Amid the hapless defending and general sense of frustration, we were at least able to console ourselves that Celtic were again creating chances, most effectively through the intervention of Tom Rogic.
Seven-year-olds know there is a right side and a wrong side to tackle from, some 24-year-olds, apparently, remain in the dark. Aberdeen’s first penalty was inevitable from the moment Olivier Ntcham decide to pursue Lewis Ferguson from behind. The Aberdeen player applied the brakes and Olivier obliged to knock him off his feet. A team that had created nothing until that moment had a lead to defend.
This was not the season Shane Duffy dreamed of when signing on loan for Celtic. He was in complete control of the football when he demonstrated that his decision-making skills were not up to the rigors of the Scottish Premiership. A moment later, Aberdeen restored their temporarily-denied lead. Like me, you subsequently no doubt researched Christopher Jullien’s likely return date. There isn’t one, so as you were for a while yet. And yes, I see you pining for the return of Nir Bitton.
Celtic of last season would have controlled the ball through the closing minutes with a narrow lead to deny opponents the ability to charge unhindered into the penalty box. Aberdeen, to their credit, were not up for lying down. There is work to do on the training field.
Leigh Griffiths continues to provide evidence that his fitness, attitude and ability are exactly where they need to be to score important goals. A credit to the work he has done. Despite his limited minutes, this season would look a lot bleaker without him. Tom Rogic also falls into this category. Competition for the creative central mid role is fierce, on this form, Tom will retain the jersey.
Mohamed Elyounoussi had an afternoon full of incomplete passes. This did not deter him and he supported the impressive Kristopher Ajer run to force Hoban to foul inside the penalty area. Like champions, Celtic were in front, despite of the costly mistakes.
Callum McGregor and Neil Lennon both attempted to put boundaries on hysteria in their after-match comments. In summary: it’s been a difficult week, Aberdeen are a decent side, a point is sometimes important, so let’s keep our eye on the prize. Both know this playbook, so do you and I.
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JAMES FORREST on 26TH OCTOBER 2020 1:38 PM
Blogger thinks bloggers’ opinions matter.
As if.
Well done,Tao Geoghegan Hart.
Having watched the game back without the shouting and swearing
it seems clear to me that the defensive problem ( at least this defensive problem )
is being caused by Frimpong in particular and Laxalt to a lesser degree not being full backs.
I would play Ralston at right and Taylor at left and let them defend.
Duffy was pulled into the right back position at their second goal. Ntcham was at right back
for the first penalty and Calmac at Centre half for the third penalty. Defending is chaotic
because people are seldom where they should be.
NOTTHEBUS on 26TH OCTOBER 2020 1:22 PM
I thought Ntcham, penalty aside had a decent game, controlled large amounts of game. Wasn’t sure why he was subbed.
Brown when he came on, may have brought many attributes but offering protection to a fragile back four certainly wasn’t one of them.
SLOLEYBHOY
Specifically meant the school boy tackling at penalty which totally changed the game.
Ntcham didn’t have a bad game, but he wouldn’t have been in that area we had a holding midfielder in the position
Lille (A).
Aberdeen (N).
Sparta league (H).
Motherwell (A).
Hibs (A).
Sparta Prague (A).
AC Milan (A).
Celtic’s next 7 fixtures. No home game until 6th December.
WEEBOBBY – you wanna be careful throwing all that kinda adult perspective around these pairts about us already being ahead of them in the overall stakes. To suggest so is downright unfashionable.
I’d mibby add we’re not out of it yet, but what do any of us really ken ?HH
ERNIE LYNCH:
That’s why you and I will NEVER like each other. You don’t debate, you make everything personal, you take yourself seriously into the bargain.
I don’t take myself seriously at all.
The only who decide whether my stuff means anything are the people who read it.
I’m a humble blogger, that’s all I am.
But at the risk of sounding personnal, but since you started it, it’s still more than you are.
Want to continue needling me? Cause I can go on all day, but others will find it boring, as boring as I find you.
