Lack of consistency haunts Celtic again

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Celtic have been completely dominant in Scottish football on many occasions but only once did this result in a domestic treble (the treble was won another two occasions when Celtic were only marginally ahead of the competition but were ruthlessly focussed).

At all other times we have had a morning like this, tossed out of one of the cup competitions by a vastly over-performing team.  Little more than a handful of games against weaker opponents stood between us and a treble in each of the last two years, but as we have noted for many years now, Celtic are not consistent enough to win the treble.  The evidence is substantial.

There are parallel ways we should react to this.  In the middle of a Champions League campaign we should be focused on little else, players should be rested for the challenge ahead, even if there are resultant risks, but there will be disappointment that we didn’t see a recognisable performance from those drafted into the team.  It wasn’t until Matthews, Commons and Stokes arrived last night that we looked anything like the Celtic we know.  On no occasions should we lose at home to a Championship team looking for their first away win since April.

That domestic treble from a dominant position was achieved by Martin O’Neill in season 2000-01, a time when Martin scarcely made a substitution before 85 minutes, never mind rested players.  This drew criticism, of course, as his ‘feeder’ players were denied opportunities to grow.  Despite last night’s reversal I would still rather use these games to develop the wider squad.

I also don’t subscribe to the belief that ‘every game is a cup final’.  Motivational strategies lose effectiveness if you roll them out too often.

Credit to Allan Moore and his “boys with desire and work-rate”.
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  1. KevJungle

     

     

    There you go matey…….lots of reaction. How you gona follow that one up ? FPLG ?

  2. vinniethedog

     

     

    13:14 on 25 September, 2013

     

    ________________________

     

    How many games has Rogic played to make any kind of Judgement ?

     

    How many games did PM play ?

     

     

    Yeah – those same players helped get us into the last 16 – guid for them.

     

    I’d rather win a Cup than get to the last 16 – any day.

     

     

    Nothing but, nothing but, nothing…beats seeing a Cellic team running roon Hampdump

     

    wi a trophy bedecked in green n white ribbons for me.

     

    Only saying – HH

  3. Richie #TeamOscar

     

     

    13:20 on 25 September, 2013

     

     

    Sorry Kev, your heart may be in the right place, and you may indeed be a Celtic supporter, but that’s not a logical conclusion you are making. Having Neil Lennon as a manager will not result in half/empty stadiums. Not at all.

     

    ______________________________________________

     

    So – what happened last season ?

     

    The game were the flag went up wisny even a sell-oot ?

  4. BlantyreKev-thoughts and prayers with Wee Oscar and family on

    Just a wee repeat from previous thread to express my huge thanks to Cold Guinness who came out of lurking exile yesterday to offer up spare CL tickets on CQN of which I was the extremely grateful recipient last night on behalf of brother and brother in law.

     

     

    You’re a gent sir, thank you. And get posting!

  5. hun skelper

     

     

    Don’t go anywhere at all mate. This is a Celtic blog for Celtic supporters. The chaff blows in to try and undermine as GMS has put eloquently, so don’t reward them.

     

     

    PF did make a reasonable request about language.

  6. Richie #TeamOscar on

    So – what happened last season ?

     

    The game were the flag went up wisny even a sell-oot ?

     

     

    ——————————————————–

     

     

    Maybe the economic climate has had an impact? Some of our Irish supporters have had it even worse. Can you tell me the last flag raising sell-out year?

  7. Gremlins in the system? my last post went away on ots own…

     

    Anyway , as I was saying the MIB`s will take very chance to hurt us, especially when we allow them the chance.

     

    For all that , I understand we were beyond bad, 26 corners ? and we expect Barca to fear us from set pieces? some work to be done there I think.

     

    I watched Barca last night and at the weekend , they defend like a very poor side however Valdes in in the form of his life. I expect us to gain nothing from the game next week, I said last week that it now comes down to a knockout tie v Ajax. That will be good.

     

    Regarding the new players, it is still too early to judge, however we have lost a testing ground for them via the league cup. Can I also just say that I do not enjoy the patronising “good for the game” stuff we have to listen to, I wanted Celtic to win the treble as I do not see a repeat of the European highs of last season, so I would have feasted on domestic triumphs. Maybe I am too greedy.

