On the long walk along London Road after the game on Saturday I overhead, “Any manager playing one up front clearly doesn’t have confidence in his team”. I hear variations on this quite often. It’s not true. In fact, I watched the hot favourites for the England and Wales (see what I did there) Premier League beat their main rivals with this formation last night.
Playing one up front can be as much of an attacking formation as playing two, or even three strikers. Any formation, 4 -2-3-1, 4-4-2 or 3-5-2 is not in itself overtly attacking or defensive. Even the often ridiculed 4-6-0 can be expansive.
There are a few ways to score goals. Martin O’Neill’s Celtic mastered the set-piece. For a period, a considerable percentage of our goals came either this way, or from cross balls. There’s also the classic long ball to a ‘big one up front’ who can knock it down to a penalty box poacher. Both these plays exploit the advantages of direct play, which in itself can break packed defences.
The modern game increasingly relies on alternatives, specifically creating space and movement. Don’t crowd the box, drag defenders out to allow pacey support players to break beyond them. At the very elite level, one of the game’s greatest ever goal-scorers, Christiano Ronaldo, exploits this space magnificently from the wings. Our own top striker, Leigh Griffiths, played a similar role before being handed the No. 9 role at Celtic. I suspect his best position isn’t, in fact, as a No. 9.
We need many things at Celtic, most specifically a defensive mid (another formation story), but we don’t need to revert to a 4-4-2. We need players who understand the importance of space in the final third, and who can exploit it.
Ronny has recruited a flood of wide players since arriving 18 months ago with very little success. Which has had an acute cost.
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The petition is a disgrace. Look how the plc reacted after the last petition that attracted 10,000 signatories
HH
The Green Man on 2
The last time I got personal in here they all ran to the prefect, and I got a yellow, I stay away from names now and make my point, those who are at fault do not get an answer from me, they know who they are, you on the other hand did get one, not that you should feel privileged or anything, just lining up my ducks :)
DAVIDOPOULOS on 23RD DECEMBER 2015 10:15 AM
flexing their tiny muscles like only they know how. Imagine bawheid Ferguson flinching.
One thing is for sure. It is good news for us.
HH
44,846. Average attendance for the 8 home league games this season. Up on last season’s average, which was a 20 year low, of 44,585 for 19 league games (but higher than any of the 105 years up to season 95/96).
I think the plunging crowds argument is a bit overstated.
KEVJUNGLE. I have not seen anyone say the club is wonderful supporting any football club has its highs and lows and for a supporter the lows just make the highs even better. You ask why there are 40,000 vacant seats well your counting isnt to great, the fact is there are not 40,000 vacant seats but why settle for the facts when you can grossly exaggerate? You know it would be nice to come on CQN and see for once you have written something positive about the hoops but it is hardly likely as for you it seems it is impossible for you to take a balanced view as everything with Celtic for you is wrong and your negativity is so boreing. H.H.
Gary67
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Aye….it all depends on which Santa Clause ye believe in…
HH
Italiabhoy says there must be a change in the way the club is run.
The club is run on the basis that all revenue generated is spent on the club, its infrastructure and its employees, including players, coaches, and management.
What other way would you run the club?
I think what you really mean is spend what we haven’t got – puff out our chests out and take on as much debt as we can get.
This of course is completely unsustainable, even if there was an appetite to lend to any Scottish Football club, which apart from Celtic’s facility with Coop, there certainly is not – incidentally, the only reason Celtic have such a substantial facility is that there is a proven good business track record over the years.
We will never attract a top-tier manager, just as we cannot attract top-tier players – we don’t have the money and they don’t want to come to Scotland.
The only strategy is to raise our own, like McGeady, Maloney, Forrest, McGregor and hopefully Nesbit & Henderson , together with recruiting the best Scottish talent, e.g. GMS, Armstrong, Christie, Allan and Griffiths and look for others like Hooper, Ki, VVD, Denayer, Lustig, Boyata, Siminovic, Wanyama, Forster, Johansen and Izzy, in an increasingly crazy transfer market. Of course we will make mistakes like Pukki, Balde, Scepovic….etc – every club makes transfer mistakes – look at Carroll at Liverpool, or Di Maria at Man Utd – and may more multi-million pound mistakes.
Exactly what other approaches are open to us bearing in mind where we operate and virtually no TV rights money? I am sure that any magic formula woukd be welcome at CP.
Joe Filippis Haircut
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Never the twain shall meet eh, Joe ?
The Green Man you are loud and clear. TD67 your first post tonight or morning for you says everything that I think but not articulate enough to say. Tony Mobray was a good man, is a good man, but not the right man for Celtic. Ronnie may well go the sane way but your right the agenda is driven people who hate us and many of our own are jumping on the same bandwagon. At the end of the day the results will determine if Ronnie stays or goes, don’t let the medya, ragtops or moaning Minnie’s run the agenda. The biggest detractors of Celtic on this blog make a point if not supporting Celtic. Good for them I wish them well. The rest of us will turn up at Celtic park when we can and support the team, c’mon the hoops. Hail hail to the Championees.
