Enough with the self-fulfilling excuses for failure

245

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.

Click Here for Comments >
Share.

About Author

245 Comments
  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7

  1. Lawwell s are just the new Agatha, Fergus whoever. Get a life. Supporting Celtic should not be about looking for escaped goats. Let the other lot do that. If you have facts and not opinions, I might listen. Two decades of success are a hard fact. The very simple arithmetic says tha5 all season in a two horse race will be tight. Get behind the team rather than petty personal vendettas and armchair politics.

  2. spikeysauldman on

    hey don’t give a f*** about bringing dangerous flares and pyrotechnics into a closely-packed crowd, as witnessed two days ago in Edinburgh. Will it take a fatality for someone to act decisively here? It is not a problem for society, it is a problem caused by football idiots who think they are above the law.

     

     

    This great society you mention. Which planet do you live on ???????

  3. TAURANGABHOY @ 7:12 AM,

     

     

    Your posts are always good value, don’t always agree though, as in this case.

     

     

    We were a much better Club and much better team two decades ago.

     

     

    We were smart, innovative, competitive, ambitious….

     

     

    The support was raucous and representative of the what we are all about.

     

     

    No nostalgia – just the way it was!!

     

     

    Hail Hail

  4. Darwin.

     

     

    Noice bit of deflection there.

     

     

    Still wetting the bed about IRA songs. Hahahahahahhaa.

     

     

    Have a lie down man,

  5. Isn’t it marvellous that we have such an exciting run-in to the Premiership title with both Celtic and Rangers nip n tuck at the top rather than the league being won with lots of games to spare.

     

     

    Fasten your seatbelts and enjoy the ride as the battle goes right down to the wire.

     

     

    Every game a cup final.

     

     

    This is what football’s all about. Can’t wait.

     

     

    Hail Hail

  6. bournesouprecipe on

    I remember Greed Power and Nepotism back in the days of the ole Burnsssss’s Howf . What a waste of time and money that was.👍

  7. Greenpinata

     

     

    Ref Chris Davies

     

     

    My point was really clear re Brendan.

     

     

    Davies Brown Naylor were all close.

     

     

    I know that from first hand feedback.

     

     

    All 3 are missing which makes it more challenging for him this time.

     

     

    Simple’s.

  8. DARWIN, JHB,CLOUD9,GRiFTER GALLOWAYS TOMMY, ANDRENA,ROSSTHEKID-

     

    👆 ‘We

     

     

    Big Vacuous paragraphs unionist.Fla yir fleg

     

     

    The only “we” you have is your evergrowing range of monikers.

     

    I remember,apart from the boat chasing racism you spewed on here,previously you appeared to question if Ange would get a top6 finish after his start.howd that turn out?

     

     

    Racist tramps have no place here,

  9. For Gods sake change the subject the Lawells Rogers ,Kennedy ,Strachan etc ,what about the accounts that was to be released,

  10. Timbhoy163

     

    Interims sometime in next week.

     

    Oh dont worry am syre youll read of them :-)

     

    HH

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7