You and I both knew before last night that Salzburg are well ahead of Celtic, so a 3-1 defeat away to the top seed surprised no one. However, the game itself provided positive, as well as disappointing aspects.
Odsonne Eduard looked a handful when running at defences. His goal and the chance he created a minute before the break typified this. For all Salzburg’s ability, they looked weakest in defence. We looked like we could put the ball in the net every time we got near then, which, admittedly, was seldom.
That aside, Eduard’s distribution was as poor as the rest of the teams’. There were two distinct phases to the game: before Salzburg’s third goal and after. After this point, the home team did not press nearly as forcefully, which allowed Celtic to find men with passes and retain possession. This merely demonstrated how poorly we did so earlier in the game.
Prior to then, passing and movement lacked the confidence needed to play out from the back. For example, Salzburg did not mark defenders in front of or at either side of the box when Craig Gordon took goal kicks in the first half. Despite having three options for an easy pass, Craig kicked long the majority of the time – by definition into areas with fewer Celtic players, as we had three back at the penalty box.
The goalkeeper just didn’t fancy the consequences of passing to an unmarked defender – the story of the game in metaphor!
Dedryck Boyata was the outstanding Celtic player on the park. He won everything in his vicinity and I even noticed him chasing down a ball he had himself headed clear, before others reacted. But, on one occasion, when Craig chose to send a goal kick straight to him, he panicked, lost possession and conceded a chance in a dangerous area. There was an easy pass back to the keeper.
You do not need to be Iniesta to work the ball out from the back. You need to be able to control and pass, while everyone in the team needs the awareness to move into space, ensuring no one is boxed in. This takes lots of practice and confidence. We are correctly working towards this kind of football, but we’re not there yet, even in the SPFL.
The pertinent questions is, has this squad hit the ceiling or can we control, pass and move better? I’m sure we can improve, although perhaps only by degrees.
I know what you were thinking every time Salzburg got a corner kick, “Here we go again” – or was that just me? Instead, we defended set-pieces well; in fact, it was the home team who conceded the two best chances of any type before the interval.
James Forrest tucked in well on the right. He got unfortunate with the bounce at the penalty, which was correctly awarded. No complaints at the red card either, although I could squabble that Dabbur, who was already cautioned, should have received a second yellow on the two occasions he displayed a Tshirt message after his goals, if the referee followed his guidelines correctly. Pedants CSC.
The football business is all about the next game and right now there is nothing on the horizon more than St Johnstone on Sunday. Lick your wounds and get a result, Celtic.
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Tontine
I remember standing in the jungle many times singing along with oh oh oh it’s tragic you know, never be ten in a row.
But you’re right; back then we never went out to target anything other than to win every game we played.
So, is everyone feeling confident about the morra ?
Hard enough there a couple of weeks back, no doubts the cheats with the whistles will be hyped up for the game, we are gonna have to click sometime, tomorrow seems a good time to start, lets hope Brendan picks the right combination, they turn up and play for the jersey.
Thanks for the welcome back, missed it if the truth be told :-)
Fergie time winner I see
hey …great to see your moniker M….
smiley regards to the smile thing
Braw
Braw
Who is M ?
the exiled tim, you been away didn’t notice.lol.
BP1
Been here in spirit.
hahaha I thought is was your good self ..M.E….pardons if I have picked that up wrong ….
Braw..
Tomorrow will undoubtedly be tough but I’m expecting a reaction from the management and players. Thursday was hopeless and just not good enough with no signs at all of progression. Poor tactics and little or no ball retention. Dear god we face teams every week here stopping us play but we don’t seem to learn any lessons as we watch the same old European movie-with the same crap ending- over and over again.
Collectively we need to get back on track in Perth tomorrow-C’mon the Hoops!
HH
Tontine Tim 7.16pm
Before my time but you mentioned George Connolly the only player I remember my father speaking about, never spoke enough to him about Celtic (probably thought I knew better :-) great Celtic reading, cheers
TET
Back where you belong, sometimes the blog can be draining, a wee rest is as good as a holiday :-)
Braw
It is K for Keith, not M, I thot you knew
Gerry
Aye :-)
Roy C 7.35pm
Canny disagree, think the club, players, manager & fans have all been on a downer between CL qualifiers / transfer windae…. but we have plenty to play for… starting the morra
Cmon you bhoys in Perth :-)
Sky pan to MU directors. Don’t look very happy.
That awkward moment when you were just about to sack JM.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DouNUCEX0AIncF5.jpg
The Bhoys at Hampden in the ’70’s
not49quidthenCSC
okdoky K it is ….but J is the smile ?
Braw
tontine tim, don’t suppose you remember my cousin johnny veitch, only played a handful of games for celtic ,but his first game, went to see him with a busload from croy, first minute he hit the post with a wonderful header, but alas he never made it, unlike that other croybhoy jimmy whatshisname.lol.
Tontine. Excellent read.
Tet welcome back.
Roy where you been.
Interesting read. Not necessarily about the sacking but about the way the Board are performing. Easy to draw parallels between Woodward and Lawwell.
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/11518556/gary-neville-reports-of-jose-mourinho-sacking-are-a-disgrace
bada bing you around.hh.
She is :-)
…………..
St S
Ta
BP- yes
Tomorrow is going to be tough, but we need to up our tempo, and start using the midfield, we tend to by pass them these days.
COYBIG
D :)
TET Where were you, I have tennis elbow typing on here in your absence bhoy!! ☘️??
TET…
thank you …
got the main wan right!!
smiley smiley thing
Braw
bada bing, remember us discussing the lee Harvey Oswald shooting, have you seen the footage of jack ruby at the press conferences, he was at everyone of them standing at the back of the room, now he was not a journalist he was a nightclub owner, why was he allowed to be there.hh.
The Exiled Tim,
Good to see you back on these pages
Too few of us sheeps******s on here as it is ?
Welcome back ?
We have Clancy tomorrow
Sevco have Beaton
BP- Jack Ruby was the first ever live murder on TV I believe, he was a patsy, set up by whoever wanted JFK killed IMO,look at the lighting in the underground car park ? Yes, there was camera crews there,but you would struggle to get the same lighting in St Enoch’s just now, it looks like a scene from a movie for me,totally stage managed HH
!!Bada Bing!! on 6th October 2018 8:08 pm
———
Was JFK live?
Cheers, I have missed it, the Mrs said to me the other week to get a grip and post as I was making her life a misery :-)
…………………………….
Rather have Clancy than Brother Beaton
bada bing, do you think ruby did not do the shooting.hh.
Bada
I thought that JFK was, they done him before Ruby, no :-)
PedanticCSC
Happy Birthday BSR, have a good one.
I have absolutely no sympathy for Mourinho whether the Man Ure Board are right or not. Neville has a short memory – Swalex recommended Moyes but was nowhere to be seen when Moyes was shown the door. The problem with modern day football is everybody expecting instant success. Even Swalex would have been bagged in modern times. There is no way he would have been allowed a run of unsuccessful seasons these days.
We even have people on here wanting Brendan bagged after two unprecedented seasons because we’re not top of the league and poor performances in Europe. Says it all really – nowt more fickle than a football fan.
Very good post by DJ Rebs aka Kikinthenakas.
bada bing. lee Harvey Oswald must have been some marksman, to shoot kennedy and connally, with that carcano rifle in the timeline.hh.
Saint Stivs
Been lurking mate. Glad to see you on the mend, you were in good hands at the Jubilee.
Ynwa
Feliz Cumpleanos BSR