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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“MODERATOR1888 on 19TH APRIL 2022 4:19 PM
Madmitch
Deleted”
Thanks for that Mod……saves me getting cramp from all the scrolling past :-))
Well I have just watched the free kick incident and our club should demand an explanation for what madden was up to there ,if not they never will .
I have no doubt in my mind he should never be officiating in another celtic game ever .
In fact he should be drummed out the game .
Hi all, a bit down about the result but as has been mentioned if CCV scores instead of hitting the bar then it’s game over, fine margins. That said we were bullied in the middle of the park, with Maddens assistance, the midfield was screaming out for Bitton or McCarthy or even Gucci.
Two final points:
Madden is a cheat and he knows it.
The comment today by the “whits the goalie darn Tam” was putting it out there that young Vata will play for Ireland in the hope that he will get the McGeady treatment going forward.
Ferguss@6:34
The board will do nothing, can you imagine on the Old Firm board would have reacted under the sam circumstances!
PRESTONPANS BHOY
sadly I think your correct .
Sevco board would have the full backing of the hack pack
HH
And I need to check my typing before hitting the post comment button😵
MODERATOR1888 @ 4:04 PM
Some comment on Rocco Vata (by the rangers commentary team)
“He can play for Albania, Scotland or Ireland
Guess which one he picked…….”
Moderator – who were the Old Firm commentary team?
If we are going to highlight subtle anti-Irish racism we should at least attribute it to named individuals.
If nothing else, if they move to mainstream (there is plenty of history) those with long memories can call them out.
Ange winning a treble barely in the door at Celtic Park was always a bit of a pipedream so not really that concerned about the loss on Sunday, after a fantastic run of 30 odd games without defeat, already with a trophy on the sideboard and a comfortable 6 points lead with the title race drawing to close.
I thought both teams were quite evenly matched in the game unfortunately missed the extra time due to family social pressures. Rangers got away with alot of persistent fouling particularly on Calmac and Rog who were hauled down in rugby fashion on a number occasions incurring only mild censure by the ref. I mentioned after the game at Ibrox that the Hoops were quite physical in the second half and took no prisoners. Thought Juro kept Rangers danger man Kent very quite until he retired injured.
As we saw on Sunday there now seems to be a lot of nonsense spoken about teams fitness levels and fatigue, Bodo Glint and the Ibroxians have proved that this is a fallacy. No more taking teams for granted.
Sunday is now part of history and best forgotten Ange and Celtic will continue to really focus on the big prize and hopefully a nice title winning bonus.
by the way, we were dire and the only just beat us; chin up peeps
*they only just
Back to basics
Tom Miller Was the hun commentator
if we aren’t going to go down the road of matching the hun physicality and want to beat them on footballing ability, then we need to be much more clinical when we do get into good positions
we were in great positions so many times on sunday, but so many times made the wrong choice in terms of whether to shoot or pass, and who to pass it to
we cant be a team that is stuck between 2 stools of not being hard enough to bully teams off the park, but not being good enough to win by out playing them
to be honest i would love us to be able to do either depending on the game but i doubt that will happen
My friends in Celtic,
You will remember on Saturday that we discussed the abysmal turn out by the Hibs support.
The fans voted with their feet over Shaun Maloney.
At that time we didn’t know the consequences of such an embarrassment to the Hibs hierarchy. At a stroke their credibility for equal shares of tickets was trashed.
Even if Hibs had beaten Hearts the die was cast.
Lessons learned
Fans do have power to instigate change.
But fan power must be mainstream and united behind mainstream popular and sensible opinion.
We cannot turn the clock back on Sunday or change the result. We need to focus on what we can do.
How many times have we warned about criticising the referee for every single game. It is a default position for many regardless of performance.
This is not Hindsight, we have discussed ” The boy who cried wolf” many times.
We knew it would happen and on Sunday the wolf did come out to play.
But nobody listens to us when we shout wolf, wolf.
However, back to what we can do.
Announce tomorrow that we will not be giving tickets to the huns for Parkhead. Not 700, ziltch.
We take popular affirmative action that will optimise our chances on the park and reduce trouble off the park.
The safety of our fans should be paramount and trump any rules they quote.
Let’s play the game. : May the odds be forever in our favour.
HH to all and to optimising our journey.
You will remember on Saturday that we discussed the abysmal turn out by the Hibs support.
The fans voted with their feet over Shaun Maloney.
—
not sure that is strictly true
hibs never sell.out a 50-50 hampden split, especially a mid day kick off so i dont think that was necessarily a statement about maloney
JHB @ 4.31
“What is right is not always popular. What is popular is not always right.” You court popularity!
“The greatest mistake of all is to believe you are always right”. You are always right
———————————————————————–
Your response does nothing to address what you were accused of.
It was you who managed to be neither right nor popular.
Those who felt we had a good chance in the league this year are, at the moment, likely to be proven right.
