Our two loan signings on the final day of the transfer window, Jota and Cameron Carter-Vickers, have been crucial to the (presumptive) outcome of the league title, the latter more so than the former; Cameron could easily have won Player of the Year. Despite this, it is Jota who is the more important to secure on a permanent deal.
Having watched Newco suffocate our midfield twice in a month and Bodo/Glimt do the same earlier in the year, to the extent that we struggled to build periods of possession, never mind attacks, we need to answer the question, why was this?
When our central defenders have the ball, they face options of either trying to find a full back or Callum McGregor, or hope that someone further up field is in space. Those options were snuffed out by Newco, causing a nervousness as players took possession with an opponent breathing down his neck.
What would Kristoffer do?
Kristoffer Ajer would step forward with the ball, drawing opponents off their markers and immediately creating space. He could then play a short pass or, if he was not challenged, continue a run through the middle.
It is reasonable to claim Celtic have the best two central defenders in the league, even the previously maligned Carl Starfelt is a model of solidity. The problem is, neither can carry the ball forward as effectively as Kris Ajer. We need at least one central defender with this attribute, preferably two.
Ange Postecoglou is not going to change the way we play. Next season you will see our central defenders in possession looking at man-marked team-mates. We either address an identifiable problem, or we are in for more of the same.
The first job of a defender is to defend, and we all remember the shambles of last season, even with Kris, but despite my fondness for Cameron and Carl in this respect, we need a rethink.
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My hope with the Huns predicament is that it puts to an end the defeatist approach across our club and too much of our support that Europe is out of reach and our horizon is no further than Scotland.
Are we going to invest to compete there or stay 1 step ahead of der hun locally ?
HH
I hope it’s not now a case of Sevilla delenda est.
Great post Spidey 👍🏼
Big Jimmy
I also thought they were a good thing to get through last night, but under no circumstances would I bet them, my feelings were based on the first leg where leipzig could not break them down to any consistent effect ,leipzig’s performance on Monday which was awful so last night was a gimme for them, they are a big physical team sevco who are difficult to play against and can nick a goal,so dangerous for frankfurt
The media is now going on about how the Old Firm fans will get to Seville. Here is the appropriate transport for them:
There’s a Spanish train that runs between
Guadalquivir and old Seville
And at dead of night the whistle blows
And people hear she’s running still
And then they hush their children back to sleep
Lock the doors, upstairs they creep
For it is said that the souls of the dead
Fill that train ten thousand deep
Perfect for Zombies.
Old firm 37% possession scored 3 goals , as the old saying goes , it’s not how much you have its what you do with it …😵
had we not balls up and won the 10 thems would have imploded last summer and we wouldn’t be talking about our euro shortcomings etc.
RC,
They are going nowhere and they never were.
We need a level of ambition, starting in ECL 22/23 that tries to compete, not just happy to be there attitide. A mixture of better players for that level and a bit of pragmatism from Ange in how he deals with vastly superior teams.
HH
S101 @ 9.43
Stop talking sense — the board apologists will just try harder with their excuses.
We are flat track SPL bullies and good though AP is — loads of energy — it isn’t going to change next season.
One step ahead in the SPL of our friends in Govan — that is all the board aspires to.
It keeps the season ticket money flowing in — so why would they change?
The “support” needs to grow a pair — their is a world out there without them.
They now live in far too many heads and it is destroying us.
Suddenly Euro football will be a necessity for the slow thinkers / happy clappers / PL fan bois — not because it should be but because of what they have achieved.
Not good.
A shark has been jumped — the LD’s now have a majority on Hull City council.
12 years after shafting everyone / everything including their principles they are now seemingly worthy of a vote.
Not good.
If you’re experiencing negative energy this morning spare a thought instead for the people of Seville.
As for Old Firm FC’s success in Europe?
Isn’t it remarkable how every visiting team to Ibrox had, comparatively, noticeably lower levels of energy than the home side?
Almost as if something was in the air.
Hhmm.
At least at a neutral venue, Old Firm FC won’t have access to the away dressing room 6 hours before kick off.
HRVATSKI JIM, the Chris de Burgh fan :)
So 10 league titles in 11 years and a quadruple of trebles is now classed as keeping one step ahead of the huns.
