As we discussed a few days ago, the margins between success and failure at this level are tight. Two rash tackles inside the box was enough to see Celtic into the playoff round. On another day, the story could have been different.
For me, Kolo Toure’s 30 minutes was eye-opening. His touch was assured, which gave him time on the ball. He was confident enough to hold possession while being closed down, and can carry the ball out of defence.
He talked throughout, often while gesticulating to team-mates to calm down or to push out in a line. It’s not that we had problems in central defence before he arrived, we didn’t, but he gave the entire team an authority we’ve missed. Without him, the game may have ended differently.
This is what a top player looks like in a Celtic shirt.
Craig Gordon had a big decision to make: come out of his box to head the ball, or stay and allow Kieran Tierney to manage the situation. Yes, it was a good finish, but the keeper made the wrong decision. If you head the ball while 25 yards off your line it needs to go safe or you shouldn’t there.
Did you notice Moussa Dembele’s penalty technique? There were two important elements: the pause and the number of steps.
Most players take a penalty as soon as the referee blows his whistle. Moussa didn’t. He waited. Players who wait until a moment of their choosing score a higher percentage of times than players who move on the whistle.
The delay empowers them. They are in charge, they decide when things start. The two step run up further denies the goalkeeper reaction time: “I’m the boss, you don’t know when we start and you’ll have no time to throw yourself about”.
Squeezing the pips
None of the 11 starters were Brendan Rodgers’ players, four joined until Ronny, while seven have been at the club since Neil Lennon’s days. It’s remarkable that we managed to eliminate a team who qualified for last season’s Champions League with players who were caught so short in Europe in recent seasons.
Last night we squeezed the last pips out of the squad. The addition of Kolo and the return of Erik and Jozo will give the defence a formidable look, but we are not right in central midfield, and I know every one of you held your breath when Leigh went down injured.
I left the ground feeling Brendan got a break in getting that squad past Astana (you could argue Ronny could have done with a couple of rash challenges inside the box in similar circumstances). Sometimes you need the breaks to achieve great things.
Oh, and if football was like that every time, every other leisure industry would close. I’m pretty sure no one in the North Stand knew two Astana players were sent off, such was the Festival of Drama.
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It’s difficult to parody the press in this country,but THECLUMPANY regularly makes a good fist of it-this being no exception.
https://theclumpany.wordpress.com/2016/08/03/missing-paperwork/
Keep up the good work,mate. They know how ridiculous they are,but I love the way you remind them!
THEEXILEDTIM
I’ll mail you it tomorrow,bud. Thanks very much for that.
I’ll need to get his Spanish address off him,he’s due there in mid-October,I think.
Fan-a-Tic
Been saying for years we need old heads in the team, not just any old head but ones who can still do a job for us, Kolo is a start and am delighted we have got him, he will help the kids no end, we have to pay for this kinda experience, big bucks no doubt, but it will repay the club many times over IMO.
This is where our transfer policy needs to be a bit more flexible, sometimes we have to suck it up and not worry about a sell on value.
We still need to sort out our middy, with all due respect to the present incumbants, it’s a feckin shambles.
Like everything else it’s all about fitting the right pieces together, hopefully BR will sort it.
HH
BobbyM
Send me his home addy, I want to send him a couple of other things as well, no point sending them here for him to maybes forget to take them back to scotland :-)
HH
Glendalys
Who decided to send that Shitov?
Dundalk to play final play off home tie at The Aviva
THEEXILEDTIM
Haha,probably right!
Mail incoming in five minutes,mate.
Wee Georgie bhoy..
You are a braw bhoy…and enjoy your day at Lennoxtown……when you get up close with BR….you will be talking to the richest young manager of Celtic of all time …quite a sentence….but your big enough to understand….ask wee Brendan when players are going to paying Celtic and Celtic fans to have the honour to play in the hoops…..”when will the baw burst Mr Rodgers”…..
Then ask him easy stuff……like what’s the brawest Celtic blog …etc etc etc …
Have a braw braw day wee man….
Braw.
Good Evening.
Here is something new. About the embarrassing “Going for 55” display…
https://theclumpany.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/pity-poor-sevco/
https://twitter.com/barbaramcmahon8/status/761130840021688320
The dog done it,brilliant
One thing that i love about BR already is that as far as i can see in the couple of games ive managed to watch is that he has been taking off the players who were probably the worst performers.
Kris Commons tantrum last season showed the resentment that can fester away and cause divisions if particular players are allowed to continue playing even though they are contributing little.
No favourites…….play well and you keep the jersey.
Great incentive to them all and im sure it will make for a closer, happier squad.
BUICK
Gotta love the wee man!
