months as a governmental manipulated statistic.”
It`s not the Ibrox job, is it?
JJ
JOHN51@4-27
Good post and relevant.
I remember a game when Gascoine was in his prime between England and Belgium.
He strutted and flicked throughout the whole game.
Belgium also had Scifo.
One very astute commentator pointed out how irrelevant Gascoine was as everything he did was in ineffective areas just for show. Scifo meanwhile restricted his skills to the final third of the field where he gave England a torrid time.
Jimmynotpaul
No problem, thought that Kenney guy looked interesting
Waiting on a job to do…..passed time looking into an Aberdeen forum….
Thought you guys needed a bit of lightheartedness – so copied and pasted this Aberdeen fan’s message to potential interlopers from hundom…
“Message to the hordes of undead looking in. You will notice we are all upbeat about offloading our utter failure on you and we also have a million quid of your hard earned social money to spend on new players. Enjoy your neighbours winning ten in a row, which is now a dead certainty, and if you are sick now you will soon be sicker with the negative mediocrity we have just lumbered you with. Arra best.”
ALASDAIR MACLEAN on 6TH DECEMBER 2017 4:48 PM
Hilarious. :-)
ALASDAIR MACLEAN,
Awfae good. Many thanks. I trust he is as bad as the Dons support seem to reckon him.
JJ
It is. Bullshit and anti-sectarian monitor! :-)
Anyone who is not full of bullshit and not sectarian will be banned for life.
Difficult job but someone has to do it.
£3m a year for a 6 month contract paid over the next 1690 years.
MWD
Just a thought but wouldnt it be worthwile having a midfield of a combination of the following
Brown/Ntcham/Eboue Koassi (he couldnt do any worse than those last night)/McGregor and young Paddy in the number 10 role, most if not all have the ability for one touch pass and move.
Forrest poses more of a threat now, instead of the 1 in 5 he’s now a 3 in 5 at least, Sinclair needs to regain his form (second season syndrome) and Moussa needs to be fit.
Defence, well thats a whole other ball game, i wouldnt be averse to replacing at least 3 of the back four, KT needs a rest and a challenge and Gordon is fine but id still like better
Right how dae ye get yer name in green in the latest comments bit?
Lack of ball retention is our biggest fault, maybe the players who have been truly excellent since BR came in, can’t cut it in Europe.Maybe Brendan will be thinking about building Team 2……
MWD- Good luck.
GFTB, bear with me for a few minutes, my behaviour towards you has been out of order , what started as a windup got out of hand which was my Fault, in fact you showed good restraint and I kept prodding and eventually pushed you too far So my apologies to you, I have read this blog for years and enjoyed it it was my wife who is friendly with a respected poster on here said to him see him he’s never off that quick news he said tell him to start posting, I picked him and my wife up one night and he gave me the courage to come on ,to be honest haven’t enjoyed it as much as just lurking. FAIRHILL BHOY, apologies to yourself as well , BMCUP wish I had met your dad in Dubrovnik as then knew a wasn’t the Di&k I have made myself look, you had a go on Sunday fair doo z bud you and Kev j are two who have replied mostly to my posts and for that thanks BIG PACKY I was one who had doubts about you but you reply to everyone respect for that KEVJ thanks for your support your a big part of this blog a great tim no one should doubt this GFTB make a deal start posting and the next time a see said poster I was talking about I will give him £25 for a Cqn charity unfortunately my wife does all the banking stuff a will have to do it this way , have donated a few times this way . Maybe when things settle down I may post again next year Gerry if theirs a hoot may pop in with my wife and buy you a drink .ps will let the air out her first quite liked that one you came away with . On a final note mods can you delete your own post to Gerry on Sunday about a red card it was my fault not Gerrys
JOHN51
Correct. Jock Stein’s philosophy was never to ask a player to do something of which he was not capable, but by the same token he made sure every player in the side was fully effective.
CELTIC40ME
We have reasonable movement against SPL sides but against Anderlecht we were stodgy and slow to react because they were so much sharper and more energetic/urgent than we were.
Callum works better as the wall player between Forest/Roberts. His quick feet and awareness have opened up many defences.
It is the other side of the field where it is not as consistent.
Sinclair is a mercurial type of player.
When he is up, he is devastating, but when not, he is a man short.