We can’t stop them being second.
Never mind Seville — what about the ballboys?
DM takes a swipe and is sent off.
AMcG takes a swipe — seemingly — and nothing said.
BACK TO BASICS – GLASS HALF FULL on 6TH MAY 2022 10:23 AM
I noticed that as well… they do seem to have remarkable (almost unbelievable) energy levels…
Philbhoy bret wishes to your daughter on a speedy recovery
Burnley78 hope your op has gone/goes well
I don’t care what their result is I just want to see Celtic have the ambition to compete every year in the later stages of European tournaments
Just about to go for cataract surgery so hope this eye has as good an outcome as the other
Their result last night paid my quarterly gas bill courtesy of paddy power and some generous odds. That said, I’d have rather lost the bet.
I’ve resigned myself to them winning the Europa. At the end of the day we’ve no control over it. Next season looks to be shaping up to be one helluva battle. Bring it on.
NOTTACLUE1 on 6TH MAY 2022 10:27 AM
I was, then wasn’t then was again. He is very creative but got tied up in a 5 album deal where he had to churn the songs out which brought down the quality. The Storyman in 2006 was his return to form.
I’ve seen him twice in concert. The Apollo (c 1977) where he really had just a guitar and a piano and he showed how versatile he was by alternating songs between them. 2nd time was the day after we beat Motherwell 70- at Fir Park when Aitken and Nicholas did the scoring. He got a “mixed reception” from the Glasgow audience when he referred to the previous day’s score.
So, yes – guilty.
TMcL @ 10.28
SPL pot hunter / Bronski extraordinaire.
You have a short memory — remember 2003.
How many of the happy clappers were saying that the SPL didn’t matter in the face of a EuC final.Now they are saying the exact opposite.
Not good.
Fair play to them. From what I’ve seen far too many teams underestimated them and paid a heavy price, but, they still got the job done. Any team who can score 6 & 3 goals against two German Bundesliga teams is doing something right. They had a plan and it worked. por cierto.
ST TAMS on 6TH MAY 2022 9:22 AM
While for the most part, I tend to agree and have the attitude that we should worry about our own results, Sevco winning the EL would affect us.
It would pretty much negate the Champions League cash advantage we’ve been so desperate to get our hands on all season and they will go into the CL as a Pot 1 team.
Getting a £30 – £40m Champions League windfall and them not could set the scene for the next few years.
Bristol mayor farrago — more proof that the LD’s and the Greens are not in anyway progressive.
How they love to vote / how too many of the public love to vote for them when there is a black guy to kick.
Plus the tall poppy syndrome comes into play.
TFOD2.1 form in Europe — if it doesn’t make sense then it doesn’t make sense — and you have to ask why?
We have the evidence of one particular influence — here on CQN.
How many have boasted this morning that they have made money from last night’s result?
That would be one place to start.
RBL were playing with an 8 – 3 split.
8 were trying and 3 couldn’t be bothered.
That would be another.
Then would come an understanding of the drug testing arrangements.
Who has been tested in the TFOD2.1 squad and when.
Away dressing room shenanigans in Govan — interesting.
Not sure how long its effects would last but RBL were slow out of the blocks in both halves.
TFOD2.1 are turning over every trick because they are skint — if they don’t win cup games then they don’t eat.
RBL do not have that drive.
EF do — so it is all to play for.
TOM MCLAUGHLIN on 6TH MAY 2022 10:28 AM
So 10 league titles in 11 years and a quadruple of trebles is now classed as keeping one step ahead of the huns.
We can’t stop them being second.
—-
It was said, in relation to our shoddy approach to Europe. Too many on here with a ‘league’s all that matters, don’t care about Europe attitude stretching to the boardroom too.’
The sooner we look outward as a European team rather than being obsessed with the huns, the better.
HH
SPIDEY101
Excellent post.
GEEBEE1978
7 years ago this mob were in the championship.
In Europe we have been an embarrassment.
We should be miles ahead of them financially, but Weare a poorly run club, from top to bottom.
Full steam ahead for a Celtic title win. This seemed highly unlikely, as the season unfolded.