I want to apologise to the guys on this blog who come on here to read informed and honest and illuminating debate about our club and where it’s going. As I once wrote here, I used to come here after defeats because exchanging views with like minded people, all of us hurting, all of us looking for light at the end of whichever tunnel we were in, made me feel better.
Now I just want to avoid this place because there are too many people in who’s reason for being here seems to be to wage personal vendettas and settle ancient scores which only they seem to understand or care about. I know that most of you don’t care and don’t want to read that stuff so my apology is for sinking to that level and making it uncomfortable for yourselves and those like you.
There are people who cannot help themselves but make every into an argument and unfortunately I am one of them more often than I would like.
When there’s serious business to be done, when there are important things going on, this should be a place for reasonable debate … it long since ceased to be like that, and I’ve been part of the problem which is why these days I prefer to post once, and then leave you all to it.
Unbelievable, it really is. So sorry lads for responding to that latest dig … I’m going to try harder not to let some of these folk needle me into that. It’s just that between that and last night’s unprovoked one where do you even start debating the merits of what they’ve got to say, when it has no merit?
JAMESFORREST – I was just musing who’d win a scrap between a self-acclaimed humble blogger and a self-proclaimed humble correspondent…
Then you come up with what looks like some genuine humility. You nabbed it.
Fair play to you James; in the bigger scheme of things, aw this is but a trifling thing. Best to you HH
QUADROPHENIAN:
Haha thank you for that mate.
As to the article that I posted earlier, listening to PJD yesterday was seriously troubling … he is not a guy prone to hysteria or over-reaction. Is Lennon losing the mainstream? Would he still win a supporters poll if it was possible somehow to get us all to vote in it?
I would have said even after the Sevco game that he was a certainty, and I’m not sure now.
I am absolutely certain that Celtic won the league last season because of an unbeaten run that was not matched by any opponents.
22 January 2020 Kilmarnock 1–3 Celtic
25 January 2020 Celtic 3–0 Ross County
29 January 2020 St Johnstone 0–3 Celtic
2 February 2020 Hamilton Academical 1–4 Celtic
5 February 2020 Motherwell 0–4 Celtic
12 February 2020 Celtic 5–0 Heart of Midlothian
16 February 2020 Aberdeen 1–2 Celtic
23 February 2020 Celtic 3–1 Kilmarnock
4 March 2020 Livingston 2–2 Celtic Livingston
7 March 2020 Celtic 5–0 St Mirren
rinse , repeat, same outcome
I suspect no one’s opinion will matter until the renewal letters asking for another £600 drop on to our mats. I’ll take a read back after the Semi Final to see how Paul’s solidarity message is holding out.
Really disappointed about yesterday,every single outlet and pundit willed us to fail,and we almost turned it around.
The two penalties were softish,but you can bet your mortgage if it were our players they would not have been awarded,Collum continues to be a weak willed individual with no moral fibre.
Brown came on and apart from picking up the armband,allowed Wright,who was jogging along with Turnbull,to nutmeg him on hiis way to goal,Brown picks up numerous daft fouls,for stupid reasons,this was the time he should have floored someone,is he in a huff,looks like it for whatever reason.
The attacks on NL are disgraceful,and many are from Celtic blogs,what is their motivation in weakening the team they support,do not understand it.
Take as an example Hugh Keevins ,supposedly the voice of reason,he stated in a piece for the Daily Record,that if Lennon lost at Aberdeen he would be “Reviled ” by we the supporters, a shameful statement by a well known quisling.
If there are behind the scenes problems,if NL is culpable,again,and its a big if, for whatever reason,then the way forward is to discuss,analyse,put a plan in place,not to have unstructured brawls ( Allegedly ).
If the cause of unrest is unprofessional behaviour then get it sorted,with or without concurrence.
Everyone,is now lining up for us to fail,including the attention seeking bloggers who switch allegiances depending on run of results, lets push back,and lets ensure the Board are aware that they too should be monitoring these activities and start dropping advertising and access to Press conferences,to get message across.
Deus Vult.