Like the equally bumptious BJ in parliament today, you answered not one question that was put to you
Shaun Maloney was shabbily treated even if Hibs fans were beginning to turn. Jack Ross was shabbily treated too.
If you are a moneyed club you can hire a Big spending coach like Harry Redknapp or a big name, like Stevie G, that will attract players.
If you are a club like Hibs you have to buy a development coach that will make players better. That cannot be done in 4 months. Ange did not do that with Celtic ; Ange steadied the ship and was allowed to buy a raft of players that he then moulded into a team. He would not have done this as quickly if he relied only on the players he inherited. Shaun came into a Hibs team that had just sold its best player, Boyle and he then lost Kevin Nisbet to injury. He was not given an opportunity to build with his own players.
I doubt John Kennedy will trust his future to such a dysfunctional club. The more likely outcome is that they will approach Scott Brown or Kevin Thompson.
“Willie Young says to Stuart Dougal surely that’s no fair tell Bobby to give a penalty to Rangers”
OR
Bobby Tate says to Dougie McDonald thats a Bad tackle by McGregor, straight Red card, John
Greenpinata@ 7.37 I am in agreement with you that NO tickets should be given to ‘them’….’but SPFL rule I 27 states that visiting fans must be allowed entry’ ( my wording I must admit) Check it out!!
LADTH
Keevins is the bawbag.
Man U getting ripped so far.
LADTH
Keevins is the bawbag.
—
he most certainly is…
bhoyjoebelfast
Not if they haven’t got tickets!
Keane will be on oxygen just now
I seen most of today’s game and I thought the commentator was actually ok and quite professional although I knew it was a home commentator.
But when he said that, I honestly thought I’d misheard…..He obviously couldn’t hide the hatred anymore.
Anyway, I was just thinking that the Ross County game is maybe the biggest game we’ve had in years.
HH
LETS ALL DO THE HUDDLE on 19TH APRIL 2022 7:27 PM
thats how i seen it, was at the game live and now watched it twice.
i dont like the “lightweight, too small” nonsense.
if thats how sophisticated we want out footballers go watch the ayrshire junior teams.
hatate and meada, callum and taylor, and jota all got tackles from behing, doesnt matter how big you are if the tackle comes from somewhere not allowed. none shirked it, thats a lot of bollocks,
neither did the old firm dominate the game, 2 shots a piece on target. 20 each off target.
our biggest own problem was the speed of pass in the final third, we ran too much with the ball jota in partocular.
talked with aussie guys today, they watched from afar, aussie rules mate is a cleaner game than that shit served up in scotland, mate.
win the next game thats it.
CELTIC MAC:
True….but according to SPFL ruling it would be the duty of the home club to accommodate visiting bodies with match briefs.As I have already stated,no tickets to/for them would be ideal.
.
Mon Eh Ton
is a play about the morton, they were tweeting …………
If your a morton fan its a must see.
If your a Celtic fan come see what a provincial club looks like,
If your a Rangers fan come see a play about a club with an unbroken history,
Man U haven’t hit rock bottom yet; many moons left in the wilderness.
In other news.
Hertz getting to cup final gaurantees them European group football next season.
A EL play off tie, win and go into group, lose and drop into ECL. £3m-£5m windfall, nice.
Means 5th place in league really is all to play for , 3 teams a point apart, t5th gets you play off for ECL.
Motherwell will bust a gut to beat them there old firm, they have a prize pot to go for, then so will county and united.
them there huns aint getting it all easy.
4th gets Qualifier and Play off for ECL.
5th gets 2 x Qualifiers and play off for ECl.
Scotland has 2 definate Group places, Champions in CL, Hertz in EL Playoff
interesting times.
As it stands, Old firm actually have 2 rounds to get into CL.
cmon celtic do them. cmon ange, get it into the players heids.
richest ever prize pot for winnning 3 more games.
RANGERS TV commentator Tom Miller has been accused of making a “despicable racist comment” by the agent of a Celtic youth star.
Neil Murray, who represents Rocca Vata, made the accusation on Twitter but soon deleted the tweets.
Thoughts and prayers for Mr and Mrs Ronaldo. 🙏 💔 🍀
Celtic fans paid £49 for tickets in 2016 which suggested that
Celtic PLC saw NO broken history at Rangers FC.
Looks like Celtic supporters have been had.
Its how you respond to being had which is key.
dearie me,
here we go again,
clap clap,
he’s on the blog again
Celtic fans paid £49 for tickets in 2016 which suggested that
Celtic PLC saw NO broken history at Rangers FC.
Looks like Celtic supporters have been had.
—
non sequitur CSC
Nurse……nurse….
MARTIN O’SEVILLE on 19TH APRIL 2022 9:04 PM
Celtic fans paid £49 for tickets in 2016 which suggested that Celtic PLC saw NO broken history at Rangers FC.
========================
No it doesn’t.