Before his latest injury, Patrick and James were virtually interchangeable, as far as keeping the momentum going.
We don’t have a plan B on the other wing as yet.
Jonny Hayes could do a job, though, if he gets the chance.
Scott remains the problem. He has previous of not following up an initial first season at previous clubs.
I hope we can break that pattern.
Paul67 et al
Totally unnecessary and gratuitous insulting of Ronny Deila, who after all, one way or another got his Celtic team into the knock-out stages of the Europa League, and barring big Virgil getting sent off in Milan could have gone a round further. Brendan has given us the most consistent Celtic team domestically in a century, though Jock Stein’s Lions were pretty consistent too, at winning things. O’Neill, Strachan and Lennon have all proved more effective in Europe than Brendan, to date, but that could change. Certainly two wins and a good performance against Bayern would have shown some advancement from last season, but that did not happen, and three defeats at home is not progress by any other name. Still, we are still in Europe, with some time to spare, let us see if we can do better a couple of months down the road. And with that in mind let us try to improve as a team, (the only criteria that really matters) until that next European game.
Sorry about spelling and punctuation was nervous doing That post
WWW hope you are coping
EUROCHAMP67 glad you are on the road to recovery
MWD …. great news. really pleased for you!
Just back home from match, haven’t scrolled back and don’t intend to. I expect the usual smart arses were piling in as they do whenever Celtic give a below par performance.
To these guys I say go follow PSG or Barcelona, yep it wasn’t great by Celtic but that’s life, this team has given us plenty of highs & if lads can’t accept a few lows then they can feck off as far as I am concerned.
Anyhow Eurochamps news made up for any match disappointment, greetings to him and Bournesouprecepie who looked after me for tickets for last 3 euro games
I must grab a cup of tea, post later.
Some people take this blog way too seriously, ffs chill. KTF as Vfr says.
Hi Paul67,
That’s an interesting post and contains similar contentions to the last time we played in Europe. I disagreed then, I disagree now.
We are not seeing the players delivering the Managers vision IMO.
You mention last evening’s match opening gambit, stated our tactics were wrong.
I disagree. The Anderlecht Manager, Vanhaezebrouck, is a very smart man. He stated:-
“I can already predict what’s going to happen tomorrow. There will be noise as soon as we come on the pitch. The crowd will be behind them and they will fly like hell!”
Of course he was phyching us out. He knew the first 15mins of the game last night was Anderlecht’s most important of the Season. If they wanted a realistic chance of scoring 3 against us they would want to score then.
THEY came out “flying like hell”, playing good, slick Football, desperately seeking that advantage, we needed too and did, contain them, not only for the first 15 mins but for the whole half. Though as I said, we struggled to put Brendan’s tactics into effect. We didn’t press high enough or well enough.
We have seen this squad struggle for a few Seasons now with Managers’ formations and tactics.
You mention Ronnie Delia. I remember watching his team playing Ajax. Now Ajax are a Club that have played the formations and tactics Celtic are trying to emulate, through Academy to First Team for many a Season.
When RD’s Celtic faced Ajax the contrast in technique, (same!?) formation and implementation of tactics was stark. It was as if Ronnie was herding cats.
With the same players Brendan has certainly made a better fist of things but is still running up against the same problem.
Now he’s brought in some potentially, great young players over the next few Seasons we shall see them improve and blend in – N’tcham being a case in point – we will also see existing players develop and improve.
Yet the fact is, as things currently stand, the players are not good enough at European level. Brendan said it.
You also mentioned Lenny when this was discussed before. You mentioned his team were better defensively. What you failed to mention was that Lenny (defensively) had Fraser Foster, Victor Wanyama and Virgil Van Dijk.
We sold those guys off. That’s the reason we are not so good defensively, our best goalie, our best Centre half and our best defensive midfield player in a generation. All sold off.
Someone, somewhere, took the executive decision about how Celtic were going to develop and play as a Club before Ronnie and Brendan came. I believe it was a Great decision.
Now I’m totally aware the Celtic Board have so far been very supportive in transfer and salary payments for Brendan’s prospects. I’m also aware that the only accomplished professional Brendan has been backed on us Sinclair – who we got for a song.
We have so much to look forward to next year as a Club. January will tell us if Brendan is going to be backed to allow him to fulfill His and his Coaching staffs potential at Celtic.
