Before this Europa League group got underway the trips to Istanbul and Amsterdam looked daunting. Those games produced two credible draws, but things went wildly wrong elsewhere.
Our goal last night was a peach. Dedryck Boyata split the Fenerbahce defence to open up space for Mikael Lustig to cross for Kris Commons, who peeled off his marker to create the space to head home. Unfortunately only one point was collected as we lost another Keystone Cops goal.
Craig Gordon seems to be struck by a lack of conviction this season. His was not the only failing at our repeated corner kick fiascos but letting a ball trickle through his legs as he appeared caught in two minds is indicative of a player who is doubting himself.
You know Kris Commons scores and creates huge goals for Celtic, we’ve discussed it often enough here. Despite his veteran status and apparent ill-fitting to our system he remains by far our most effective player.
For Ronny, it didn’t go wrong in Europe this season against Fenerbahce or Ajax (I’m absolving him of blame for Efe’s error or a last minute breakaway goal at Celtic Park), it went wrong home and away to Molde and Malmo. We appeared to underestimate both. Did the manager have something to prove against fellow Norwegian managers?
Celtic dominated possession stats in all four games against Molde and Malmo but the Scandinavians exploited the acres of space which simply didn’t exist in our games against Ajax, Fenerbahce or Qarabag, for that matter. Ajax, Fenerbahce and Qarabag got the respect they deserved, not so Molde and Malmo.
The failure is, of course, more complicated than that. Jozo missed the bulk of the campaign, while Dedryck is only just beginning to look like a footballer (lovely pass for the goal last night). Scott Allan looks promising, but we’ve not seen enough of him either due to injury.
Curiously, Ronny’s big 2015 No. 1 striker target, Nadir, looks less like a Ronny Deila player than anyone we’ve bought in years. Knowing we were interested in him, I watched his performances against Celtic last season, and made the same observation at the time.
What happens if your keeper’s form falls off a cliff, one of your new defenders doesn’t settle quickly, two other new players miss months through injury, and your new striker doesn’t morph into a different player? You finish bottom of the Europa League group.
Celtic must now consider their strategy for January. Successive transfer windows have left us weaker, not stronger. Identify the reasons, remediate and we can build on the away performances which bookended this Europa League campaign.
Check out the CQNBookstore. There’s 15 great Celtic books and 10 DVDs, you’ll love them.
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naw
aye
Hail,hail
hello
Nearest I ever got to the podium. Too old and slow.
Connaire 12
Hail Hail to you!
TONYDONNELLY67 on 11TH DECEMBER 2015 12:35 PM
NegAnon2
I hope you have a lovely Christmas.
But I have serious doubts you won’t be getting what you wish for, welllllllll, let’s face it you haven’t been nice to your fellow man, Santa be riding right past your cave me thinks, but have a nice one anyway.
– See more at: http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/fenerbahce-v-celtic-live-updates/comment-page-21/#comment-2735293
Connaire12
Sorry Buddy you can have this one!
I’ve had a few in my day so no loss what a friend gets.
Paul67
Can you delete my posts at 12:35.
Thanks.
That goal we lost last night was a carbon copy of the one we gave Ajax. We dont seem to learn do we???
Good Afternoon.
Haven’t written anything for a few days, but here is something new about Warbo disrespecting the game…
https://theclumpany.wordpress.com/2015/12/11/disrespecting-the-game/
Decent summary, Paul. Craig Gordon was probably our best player in last season’s campaign. Definitely won us a few points. This season has probably cost us a couple. Although other individual errors have also cost us.
Good point also about Simunovic missing some of the games. When we have had our first choice CD pairing we have done okay.
Ciftci needs to get his fitness up before judging him.
Paul67
“Curiously, Ronny’s big 2015 No. 1 striker target, Nadir, looks less like a Ronny Deila player than anyone we’ve bought in years.”
Maybes it’s cos he wasn’t Ronny’s No1 target and John Parks target.
HH
Lol
avoiding Christmas in jail was short lived as Judge Peter Smith trashed the South African based criminal in court this morning.
Mr King was told that he should have zipped it rather than gloat to Sky Sports about humiliating Mike Ashley while it also emerged that yesterday’s claim that a £5m loan to Sports Direct had been repaid was not the case with counsel for the sportswear giant revealed ‘RFC are still £500,000 short of repaying the loan’.