NOTTHEBUS on 26TH OCTOBER 2020 1:54 PM
Understand the point you are making, i just don’t think Scott Brown is that holding midfielder.
Not sure we have had a specialist since Wanyama departed in 2013
I’m totally confused about the magical powers of Olivier Ntcham. According to a few on CQN, despite his last two domestic performances being even worse than usual, he should replace Scott Brown in the starting 11.
In the build up to the first penalty yesterday he made three errors one after the other in the space of 20 seconds or so, firstly he hit a blind pass and gave the ball away, then he let the Aberdeen player run off him and finally was suckered into the kind of stupid challenge only he is capable of to give away a penalty. Can anyone who rates him point out a performance this season where he even gets pass marks never mind played well?
I’m not blaming him for yesterdays result however I have no idea what he brings to the side.
Sloleybhoy on 26th October 2020 1:50 pm
I’m not having a go there’s enough of that going on already but Ntcham controlled the game?
At the start of the second half ( I know because sadly I counted) it took him 6 efforts to get a ball to a team mate and that was from a throw in by the full back which he duly gave straight back.
If thats controlling the game we have lowered our standards.
We are definitely dropping our standards and starting to fall behind thems . How in the name of god have they been allowed to close the gap , they have bought guys from the lower leagues in England , we smiled at that ,we’re not smiling now . If we don’t win this league then they will and they have the plan to win in Europe ,which with the top table money will confirm them as back . But it’s all of no point to we fans ,we have no say , the man who can stop the rot is there , but after listening to our absent landlord things are maybe going to plan , after all he missed the challenge , says it all, I don’t know a celtic man who feels the same way as him .
JAMESFORREST
I enjoy reading your blog, don’t always agree but a good read.Keep it coming.
Hugh Keevins is a patronizing little man.
I see assorted folk here and elsewhere suggesting Lenny be presented with his jotters. Some think he should have been canned following the Ferencvaros defeat. Others that the CEO should be fired for appointing him at all.
Lenny came in at a moment’s notice, at a time of crisis and upset. He got down to work with a fragile team and in the intervening period he has won every domestic competition that his team have competed for.
Champions League qualifying has been a failure, but Europa League results have been pretty good.
My question is: Has Lenny done enough in his second time with us to have earned the right to fail this season?
If not, when is the right time to replace him?
He’ll be within his rights to note that he has lost his first choice centre half and right winger to injuries, his totemic centre forward and two defenders to Covid-19, and had an attacking midfielder quarantined. Two strikers and another attacking mid are only now returning from injuries.
Despite those challenges, his team are (net) three points behind with 27 matches remaining. That’s the problem quantified. That’s what needs to be solved.
If you’re going to fire him, you’d better be sure that the problem lies with Lenny, and that replacing him solves the problem. Are you sure?
If you’re not sure, if you wait and see, the risk is that your indecision allows the situation to deteriorate beyond the point of recovery.
Which is why I asked; Has Lenny earned the right to fail?
Before the game when I saw the team I predicted to my mates that a midfield of Ntcham, McGregor and Rogic would be bullied by Aberdeen and we duly were. We are saft as you know what at the moment, easily beaten collectively and individually. The fact that the guy Hedges was not tackled once by any of our midfield despite his constant diving tells me there is something missing from us that we need to get back and get back quick.
Is something called Rangers, ever wins anything at any point they are not “back”.
It is a new club. zombiefied.
MARKIEBHOY on 26TH OCTOBER 2020 1:47 PM
Totally agree as I have said before frimpong and laxalt are definitely not right and left backs in a back 4 both do their best from wide midfield going forward, only a pity that frimpong has started to wear JF boots and will not go outside the defender and get a half decent good cross in , he has no idea how to pick out as player in the box.
I felt sorry for Frimpong on Sunday, I thought he was isolated and confronted by 2 or 3 opposition players every time he got the ball, no one came short to help out, Christie was posted missing most of the game. If we are reliant on a 19 yr old to be our creative fulcrum then we are worse off than I thought.
