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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We have a real difficult game on Sunday, Accies have recorded back to back wins and the familiarity with that pitch is another advantage.
Best eleven required, I’d like to see Allan on the bench, those pitches are made for passing.
HAMILTONTIM on 2ND OCTOBER 2015 8:00 PM
SLOLEYBHOY on 2ND OCTOBER 2015 7:28 PM
Sorry but who posted the original comment at the top of your post?
————————————————————
It’s a CQN article from earlier today!!
Naw – me neither….
Straight from Daily Record style guide.
Cheers WITS though I bottled it and went each way
BMCUWP/TALLYBHOY…
I need to stop feeding the lazy bassa…watched him trying to catch a pigeon last night, he zig zagged and went for the kill, a mile too slow…thinking of taking him up to lennoxtown (place of my birth) to get RD and JC to put him on a prefared diet and get him fit:)
Not sure if they could help with his approach though :)
Natknow
I eventually worked that out after reading back doh :-)
Really, really poor stuff.
Just read that Efe is suspended for Saturday, seems like most people I had forgotten how he took one for the team last week. Aye , that’s right, Efe the bomb scare?
We used to be a club that looked after our own, the mentalists amongst the media and their half witted ex pros who have never played at Efes level are the real villains here. Not one of us. I have stood up to loud mouth arses at Celtic Park who have abused Simon Donnelly, Mickey Gray and Darryl Murphy . The latter two who treasured and loved their time at Celtic Park and always talk up our club, perhaps some of our ” supporters” should shut the feck up and leave the press to do their own work.
Anyway onto Sunday, a pacy 4g pitch should suit Janko but play havoc with Mikels porcelain joints. So , Janko at right back , izzy on the left with Blacket and Boyata in the middle. Sorted at the back, normal 2 in front with Rogic back in for our missing POTY, Forrest, Commons and The Daftie up top. There is 3 points to be had and we will take them, I would have a few of the youngsters on the bench, they play on this type of surface every week and it will be ideal for them.
I will mainly be cooking Spanish food on Sunday as a treat to my family. I am doing a sort of October Lent? No beer, cider or chocolate of any type till 30th Oct , I will donate £50 to Kano foundation from the money I will save.
The expected few pounds lost will also be welcome, wish me luck.
(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, released on 2 October 1995
Time has flown
Janko was injured in the warm up last night
Ronny’s defensive record in Europe really is very bad. And he seems obstinately unwilling to learn from his mistakes. If you remove the part time Icelanders from the equation (the kind of opposition even Sevco routinely hump), his record is P18 W4 D7 L7 – enough games to gauge whether he’s making progress. And these aren’t first rate powers of the calibre Lenny routinely took on – even if the spin would have you believe Fenerbahce are giants of world football (they aren’t and never have been). In those 18 games we’ve scored a perfectly respectable 23 goals, some of them top quality (Wakaso against Salzburg, Griffiths against Malmo, Commons last night), scoring 2 or more an impressive 7 times. But there’s the rub. In those 7 games we’ve managed to win only 2. A win percentage of 28% when you score 2 or more (or 33% on the 3 occasions when we’ve scored 3 goals) points to an abysmal defence. We’ve conceded 31 goals in those 18 games, relegation form. Yet Ronny always talks us up. His patter doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. He’s a dreamer unwilling to face the harsh reality of his own tactical shortcomings. I confidently predict that Ronny won’t wise up, won’t change anything, we’ll continue to score goals in this group, but lose more and get knocked out (probably in 3rd place). Ronny will then sell it to us as a positive learning experience that will stand us in good stead for next year. The irony being that Ronny seems incapable of learning.
Sorry , the game is Sunday…I did know , I just had an Efe moment!!!!!
Hamiltontim, we are a better team when Mikael is in it.
As I posted earlier, if only Mikael had Efe’s fitness.
The players should not need any motivation for Sunday and they will be getting plenty of backing from our away support.
I wonder if Hamilton will water the pitch or not as they like to pass the ball also?
Anyone got these good second albulms
http://www.radiox.co.uk/x-lists/greatest-ever-second-albums
HAMILTONTIM on 2ND OCTOBER 2015 8:22 PM
Natknow
I eventually worked that out after reading back doh :-)
Really, really poor stuff.
————————————————————
:-)
You’re being kind though. It’s the kind of pish I can read every day of the week in the Scottish tabloids. It’s one thing fans making comments on the blog, but another to publish the kind of anti-Celtic bull that we already get in this country. WFT is going on at CQN??
Evening CQN!
What’s the Hampden then?
HAIL! HAIL!
Token
The Spirit of Arthur Lee on 2nd October 2015 8:26 pm
Anyone got these good second albums
http://www.radiox.co.uk/x-lists/greatest-ever-second-albums
—————
Missing
Joy Division – Closer
My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
Coldplay – A Rush Of Blood To The Head
Queens Of The Stone Age – Rated R
The Cure – Seventeen Seconds
THE SPIRIT OF ARTHUR LEE on 2ND OCTOBER 2015 8:26 PM
Anyone got these good second albulms
http://www.radiox.co.uk/x-lists/greatest-ever-second-albums
———————————————————————-
Almost all of ’em. Draw the line at Coldplay though.