  8. I'm Neil Lennon (tamrabam) on

    P67

     

    quite some time ago, probably a few years now, around the time of donatti transfer perhaps, I recall that you highlighted a stat along the lines of

     

     

    since year 2000, transfer money paid out 80 million quid

     

    transfer money received 20 million quid

     

     

    now obviously this season we have taken about 20 million quid and the previous sale of aiden and one or two others was also quite high

     

     

    Since lennys time i wonder what the stats are now in terms of transfer fees paid and transfer fees received. are we in the black?

  9. BIG-CUP-WINNERS

     

     

    13:20 on 25 September, 2013

     

     

    KevJungle

     

     

    There you go matey…….lots of reaction. How you gona follow that one up ? FPLG ?

     

    ___________________________________________________

     

    I can only say it the way that ‘I’ see it.

     

    Given the resources that Neil has had

     

    I think big Butcher would have won a European trophy by now. imo

     

    Afterall, TB won a European trophy as a player under a right guid manager

     

    Sir Bobby Robson(RIP)

     

     

    I see that – Butcher makes his money work

     

    were as Neil coupes it intae the clyde. imo

     

    HH

  10. kevjungle – “c’mon the cellic – fairytale fc “

     

     

    13:24 on 25 September, 2013,

     

     

    Kev, you have said before you can’t afford to make games that you would choose to see.

     

     

    I’ve found myself in the same boat in the past…don’t you take that into consideration when you go on about crowds being down.

  11. saltires en sevilla supporting wee oscar on

    Funny how some folks can be catty smartasses on the blog

     

     

    Then -Meet them in person – as nice as you like

     

     

    Hmmmm

  12. KevJungle

     

     

    Well, as Sipsini points out, why do you discount that factor when considering the CP crowds ?

  13. sipsini

     

     

    13:31 on 25 September, 2013

     

    ________________________

     

    I think that ye might be clutching at straws a wee bit there ?

     

    All of a sudden – 25/30k of fans canny afford it ?

     

    What ye have to consider is – at least 20k of the empty seats

     

    were already sold – that’s worse !!!

     

    HH

  14. Palermo Radio News.

     

     

    The Owner / President of Palermo , Maurizio Zamparini [ AKA –” The Manager Eater “] has sacked Gattuso . His reasons —–” not good enough “.

     

     

    Zamparini has now sacked 27 Managers since he took control at Palermo .

     

     

    One wag on a Palermo blog marks Gattuso’s departure with this ——

     

     

    ” Bye Bye —but don’t worry Rino , you’ll get a job playing for Milan , you’ll fit nicely into that defense “

  15. Demented bedlamite on FF has decided that the RTC blogger is none other than Damian McBride:

     

     

    “•As Special Advisor to Gordon Brown as Chancellor & Prime Minister he would have met Scottish Labour identities linked to Celtic FC like John Reid & Brian Wilson

     

    •Had his desk in No.10 beside MP Tom Watson who was in Gordon Brown‘s cabal [and who is linked to anti-Rangers lawyers Aamer Anwar & Mark Leiser]

     

    •Resigns as Special Advisor in April 2009 for being the ‘only’ person in the Brownite cabal behind the Smeargate email campaigns against Tories/Unionists

     

    •A Roman Catholic of Irish descent. His father had ‘a religious Scottish upbringing, very stern’ and family holidayed every Summer as a child in the old country in Donegal.

     

    •At his interview with Gordon Brown ‘McBride’s CV caught Brown‘s attention. With Catholic family links in Co Donegal, McBride wrote that he was a lifelong fan of Celtic. The Raith Rovers-supporting chancellor grunted a question about how he could support Celtic.’ http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2…de-resignation

     

    •Been on purgatory leave but been compiling a book so plenty of time to keep his hand in the dark arts. Graciously the book royalties will go to Finchley Catholic High School & CAFOD demonstrating intense loyalty for his grounding in the Catholic religion & his upbringing.

     

    McBride said that Gordon Brown on private occasions gave a good rendition of ‘The Fields of Athenry‘.

