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.
1,280 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- ...
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- 26
- 27
- ...
- 34
- »
BGX on 12th December 2015 9:17 pm
Couldn’t agree more. And it is part of the jigsaw. He is a yes man. That is why he has the job. He will keep his job as long as he wins the league and makes endearing comments about the support he has from the PLC.
The CIFTI bullshit That he was Celtics Number one Target, enspoused by Paul67 has Gotta Stop…Otherwise Somebody Is Gonna Get Sacked…Guys One of The Worse Celtic Strikers in History…If Its True…SACK THE A@@@@@@.That Scouted Him and or Santioned the Signing….CIFTI…is EVERYTHING thats Wrong With OUR club…
Disagree BGX. We played the way we should in an away Euro game. If we had played like that against the likes of Maribor, Malmo, & Molde we would have done a lot better.
We needed to prove we could play a containing game and grind out a result. Go out & play gung ho and get hockeyed 5 nil would prove what?.
Peat of Islay..Agreed 100…My Man..bless
If Celtic was a Whisky – it would be a bland blend of mediocre mass produced vapidity, without an age statement, but boxed in a lovely presentation carton with culturally appealing cliches emblazoned across the front.
Are we so lowered to buy this crud?
Corkcelt..We Disagree..Suprise Suprise..I Would Rather we had Attacked Fener with Some Intent in a Game that in Reality Ment Nothing..You wanted To grind out a Result against 10 men…Good For You…
Oh Dearie me.
Whit was it my Da used to say to me, when the drink is in, the wit is oot.
In other news, possibly one of the best songs ever written…. Dare I say this one even better than the Hansa by the wall version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsYp9q3QNaQ&sns=em
BGX. did you get my messsage re MIDDBORO. hit inside of post and came oot.
so that’s your DONNIE BRASCO christmas card oot the windae.
later DESTINY.
CORKCELT on 12TH DECEMBER 2015 8:50 PM
In the first place ye all know that Peat of Islay heard nothing from the Horse’s mouth so why engage in a futile debate.
Henke is not coming as Ronny’s replacement. I asked a horse if Peat of Islay was right and it said “neigh”
BGX We tried that in Europe and we were handed our ass on the plate. If you hurt your head banging it off a wall you stop doing it. It didn’t work against Legia, Maribor, Molde or Malmo. It wouldn’t have worked against Fernabache. We are a football team not a circus, we were right to go out there and try & maximise our chances of taking something from the game. Only that we gave away a howler and had a stonewall penalty missed by the Ref in last few minutes we would have won.
Attack them with James & GMS my ass, we would have been slaughtered and what little is left of our European reputation further damaged.
LHYM
We could do with a few heroes in Green & White hoops in the near future.
A few in the boardroom too.
Fav uncle..im more Jack Nicholson in The Departed…Ha..
They are now talking amongst
……….himself.
*cough*
;)
Ernie
I agree with you, but whether the owner goes to games or attends AGMs is immaterial, it wouldn’t change anything if he did…. I think we are a business that continues to operate, us as fans want success, Europe is the bogey man, I want Celtic to win every game they play but unlike many others when we don’t win I am not devastated, sometime far too many worry about not winning rather than just enjoy following the hoops…..maybe some fans think they “deserve” to win every game, not me I just enjoy what we have and apart from MacLeans cheating Ronny would be going for 6 out of 6 in two seasons, maybe St Martin with Seville gave us fans ideas beyond our stations, pretty sure if Ronny was dishing out transfer fees and wages that Dermott sanctioned back then another EL final could be a possibility but until then we actually have to play the cards we are dealt, unless you know of another billionaire should go the the 30% ownership and then take over the whole shebang
I think wee jimmy krankie would do a better job than PL.
Or maybe even at a stretch Alan Partridge.
Couldn’t be any worse:)
HH
Henrik Larsson’s managerial CV is terrible compared to Ronnie Deila’s.
Bankie
:-)
HH
Gerryfae thebrig
which one of the three would Ronny have picked?
long haired yins man
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ePDruV2pro
Watch this
Beck – Sound and Vision
Weeminger
But, but, but he is a legend doncha no
HH
CorkCelt…Are you nuts..We Dont Have a Rep in Europe…Thanks To Deila We Are Europes Bitches..Rep in Europe..Thats Laughable….Have A Go …We Have No Rep to Lose…Grow TF up Man…Our Rep in Europe Has been Buried/ Cremated under Deila..I think its 4 wins From 22 against Full time Opposition in Europe….Rep in Europe….We have NONE..