Great battling performance by the team last night almost a case of history repeating itself with that score coming in the final minutes as against Astana’s fellow counrymen from Karagandy to put us through to the play-offs. Dembele should have had a penalty in the first leg this time justice was done and scoring such a crucial goal is great for the lad. G
Craig Gordon cannot be blamed for Astana’s goal and it was a terrific attempt to clear that ball maybe Scott Brown, who had a great game, might have done a bit better. Young Roberts would be a big loss if not fit for the play-offs Celtic are short on players of his quality his little bit of magic can turn a game in the blink of an eye. Great for Brendan Rodgers now that the team is assured of another eight games in Europe, however improvement is needed if we hope to get through the next round and that 20m prize that awaits.
STV Sport starts with ……Kenny Misser moaning about Broonie….
BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 4TH AUGUST 2016 5:45 PM
Glendalys
Who decided to send that Shitov?
The ref of course. BTW that’s no how ye spell ‘off’
so Kenny Miller has just discounted Aberdeen and hearts as being no good enough to challenge us.
will Mcinnes fume at the mouth the way he did last year when Ronnie said we got our mistakes got punished more in Euro – which he took as a slur on the Dons?
TET…so sorry to hear about your wife. I hope she makes a full recovery.
Too true Bobby,a great wee ambassador for the club
Agree wirh you hankray – but admit good keeps head/pals/puncture/party the ball Away from goal, not straight up the park.
Ref. rab Douglas Uefa cup final.
Ps.
Imagine henrik looking back at that.
Having scored two goals and being such a ‘big game player’ as we know he was.
Really felt for him that day.
Paul McStay too, running about at the tail end of his career getting booked and Sent off in frustration., carrying a gash midfield year after year.
Predictive text ruins another post.
Disney matter.
There is always beer
Been doing the equivalent of the Forth Bridge in Casa Cosy.. Hall with nine doors.. So well behind on ‘news’. Good wishes and health to Mrs TET, tho someone who can do a 100 length swim must be very fit! Seen your request to BMCUWP and agree with your thoughts re me forgetting it..Forgot to get the Leicester barmaid a programme. As an addition,I had the pleasure of ACGR,Fess and OHITS in the Creighton . A great surprise and me and OHITS will have a cerveza together next time I am in Spain. BTW, think I aged 3 years in 90 mins. last nght but worth it!
THECLUMPANY on 4TH AUGUST 2016 6:00 PM
Here is something new. About the embarrassing “Going for 55″ display…
https://theclumpany.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/pity-poor-sevco/
It’s true that the huns are going ‘Going for 55’ – only point being it will take about 2 centuries as they are stating from ZERO ! That’s the problem with being a new club in the top division !!!
Kenny Miller is more or less calling our captain a liar, what a nerve. Moreso when Scott’s opinion is perfectly valid – given that Aberdeen chased us all the way last season (well nearly) and that Sevco are about to play in a proper league for the first time ever. What did I ever see in KM? Cant believe I used to like him, more fool me.
It’s easy to blame goalkeeper for the loss of a goal, but it’s very rarely the case that they are to blame.
Looking at the video, it’s clearly a defensive system failure to blame.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3Si7KJKg8U
Pause the video at 1.28 and you can see the Astana player just about to hit the ball forward. He is about level with the centre circle, in their left hand side of the pitch. The ball didn’t have to travel very far.
Pausing at 1.29, you can see Saidy Janko about where you would expect, a couple of yards inside our half, by the touchline. He had just been moved to wingback following Toure’s introduction a couple of minutes before.
We an also see Lustig, Toure and O’Connell running towards our goal, with the last two coming from a deeper starting position.
1.30 shows Tierney and the Astana player running for the ball, diagonally from right to left across the pitch. Although Tierney looks close to the Astana player here, he is never going to get to the ball before him from this position. Possibly if Tierney had been as far forward to start with as Janko was, the runner would have been offside.
At 1.31, the ball has landed in the path of the Astana player and Gordon is advancing from his penalty area, he is right on the 18 yard line at that point. Tierney is beginning to peel off to cover the goal line.
At 1.32, Gordon has headed the ball away and his momentum has taken him just outside the D, and will take him another few yards forward before he can stop. The ball is travelling straight towards Scott Brown, who is unaware of the Astana player about to challenge him. At this point, Gordon has done everything that could be expected of him. He has spotted the danger and cleared it to about 10 yards short of the centre circle.
What happens next was a combination of Brown being caught unawares and a pretty good hit from the scorer.
What is clear is that the defence was all over the place at their goal. The three centre halves were pretty high up and they had been pulled to our right hand side of the pitch, leaving acres of space for the runner from their right flank to run into. Maybe if Tierney had not tracked the run, he would have been offside? He was certainly the furthest back of the defensive five.
