We dropped points at Pittodrie on Saturday but should have buried the home side in the first half and then our two January signings combined to produce a goal. There were enough positive signs to have me relaxed ahead of last night’s game against Hibs.
What’s more, we scored with a penalty kick awarded after four minutes. Hibs fans, who have watched two consecutive 0-3 home defeats, must have feared for the worst. Almost two hours later they left the ground feeling robbed.
Before the equaliser our play was poor. Forward passes were very low percentage efforts, often trying to find Daizen Maeda who was marked and could neither catch a long ball in front of him or find space to drop deep and control. “We need a second goal” was doubtlessly mumbled by each of us, despite the fact that Hibs had not made a single attempt at goal.
After they equalised from the second ball at a free kick, Celtic collapsed. Hibs piled forward through shredded lines and would have made the points safe if they were more competent in front of goal. Celtic also made chances but just like Hibs, each move was poorly executed and often ended without an actual attempt being made.
A defending block on Kyogo in the 90th minute failed to stop the shot, but caught the shin of our Japanese striker. VAR reviewed the incident and referred referee Nick Walsh to the monitor. I know what you would all have been saying had this happened elsewhere!
At the risk of jinxing him, Adam Idah has a 100% career conversion rate from 15 penalties, good enough to win Celtic three points last night. He’s worth a fortune to us for that quality alone. After the game Brendan Rodgers was able to point to various excuses for the performance: disruption in the team being the most valid.
Alexandro Bernabei had his best game for Celtic – the boy can tackle – but he and Maeda on the left looked like they had never met. Bar those opening four minutes, the defensive line had only one of our first choice starters, and was further disordered when Stephen Welsh went off.
Nicolas Kuhn and Tony Ralston may actually have said little more to each other than “Hello”, so our unstructured right wing was no surprise. When Luis Palma arrived on the left we were at least able to hold onto possession in an advanced position, a quality Maeda was unable to deliver before him. Again, Joe Hart did enough to add to our points tally. These reasons sounded plausible until I remembered that disruptive new arrivals at Ross County were an excuse for helping them at Celtic Park.
Brendan, any one of us reading this could have done as well in the dugout last night. You need to put a team on the field that can dominate and win against Premiership sides with 10% of your financial resources and who would be embarrassed by the money you spent.
Against Ross County, Aberdeen and now Hibs, teams on terrible runs of form, we are a soft touch. Enough with the self-fulfilling excuses for failure, you have the resources to comfortably win these games. It is your responsibility to get it right, or just own up if you can’t do the job without Chris Davies.
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i dont know i will need to read some.
i do find it kinda strange that that group of clubs would have an alliance to anything that rangers are involved in.
What does John Kennedy do ?
If I recall correctly that ‘independent report’ returned a positive verdict on the practices and procedures of the SPFL.
That probably pissed off other teams, just as much as the SFA in front of a Government panel saying their practices and procedures are robust 🙄
FANADPATRIOT on 8TH FEBRUARY 2024 3:10 PM
What does John Kennedy do ?
professionaly succesful football coach of 20 years or so experience.
that john kenneddy ?
FANADPATRIOT on 8TH FEBRUARY 2024 3:10 PM
What does John Kennedy do ?
Pick up a large pay packet for……not so sure really…
JOTA going to the hammers ?
I’m a big fan of CQN and the majority of your leaders Pablo ….
… but, IMHO, the tone of the last section of this article is all wrong.
We need unity.
Right now our entire universe MUST be 15 league games over the next 3½ months.
Blame, negativity, recrimination?
Respectfully the so-called “bedwetters” and “negatrons” can’t be expected to set them aside in the short term for the greater good if the host doesn’t do likewise.
B2B
Wonder what P67’s leader will be like after the home Killie game because the board and Lawwell in particular will get it in the neck 🫣
FANADPATRIOT on 8TH FEBRUARY 2024 3:10 PM
What does John Kennedy do ?
——-
He’ll be doing whatever Brendan is telling him to do.
BR won’t be much of a coach if he can’t even instruct his staff.
There’s a collective failing across the coaches and players, only they and ultimately BR can fix it.
Paul67
CAREFUL NOW DARWJN has the FEARON
he iis gettin AWOODY.
Say yir piece Paul,
Brendan asked for quality in transfer window(S)
He wasn’t backed, but aye its brendans fault.
Paul still tripping over his petted lip because big Peter assured him Brendan wasn’t getting the gig .. hey ho …..
I’m sorry, but this article reads like something from the last days of the old Board.: attempting to defend the indefensible.
The strategy then was to hunker down and eventually everyone would stop shouting at them and shout at the manager instead. The Board would then sack the manager and everyone would think everything is tickety boo for a while.