TIMMY7_NOTED on 26TH OCTOBER 2020 2:37 PM
I would give him pass marks yesterday. He has a passing range that only Bitton can offer in that role.
He was poor for the Penalty, naive in his positioning and the challenge but we have seen that goal played out before, normally in European ties.
Poor pass from Centre back to a midfielder facing him, already under pressure from an opponent who can anticipate the play, possession lost and whole team out of shape. Change the name of centre back or midfielder to suit.
5 Celtic players, including Ntcham, are attracted by the ball when Watkins receives the pass on the touchline. All taken out of the game by 1 basic pass.
THE BATTERED BUNNET on 26TH OCTOBER 2020 2:47 PM
Good point,the number of players missing is very damaging,if everything else is constant,regarding relationships with personnel,then I think he is entitled to be given the opportunity to get us back on rails.
I have to admit, I dont really follow much of the movement of English managers, but people phoning the radio and the hotline and clamouring for Eddie how, I mean really, seriously, for why ?
In his whole gigantic career of Bournemouth and Burnley he has a win ratio of 41%. Many of those at chamionship and lower leagues.
Seriously , for Celtic ?
To replace the guy with an 80% win record.
don’t think the problem is Lenny , the problem is the lack or non existent professional defensive coaching , we are all over the place , we slot/select players into a defensive 3 or 4 with no system or organisation and only hope and pray that is works.
for goodness sake replace the coaches now and get the right technical professional ones in , if not Lenny is going to be left high and dry and blamed for everything.
WEEBOBBYCOLLINS on 26TH OCTOBER 2020 12:23 PM
More of the same this week? You’re a ravenous lot with an unbelievable sense of entitlement. Why this absolutely hysterical desperation for 10? Is it just for the bragging rights with the huns? We’ve done 9 twice and we have won the Big One, something they will never achieve…and they know it. They will forever be in our shadow!
Of course, I too would love to win our 10th title and tell thems to girfut, but not at any cost. A wee bit of perspective required and a wee bit of humility wouldn’t go amiss…
====================
grand post WBC.
HH
A dip in form of a player here or there within our squad is a manageable situation for Celtic.
Good players don’t become poor players over night but…
When so many players appear to be out of sorts we are entitled to ask questions.
The manager, his coaches & the players have the answers to our questions but…
They tend to want to close ranks & “work harder” to provide answers on the pitch but…
When that hard work & increased effort doesn’t convince, as happened yesterday, the pressure increases.
Only the players & the coaching staff can stop this downward spiral.
They know this & have to fix whatever is broken – be it tactical, morale, confidence, form, fitness, concentration. None of us & no one else as far as I can tell can help them in the short term with this. They have to find it within themselves & unlike last season – they don’t have 10 days away in the Dubai sun anytime soon.
Getting things back on track sooner or later shouldn’t prevent us looking for answers on the more important questions about how & why our club can be so ill prepared that we find ourselves in this crisis at this time.
However, getting the team back on track is the overriding priority now.
A professional, improved performance against Lille & a revenge result against Aberdeen on Sunday would really help.
YNWA
Sloleybhoy on 26th October 2020 2:54 pm
I agree with almost everything you just posted except the Ntcham passing range, I get frustrated watching him mainly due to the number of times he gives the ball away, so the great passer thing just does not stand up to scrutiny I’m afraid. The only time I can remember him linking well with the forwards is when Eddie was on great run of form last season, other than that I cannot remember a match where he controlled the tempo, his passing success rate is way to low to ever do that.
Professional players, paid to play football, in their respective preferred positions, and they need more defensive coaching ? They dont know how to organise themselves on the park ?
It didnt matter who went on the park for the last 5 minutes, they all collectively should have been able to close out the game,
I watched it again this morning, it is not shape or tactics, it is players failing to do basic things.
EXCATHEDRA44:
I’m not going to descend into the gutter here, I’m going to try and be reasonable as per my previous statement.
There is a tendancy amongst a lot of people in our support these days to criticise the blogs and the bloggers as self-serviing and attention seeking. It is garbage, of course it is. Some of us enjoy writing about our club, and about the wider issues in the game.