We lost the goal because the defence was so disorganised and I can only put that down to the change in formation when Toure was introduced. The defence had still not settled from the re-jig and the result was Gordon was exposed by a simple punt over the top.
My problem is that there was no need to make that change. With 30 minutes to play we were through and under no real pressure. All we had to do was see the game out without doing anything stupid. The likelihood of mistakes being made was increased greatly by the needless change in defence a few moments before.
Going for 55?
Shome mishtake shurely.
That should read ” Gawin’ fur Wan “
Maribor v Aberdeen game on Premier Sports from 7.15. A tough ask but would be good if we had 2 teams flying the Scottish flag in Europe this season.
Jobo
ps Good evening, friends.
Kenny Miller believes…that Scott Brown doesn’t really believe that Aberdeen will be runners-up to Celtic this season…
Well, listen to me ‘nuclear tan man-son of Jimmy Calderwood’…
I don’t believe that you believe that Scott Brown doesn’t believe that Aberdeen will be runners-up to Celtic this season…hope you get your bums felt this season…
Cannot understand the thinking letting Scott Allan go on loan
KINGLuBO
8 more games in Europe.happy for that.
Thought BR made the correct changes as the Kazakhs were slowly taking over the game.
The midfield was being overrun as only Broony was up for it. We need to be stronger there.
CM and SA should be used at SPL level not Europe.
Hoping for Dundalk as it looks like the board is not for spending.
KTF
Listening to Clyde, I know, the last half hour has been about their strip deal, or not as it happens.
Anyways, yer man Houston from SoS was on telling the huns NOT to buy the strip, a couple of caller were saying the same, now we all know that every strip they buy their club gets 4 pence in the pound, great deal btw, yet they must know, at least yer man Gerry who hosts the prog must know that if they don’t sell the strips the huns have to pay the full retail price losing out on their 4 pence in the pound.
I wonder why they are not telling the average thick hun, Oh well, it’s all good fun.
Woodentops on bbc talking about Dons game and slagging ‘bombscare Ambrose’
What a cheek! (keeping it polite)…
KINGLUBO
The boy wanted playing time I read somewhere, can’t remember where though..
when roberts was about to get subbed last night, he was standing on the half way line waiting on astana taking a corner before he was subbed.
so why didnt BR take him off before the corner so we had 11 players on the pitch to defend it because roberts was just a passenger at that point
he had plenty of time and the sub was ready and waiting?
did anyone see something else that i missed in that situation?
Good Evening Timland.
JOBO
Have you joined the North Curve clique? :)
TET,
A wee prayer offered for your wife. Sounds as if she’s on the mend.
As to last night, I thought James Forrest and Scott Brown were our best players. I actually thought we played very well, especially in the last half-hour (while it was no good for my old heart), because 1 mistake and we were out. Careful and controlled against one of the dirtiest teams to play at Celtic Park in the recent past. They took it in turns to foul just about every challenge. They got their desserts.
Kolo Toure really impressed me when he came.
I don’t know how our manager expects us to be patient. Every single supporter must have been tense after they scored (and we had missed a couple of great chances). Apart from a couple of moments after they scored, the Green Brigade were in great voice.
As someone said, we really need to be in Europe to stretch our players. Long may we be involved.
As for STV and Kenny Miller, on the evening after Celtic’s win in Europe and on the same evening as Aberdeen play there, we are treated by STV to their big item of (non) news first- Kenny Miller reckons that Scott Brown doesn’t really think Aberdeen will be our nearest challengers. Pathetic nonentities the 2 of them.
KING LUBO
Because two successive coaches have not played him then it absolutely makes sense to let him go.
Takes him off the wage bill and if he succeeds at Rotheram his selling value will increase.
Or alternatively improves and comes back to us and shines.Either way it makes sense.
DAMO LENNON
Your description of their goal is accurate and was a collective failure not down to just Craig.
But one thing you have to account for is he had a clear field of vision and put it in an area where they had a guy.
Brown shares some responsibility but he was looking back to goal and did not see guy behind.
I have often said we lack authority in the defensive zone .We needed someone to decide when and where to hold a line and also designate who to attack ball.
Hopefully Toure will provide that leadership.
I like to challenge myself now and again and I’ve decided that I am going to try to go throughout the entire football season without listening to the voice of Hugh Keevins. Not a single syllable. No matter how much I’m tempted to listen in to SSB after the Hun’s get grubbed. No patronising pish from Keevins for a whole 12 months …….. and beyond.
Wee Bobby Collins, shortbread should be treating the Aberdeen centre half , Ash Taylor, with derision if they are having a go Efe.
Taylor has made more costly mistakes for the Dons , than Efe has for us.
Remember that mad lunge at Kris Commons to give away a penalty in our 3 1 win against them last season plus he was the cause of Caley’s three goals against them in a game there last season also.