     

    Something is Missing

     

    Here is a Machiavellian figure, he’s practised in the dark arts of Spin & smear campaigns, of Irish Catholic heritage, he’s a big football fan & supports Celtic, worked at HMRC for years where he attained a high management position with peer contacts, worked at the Treasury to whom HMRC reports, worked for & has contacts in Labour & Scottish Labour. He has a Blog and a Twitter account.

     

    However there are NO blog posts and NO Tweets about:

     

    Rangers going into admininstration/liquidation, their tax problems, the FTTT decision, the SPL EBT decision and gloating over their fall to the SFL Division 3.

     

    NONE on the Rangers Tax Case [ He worked at HMRC & was a Tax expert], NO retweets of Alex Thomson. NO retweets of Philth’s filth. NO retweets of Mark Daly’s doco.

     

    Just a blog post about a St Patrick’s day songlist with Republican songs. And a Republican tweet about dominion over the 6 counties:

     

    These appear to be the actions of a guy who wants to keep his head down and does not want any leads coming back to him. It’s too clean for such a controlling & manipulative guy. The best way to hide is in clear sight but he’s missing/airbrushed out. Very little is leaking which shows up the borders where he doesn’t want to be seen. Sometimes it’s what is out of place that leads to the target.

     

    Osama Bin Laden‘s compound attracted attention because, although it was expensive, there was NO internet or landline phone service.

     

    Conclusion

     

    Certainly Strathclyde Police and Levy & McRae, David Murray‘s lawyers, should look at Damian McBride.”

     

    ——

     

    His orcish co-patients appear to agree:

     

     

    “There is definetley a “look” amongst them and he has it in buckets.”

     

    ——

     

    “Wherever they are found in numbers you will find corruption, nepotism, and moral dishonesty.

     

    One thing that is a constant with them is that they hate our football club because in Rangers they see this country in all its quintessential uniqueness.

     

    How they must burn inside having to work under our flag and beneath the glare of our monarch.”

  16. I did not like that loss.not one bit.defeats do happen in football,it is a sport remember?

     

     

    congratulations to Morton fc.

     

     

    Use this defeat to spur us on,we need to be both mentally and physically strong in the coming season.

     

     

    My love for you Celtic is as good today as its always been,if not more,because we learn.

     

     

    keep the head you fretters and worriers being emotional is being Celtic.

     

     

    Always in Celtic

  17. I'm Neil Lennon (tamrabam) on

    there is abolsutley no doubt celtics crowds are down (and probably still falling)

     

    they have been falling since MON left. The 60,000 for every game finished when the likes of henrik, sutton and co left.

     

    IMO we never replaced that quality of manager or player

     

    however we did make the last 16 here and there

     

     

    This season we have sold two of our best players and albeit early, we dont seem to have replaced them with players of similar quality.

     

     

    if we continually sell our best players and continually to replace them with lesser quality, the likelihood is that our crowds will dwindle.

     

     

    It has happened since the year 2000 and there is no sign of changes

     

    IMO lenny has slowed the decline in attendances

     

    PLs ST price reduction has probably helped too

     

     

    but long term, the attendance graph is probably downwards

     

    and the lowere it goes, the more pressure we have to sell our best players

     

    and then the more likely that crowds will dwindle

     

    and even more pressure to sell our best players

     

     

    with a few notable blips we have been on this course for the past 10 years

     

     

    The spin nowadays is that we buy players at low value and sell at high value

     

    and for a few players that is correct. There are others who we cant give away for love nor money too.

     

     

    this year our failure for wahtever reason to get a quality striker might bite our ass

  18. Watch out guys.

     

     

    If more than two posters address kevs unadulterated pish the ‘stop bullying’ brigade will be on.

  19. Monaghan1900

     

     

    Sometimes ignorance is bliss. It worries me that there could be people like that working with me, staying near me etc etc.

  20. Biton Played Well… Nothing Fancy, he played it Cool.

     

     

    In his First Start.. He Comported himself Well.

     

     

    He Is a Promising Youngster.

     

     

    Ah hope Neil, gies Him mair Starts.