Last month chairman King told Sevco shareholders that the loan had been repaid after an hour long conference call among co-investors. Explaining why the loan was being repaid the glib and shameless liar said that it was the right thing to do!
Yesterday after discovering that he wouldn’t be handed a prison sentence Mr King told Sky Sports News: “I’m absolutely delighted. It’s not an unexpected result. It’s a case I always thought was very frivolous.”
“It was very pleasing for me to see we had a very, very strong judge who saw this case for exactly what it is.
“It’s an absolute humiliation from Mike Ashley’s point of view. I think it was disappointing it got this far and to repeat, it’s not that surprising the judge dealt with it so quickly.
At the end of yesterdays hearing Judge Smith said: “I think Mr King should say absolutely nothing (to the media) except how happy he is not to go to prison, and Mr Justice Peter Smith is a fair-minded judge.”
This morning according to James Doleman ‘Judge to RFC counsel “perhaps your client should have kept it zipped yesterday” notes there are over 100 news articles on the Internet.’
No decision on damages or costs were taken today in court with a full trial for the contempt charge scheduled for January 18.
Sports Direct have been given one week to provide the judge with copies of newspaper articles whuch they claim breached the confidentiality clause.
CLICK HERE to follow James Doleman.
Read more at http://videocelts.com/2015/12/blogs/latest-news/shameless-king-told-to-zip-it-as-court-hears-that-5m-sports-direct-loan-hasnt-been-repaid#2oqoHocOIE9dWDD7.99
CourtNewsUK @CourtNewsUK 15m15 minutes ago
Rangers FC made a false claim to the High Court yesterday that it had repaid a £5m loan to Sports Direct
Given the European campaign is over, and the January transfer window is only three weeks away, the questions that needs to be addressed by the board now are
1. Have we improved from last season
2. Do they have confidence that the manager and back room staff are capable of taking the current group of players into the CL group stages next season
3. If the answer to 2. is no, what do they plan to do about it? Change manager or back the current manager in upcoming transfer window (waiting until the summer isn’t an option) to get the players in HE wants?
The answer to 3. Is the most important as it will decide whether we continue to follow a failed transfer/team building strategy or whether we buy, develop, bring through from the youths those the manager wants and not those given to him by our de-facto Directors of Football.
IMO the answers to 1 & 2 are no.
Win as a team. Lose as a team.
No scapegoats.
Sundays game can’t come quick enough for me.
Hail effing Hail.
So the judge has/ hasent come to a decision,?law quotes do my head in honestly ?
TET
You would think alarm bells are ringing somewhere.
Astounding what they get away with.
HH
So a man who “has no respect for the truth and does not hesitate to lie … if he thinks it will be to his advantage.”
Who ” is a mendacious witness whose evidence should not be accepted on any issue unless it is supported by objective evidence.
Who “In our assessment he is a glib and shameless liar.””
lied again in court yesterday?
TGM
They can do what they want in scotland and get away with it, I very much doubt they will be afforded the same luxury down south, thankfully.
Telling porkies in court is perjury is it not :-)
HH
The Huns are saying SD are just stirring the sh… Funny how the judge said that too yesterday?
King wasn’t in court yesterday.
He was caddying for a mate of mine in the Transvaal.
Strikergate Has cost our club dearly
Peter Lawell and park’s incompetence has led to our downfall
The failure to pay the going rate for striker has cost our club millions in revenue
Coupled with buying rotten Center halfs had reduced our coeffient
The AGM was stage managed by Lawell
Worst players since 1995
But peters pension plan goes on
Shocking state of affairs that this CEO is taking our club down
We are spending cash in the wrong places
Indeed Malmö and Molde spend a fraction of what we do on wages and transfers
But they sign players to play in the team
We sign players hoping that the 10m transfers will happen
We all know that bitton is being set up as next years CL failure get out card
Shameful
Happy enough with last night, relieved the Euro campaign is over.
Lot of talk on here yesterday about big news today from Celtic Park but all seems quiet on that front.
Ciftci is a big worry, so far he looks a lot worse then Scepovic and he is on a 4 year contract signed only last July. We just clear the decks of Bangura and Balde & get stuck with Scepovic, kinda clear of him and we get stuck with Ciftci. We won’t mention Derk, thank God Blackett is only on loan.
