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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Our campaign may not have been great in CL however the following all failed to better our limited points total!
Benfica
Anderlecht
Qarabag
Olympiakos
Maribor
Feyenoord
Monaco
B Dortmund
Apoel Nicosia
MWD
Congrats on your job and left me know if you need an apprentice, ha, ha? :-)
HH
CRC
A comment by a friend on Facebook on last night’s game: “My final point on last night’s game. I know we weren’t at our best. But let’s get things into some kind of perspective. Last night’s game was our 4th in ten days that’s a game every two and half days. Plus the intense media pressure put on Celtic following the controversial decisions in the first two Motherwell games. And where are Celtic 10 days later we’ve won a cup increased our lead in the league and qualified for the last 32 of the Europa cup. Not a bad ten days work I would say.”
Says it all really.
As a protest against Anderlecht and Brussels, we can all boycott the sprouts this year.
It’s an ill wind…….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMc8naeeSS8
For the howlers.
In 2000 we paid £5.75 m for Neil Lennon
17 years ago.
Just saying like.
G’night.
Blog seems to be broke. Nytol.
Hail! Hail!
Can someone tell me how many parishioners are left on CQN?
Roy Keane isny putting his Cellic Scooby Doo! pyjamas.
“If you set the bar really low, you’ll be in football management for a long time!”
Ouch!
Cue awe the – ” Whit did Roy Keane win as a manager ?” deflections.
Anywye,…….
Weebawbabbity – Guid post mate, the CQN jury will remain out about you till ye appear at a hoot. Such is clique law ; HH
…..oot.
Celtarella on 7th December 2017 12:58 am
Can someone tell me how many parishioners are left on CQN?
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There will be quite a few = I wonder if the Blane Valley has a patron saint?
Possibly St Kessog.
Good morning CQN from a mild, damp and breezy East Devon.
Good morning, friends.
Padlock your wheelie bins, it’s rather breezy out there.
Weebawbabbity
Takes a man to apologise and you have now done so twice, well done you can hold your head up.. you probably know GFTB pal who used to drink in Commie
Morning Judith…..
Good Morning CQN.
Is anyone interested in going to see Soul to Soul at the Barrowlands on Saturday Night.
Someone I know can’t make it and has offered me the two tickets for the Mary’s Meals appeal.
Tickets being sold at face value of £30/head.
Anyone interested just drop me an e-mail to jjoe88@hotmail.co.uk
Anyone interested in making a wee donation to help feed 805bkids for a year can do so via the link below.
All donations made before 31st March will be doubled in value.
Thanks very much.
https://www.marysmeals.org.uk/fundraising/project/jim-mcginley/st-anthonys-balfron-appeal-for-a-meal-1
BRTH
I may be putting my cart before the horse that is VFR’s word of the day but the cart has an appointment at 9 am so we will publish the Uxbridge letter of the day which is f :-
Farthing: Something a long way off.
Fauna: A whirlpool bath for young deer.
Feasible: Able to charge for.
Felicity: To knock London over.
Final: The last thing you hammer into a coffin.
Finish: A bit like a Finn
Where do you start with rubbish like this from the DR about our unbeaten run:
“The longer it goes without any of our clubs laying a glove on Celtic, the greater the depreciation and devalue of our game.”
prestonpans bhoys on 7th December 2017 8:54 am
Where do you start with rubbish like this from the DR about our unbeaten run:
“The longer it goes without any of our clubs laying a glove on Celtic, the greater the depreciation and devalue of our game.”
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The DR’s nose is well out of joint…
Depreciating and devaluing our game is their job!
BALORNOCK BHOY on 6TH DECEMBER 2017 11:31 PM
Our campaign may not have been great in CL however the following all failed to better our limited points total!
Benfica
Anderlecht
Qarabag
Olympiakos
Maribor
Feyenoord
Monaco
B Dortmund
Apoel Nicosia
——————————————————————————————————————
This depressing list only serves to illustrate the massive gulf between the mega clubs like Barca, RM, Man. Utd, etc and the rest of Europe. Liverpool’s humbling of SpartaMoscow is another case in point. There was a time not that long ago when cricket scores in CL group matches were a rarity. Now they are common place and will only increase as the gulf widens.
Just why any football supporter other than those who follow the elite clubs want to watch their team be the ritual lambs to the slaughter every season is beyond me? At what point will the rest say to Uefa, “enough is enough”?
M6BHOY & BALORNOCK BHOY
We should just enjoy [potential] participation in the UCL while it lasts. Eventually we (the lesser lights) be cut out.
That’s why we need to keep on qualifying for the group stages to be the ritual lambs while we still can to access as much of the gravy train income as possible before it is snatched away.
Mmmmm, lamb and gravy…
DAVIDOPOULOS on 7TH DECEMBER 2017 9:06 AM
M6BHOY & BALORNOCK BHOY
We should just enjoy [potential] participation in the UCL while it lasts. Eventually we (the lesser lights) be cut out.
That’s why we need to keep on qualifying for the group stages to be the ritual lambs while we still can to access as much of the gravy train income as possible before it is snatched away.