     

     

    Rogic, did not cover himself wi Glory..

     

    And

     

     

    He should Hiv..

     

     

    The Kid Has it all.. but,oan Last Night’s Showing..

     

     

    He needs tae Start Showing Me and Ithers that he Diz REALLY HIV IT ALL.

     

     

    Boeriggter?

     

     

    Ah Am disappointed in Him.

     

     

    Ah hiv a Sinking Feelin tha we hiv Jist Bought oorelves a

     

     

    TIMID PLAYER.

     

     

    And .. Ye jist Know.. How Kojo jist Hates a Timid Player!

     

     

    Step forward.. Joe Ledley..

     

     

    And It looks like Boeriggter will OUT TIMID..

     

     

    Even.. Laid Back Joe!

     

     

    Virgil, Is a Brammer..

     

     

    Nothing mair Needs tae be said. .. regarding whit Ah Think of Him.

     

     

     

    Ambrose and Virgil are a Wonderful Combo.

     

     

    Celtic,hiv gotten Themselves..

     

     

    A Brllliant Pair of C.B.s, in those two fellahs.

     

     

    Kojo

     

    Still Laughin’

     

     

    But, Still Bealin’..a wee Bit.,,tae,

  21. BIG-CUP-WINNERS

     

     

    13:43 on 25 September, 2013

     

     

    KevJungle

     

     

    No one answer fits. You seem to think otherwise ?

     

    _________________________________________

     

    To cut a long story short – the last time we had a manager

     

    who wasn’t worked from the back by the ‘bored’ – MO’N

     

    was the last time the park was a sell-oot.

     

     

    Right – it’s been awesome as usual

     

    Have to go now – HH – Off oot.

  22. kevjungle – “c’mon the cellic – fairytale fc “

     

     

    13:35 on 25 September, 2013,

     

     

    As you know fine well,the expenditure of buying a season book is the initial outlay for some and others pay by DD.

     

     

    Then you have the travel costs and like me the expense of the catering can burn a whole in your pocket due to the kids.

     

     

    To some fans it’s a case of budget. You should know better.

     

     

    I take It your next retort will be the pies are too expensive ;-)

  23. The Honest Cover-up on

    Disappointing to see the blog domniated by this attetion seeker Kev chap. The Hugh Keevins of cqn! This blog really should better than that. It usually is.

     

    Surely he best way to stop the “Superscoreboardification” of cqn is to ignore him.

     

     

    With regard to last night’s result, it takes an incredible level of consitency to win a treble. We don’t have that. I’ll settle for a win against Barca next week instead ;-)

  24. Damian McBride ?

     

     

    I’ve just finished his memoirs re his gig as an aide to Gordon Brown . Book is called -Power Trip..

     

     

    Seems to have been employed to smear people on behalf of The Presbyterian Son of The Manse . If the contents of the book are true then plod should be having a good look at what McBride did and then having a look at the Computer Misuse Act / the Official Secrets Act , the Civil Service Code etc etc .

  25. Furgoat aboot, commenting oan..

     

    Pukki

     

     

    Pukki, Is still Finding his Feet..

     

     

    And Last Night.. He found that Finding his Feet.. among o those..

     

    Morton Wan’s.. wiz no Easy Task..

     

     

    The Poor Guy .. but Gang Banged.. Surrounded Constantly by a Phalanx of Morton Guards… ( Great Word.. ed)He wiz Abandoned.. Furgoattan… Isolated from his Compadres.. Left tae Hing as He grew( whit?…ed)

     

     

    Well,He wiz.

     

     

    Ah am no gien Up oan Him..

     

     

    He wull Prove that We hiv no Made a Mistake in Signing Him.

     

     

    Kojo

     

    Still Laughin’

  26. Can’t believe some guys on here, are not too bothered about getting beaten at home by the 2nd bottom team in the league below?

  27. sods law, quiet day at work and chance to read blog…usual procedure of scroll by muppets and racists… left with only people answering said muppets and racists (mostly muppet today) ahh well check in on follow follow at least that will give me a laugh. Noticed they are making everyone sign in again even to view their musings

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