How can you lie in a court of law, and not be taken to task? The law and judges in this country scare me, do they not know about FB, Twitter, texting, Internet bam pots, the days of sweeping things under the carpet are gone, it’s time someone had a word with these judges.
It’s easy to diagnose as an underestimation of Malmo and Molde. I think it’s more of an overestimation of our own capabilities in every game.
Some people criticise the 4 3 2 1. The one up front seems a bug bear for folk wanting two strikers. Others argue about zonal marking. These are semantics in the overall picture of putting the best team in the park with the greatest leveraged chance of winning a game.
Our greatest chance of winning a game is reduced if you continually give the opposition the ball in high risk areas and don’t have defenders capable of getting you out of trouble.
We ignore our greatest strength in Kris Commons to give game time to a more mobile and aggressive player in his position. Kris then doesn’t play pushed out wide or comes on from the bench.
We played consistently with Boyata as we had no other option but compound his errors by not protecting him with a more cautious line up. Efe Ambrose is worth a goal a game against Europa League opponents. Again no option but to play him but we don’t help this with passing the ball to the opposition.
Ronny consistently says we are afraid in Europe. I think the players are afraid because they don’t have the same belief in their ability that the manager has. Ronny clearly believes Charlie Mulgrew can take a pass in the middle of the park with his back to goal and turn and find a team mate. He clearly believes Boyata can distribute from the back. He clearly believes Bitton has Neil Lennon like ability to help his full backs out. He also believes it’s ok for an opposing player to run over 60 yards unchallenged. It’s happened twice in a row now. Both from us giving possession to the opposition. Ronny must see something I can’t. These players are not capable of playing the game he wants yet he continues to pick the team and set them up in this way.
Even if they do it in training they seem incapable of doing it on the pitch. That in itself is a measure of ability. You can turn and pass at Lennox town at will but can’t do it at Celtic Park or in Sweden. How long do you preserve that hope and how much will it cost?
Craig Gordon will be back at Hearts licking his wounds after these experiences before long if this lack of protection continues.
TET
I wonder if the speculative society have a branches in England though:)
Still. maybe it will be up to one of the bampots to point out the obvious…..i.e. Telling lies in court is perjury.
The mind boggles.
HH
I mean the likes of a law Lord like LNS being taken to the cleaners by a clown like Sandy Bryson must scare you for our safety, point blank lying to a law Lord? Ffs? Honestly the judges up here need a ferkin reality check if you ask me.
Totally disagree regarding last night’s goal … Craig didn’t expect a £20m player to bottle it when one on one and anticipated the shot .. markovic was so lucky that the ball rolled past Craig and landed at his feet to slot home ( well with 3 celts just missing contact on the line )
THE EXILED TIM on 11th December 2015 12:46 pm
Interesting you say that because I had a heated discussion with my 3 brothers about this 2 days ago.
The other 3 were of the firm opinion Cifti was Deila’s choice, I am of the opinion he was not.
When he signed Deila played at the furthest man forward in important european games, despite Griffiths being in great form because of certain ‘qualities’ he had, like winning more aerial battles, playing with his back to goal, bringing people in with his play – all qualities the majority of us knew he did NOT possess.
He stuck with him 3-4 times before obviously coming to realise what the rest of us did and has rarely played him there since – even his substitute appearances arent necessarily in that target man role.
Last night served as a further reminder.
He also thought he was getting the same qualities from Scepovic only to realise the guy was the smallest 6ft 2in striker in the world and never sprinted let alone defend from the front.
For me, a fresh pair of eyes in the scouting department is as important as a fresh pair from the boardroom setting the current failed strategy.
Happy with last night.
Bhoys are we forgetting we still have Calton Goal to launch in the second half of the season his tank like build will upset Scottish defenders. H.H.
Wee Annie’s got her knickers in a twist.
Ann Budge has hit back at the SPFL in the row over the new look League Cup.
The Hearts owner has no real complaints about the format of the revived competition, or the BT Sport broadcasting deal, but has slammed the way that the SPFL handled the announcement while keeping clubs in the dark.