The facts are these: for years we put up with a scatter gun recruitment policy buying lots of young players hoping one or two could be sold for large money after
two years while the club were stuck with the rest either terminating their contracts early or running them out.
After the abysmal ten in a row season the Chief Executive stood down. We employed a manager who bought players for specific roles within the setup he wanted to play. Crucially, some of these guys were bought before the transfer windows actually opened.
Last January the former Chief Executive returned as Chairman and since that moment things have gone backwards. The current Chief Executive was willing to buy players prior to the window opening before last January so what changed. Or more importantly who changed.
Leaked stories the other day claimed Celtic tried to buy a forward from Denmark on the final day of the window. Why wait to the final day to attempt to buy for a position we were screaming out to fill all January? No, we knew our bid would be rejected because the selling club had no time to buy a replacement for the player they were losing.
That leak was just another peddled excuse for inactivity and should be treated with the scorn it deserves.
As a club Celtic do not buy players for positions even though the need is abundantly clear. Our recruitment is of “armature talent night ” proportions. We do not buy quality but rely on casting a net and see what we drag up.
Further more we do not hire managers to build on the legacy of what has gone before otherwise we would not have re-hired Rodgers.
We know the type of football Ange wanted to play, the players bought into it and the fans bought into it. To go from that to this purile ‘drift’ football, where it looks as if half the team don’t know what there are doing must be disheartening for the players but it is torture to watch.
And this is where Rodgers must take responsibility. You don’t take a Treble winning team and change tactics simply for the sake of it only to break what was successful.
We need a strategic division within our club. This department should look at succession planning: having a vision of how our team plays and what managers align with that philosophy. That list should constantly be kept up to date. Likewise with transfers: players should be identified that again align with how the club want to play. In thatcway when a new banager arrives the players kind of know what’s coming.
Unfortunately that would involve some people losing a grip on things and that simply won’t be allowed.
Paul going after Brendan with both barrels today. Not unjust comments, but very unusual from our host – what has caused the recent turnaround?
I’m ok with Brendan at the helm, but feel he has lost something over the last few weeks. Most teams have a form dip during a season, but Celtic often power through it with minimal damage. Not so much at the moment as we have dropped 8 points from our last 9 games which is more than we dropped all last season up to the point the league was won.
With the team coming back together after the mid-season disruption, hopefully we can get settled again and kick-on. An on-form CCV and Hatate are sorely missed.
JUSTSHATERED on 8TH FEBRUARY 2024 3:43 PM
And this is where Rodgers must take responsibility. You don’t take a Treble winning team and change tactics simply for the sake of it only to break what was successful.
Brendan would take issue with this….
“There has been no change whatsoever in terms of how the players have been asked to play. Where there has been a change, is the level of player”.
Yesterday’s presser.
Stats from last nights game would back up what many of us on here have been sayin.
Touches
Scales 157
Welsh 105
Bernabei 96
McGregor 70
O’Riley 70
Ralston 60
Bernardo 50
Maeda 43
Loads of sideways passes and passes between our central defenders in safe areas.
given it was a 5pm kick off, was and the game finished in daylight, was it technically one late afternoon in lisbor or even one early evening in lisbon ?
safe passes and ball retention so what ?
When does the transfer window for assistant managers close?
CQN has now become unrecognisable to past days. “Lazy Journalism” has now got a hold of it. It’s very much like a political party leaking story’s or ideas to its preferred newspaper…to plant a seed into the public domain. Very sad day in the history of CQN….
In professional sports confidence is king. If our opponents believe they have a chance then they have a chance. The malaise at our club doesn’t originate with our manager. We all know the problem.
The summer transfer window was a failure. They had a second chance in January to correct this mess and there was an even bigger failure.
We won the treble last season. Turnover of almost £150m, £33m in profit and £72m in the bank. Our only opposition are skint and yet they could win the treble.
We may still win the league this season but we may not and that is unforgivable.
In the meantime. Back the manager. Back the players. And sack the board at the end of the season.
WHAT IS A BLUE CARD?
Referees will have the power to show blue cards for cynical fouls that stop threatening attacks and dissent towards a match official.
The card may also be issued to confirm a player should be shown a red card if they receive two blue cards in a match or a combination of a yellow and a blue.
The revolutionary move would be the first new colour of card introduced into top end football since red and yellow cards were adopted at the 1970 World Cup.
Trials will not be conducted during top-tier matches, though FA Cup and Women’s FA Cup games could be used for testing next year.
The FA are reportedly considering volunteering next season’s competitions.
