The bigger question than why Celtic were so poor on Sunday is how to reshape the team or squad to address the issue? There is a clear deficit. We have three full backs at the club, two went off injured, leaving Anthony Ralston, a more than suitable backup at right back, playing on the left, while Stephen Welsh parachuted in from relative obscurity to try-out as a right back.
With Boli Bolingoli no longer part of the plans, we only have one left back: Greg Taylor. Greg has suffered numerous absences this season, forcing Josip Juranovic to the left, where he never played before making his Celtic debut there.
Liam Scales, primarily a central defender, has covered on the left, but did not even make the 11-man bench. A left back on the bench would have allowed Ralston to remain on the right and prevented Welsh being thrown into a position he has never played on such a major occasion.
Even with Taylor and Juranovic on the field, Celtic did not have the ability to pass from defence to midfield without regularly giving up possession. We looked easy to mark up against. Think back two weeks to Ibrox, when Daizan Maeda dropped deep to give his midfield an option (or cover in defence).
That vision of perpetual motion was absent on Sunday. It is not Tom Rogic’s game and neither Jota nor Liel Abada looked to have the energy to put in a similar shift. Both were noticable fatiged later in the game. On the few occasions when Celtic were able to quickly transition, they looked dangerous, but just as we did against Bodo/Glimt, we were unable to find the space to pass confidently out of defence.
Notwithstanding the fact that Giorgos Giakoumakis was absent, Celtic are a comparatively small side. The days of tall full backs being able to dominate high balls out of defence are gone. We are assembling a squad on its ability to find space, pass and move. What happens when a central defender makes a forward pass against an opponent marking man-to- man in the middle of the park determines the outcome of Celtic games. The inquest into Sunday should focus on little else.
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Shoot
Goal⚽⚽⚽⚽
Yes paul67 that back four was a real puck and mix near the end of the game
Charlie Bronze-son ?
Puck= pick😕
Mist oot to a PrestonPans trifecta.
Cana @ 11.09
The more you post the more your blog name becomes credible.
You need to move on from the University of YouTube to real life.
Ukraine is a very complex story that needed telling.
However VP threw the first punch and the story is now a lot simpler.
2014 is a huge issue — so what was VP doing for the 8 intervening years?
He had a story to tell and he couldn’t be ersed.
Your laundry list of conflicts collapses your argument on top of you.
Yugoslavia — how many Easter 16 moments did the various entities that made up the country / supra national state / federation have as it collapsed into a complex civil war?
Hyper nationalism caused the various conflicts in the former Yugoslavia.
But Croatia is now free to make its own mistakes — you hint that this is good thing.
Kosovo is the worrying element — border changes imposed by others.
Afghanistan — what invasion are you talking about?
There have been quite a few over the years?
Iraq — SM had to go for his widespread use of chemical weapons alone never mind the other stuff.
If AH had only persecuted Germans and he had promised to close the gas chambers — would that have been enough?
Libya — Total clustershambles caused by the greed of the West.
DC and the Tories caused an absolute tragedy.
Syria — Very uncivil civil war.
Yemen — Civil war that has developed into a proxy war between SA and Iran.
Issue has been bubbling away in different forms for decades.
The world is more complex that you can understand at the moment.
9pts
3 victories… out of 5 games
That’s all that’s required
yup and we’re still well in transition
Maloney’s been sacked
Toaty Trumper @ times past
Admit it — you were a GGG acolyte back in the day?
That would be after your Socialist Vanguard dalliance.
And guess what GGG must have nipped your burd.
All the bile against him and none against the other shysters in Scottish / UK politics.
Interesting — NF must be a pal from your city days.
Paul 67,
We need to mix it up and occasionally play long.
Playing out from the back has its merit, but not when it is so predictable that opponents cut off our midfield outlet by man marking.
HH
AT 12.11pm
I know you don’t need me to stick up for you ;-)
Just having a bit of banter with the so called Celtic fans, can’t abide so called fans having their sly digs at actual Celtic fans
We keep it Celtic it must scunner them
3 victories is all that’s needed 9pts from a team still unbeaten domestically (in 90mins) since September 2021
Back later for football.
Already have ma mod studies o grade!
HH
SM — looked lost on Saturday.
The team were a shambles — no structure.
You might not need to school the Belgium NT.
But you definitely need to school a SPL side.
