I liked a lot about what we did last night. Leigh Griffiths provided more evidence that he is a remarkable predator. Kris Commons delivered another driven corner, his third of this European campaign to result in a goal, Lustig made first contact leaving Griffiths with only instinct to produce a shot on target. That same instinct clicked an instant later to turn the second shot over the keeper and into the net.
Do you remember a moment, before the first goal, when Fenerbahce enjoyed their best spell of pressure, and we cleared our lines aimlessly four times in a couple of minutes? It looked ugly and invited Fenerbahce to continue to pile the pressure on, but it was a salutary indication of how tactically well Celtic played. When under pressure, clear your lines, regroup, and get ready to go again.
On two occasions we dribbled out of a defensive position leading to a goal. Nir Bitton had ample opportunity to clear forward, but with opponents closing space all around him, he hesitated until he could play-in James Forrest, who surge forward to cross for Commons to score.
Scott Brown as immense all night, but having held-off a challenge 20 yards from his own goal on the wing, he should have cleared deep inside Fenerbahce territory instead of trying to make a pass. We didn’t get the ball back until the score was 2-2. Johansen and Lustig were both caught similarly in the second half but neither was punished. Being brave in possession isn’t always wise.
Some of the passing football we played was a treat to watch. Bitton and Brown played their best game as a partnership, if not as individuals in a Celtic shirt; Brown was certainly that good. James Forrest, now fit, is drinking-in responsibility. He was effective last night, but not because he used his unparalleled pace, instead he delivered link play.
You’ll have noticed Craig Gordon likes a leg save. Few keepers do, they seem to try to get their hands or torso to a ball, but I like that Craig likes getting any hard part of his body in the way.
Don’t let it bounce.
“Don’t let it bounce.” There’s not a central defender in the world who doesn’t hear that phrase every week. When a ball is coming towards the danger zone in the air, get your head on it. If you let it bounce, anything can happen.
This was Efe Ambrose first mistake last night. He failed to read the flight of the ball. The moment it bounced, he was in trouble. With Fernandao waiting to feed on the scraps, Efe should then have concentrated on winning the physical challenge as the ball dropped a second time, but instead he found his ‘don’t let the ball bounce’ instinct too late and committed a second inexcusable error.
Think back almost three years to the opening minutes of the Champions League game against Juventus, Efe committed pretty much the same mistake. He lost the flight of the ball and we were a goal down and out before we warmed up.
Although Efe is taking a large slice of the blame in some places for the second Fenerbahce goal, I’m not convinced this is a fair assessment. To give due credit, it was an excellent corner and header – from a zone in front near post it’s difficult to score from. The point about zonal marking is you defend areas it’s easy to score from, at the cost of leaving less-risky areas unattended. Fernandao’s header didn’t come from a high-risk zone.
For some reason, wispy Leigh Griffiths was delegated to man-mark bulky target-man Fernandao. Wee guys can block big guys, but they need to be standing ball-side of the attacker, preferably facing his chest with arms out, so that when movement happens, he’s at least the right side of the attacker. Leigh was on his heels, completely unprepared.
Before the kick was struck, Fernandao was on the move, gambling on a near-post run. Should Efe have also gambled similarly? On first glance it looked like it, but that’s only because the ball went to that area and ended up in the net. Fernandao could afford to gamble by running into a space the ball may or may not arrive at. This is not the case for a defender. He has to wait until the ball is in the air. If he leaves his zone before the ball’s kicked to follow an attacker who has move early, he’s not doing his job.
It’s all about the block.
Great corner aside, we lost the second goal because we didn’t get a block on Fenerbahce’s target man. Before the kick was taken, Leigh Griffiths was adjacent to and looking at Fernandao, having been delegated the task by the impressive Kieran Tierney, but Leigh was also looking all around him and made no attempt to block.
Griffiths (5’ 8”), the smallest man in the Celtic team, should never have been near Fernandao (6’ 4”), the tallest man in the Fenerbahce team. That’s 8 inches of disadvantage and double figures of kilos weight.
There are two big questions to be asked about this goal:
Why didn’t we have a physical equal on Fernandao, capable of withstanding a shove, or better still, getting his own shove in first? Fenerbahce had one target man striker, we didn’t notice him. It doesn’t matter if you play zonal or man-to-man, if we are conceding 8 inches to the opponent’s main physical threat, we’ll continue to lose goals at corner kicks.
