Last night’s performance was at the upper end of my expectations. We were sharper than I remember from a year ago, although not Nadir Ciftci, who is a couple of weeks behind, and looked a couple of pounds over, his team mates.
You could see how Stjarnan did so well against Lech and Motherwell last season. They defended with six along the back and have a good keeper. Celtic’s passing looked off, but I think that had as much to do with Stjarnan’s denial of space in advanced areas. The chances came when we broke forward having allowed space to open up 50 yards out, and from a set-piece for the opening goal.
Stefan Johansen was my man of the match, he was the creative fulcrum behind all that worked. And yes, Stefan, in a public spat with you, Leigh Griffiths, a man who eats Tea Cakes on the bench and cultivates a rascal persona, walked away looking the grown up. You think about that for a while.
Emilio Izaguirre had a horrible World Cup and started all over the place last season. It was months into the campaign before people started to notice his consistency was back, but the head seemed as though it was still on the beach last night. He would have been punished severely by a mainland European team.
Ronny started with his traditional 4-2-3-1 but for a while after Leigh replaced James Forrest, he played a 4-4-2, which coincided with our best period of the game. Nadir had someone to link with, instead of being isolated in a sea of blue shirts, resplendent with the old World of Sport logo.
It was great having Mikael Lustig back and although Dedryck Boyata was not challenged defensively, he was clearly on a par with Lustig as being a defender who is comfortable on the ball. No mistakes and a goal is pretty much all that could be asked of him.
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There’s nothing like a 2-0 win in our first competitive game of the season in mid July to get us all upset.
Anyway, here’s my favourite goal of the day:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9e2PdfA528
Paul67
Which all goes to prove reality is
a) what we choose to focus on
b) what we choose to make of it and so
c) very few if any of us share the same reality. :) thus
One man’s playmaker is another man’s plonker. :)
Paul67….
It is all about opinions…..but re Johansson, I am with Various…..:) He was poor.
While I am here, a few other comments on last night:
Forrest is very limited, compared to GMS;
Armstrong could go on and become a very good player;
On the few occasions (3 or 4) that we won the ball in OUR half, we don’t seem to know what to do with it. Quick break…..?
We don’t have anyone else with Commons’ touch, vision and lock picking skills.
Paradise looked good on Celtic TV.
Just my $400 worth…..:)
Paul67 I like many others will have to agreeto disagree re SJ .Thomson Twin interested to know how you arrived at the £30m figure, breakdown please. H H Hebcelt
Paul67 I like many others will have to agree to disagree re SJ .Thomson Twin interested to know how you arrived at the £30m figure, breakdown please. H H Hebcelt
Paul67,
Most of those so called chances he created were lost due to the lack of accuracy of his passing so putting in a bad ball is not creating chances it’s having a good idea but not executing the pass properly.
He scored from an excellent ball from Armstrong, missed sitters from three other excellently executed passes from Armstrong. So there’s one nil right away which most would have scored if he wasn’t there.
His crossing again good ideas but too high for everyone but Bhoyata his best cross of the night. The Bitton cross was good too a given, the rest were too high.
Yep he put both Armstrong and Forrest through I’ll agree on that but only similar in quality of the Armstrong passing that make two decent passes.
The ball to Stokes after Stokes created the space and showed him where to put it was absolutely woeful ball landed behind Stokes who would have been clean through had it been in front of him.
Had he no been there I’d have us winning three nothing from Armstrong’s created chances alone.
Naw you counted out six contributions, had GMS been on in place of him I expect we would have romped it. Six contributions are IMO dwarfed by Armstrong’s contribution, and he never spent the night chasing possession after giving the ball away too cheaply.
The_huddle,
Good shout, Armstrong chipped the ball over the defence to Johansen and created chaos in the defence so I’m giving him that too ;)
go tell the spartim
Your opinion of stokes is misguided,
replace his assists then fire away with saying he shouldnt be near the 1st 11.
He has a good scoring record for us and what he creates is massively undervalued.
My best players last night were Mulgrew and Boyata . Obviously not really tested as defenders but still the most consistent for us . Others not really got there full sharpness yet. Some flashes of top-class possesion play – hopefully it will all fall into place for the next round.
Lots of folks saying that their goalkeeper had a good game, from the hour I saw on CTV, we hit just about every chance we had straight at him. Should have been a cricket score.
AR
An objective chance count conflicts with a subjective assessment of a player’s contribution, explained away variously by citing apparent better contributions of others (irrelevant to the question of Johansen’s contribution), even those who didn’t play but might have done better are offered in evidence.
Welcome, my old friend Cognitive Dissonance.
the_huddle, forgot about that one!