RealityCFC..
SOAL
Hell Yes!
HH
TET
;)
HH
TGM
Wee Jimmy stays just along the road fae me. Will ask her the next time I trip over her in the Co op. :))
DD
Wee Jimmy would give PL a good slap for his cheek:)
HH
BGX Yes our reputation is on the floor a 5 goal defeat in Istanbul would have kept it there and further damaged the psyche of the team. Our problem hasn’t been attacking. We scored 8 goals in the Group that is more then Fernabache & Ajax and only 2 less then the runaway winners. We got hammered coz we couldn’t defend and gave away a few howlers. The game in Istanbul was our best defensive performance and was the right way to play.
PEAT OF ISLAY on 12TH DECEMBER 2015 9:28 PM
If Celtic was a Whisky – it would be a bland blend of mediocre mass produced vapidity, without an age statement, but boxed in a lovely presentation carton with culturally appealing cliches emblazoned across the front.
Are we so lowered to buy this crud?
——-
At a night out but having a scroll while having a smoke.
Paul McStay once said, “Celtic is the supporters, without them there is no Celtic”.
Remember that mate. The heart remains true in my opinion.
Big Cup Winners
What was the choice of 3 ?
The six out of six were the two trebles, by the way I don’t care much for the league cup until this season when it’s used as a stick to beat, Neil Lennon went out of the league cup to a lower league team after the goalie had a total dream of a game, Neil changed 8 players that night to give guys like Tom Rogic a run, what everybody forgets the following midweek we had a chance to get out of the CL group stages, but heyhoo the league cup then becomes important because Neil didn’t win a treble, in all my days there is two Celtic managers who I think deserved to get their P45’s…. Lou Macari & Tony Mowbray, for me when Ronny is still winning trophies, and Celtic fans can demean them all they want he should still be in a job, when he stops winning trophies then it’s an easy decision
HT
Must be a topping night for you to log on
Love
Bankiebhoy
:-)
Peat
We all want the best
Tske care & yer whisky is brill !
HH
Both teams to score tmorro & hoops win
God Bless – Hoopsdom
HamiltonTim
The heart of Celtic will always beat strongly.
Hail Hail to you.
TGM
Her and her strange man are deid club fans.
She is a lovely, chatty wee wuman but in small dozes only. :))
Lots of Seasonal Affective Disorder postings since Thursday.
Santa’s coming in 2 weeks time- some of us should be happier.
Sure, it has been a very poor Euro campaign. In the Europa League we had 4 reasonable and 2 very poor performances but only 2 good results (the away draws) and one ok one (the home draw). That came on top of two consecutive poor CL performances losing to eminently beatable teams. Ronny got to rescue things last year with an ok Europa campaign but not this time.
Furthermore, we also mounted a good league and cup run in the 2nd half of the year which helped counter the gloom felt by Celtic fans in the July to October period of 2014. The only way we are going to escape the SAD postings that are prevalent now is to go on a similar run. An early exit from either cup run or a fraught close run league race would crank up the pressure on Ronny Deila. Unfortunately, for the mineshafters, we are likely to stay well enough clear in the league and to get to the latter stages of both cups (we are already in the semi-final of one).
Nothing cures fan displeasure and a “lost” dressing room quicker than a run of success. Players looking to earn a place in a title winning squad and a cup final appearance or two are much much much much much less likely to argue back to their coaches and bosses. Nothing heals disharmony quicker than a bout of success.
That process starts tomorrow.
And even, heaven forbid, were we to drop points at Perth, and the bookies estimate a 1 in 4 probability of that, then the process starts again in our home game vs Motherwell.
We will probably lose again this season, somewhere- sometime (hopefully not in either Cup). We will certainly drop points again but I expect we will be good odds for a domestic double and reasonably priced to land a treble- even with Warb’s wonders (the putative 8 point leaders in next year’s SPFL) in our path in the SC.
However, my prediction is that there will be a better mood on here in two months time.
So mineshafters best fill their boots while they can.
DD
Yeah.. I know they are currant buns…but I don’t think Alan Partridge is available:)
At the moment anyway.
HH
Cork celt…I ok…We got a draw against 10 men….Lets Disagree
Corkcelt / Delaneys Dunky
Had a wee laugh this morning about your follow ups to ….
Some say the devil is dead
Was in my kip last night when you had posted
Where’s Roy Croppie when you need him