“With The Beatles” is currently my 8-year old daughter’s favourite LP because she keeps mis-hearing the lyrics and finds it hilarious. E.g. From “It Won’t Be Long” she hears the line “Every night the juice comes out of my eyes” @ 58 secs…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUmXXFbhokc
Evening all,
Good thing with Celtic, there is always something to look forward to 10/10, next week.
Anyway, the game has gone, hoping the staff learn and move on too.
HH,
Clogher
TSOAL
Champagne Supernova was an amazing exit track. My favourite Oasis song. Noel Gallagher ended his set at Benicassim with CS. Set us up nicely for The Prodigy after.
Haven’t scrolled back and don’t intend to. Thought Efe played well last night with the obvious exception of his attempted header back to Gordon. It was straight in front of where I was sitting and I just knew he was going to do it. All players make mistakes but poor Efe always seems to pick pivotal moments in huge games to Efe up. I was and am mad with the guy but I still love him. He still has a place in my Celtic.
The more I read CQN the more I want Celtic to win. I don’t like RD but the kicking Celtic get on here from so called Celtic fans is a joke. Would hazard a guess that most don’t even attend games.
THE SPIRIT OF ARTHUR LEE on 2ND OCTOBER 2015 8:22 PM
(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, released on 2 October 1995
Time has flown
———
It was good of them to bring it out to celebrate your 50th.
wits
cheers got 5/2 nice one thanks
HH
Sipsini
I dropped our mutual friend a text with the alleged name outed as being Johnjames, did you get it ?
Supersutton
I posted late last night, about Johansen barking orders to both Lustig and Commons, and ignored by both ( incidentally you are right, Commons did not move to cover the gap he was asking to be closed), body language is very clear, there is an issue with Johansen and some players ?
I also posted last night Johansen and Commons are playing in wrong position and should be swapped
HT
Think we will have to play Lustig at right back on Sun, Janko pulled up before game last night and had to be replaced on the bench.
I would change one position in the team you picked, play Armstrong instead of Rogic ? ( think Rogic has done well though)
Gordon
Lustig, Boyata, Blackett, Izzy
Brown, Bitton
Forrest, Commons, Armstrong
Griffiths
Hail Hail
HT
Yip and no doubt Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers will do the same for your good self
Love
Corkcelt, by the sounds of it, a win for us would have made it a perfect trip for you.
We have a poor defensive record in Europe and have had over the last forty years with the Seville season and prior to Rubentus games in the 2012/13 season, being the exceptions.
Qarabag are not one of Europe’s better teams but out of their last six european games, we were the only team they didn’t score against.
Dallas
From what I’ve heard Hamilton are trying to pass the ball this season, similar to how they did under Neil. Against us that may change but I hope they maintain that philosophy.
Some of our passing last night, particularly in the first half was great. A slick pitch should suit us more than them.
Cowiebhoy…
Yep, I got it, cheers mate, hope you’re dog is in fine fettle now and the new addition has settled in. HH
Evening bhoys & ghirls
Still well in the group having played ajax & fenerbahce,
3points on sunday please
gordon
mikael boyata blackett izzy
forrest brown bitton armstrong
kris griff
if jozo fit put him in for blackett.
we could give hamilton a sore one on sunday
Corkcelt
Sorry I missed you. Glad you enjoyed your trip and got home safe.
Hail Hail
Natknow
I think I’ve read the magazine once. Now I know why :-)
Lefty
Why not just say same a Cowiebhoy :-)
Coatbrig roaster
Sipsini was it same name as the big chap ?
Hail Hail
Awe naw no the same as cowiebhoy noo :)))))
S.O.A.L
Ant and Dec will release something special to celebrate when it’s time for H.T.s 50th.
Corckcelt…
Best not to scroll back mate.
Hope you had a grand time. HH
More music lists
http://www.mojo4music.com/15825/50-greatest-uk-indie-records-of-all-time/
For the guys in the know what kind of reception can our travelling fans expect when they travel to Turkey ? They reminded me of or travelling support, very vociferous. Backed the team too the hilt.
Someone suggested earlier we need a “Manager” as Ronny is a coach not a manager, had me thinking for a wee while . Prepared to stick by Ronny as manager myself. Could be great in the next 5 years. Do Celtic support have the patience ? Not sure.
Positives…………..
Griff an’ Kris an’ the wee lad Tierney.
And If I’m honest I thought we might get cuffed if RVP was on his game so, syill glad to be a tim.
HH.
Cowiebhoy
Rogic has been doing well and his confidence must be fairly high. I know I’m suggesting playing him out of position but I think it’s worth it to accommodate Commons in the middle.
Leftie
That’s 4-4-2 you do realise we don’t do 4-4-2 :-)