But the real curious question is why was it left to 18-year-old Kieran Tierney to instruct who picks up whom at a corner kick? Action moves so quickly at corners that everyone needs to understand they have a responsibility to take control, not just the central defenders, captain, or keeper. Or 18-year-old novice.
This is not happening at Celtic right now, which is why we’re playing our European football on Thursdays this season. If you put your smallest player on an opponent’s tallest, and it’s left to an 18-year-old to delegate responsibility, you deserve to lose a goal.
Last Man Standing 5
Last call for all those wanting to take part in Last Man Standing 5, in aid of Wee Shay McGinlay who is 2 and suffers from cerebral palsy. To date CQNers and friends have raised an incredible £5400 towards the fund raising campaign, to finance treatment for Shay not available on the NHS, which will hopefully improve his quality of life.
The current entrants stand at 72, so if you want to take join the LMS5 clique, then simply drop a line to Jobo and CRC at cqnlastmanstanding@gmail.com before 12pm Saturday and they will send you more details.
Thanks for indulging me bringing the work of the Foundation to your attention all this week. The Great Scottish Run is less than 48 hours away and dozens of Celtic fans have put thousands of hours into preparing for the event. Those doing the ‘half’ are going to miss the Hamilton game, another consequence of playing Thursday night European football.
If you can support any of the runners, please do:
Click here for my linked donation page.
Thank you.
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Our game on tv tomorrow? H H Hebcelt
Young Liam H scores again for Hibs :))
One loanee I hope makes it back to the Hoops,
JJHS
i’m feart tae mention yon game up north in case i put the kiss of death on it.:))))
45-50mins is my cyber bet for sevco to get a pen or the bairns to be reduced to 10
Will shortly be going out to watch the egg chasers so, before I do, what do we think will be the team selection tomorrow?
Bailey ( Gordon maybe needs a wee rest)
Janko ( Lustig needs careful management), Efe Boyatta, Izzi.
Forrest Brown Bitton Rogic Armstrong
Ciftci ( we need to start him sometime).
I do not expect for one second that Ronny will select such a team but I feel we should be utilising our big squad by changing two or three players at a time. I would even consider giving Broony a rest as Bitton has the confidence now to run matters but our Captain never seems jaded !
JJ
PS I cannot see Scotland beating the Boks.
4 to 1 for the saints
Bah
Dons now losing 1-4 :-)))))))))))))
4-1 saints . wow
Sheep 4-1 down
Leftclicktic
I am delighted for young Liam, I would loan them all out, learn your trade and come back and demand a jersey, it might not always work but if it works now and again it would be worth it, in fact send them all up to Ross County
Mon the St Johnstone
In the barbers this morning getting my hair attended to and as there was a queue picked up the Daily Record. How helpful of them to print the address of Imran Ahmed’s mother and her beauty salon. Mr Ahmed is currently residing with his mother. I would suggest he avoids picking up any packets from behind the letterbox.
Dont see any come back for the Dons now 1-4 to St. Johnstone a third defeat in a row looking likely but Celtic need to take advantage and not slip up tomorrow.H.H.
HEBCELT
On BT Sports according to the coupon
HH
TBB
Where do Whyte & Sevco5088 stand in all this?
As he was “shafted” by Green & co allegedly
1-5
Ha ha ha
Jeez oh 5-1 SJ
5 now
LOL
1-5 you couldnae make it up
5-1
Sheep getting s*****d 5-1 :)
1-5 -)))
Sheep being battered by the fermirs fae Perth…..that complacency is spreading.
Can we have a good football weekend?
McInnes must stay !
OLDTIM67
Aye,but by the end of them,you were old enough to get some fags in!
My point,same as yours and my Dad’s point-you lived through the famine,we lived through the feast.
I know which all of us prefer,and we hanker for that. It disnae mean we’re entitled to it.
See you Saturday,wi any luck. You and my oul’ man can compare ration books,haha!!!!
I take it Aberdeen Quick News is in total meltdown……………….
Do goalkeepers really need a rest ? Strongest fittest youngest hungry players required tomorrow, also think we will beat Molde both games. Amazing the confidence saints got from beating the newest professional (sic) club/company last week. Sheep getting a hell of a doing. C’mon Celtic 3 points please . I’ll be there
Hope Spiers is on RS tonight. He’s been bumming up McInnes for weeks, saying how much better a manager than Ronny he is.