Auldheid, see you and your ‘reality is subjective’ postulations!
weeron, see above re subjective postulations!
I’m off to ponder reality. Is it real?
Afternoon
Dont if I”ll be too bothered if we lose £30m if Sjarnan knock us out as I will be sitting in a locked darkened room for days and when I finally emerge I will be denying ever having heard of Celtic.
We may well miss out on the Champions’ League but it won’t be to the team we played against last night
Jimbo67
Paul67:
“He did lots more which didn’t work (and clearly caught the eye of some), but that’s a measure of his total influence on the game. Without Johansen, that was a 0-0 draw last night.”
That is the most inane, dogmatic, statement I can ever remember you ever writing. I think when you stop and think about it… then maybe you’ll agree.
Where’s my crystal ball csc
Auldheid 13:43
I will now act with suspicion when someone states that they are just admiring their playmaker :-)
My thoughts on last night is Job half done, so barring no early goals conceded next week and we should be through with an eventual canter.
Good to see the Hoops are back despite having to watch it on a very dodgy and hugely unreliable playmaker of a stream in Mollies, Playa Blanca.
Weather and beer appear to be compensating well though.
HH
CRC
Canalmar and Robert88
Find both replies rather patronising, but im a big bhoy so thats fine. My opinions are not misguided this will be evident in the not so distant future when Anthony Stokes will be strutting his undoubted talents elsewhere, and it wont be a step up from us.
My point was that you see what you want to see, as better explained by Auldheid.
Neither Stokes nor Charlie will be in the starting 11 when everyone is fit, Mulgrew had a decent game, not worse or better than Boyata, he was still posted missing when Starjnan had their chances, manufactured by our weakness down the left side. As for Anthony, too many games and too many times his contribution is limited, which is a shame for a guy with natural talent.
However, he gets my support whilst he’s here, just wont be in my starting 11 and i doubt Ronny’s
jimbo67
I agree.
A bit like the missed penalty that was saved you have to have £30m to lose it.
There is a fair bit of negativity about today.
Did we actually get beat last night???
Is the world really flat???
Does a bear actually sh@te in the woods???
What the hell is going on?
Next thing people will be trying to convince me Sevco are Rangers.
Away for a lie doon.
LB
Reality about to hit Sevco where it hurts according to Phils blog
http://www.philmacgiollabhain.ie/when-the-bad-news-is-hand-delivered/#more-6613
jimbo67 explain to me in words i can understand where the figure of £30m has come from? H H Hebcelt
go tell the spartim
I don’t see what i want to see, i read stats.
Stokes may well be away it doesn’t take away his obvious contribution.
I feel you’ll be seeing more of Mulgrew left of the cb pair when vvd goes.
To me it’s about form; no-one apart from summer league teams has form as a team or, indeed, as individuals has this, currently. I can see why there is debate re Johanssen (spelling?) yes involved in key moments. Flip the coin some bad decisions and poor touches, however his role requires more ball possession individually. He’s out of form and in that role in tighter areas you need that, more than anyone. It will come and, although, very frustrating at times last, he helped Celtic with goals and we won. It’s a much better debate all-the-same. Some had it easy last night and didn’t give extra, again, it’s very brave to take the ball frequently when ‘off’ form like Stefan did.
Peace ;-)
Typo city- I blame my phone and post interview nerves ;-)
Robert88
I dont find his contribution obvious and its simplistic to use certain stats to support it, but thats fine, it may well be stuck out on the left hampers his natural instincts, but ive seen all to often, with my own eyes (unlike Davie Provan, who whilst despite needing glasses doesnt wear them during commentary, explains a lot), a lack of application and awareness, his shot last night being symptomatic of many a performance.
Re: Mulgrew, I agree that this may the scenario when VVD goes and that scares me at a European Level
Id still play Stokes before Forrest (impact player at best, a 1 in 5 performer, so far….)
go tell the spartim
Re stokes, simplistic stats my behind. Assists count for everything without them no goals. Him and izzy being two of the highest contributors.
Being on the left increases his usefulness to the team along with izzy. Very similar to samaras, in that respect.
“Without Johansen, that was a 0-0 draw last night.”
Really, and you accuse arguments about what might have been yet your whole argument ends in exactly the same vein, really cognitive dissonance hmmm.
I suppose objectivity is subjective eh.
Objectivity IMO is giving credit where it’s due but also seeing problems for what they are and passing accuracy is currently a big problem for Johansen but then I’ve got the benefit of watching the game a couple of times since then.
I’ve said last night and today I expect that to improve with games there is no witch hunt just my honest assessment of his performance last night.