Unlike the Five Way Agreement of 2012 the SPFL chose to go into great detail about the consultation period involved claiming that Hearts had been kept upto speed with developments.
In a club statement issued yesterday Budge admitted: “I am also very happy to confirm that I did indeed approve the BT broadcasting deal, which committed us to a new format for the League Cup, including a July group stage. No further detail regarding the League Cup was known/agreed at that time.
“Similarly, I am happy to confirm full awareness of the existence of the Competitions Working Group. I would stress, however, that contrary to what has been reported, Hearts did not have a representative on the Working Group.
“In terms of detail in the press statement, I would take issue with comments, such as:-
“… all 42 clubs were again fully consulted on the considerations and recommendations of the working group…”
and
“… all clubs were given a detailed update on intentions for the Scottish League Cup…”
I have full notes from all of the meetings attended and do not consider the above remarks to accurately reflect the level of discussion/briefing.
The statement added: “The key factors underlying this difference of opinion, centre around two questions. Firstly, what is the purpose of setting up Working Groups if their findings and recommendations are not to be shared with all member clubs?
“Secondly, to what extent is it the responsibility of League representatives on the SPFL Board to keep the member clubs they represent fully briefed on key discussions/decisions; and indeed, to what extent should they consult the member clubs before casting a vote, ostensibly on their behalf?
“I would emphasise that I am not alone in expressing surprise and disappointment that no final discussion/briefing on this matter took place with those member clubs, who were not involved in the Working Group and do not have seats on the SPFL Board.
“There was widespread expectation that such a meeting would take place before any public announcement.
“We have been contacted by a number of other clubs, over the past 48 hours, who have expressed the view that they share our dissatisfaction with the process. They absolutely expected a meeting to enable full understanding of the implications of the proposed format, prior to any announcement being made. Those who have contacted us include individuals who were themselves on the Working Group!
Tellingly the statement concludes by saying: “I also believe that the SPFL must address the fact that, whether real or perceived, there is a widely-held view that communication between the SPFL and its members, is poor.
“Poor communication was one of the main findings of the Deloitte strategy review discussed at the SPFL Board meeting in August 2014; notes of which were then circulated to member clubs.
“The Board agreed at that time to establish seven Working Groups to address the key recommendations in the Deloitte Report. One of those working groups was the Competition Working Group involved here; another was to address Communications.
“Hearts is represented on the Communications Working Group. As of today, more than a year later, there have been no meetings of the Communication Working Group.”
Opening the communications issue could be a can of worms for the SPFL to deal with, picking a fight with Hearts while letting others go scot-free could back-fire spectacularly.
Once the SPFL communicate to clubs and supporters key issues such as licencing they’ll be in a position to move forward without suspicious minds wondering what their real motives are.
Read more at http://videocelts.com/2015/12/blogs/latest-news/budge-fires-back-at-spfl-in-league-cup-row#qGziEsWBuPKpis3S.99
“It took me one hour this morning to raise the £5m from major shareholders”
So – what happened to the other £500,000?
Any indication of when it might appear? (to the nearest decade).
Have they paid up the £4.5m anyway?
Surely that would be the “right thing to do”…….
“When he signed Deila played at the furthest man forward in important european games, despite Griffiths being in great form”
Eyes wide open,
Agree in part but what games was Griffiths in great form in before these important euro games where nadir was selected first?
HH
PHILBHOY
Congrats on your podium,pal!
Stop hiding yer (de)light behind a bushel and pretending to offer it to CONNAIRE12,we all know you’re whooping it up in your office.
Watch the hip and knees,that would be my advice,ya oul’ git!
HH
Paul67.
Lack of respect for Malmo & Molde away is bang on the money. Naive.
Treating any away games in Europe like a trip to Hamilton was bound to end in pain.
As for Ciftci. Dear doctor.
The lack of a decent alternative to Lee Griffiths is worrying.
Ernie Lynch.
Has Chris Sutton ever payed to watch Celtic.
He might be hurting, but more than the fans.
Nonsense.HH
THEANGELGABRIEL
Celtic supporters are always delighted to see high profile figures in the crowd. Roy Keane For instance or Wayne Rooney.
Shearer was there once or twice as well,and I’m sure we can get a dreaded CQN list,including the dyke-jumping Sean.
Do you reckon ANY of them paid for a ticket?