If people want to read it they can, but no-one is forced to.
There are two ways to look at this and they come down to a question; do the bloggers believe (or do they actually) form opinion or reflect it?
It’s clear from the article I posted earlier what my view on that is; we reflect the opinions of our readers, that’s our job. Not to tell them what to think but to reflect their views. My own blog has an open door policy for anyone who wants to write a piece. I’ll do some polishing of the language and what not, but if they want to write an article saying Neil Lennon is the greatest manager in the history of the club save for Stein then that’s what the article will say …
So many of the “self important” bloggers write under pseudonyms. Know why? Because we get bucketloads of abuse from people, even those who choose not to do it under our own names, and some of the worst of that abuse is from people on our own side of the fence. You’ve seen two example of it in 24 hours involving me on this blog.
It goes with the territory. It’s an occuptational hazard. I sometimes resent it when it comes from our fans, because if you can’t imagine the abuse I get from across the city you don’t have a good imagination … it’s sharper and more painful coming from our own.
There a bunch of us who do this every single day. Every day, and we don’t charge for our content but ads on the sites do help pay the bills. I long since ceased to feel embarrassed or bad about that … I’m fortunate that I do something I love and get paid for it, but if I wasn’t writing this I’d be doing politics or something somewhere else because I’m good at what I do.
I long ago stopped being embarrassed about that as well.
Do you what 95% of the job is? Fighting the corner of our club.
Go and the articles on my blog and Joe’s blog and most of the others that are out there; those articles which aren’t discussing issues within the club just as we all do here are slapping back at misinformation and disinformation about us written by our enemies.
The people who would lump the bloggers in with them because we’re not queuing up to like Peter Lawwell’s posterior or pretend the manager is doing a good job … honestly, dont’ worry about OUR credibility, we’re telling it straight without fear or favour. Worry about the happy clappers who’d have you believe that there ARE no problems, that there are no issues and that we’re sauntering towards ten in a row.
It is not my job or the job of any blogger to be a PR rep for Celtic. Quite the opposite; when criticism is called for its our duty to represent the views of the fans who feel that its due.
Blame us as you will for the negativity surrounding our club right now … but you need to do better because we’re not to blame for it. There is anger and frustration and fear amongst large sections of our support, and with regret some of them have concluded that the manager should be replaced. Those strands of opinion exist and this club will not gain anything from pretending they don’t.
We’re at a critical juncture, and yes some of us have changed our views on where we are … as a much smarter man than me once said “when the facts change, I change my mind.”
What would you have us do instead? Deny reality? I know a support that does that already.
The last eight years haven’t been so good for them, and you know what? If we get this right and make good decisions here this one won’t turn out so right for them either.
By the way, I also find it mind-boggling that anyone in the Celtic support reads Hugh Keevins expecting him to come as “the voice of reason” and then attacks Celtic bloggers as selfish and arrogant and out of touch.
That one is truly astonishing.
TIMMY7_NOTED on 26TH OCTOBER 2020 3:00 PM
That’s a good point, it takes two to tango. A great pass almost always needs great movement.
I can only recall one piece of great movement from Ajeti yesterday, in first half when I think Christie delayed the pass, leaving him offside.
We need Edouard back in the team asap. The Edouard of last season covered up a host of other deficiencies in the team.
JAMES FORREST on 26TH OCTOBER 2020 1:58 PM
I was actually referring to the blog you linked to.
The fact you’ve assumed I was referring to you rather undermines your self proclaimed humility and lack of pomposity.
My point remains, The Celtic Board won’t be swayed by people posting stuff on the interenet, be they ever so humble.
THE BATTERED BUNNET on 26TH OCTOBER 2020 2:47 PM
‘My question is: Has Lenny done enough in his second time with us to have earned the right to fail this season?’
###
You could debate that till the cows come home and never resolve it.
My question is : Do you trust the Celtic Board to appoint anyone better? (Please show your workings).
Professional players, paid to play football, in their respective preferred positions, and they need more defensive coaching ?
ours certainly do.