A big. Happy Hoopy Birthday to wee Jay the finest ambassador our Club could have. HH
Grovelling little rat.
Last week on BBC Radio the former Chelsea winger claimed that it was Fabregas who had said that he’d rather lose than win for Jose Mourinho.
That drew an angry response from the Fabregas camp and a threat to sue Nevin for damages. On Saturday the Catalan midfielder was booed by large sections of the Chelsea support unhappy at his role in Mourinho’s departure.
In a column for the Chelsea website Nevin explains: “During an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme I asked, in passing while talking about some other recent happenings at the club, if the player who said the phrase six weeks ago: ‘I would rather lose than play for Jose,’ had been outed in the press as Cesc?
“I absolutely wasn’t having a go at Cesc, but asking the question, as the reporter I was talking to was the one who originally broke that story. Basically I thought that this had been the press line in the following days back then. He replied, ‘No comment’. Even the newspaper put a question mark at the end of my sentence!
“Cesc denied it all at the time of course (honestly as it turns out!) and odd though it may sound I couldn’t have cared less anyway. The reason I wasn’t that bothered was because the BBC reporter (a man I like and admire I may add) had made it perfectly clear that it was something said in the heat of the moment, in a fit of anger and it certainly did not mean that player wasn’t going to try for the team really.
“When a story appeared in one of the newspapers this Saturday it was reported as if I was deliberately outing Cesc. Now whether it was mischievous on the newspaper’s part for deliberately misunderstanding me or whether I was not clear enough in what I was saying and the fault was thus partially mine, it doesn’t matter (I accept my accent, diction and even clarity of meaning aren’t always picked up perfectly, especially by some southern ears).
“In short, I did not mean to have a go at Cesc in any way at all; I was merely asking a question.”
Read more at http://videocelts.com/2015/12/blogs/latest-news/nevin-backtracks-my-comments-were-lost-in-translation#uJAfmv6EMD9X2KiX.99
KEVJUNGLE. I dropped the in Ronny and PL I trust after a fellow poster said he got the message I have not changed my opinion and will review our progress or otherwise at the end of the season. H.H.
I’m trying to go back into the CQN greatest hits back catalogue (the archive). It goes as far back as 15th October 2015, Kilmarnock vs Celtic Live Updates?
Fitting coincidence?
Hopefully Ronny pulls off a Lenny-esque turn around in performances. Heck, he did it last season at the turn of the year, did he not? Give him a chance to do the same this time round.
Anyway, on another matter… Anyone know if the CQN posts going back to day one are archived anywhere?
TD67
I see where you are coming from.
I thought that yellow was a bit harsh, but your studs were a bit sharp that day:)
HH
Fred Quimby
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How about getting a manager that will get the club into the CL ?
£20 million a season….into the budget widny go wrong, eh ?
HH
Setting free the bears at 9:35 and Gary67 at 10:18.
Please stop providing facts and figures that support your happy clapping, board loving, Peter Lawwell fawning agenda.
What we want on here is unsubstantiated, hysterical reactionary nonsense. Don’t you know we lost a game on Saturday. The friggin’ sky is falling in Celtic are dead, dead ,dead I tells ya’. :)
Joe Filippis Haircut
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The (real)season ended in July…the rest of the season is automatic-pilot material.
HH
Right baw baws night all, Ben nice to each other mon the hoops.
KevJ that isbollocks . Never since 1888 has it been easy to win the league unless your talkin subutio
WEEFRATHETIM on 23RD DECEMBER 2015 10:13 AM
Just had a nice email from Celtic TV with seasonal greetings. Nice touch. HH
i got that one 2 days ago, and it had a lot further to travel -)))
Taurangabhoy
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Is Ronny any good at subbuteo ?
Would we see his puppet-strings when he flicks the ball ?
THE GREEN MAN on 23RD DECEMBER 2015 10:25 AM
TD67
I see where you are coming from.
I thought that yellow was a bit harsh, but your studs were a bit sharp that day:)
HH
– See more at: http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/in-defence-of-the-4-2-3-1/comment-page-8/#comment-2742261
I will put my hands up on that one, only because all my life when the game has got dirty, I tend to play the man, not clever I agree, but! That’s just me, and I don’t hold the soul rights to it in here I’ll tell ya :)
Anyway….Ronny isny the issue…he’s just a symptom of the problem.
Prediction…..
August 2016…
The Celtic Way will have a tombstone area…
The tombstone will read…
Hear lies Celtic FC – 1888-2016
Died of Disgust…..
The Jungle wept….
bye,
KEVJUNGLE
you dont half type some mince !!!
TD67
Lets see how that petition is doing after the Celts smash the wee huns on Sunday:)
Never mind Christmas….we have a victory to attend to.
HH
KevJungle
Just a quick question.
Yesterday you said Mark McGhee inherited a poor Aberdeen team.
Were they not a consistent top six team under Calderwood?
Think they also got to the last 32 of the UEFA Cup.