Tough lesson to learn.
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Mitchy
Your not well.
Your an anonymous troll.
Can someone moderate madmitch
He’s poisoning the site imo
This is a celtic site
I’m guessing lots of readers find his postings unpleasant, unnecessary and off – putting
The inquest continues
How did Boaby do with the bookie?
And word on the shards of glass investIgation?
Who plays DM on Sunday?
Reading the article a few times, the ISSUE P67 says needs addressed actually seems to be squad management rather than passing oot from the back…
We have 5 FBs, but chose to let Boli and Ozzy go out on loan (Boli the best LB and Ozzy easy as good as Welshy at RB). More, most fans have been decrying the weakness at LB calling for an upgrade in all transfer windows – and we got Liam ‘Invisible’ Scales.
If it’s good and intelligent passing from LB you need, why not do a Lenny and play CalMac in the LB slot…
Or does that then more expose our midfield deficiencies?
We got beat by a fired-up team that fought tooth and nail to rough-house us out of our preferred pacey stride.
To blame the backs for the mids lack of appetite and fight…bizarro IMO.
Asset and squad management and motivation needs a looking at. HH
Good afternoon all from No.4 Bar, Birkdale. Lovely day for a few beers. 🍺🍺
Quad 12.26pm
We got beat in extra time by a team that were confident after reaching the semi finals of the Europa league … we didn’t play well in Sundays draw, Madden played his part and apart from Joe Hart I think we were rubbish … the Scottish cup final would have been nice but heyho we were 2nd best in Sunday … I think Sundays disappointment will re focus our Bhoys and we will win our next 3 league games … then Sunday will just the blip it was …. At least now I can cheer on Craig Gordon in the cup final :-) got a feeling he will be lifting that trophy in May
Quad@12:07
Very unfortunate sir was reading on SC and wondered what was happening on the other channel😂
We are paying bolingoli good money……he should be back up left back …..he’s skillful and very athletic …and no shrinking violet…..kinda what we needed on Sun….I know I’d far rather have him coming on at full back than S W ……as a club we are still making fundamental mistakes.
Paul
Agree, its not rocket science. 3 of the back 4 and the goalkeeper do not look comfortable controlling the ball and playing a pass to a team mate when under pressure.
They should be replaced by better players if this is the cornerstone of Angeball…which it should be
Kriss Ajer would have been an absolute perfect fit for this.
We need to stick with it. Pumping it up the park is Jurassic and only leads to more pressure. get some footballers in the key position in defence
Not often will a side have a spare RB and LB on the bench, as it’s hardly likely both your full backs can’t finish the game, as per Sunday.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing CSC
GFTB
Yep – all you say about Sunday is right – except not only JH was excused from being pesh: Calum and Cameron were v useful in their slots and Daizen did a committed shift, but to no yield.
I said the defeat was a timely rude awakening – so mibby it’s the right thing to spur our league campaign on.
Wish Craig G all the best, but I’da rather the Hibees had made the final – so would P45 Shaun M too.
Prestonpans – good hat-trick anyways ;)
JACKIEMAC on 19TH APRIL 2022 12:14 PM
Maloney’s been sacked
———
Something is rotten behind the scenes at Hibs. I recall stories that David Gray was back channeling to Dempster when Neil Lennon was manager.
This passage from Paul is key:
“but just as we did against Bodo/Glimt, we were unable to find the space to pass confidently out of defence.”
—–
We were neutered at Hampden in the exact same way that we were against Bodo. It shows the extent of the task in hand.
Basing super-opTIMism on the demolition of St Johnstone & the like is false in the extreme. Sure these types of games at Celtic Park are enjoyable and give a feelgood factor, but bear no relation to the real world of tough opponents. At our stage of development, *Rangers and Bodo represent tough opponents.
It looked like we had our strongest squad since Ange’s arrival available on Sunday, however it dramatically ‘dribbled away’ as the game unfolded. We have to toughen-up.
The Ibrox club is now the kind of domestic problem it always was prior to the implosion and passing into liquidation of the Rangers FC. The fight for domestic honours is getting harder, just like it used to be – wishing them away is not an option.
The winning of the title and the League Cup would be a massive step forward for us this season. The game against them at Celtic Park will surely be key.