And my assessment is without him we would have romped it just as your assessment is it would have been 0-0.
But then I don’t accuse you of cognitive dissonance just having an opinion.
Paul67…. A fair point but I still disagree.. and that’s what it’s all about, oh hokey kokey kokey…
HH
Robert88
With regards to both Stokes and Izzy, whilst their partnership was fruitful for decent parts last season, both wont be in the starting 11 soon enough, which is the stark reality under Ronny
Go tell spartim,
I only suggested you watch the game again, nothing patronising about it, unless you just don’t like Stoksey and refuse to change you mind and if that’s the case it’s pointless discussing it with you.
Go tell the spartim,
“With regards to both Stokes and Izzy, whilst their partnership was fruitful for decent parts last season, both wont be in the starting 11 soon enough, which is the stark reality under Ronny”
This stark reality ? obviously you have Ronny on the phone reporting all this to you else it would be your opinion or is it just a new way to declare it as a FACT ?
SJ is a tough one ….. potentially, a GREAT player, but, at the moment, has some holes in his game, which make him frustrating …
Plus -he does give us energy and what little drive we have through the middle up front (but, as I said yesterday, I think Ciftci will do well once in this system, once he gets a bit fitter),
Negative – his first touch and decision making are suspect. so too much of the play breaks down
plus ….gets in good scoring positions as much as anyone
negative … rate of finishing when he gets in those positions is poor
hopefully, the negatives will improve as the season goes on, but if not, I might try SA would do in that role …. a bit less energy/drive (although decent on that score), but a more thoughtful player in that role ….
overall, as fanatic (I think) has said …. we look good coming out of the back, but we still slow down once we cross the midfield line ….
with RD’s system (which is in effect a 4-2-4), we should have more men forward and be breaking much more quickly …. passing instead of midfielders running with the ball to advance it (a passed ball travels much more qucikly than a player running with the ball).
I think NB and SA could be the anchors to build the team around….both smart footballers who can see and make the key passes ….
the problem with SF is that, if he has some EXCELLENT qualities, that really do catch the eye, so that if he does improve on his weaknesses (primarily, his finishing) , he will be snapped up by a bigger club
Canamalar
I was there and have watched it back. My point which i reiterate was you see what you want to see. I find your recent post patronising too, but thats fair enough that might be your way.
I get frustrated at Stokes, has talent, lacks application, in my opinion, and wont be near the starting 11 and if rumours are true wont be near the squad either
Canamalar,
I dont need to have Ronny on the phone, we’ll see once the transfer window is shut, then the FACT will be evident.
With our preferred 4-2-3-1, our defensive 6 normally pick themselves. And with Griff or Shifty as our lone striker, the key is the ‘3’ and in particular, the central role previously commandeered by Kris Commons.
Sorry Paul but I disagree with your assessment of SJ. His engine is needs a tune up and his ‘distributor’ has been, to say the least, erratic of late.
Perhaps Ronny should move Armstrong into that central role and give SJ a break. SA has a great engine and an eye for a raking through ball (as again last night for SJ’s goal).
I would then also like to see (behind Shifty) GMS wide left and Griff wide right, both with pace to burn and the ability to skin a defender and cut in onto their favoured foot for a strike on goal – and they are both known goal scorers.
I think this would give us our most pacy, dangerous and goal hungry front 4 which could unsettle any defence.
Don’t get me wrong – I think Johanson is a great player for us – I just think he may need longer to recharge his batteries due to his ‘Duracell bunny’ style of play. Interesting dilemma to have though …
Stop bickering, you’re all causing an Error Establishing a Database Connection…
Anyway, it’s quite clear that the current schism regarding Johanson’s performance is a direct result of his decision to grow his hair again.
That kind of hair-do may be good enough for the Norwegian league but not for a club like Celtic. A disgrace.
For me, it took the shine off his utterly amazing performance…
Mike in Toronto
Great mikes think alike !
embramike says “the Huns are Deid”
Interesting thoughts on the two wide men cutting in.
I thought we were trying to walk it in last night in the first half.
The benefit of Commons and Griffith’s is that they will shoot from outside the box. The positive of that shooting is the majority of their shots are on target.
We lacked both last night and although Griffiths made it on the game was almost a dead rubber by then.
I do like the idea of the two players mentioned by yourself cutting in to their favoured foot for a shot. We certainly need to fire more shots off from outside the box especially if teams line up like our opponents last night.
LB
Afternoon Bhoys / Ghirls….
The only problems we had last night were self inflicted …. Poor passing being the main culprit ….. As for the next game away from home ,can’t see them causing us any problems …… HH