The petition regarding Ronny is a stupid idea and I would not be in the least surprised if this originated from either a Hun or from a media source. Makes for excellent copy over the dull festive period.
But I gotta laugh.
All of you who continue to prop up a failed board at Celtic, a board that this betraying you believe that Celtics troubles are all the result of the media. And of course those of us who are actually thinking for ourselves are being led by the said media.
The media, like the rest of Scotland, is institutionally racist. It is programmed to attack Irish Catholicism and Celtic are the targets as they are seen as the heartland of Irish Catholicism. We can expect them to attack us at every turn and to cover up corruption practiced by the Huns. The Huns after all are the main vehicle for Scottish institutional racism and must be protected at all cost.
But the media didn’t force Celtic to buy dross players, sell all their best players and participate in corruption. Celtic chose to do that. They chose to do it because all they care about is money and bonuses.
So you can stick your head in the sand all you like but it is risible to blame your fellow Celtic supporters for the mess Celtic are in or to accuse them to pandering to the media,s agenda. In fact I accuse you of supporting racism by not forcing change on Celtic.
As for Tony Donnelly, his facist tendencies are again to the fore as he seeks to make more lists.
BURGAS HOOPS
Aye ok then. Lol. HH
GlassTwoThirdsFull
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The point that I made was that, Big McGhee’s Motherwell stuffed Ronny’s roasters on Saturday.
Then…I got bombarded with posts about…
McGhee got sacked from A, B, C, D, etc…
Now, what all of that had to do with McGhee beating Ronny ….you’ll have ask all the rounders.
Also….I think that, McGhee could make a better Celtic team out of the players at Ronny’s disposal.
That didny go down well either.
But…look what happened to the huns coz…they refused to open their eyes.
HH
Interesting debate regarding attendances.
When writing something else last night I was reminded of a conversation Fergus McCann had with Jack McGinn. It’s quoted on the Celtic Wiki.
“But the stadium was a tool. We had to have a season-ticket base. Jack McGinn [board member] was saying, “We don’t want season-ticket holders, they are nothing but trouble.” Well, I just couldn’t live with that marketing philosophy at all.The answer is that you have got to fill the park. The average crowd was 28,000 and we built a 60,000- seat stadium. How smart was that? Well, it was the right thing to do.”
The season ticket base is now there. We have 38,000 – a figure that I would dispute – season ticket holders. Do we fufill the other part? Is the park full? No, and it’s nonsense to quote the average figure. This is distorted.
Winning Captains mention the other night about we should have built another tier on the main stand. That was just taking Fergus’s view a step further. A bold step.
The reality is that we are not filling the stadium. We have over 10,000 season ticket holders not bothering to turn up week in and week out. An astonishing figure. On Saturday thousands left well before the end because they knew there was no hope of an equaliser and a winner.
The club are failing to fill the stadium. They are failing a major business model need. They need to address the reasons for this. Address that and everything else will be in the right place
KEVJUNGLE on 23RD DECEMBER 2015 9:57 AM
Tom Boyd is better than SuperSutton on 23rd December 2015 9:41 am
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The amount of empty seats has grown under Ronny’s watch…don’t you get that ?
– See more at: http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/in-defence-of-the-4-2-3-1/comment-page-8/#comments
KEVJUNGLE on 23RD DECEMBER 2015 9:57 AM
Tom Boyd is better than SuperSutton on 23rd December 2015 9:41 am
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and he’s not the issue? Awe aye ok, nuuuurse racheeeeet………..lol
I think there may be one or two surprises in the team on Sunday.
Id drop Ciftci and Cole, and throw Antony Stokes in….play him left, or just behind Leigh Griff.
I know Stokesy is a bit of a lad….but he been getting a rough time of it lately.
The bhoy can play when he is on his game.
Shake it up a bit.
HH
Scotland is an, Orange, Masonic, Protestant…anti-Irish-Catholic-Celtic-Polish mini-Germany from the 1930’s.
All this baloney about –
Taking the huns to court ?
Res:12 ?
None of it will work…know why ?….coz, yer playing by ‘their’ rules in, ‘their’ country in, ‘their’ courthouses that are run by Masons. Orangemen, for Masons and, Orangemen.
Yeez are fluking dreamers!!!
Celtic supporters…assemble in the Celtic Park car-park on SB-renewal day….call a ‘national’ media conference…not, a local media one(you know why)…announce to the nation that, the Celtic custodians will be sacked…by you…as they are complicit in the biggest sporting scandal in British history….the fall-out from that…should alter the landscape to…get things started….
Or,….well, ye know what the alternative is…don’t you ?
tonydonnelly67
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Eh ?
Giggsy on 23rd December 2015 10:55 am
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Excellent post fell, Hail Hail
I wonder who chased away half the stadium…hmmm ?
It wasn’t me coz, they all scrolled by me :)
HH
Giggsy
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But the season tickets are being sold if those holders don’t turn up they’ve still paid the money so its not a big problem for the board.
Fergus wanted the money up front same with all football boards.