If we get the title ‘over the line’, we will have to take stock over the close season. The positive would be that we will be starting at a much higher base-level than a year ago – with a successful manager in place who knows what the club needs to move forward.
Ange looked and sounded like a deeply disappointed man after the game – I think we all know why!
something different to ponder, I am toying with going to Kilmarnock on friday, just to get a different football experience.
————–
Jim Spence
@JimSpenceDundee
·
18h
just been told that
@ArbroathFC
have sold 1350 tickets for the game at
@KilmarnockFC
with 8.1k sold in total so far. Killie fans I’m informed reckon it will get over 10k. Potentially 1,500 to 1750 Arbroath fans with some yet to buy. When there’s real competition folk will come
Good afternoon all from a lovely sunny day in Springburn (work).
Maditch from earlier I certainly dont think your genuine in your posts so you I can only presume you are a condescending chap.
I certainly dont need any help from you as I have done alright up to this point in my life with language skills.
You on the other hand could do with a personality transplant or maybe you are misunderstood or you are the life and soul of the party. If so I look forward to meeting up 1 day where I am sure you could enlighten me in person about my wrongs and rights.
Oh that’s right you dont meet up with any Celtic fans and say things that you post on a blog.
Maybe 1 day you will pluck up the courage and come along to a wee event but I think your courage is lacking so I wont hold my breath. Nevertheless I will go back to scrolling by your inane, crass, condescending posts.
D :)
GFTB on 19TH APRIL 2022 12:10 PM:
“9pts 3 victories… out of 5 games
That’s all that’s required”
We’ll only need 2 victories from 5 games if one of those is against TFOD. And that’s assuming they have a 100% record otherwise from here on in.
Get it done!
One thing worth mentioning about Sunday. Apart from the result ,what a Brilliant day.
A total mix of age groups and gender kept the drink, music and song flowing.
What a party after the game. Definitely a case of : we don’t care if we win, lose or draw
Can you imagine the huns reacting to defeat the way we did ?
It’s very true, we learn more in adversity. I am sooooo glad I was born into the Celtic family.
HH. We never stop ( until we crash out )
Bigcghip 1.05pm
Exactly … your logic is far better than mine
Although I do actually think we will collect all 15pts in our last 5 league games
“QUADROPHENIAN on 19TH APRIL 2022 12:26 PM
Reading the article a few times, the ISSUE P67 says needs addressed actually seems to be squad management rather than passing oot from the back…”
With 11 subs you’d like to think we could have 2 FBs on it and Liam Scales for me would have been a better option than playing 2 players out of position or having Julien as a 2nd CB option. Either that or we could have gone 3-5-2 and brought on Julien as he has decent distribution.
Soo many options but don’t think either would matter on the day, it looked like a fair chunk of the team thought “this ref is giving us nothing” and half gave up rather than doubling their effort with the aim at getting to smile at the ref as they walk off victorious at the end.
QB
The players have been getting plenty of stick for Sunday,but the manager has to take the ultimate blame.Did he really think that powder puff team he put out,would compete with a Hun team bent on revenge for losing a league,and seeing a consolation prize.No backup LB?.We have 2,Scales,and Boli.Boli would have given us legs.
No muscle in midfield.Biton,not in squad,for what reason,we still don’t know,weaklings brought on in place of Mc Carthy,when watching them bully us all over the midfield.Not starting with Kyogo,then bringing on back up.Playing Hatate who has looked dead on his feet for weeks,would struggle to open up a crisp poke never mind a Hun defence.Big Tom,whe he knows is either Hot or cold,no back up plan in case it’s the latter,apart from O Riley who had to play the same position,with the same lack of support.
A mortal sin it seems to criticize Ange on here.Not from me.He made an arse of it.Very entitled to make intakes but he is not infallible.
GP 1.14pm
My “guests” were in my house until about 9pm on Sunday, wife & daughter both thought we’d be on a downer as Celtic didn’t go through ….
Some of my best Celtic days are when we don’t win
1994 Raith Rovers springs not mind ….
Don’t get me wrong we were all gutted for about 5mins then just put some music 🎵 on …
I told my daughter losing is actually part of football, just hope Hearts win the cup … don’t want to see that mob winning their first ever Scottish cup they will act as if it’s their 55th :-)
you could have the bear, keano, broony and barry robson in the midfiled and the outcome would have been the same,
the referee did it.