Mmmmm, lamb and gravy…
——————————————————————————————
The lesser lights will not be cut off totally. They are needed to give the competition a pan-European dimension which is of critical importance to TV companies and the big corporate sponsors who want to tap into a market that includes all of Europe and not just the top five leagues.
This is why the non-elite rest do have substantial power and influence but they refuse to act as a bloc preferring to be individual lambs to slaughter in return for a smattering of gravy which helps keep them at the top domestically. Sooner or later the fans are going to get sick of this diet of lamb and gravy. I know I am.
M6BHOY
The gap between the rich and the poor widens almost by the day.
If Celtic hadn’t been in the CL this season I wouldn’t have watched a single game.
BRTH,
If you are around, attempted a donation this morning but having problems at the donation page, which comes up as “error” not a major amount but every little helps as they say. If you get a minute can you have a look?
regards
PHILBHOY on 7TH DECEMBER 2017 9:40 AM
M6BHOY
The gap between the rich and the poor widens almost by the day.
If Celtic hadn’t been in the CL this season I wouldn’t have watched a single game.
——————————————————————————————-
I live and work in the West Midlands and don’t know any supporter of the local teams who now watch CL matches whereas a few years ago they would have. I personally don’t even watch any including those involving Celtic. Roasted lamb and gravy just makes me want to be sick. Better things on the telly, especially Netflix, than the CL.
Macew on 7th December 2017 9:49 am
Thanks.
Try again here: https://www.marysmeals.org.uk/fundraising/project/jim-mcginley/st-anthonys-balfron-appeal-for-a-meal-1
A Celtic supporter who lives too far away to get to games and doesn’t bother to watch them in the UCL on TV.
That’s not a description of a Celtic supporter.
BBC claims Miller thinks DM should be allowed to talk to Sevco.
(Well they said Rangers but I prefer to be accurate.)
I think Miller misses the point, it’s called a contract; a contract DM only recently signed and reaffirmed his commitment to Aberdeen.
He should in fact have told the media emphatically that he was committed both contractually and personally to Aberdeen.
However, I doubt that would ever get published as it doesn’t suit the Sevco agenda.
I do hope Milne takes legal action against Sevco and the SFA for their complicity in this fiasco.
I see Porto have qualified yet again for the last 16 of the UCL despite not having won their own league for the past 4 seasons and usually sell off their best players every season. The South American market is good and profitable for them.
Napoli in the Europa -a 75 minute flight away .Mmmm
A fabulously typical performance from them last night . Beaten by Feyenoord . At their best ,Napoli are 2/3 levels up from Feyenoord. Best team in Italy by a mile but often look astonishingly mentally frail . Chucked it last night when they knew Shaktar were winning v Man City . Played Shaktar off the park in the Ukraine and gifted them the win . Very very Napoli. Their owner doesn’t like ” the Thursday Cup ” – that Monday /Thursday football thing doesn’t suit his lifestyle / there’s no real money in it and it’s a not worth the hassle if you’re chasing the Serie A title . It’s very unlikely he’ll be aiming to go far in this season’s Europa League.
Oh -Soul 11 Soul — if I lived in Glasgow i’d be going-
https://youtu.be/LEHqOfKeabc
BRTH ,
Thanks for that, seemed no problem that time, I am of course renowned for my computer skills !
HH
VALE BHOY on 7TH DECEMBER 2017 10:02 AM
A Celtic supporter who lives too far away to get to games and doesn’t bother to watch them in the UCL on TV.
That’s not a description of a Celtic supporter.
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I choose not to watch a rigged competition run for the sole benefit of a few mega rich elite clubs by Uefa, rotten and corrupt organisation. You may be happy with tuning into to watch that but I for one am not no matter who is playing.
I know some Celtic supporters, TD67 included, who refuse to go to Scottish Cup matches because of the SFA’s failure to deal with the Huns cheating – quite right too. Are they Celtic supporters? Those who supported the Celts for Change campaign and boycotted the match v Kilmarnock in 1994 and saved the club. Were they Celtic supporters? Sometimes you just have to make a stand.
Scoattish fitba died the day that, Celtic supporters paid £49 for an Old Firm ticket, which rubber stamped the Sevco / Rainjurs same club lie.
Anywye,……….
……………….oot
BARNEY67
“Abusive language and swearing are a legacy of slavery, humiliation, and disrespect for human dignity, one’s own and that of other people.”
― Leon Trotsky
M6BHOY
Not a criticism, just curious .
Are you still a Celtic supporter, if so how do you support them.?
HH.
I see the panto season has started early on here.
O yes it has.
H.H
Greenpinta the very question I was going to myself, interesting to see the response. H H Hebcelt
oops to ask
GREENPINATA on 7TH DECEMBER 2017 10:51 AM
I followed the team since the sixties when I lived in Glasgow. Member of the St. Bartholomews CSC back in the day. Moved out of Glasgow in 82 but continued regular trips up the M6 for matches. Was a season ticket holder and gifted the joy of Celtic to both my sons who were born in England.
Haven’t been to a home match for a couple of years partly because the football was dire under RD and I was gradually being sickened by the way the game was going- still am. Today, it’s all about money and the football is of secondary importance. I can’t see that changing which is a shame. Does that answer your question and does it make my points any less valid?