Hail Hail
Weebawbabbity.
Great post and from the heart, that must have taken courage.
Well done. We all muck things up in life, so don’t beat yourself up and post when you feel like it.
Having mailed Gerry, I’m reasonably confident, after a wee break he will return to the blog. If the wee blade allows him. :-))
Hail Hail
CoerkCelt – it was great to meet you and the rest of the CQN’ers in BV yesterday. We really enjoyed all your company. Hope to meet again soon.
HH
Weebawbabbity
lovely post
EuroChamps67
Brighter again today sitting in chair for two hours and able to walk around the ward.
setting free the bears for Res. 12 & Oscar Knox on 6th December 2017 12:13 pm
Excrement …not dead any more. Rangers like.
I suspect last night was a bit of a watershed moment for Brendan. He spoke about us not demonstrating the things that we work on every day in training. Technique and passing and such likes. The way I see it, it’s a bit like golf. You can play bounce games and hit all the shots and score well but when the scorecard goes in the back pocket it’s a different ball game. Why? Because of the pressure.
Our players are good and do have technical ability but it’s another thing doing it under pressure. When put under pressure we dont cope well. That is down to the mentality of the players and another factor is the fact we are almost never under pressure in domestic football. Pretty much every team defends deep and in numbers meaning we don’t face a press on the ball and don’t have to kick it long. Then, all of a sudden we’re playing in Europe and the press is there and it’s as if our players think, right, why do we do now?
The worst thing about last night is that we morphed into what we play against every week. Long ball hit and hope? panic merchants. I suspect that will alarm Brendan more than anything.
Celtic CL Group stage 2017-2018 Played 6 lost 5 won 1 goals for 5 against 18 pts 3 GD -13
Celtic CL Group stage 2013-2014 Played 6 lost 5 won 1 goals for 3 against 14 pts 3 GD -11
progress?
Paul67
Nothing to do with tactics or team effort. Its about individuals and money.
FAN -A -TIC@ 4.40.
Enzo Scifo
A great player ! IMO-a Joy to watch.
Sicilian parents.His time at Inter wasn’t a success but He did Much better at Torino.Scored a memorably great goal for Belgium v Uruguay.
My kind of player .A Number 10.
THETIMREAPER on 6TH DECEMBER 2017 6:15 PM
*****
Bring back Jim Mc.Guinness.
He would soon get the heads right.
BSR, good news, pass on my very best to EuroChamps.
Good evening CQN…how are you all
Paul67
Sorry, but don’t think tactics were the deciding factor of why we lost a home game and on the day Anderlecht were simply a better side, evident straight from the K.O.
Tactics are for managers to decide and we played the same way in Brussels and won now seemingly it was against a dishevelled managerless Anderlecht We general dominate in Scotland with the same squad and tactics but somehow tactics are at fault when we face European Teams?
The common denominator is that we face better sides in Europe its not rocket salad.
Celtic subbed two star contributors as they couldn’t hold the ball because Anderlecht either tackled, and took it off them, or they passed the ball straight to opponents. The quality of Anderlecht even when not in possession was superior, they tackle smarter and weren’t even particularly good at finishing.
Celtic have players not performing to their peak it becomes more apparent when the opposition is upgraded Scott Sinclair and Stuart Armstrong two of the stick outs, even domestically.
We settled for stopping 3-0 after Brendan switched it tactically and we still lost the goal then we settled quite early on in the second half after we were improved by Ntcham ( who should have started ) and Rogic ( who should have started. )
Callum McGregor is a what you see is what you get very luxurious and limited especially in ‘go to ground tackling’ . In my opinion this leaves us short in midfield and Scott Brown should be mob handed, even though he was outstanding again last night. Armstrong Sinclair and to a lesser extent Rogic and Ntcham don’t go in where it hurts either, the amount of defending James Forrest had to do left us with little or nothing, up front.
Euro games don’t do Moussa’s potential transfer fee any favours and Edouard made a better but very short contribution. The home crowd last night didn’t reflect the naysayers and mineshafters of CQN and sang even throughout Anderlechts goal maybe the choir are happy clappers.
Maybe they know we’re still punching above our weight
M.O.M Scott Brown
Good evening Mr Jim Craig,
Suppose I’ll start with the obvious, your thoughts on last night and where we go from here?