Having a day of rest today…did three 5 k runs this week so will rest up and get back to gym tomorrow. Good luck to all who are running tomorrow for all the good causes.
I m doing my own little October charity fundraiser , started on Monday and going to stop all beer.cider and chocolate till 30th October.
Would go till 31st but am off to London on 30th to see my lhad and will be having a beer with him on that night, hope I can last the month.
Deek seek?
Good results today. We need to be sure we win tomorrow and heap pressure on the sheep before the international break.
Wonder when the pen will be awarded to the Huns. Sounds like Falkirk giving them a hard time. Ref may wait till last 5 mins before awarding the pen.
Baaaa ha Baaaa ha we are the sheepie boys!
JJ..,
Efe is suspended
That awkward moment when they said Celtic’s Europa League campaign, would help Aberdeen.
Aguero scores 5, so far, against Newcastle!
Jmccormick
I will sponsor you a wee tenner for your given charity, cheaper than buying you a couple of pints of fresh orange and lemonade next Saturday
They’ll be dancin’ in the barns of Perthshire the nicht!
HH!!
Johnjames seems to agree with Philmac… Thems time could be nigh…
Are the new board running on fumes?
“I’ve followed this saga for a while so I’m disinclined to wait with bated breath for apocalyptic moments.”
The aforementioned comment, in response to one of my blogs, is an apposite counterpoint to Phil Mac Giolla Bhain’s assertion that a decision to mothball the Auchenhowie Sports Academy will be made prior to October 20. I question how Mr Giolla Bhain could have come to this conclusion? Are there leaks in the IT system? Is there an expert in Cloud technology collating e-mails and passing them to his desk in Donegal? Mr Mac Giolla Bhain invites the shyster board to refute his claims, but he knows that if they chose to do so they would add legitimacy to his oeuvre and confer legitimacy to his office.He would also follow up with a series of more searching questions.
Graham Wallace chose to challenge him via the Rangers-facing medium of Radio Clyde, but this turned out badly for Mr Wallace as he was compelled to arrange an emergency loan in a matter of weeks.
I posit that Mr Mac Giolla Bhain chose October 20 as it is the cut-off date for the October payroll run. Could this payroll run be in jeopardy? The £7.3m raised from ST sales is supplemented by ‘pay at the gate’ income and a proportion of the £400,000 paid by the BBC to televise the Scottish League Cup Tie against St. Johnstone. The attendance on that evening was circa 24,000. If we assume that the £4.5m loan only covered the overheads to fiscal end on June 30, the season card income would be totally expended if it costs £2.5m per month to put a team on the park. Others have calculated a lower figure, but a quick look at last year’s operational expenditure, minus the reductions in payroll (12 players now off the books) still results in a figure north of £30m.
Expenditure to date is £10m, which represents a deficit of £2.7m. All home games, with the exception of the league cup tie, have generated an additional £250.000 to £330,000. If we factor in £330,000 for four home games, a similar amount for the cup tie and the pre-season game against Burnley, a best case scenario of £1.98m could have been realized.
Match day spend revenue last season was circa £10m, which included 3 home play-off games,Scottish Cup,League Cup, and Training cup income. This is circa £400,000 per home game. If we assume £800,000 for the four league games and £400,000 for the league cup tie, the revenue will be £3.6m, with a profit margin of no more than 20%, which when added to the enhanced gate figures results in a cash position of zero. Income and expenditure are perfectly balanced.
However when we factor in VAT for the enhanced gates and match day spend, the bill on gates is £396,000 and on spend is £720,000. So any profit on F&B, which is outsourced, will on the reduced figure, after VAT,be £144,000 less than my equilibrium calculations.
So going in to October, the deficit, based on best case scenario projections, is £540,000. If we assume two home games we will generate £528,000 (after VAT) at the gate and £256,000 (after VAT) on F&B. If we deduct the deficit we arrive at an income of only £244,000 which results in the board having to find £2,256,000 to break even by month’s end.
If soft loans are not provided now, there is an obvious danger to the October payroll. Should Green prevail at The Court of Session, an onerous contract of more than £250,000 per month is not sustainable.
I welcome challenges to my calculations.
Who does Aguero think he is?
Robert Lewandowski?!
HH!!
BBC furiously trying to work out why this is a good result for Aberdeen…
HH
BMCUW
Yer jist showin aff noooooooo wae yer CQN cyber tips :)))))
See you next Sat