Ange learned, the players learned and we find ourselves on the cusp of greatness.
The relative merits of our domestic competition can be considered at the seasons end review.
Not good,
SPIDEY101 on 6TH MAY 2022 9:43 AM
I hope Them getting to the final puts our usual “we can’t compete in Europe” cries to bed.
Nobody has said that ever. We should be competing in the Europa League, everyone knows it, everyone says it. We can’t compete in the CL which is about as near to a truism as you’ll get in football
They have spent nearly as much money as us over an extended period now. What happened ten years doesn’t matter; they have spent massively beyond their means for years. £100m put into the business with nothing being taken out. Free cash, the equivalent of 6 or more seasons of CL compared to EL cash. Their wage bill was roughly equivalent to ours last season, it will be more this.
In that time they have won 1 league title, and no cups. It’s a pitiful return
They have a team that’s set up for cup football in Europe. They’ve won once away from home in ten games, this season, their tactics are amongst the most negative in the whole tournament.
At the moment they’re a cup team, they won the league last season under no pressure. The pressure came this season and they buckled
You have to ask yourself how a team that won the league by a mile last season got bettered by a team with half a squad and who started so poorly
They may well be better next season, they probably will, but at this moment in time our domestic record is so much better than theirs over the period they have been better than us in Europe.
Their tactics are outdated – they work against teams who never come up against it, they keep the score down away from home and they scrap to get results with the crowd behind them at ibrox.
They don’t work in Scotland – they’ve dropped points in 11 out of 35 games, nearly every third game. It’s a pitiful return from title holders with a settled team and a bigger net spend than anyone else
Our tactics do work in Scotland, our club wins where it really counts.
Philbhoy
Best wishes to the wee yin hope she is well
HH
It’s great to be able to debate our prospects in the CL next season.
Howevvva, whether we like it or not, the direct entry to the group stages is partly due to the results of oldfirm fc.
I said PARTLY!!!
Eintracht will win in Seville & Hertz will win the Scottish cup 3 days later.
Karma csc
CELTIC40ME:
Amidst an avalanche of nonsense and self-recrimination over a result that had nothing whatsoever to do with us, a post that reeks of common sense and insight.
Thank you for that mate.
Their performances in Europe reflect poorly on ours, without doubt.
But their ambitions have always been about bettering us domestically.
Celtic40 me,
Great post mate.Some throwing our achievements over the past 10 years on the scrapheap because of what happened last night.
Kent’s displays in the Europa League will get him a move to the EPL next season. He’s one of the main reasons they have managed to get to the final. He has 1 year left so maybe not a hefty transfer fee, but there will be one. por cierto
Hearts, I think, will play a weakened team against us tomorrow. They have their eyes firmly fixed on the Cup Final. That’s not to say they wont give it everything, but, we should be too strong for them. We have to start taking some the loads of chances that we make, do that and we’ll be out of sight before half time, por cierto
Vote counters on one side of the London Road
Bean counters on the other
Celtic40me – there’s a fair few on here who do say that we can’t compete in Europe and that domestic dominance is the main thing.
My main point was not about comparing us with them in isolation – they, like Bodo, are an example of a team who less than a decade ago weren’t even in their own top flight but have now done more in Europe than we do or have done for almost two decades! We’ve won one post-group knockout game in 18 years – one game and didn’t win the tie overall! They have won at least one game (and tie) each year for three seasons on the bounce now!
Domestic dominance is great, but we’re nowhere in Europe. Looking back at our results in the past 5 years or so, we consistently (Bodo aside) beat teams who have similar UEFA co-efficiency’s as Aberdeen, etc but struggle when faced by a higher ranking/standard of team.
I’m not saying we should model ourselves on Them in terms of tactics and playing style but we do need to look seriously at ourselves and really prove why we’re falling behind. Money is part of it, but there’s more to it than that – otherwise we’d have done better against the Danes, Norwegians, Romanians, etc we’ve come unstuck against. We effectively find ourselves in a position where what we are doing is fine against Aberdeen/Hearts standard sides, but struggle against teams better than that. So we need to look at what we can do better.
‘our achievements over the past 10 years’
Poverty of ambition much?