FANADPATRIOT on 8TH FEBRUARY 2024 3:10 PM
What does John Kennedy do ?
—-
Good point. In lamenting the absence of Davies, P67 has inadvertently questioned the talents of JK.
ONENIGHTINLISBON (3:48PM): “There has been no change whatsoever in terms of how the players have been asked to play. Where there has been a change, is the level of player”.
I picked up on that one too. Very Derek Adamsesque from BR. Let’s hope this doesn’t get the opposite reaction to what he is hoping for!
B2B
Wonder what P67’s leader will be like after the home Killie game because the board and Lawwell in particular will get it in the neck 🫣
——
There in lies why today’s article goes in studs up on BR.
There are those within the club that can feel the noose tightening and they want to deflect.
BIGCHIPSUK on 8TH FEBRUARY 2024 4:19 PM
ONENIGHTINLISBON (3:48PM): “There has been no change whatsoever in terms of how the players have been asked to play. Where there has been a change, is the level of player”.
I picked up on that one too. Very Derek Adamsesque from BR. Let’s hope this doesn’t get the opposite reaction to what he is hoping for!
—-
I hope it works out better for him than it did for Derek Adams
If all of this falls on BR, does it not then also fall on the people who recruited him not so long ago?
If that post is simply Paul67s opinion – fine each man has a view
If that is a message from Elvis the shame on you Paul67
For the first time ever I feel no comfort in CQN
James Forrest could be the site to go too
And that is more a decline in this one than any improvement in the other one
67ECW
67 European Cup Winners on 8th February 2024 4:32 pm
The last time i was on James Forrest’s site he was selling booster jabs for covid.
G FEARON on 8TH FEBRUARY 2024 4:42 PM
Jesus. Thats more depressing ,,
67ECW
Obviously, I can have no problem with the host expressing his view on how our manager is doing. However, it is the tone of the criticism that, I have to say, makes me uncomfortable.
I don’t know that poor performances from several individuals can be laid at the manager’s door . Neither did I sense any tool-downing normally associated with wantaways , with the possible exception of the truly puzzling Abada .
Over hit passes , under hit passes , passes straight to the opposition , failing to control a football , failing to make runs , failing to spot runs ?
Nothing to do with systems or instructions . More to do with players who are off form or just don’t have what it takes to begin with .
Not exonerating BR completely , but I don’t think Paul is being entirely objective here .
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Plenty to be concerned about last night but it is interesting how a 2-1 win away at a 7th placed team is somehow so much worse than a 2-1 win at home by rangers the previous night.
Their fans and media are euphoric about a stellar signature win v the dons despite benefiting from favorable decisions to get the result. We are doom and gloom despite winning only our 4th league win at Easter Rd in 10 years !
It was poor I agree and without doubt the managers inability to coax a result out of the wealth of talent he does have speaks volumes.
Sure we have injuries but so did they. We also have a few in Asia also. This cannot be an excuse when we look at the disjointed performance.
The manager really does miss Chris Davies. He is not to blame for that. It happens. A few folk weee critical when I highlighted that earlier in the season. My son told me first hand what an influence he had from his time working there. Broony and Chris were a strong axis as was the sports science guy Jack Naylor.
Brendan is isolated, this is a problem but I am sure he will be up for the fight. He has a lot to prove. He has blown strong positions in the premiership with Liverpool and Leicester (twice) and some may say he ran away when we were at the run in stage at Celtic.
I hope proving he has the bottle to win this rather than looking for excuses and someone to blame will be how he sees this now.
Personally despite his 2 trebles I would view him a bit like Jim Kelly of the Buffalo Bills rather than Patrick Mahomes if he were to blow this one.
With 13 to go a united Celtic can win this. The other lot, whether on paper, or grass at rubbish.
Hibernian at home has never been an easy venue for Celtic and Brendan Rodgers even in his pomp with an all conquering Celtic team has failed there, but he managed to do it last night with his current squad which could be considered inferior to his previous ones.
The game was a difficult watch with Liam Scales and Joe Hart outstanding in marshalling a makeshift defence hit with yet another injury. Adam Aidah just in the door and playing his first full game as a Celtic player had sensational debut winning the game for the Hoops and rattling the net with his two pressure cooker penalty strikes.
‘I wasn’t spooked and was confident with those kicks, I’m taking them all my footballing career’ he said in his post match interview on Sky Sport. He maybe only 22 years of age but has a wealth of International experience.
New man Kuhn made little impression and things improved with Palma and Kyogo winning that penalty.
Pity Hibs can’t give their support more of the same and maybe the new manager can get them to get the lead out in future when playing lesser SPFL sides. A difficult nervy night but the all important 3 points.
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