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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Kitalba, deleted. Yellow card.
Jungle Jim hot smoked and weet weet if you’re still around ,thanks for putting me right earlier about that yellow card. This man flu I’ve got has obviously affected my brain!
leftclicktic:
Do you remember what you gave me unasked for… I wiped my tears with it today. Not many tears but so many reason but I’m from Glasgow, Glasgow boys don’t cry. No matter what, hell or high water or the huns winning 10 in a row, good Glasgow boys don’t cry.
Unless it is dark and they have a heart and empathy and sympathy and it is the Glasgow air and all their mates are in Spain.
Tommy Burns never cried.
Scott Brown never cried.
I’m not a liar.
Awe Naw
Knew it was Nawed when I saw who the author was :-)
HH
paul67 if you have any guts at all, any integrity beyond Peter Lawwell, then send me an e-mail or phone me, I have your number if you want to save the cost of the call and I will call you.
Which glass heart broke his tender heart Paul? You?
I see Rod Stewart saying he believes the Celtic job may be to big for Ronny and he wouldnt mind seeing David Moyes getting the job. I wonder how much Rod has put into the club over the years ? I think he should leave it to the paying fans as to the managers job. H.H.
Paul67 I have not the interest to see which post you deleted and Oh My Good God, yellow carded me, which one was it that caused such offense, was it any of those that I swore in that when it suits you, SUITS YOU, you ignore.
I have so many e-mails of old.
So it’s D&D (doom & gloom) time on cqn.
Yeah we all know Malmo are not a great side blah-blah-blah but no mention of they where
near the end of their Season when they played us @ the beginning of our Season over two
one off matches with an unsettled defence nor player being poached from the Hoops by
Club’s down South who can offer them four times their salary what they get with the Hoops
& Molde where no mugs & of course going out on a limb & spending millions of shekels to
buy success which is totally guaranteed yeah ask Man U who spent over 250 million in the
last transfer window only to find out that money does not necessary guarantee one success
by not reaching the last 16 of the CL this Season just goes to show that jeopardising ones
long term stability as a Club by living well beyond their means is the true answer aye right
to cheer up the cherry pickers brigade & start pointing fingers when the shit hits the fan
when things do not go so well in competitions outside ones domestic comfort zone aye
but don’t worry the loaf of breed & bankrupt international & co are coming back to save
the day aye right reality checks are on the horizon in more ways than one where is the
Christmas cheer instead of pure D&G way off the mark predictions also very true
sayings go like this patience is a virtue & forgiveness is divine & that is a fact.
Hail Hail All & Come On The Hoops yeah :-) :-)
kitalba…
Just in so first post I read.
It took me back to the early eighties when outside the tollbooth pub an older bloke tried to run across the road and was struck by a bus (the driver did all he could to stop) I mind kneeling down and taking his hand knowing he was dying before an ambulance arrived…it has lived with me since. HH
Paul67
I agree personnel changes, were a main factor, but only after Malmo had knocked us out with Virgil van Dijk still on board.
I disagree that Celtic disrespected Malmo and Molde. and don’t see where Ajax, Fenerbache, or Qarabag got respect that the Scandinavians didn’t. Malmo won the tie, with a late goal at CP after which they were ultra confident they’d prevent Celtic from scoring in Sweden, because they had every right to be and had beaten all comers at home.
Molde had already beaten Fenerbache and by the time we played them they’d also drawn with Ajax, so they should already have earned their respect from Celtic.
I think we played in the last game of the dreadful European season the same way we did in the first, and there is no hiding place for Ronny Deila, when you finish with three points from eighteen, no matter how many alleged ‘individual’ or ‘silly’ mistakes were made, and not thrashed out at Lennoxtown.
The Ronny Deila game with what must now be regarded after a year and a half as solely his squad can drop points from anywhere in Europe including Scotland. Shouldn’t come as a surprise even if you include Celtic fans bizarre sense of entitlement under pinned with ‘we’re a bigger clubness.’
We finished one place below where the experts predicted we would, the surprise was Ajax failed to go through with Fenerbache. and it may cost De Boer his job. I wouldn’t hold out much hope for the January window, making the difference, between bottom of the Europa to next years CL group stages, – would you?
Remember the golden rule Scottish games don’t count, unless we get beaten.
Can you tell me the last Celtic manager to get the bullet based on poor European performance ? H.H.
Contrast between Gordon Strachan’s analysis of the game last night with Chris Sutton’s.
Stark csc
JOE FILIPPIS HAIRCUT on 11TH DECEMBER 2015 5:46 PM
Can you tell me the last Celtic manager to get the bullet based on poor European performance ? H.H.
Try zero Joe
JOE FILIPPIS HAIRCUT on 11TH DECEMBER 2015 5:46 PM
Can you tell me the last Celtic manager to get the bullet based on poor European performance ? H.H.
Try none Joe
Now Paul is Prada. He won’t let you see what I write.
Who under this sun gave him that right. Or are you just that that you claim to hate the most Paul.
Also St.Johnstone could be said to be one of Scotlands on form teams at present.Now if we had to face them away from home with Lennie in charge after an away European tie I wouldnt be confident about Sunday.However,Ronny has overcome this weakness and we are likely to win on Sunday, H.H.
For the Hoops nowadays to get to European finals are as extinct as any goose going about
laying golden eggs
Kitalba
you posted a wee link to the St Patricos Battalion for me early doors that made me feel a little bit more of a part of this place,
maybe not mean much to some but it meant a lot to me and i dont forget kindness,.
i still put it on occasionally
“Legs tied,hands shackled ,voices free”.
till later all
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starry plough @ 1.53
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AKBW.1888. Fella and in my opinion thats the way it should stay.H.H.
“”He hit that with his favourite left foot”
rather than his other unfavoured left foot?
Football Cliches csc
I was in Istanbul the other night when Celtic played, I never went to the game, I’d lost faith in my clubs integrity. Tonight if I had any doubts at all I lost faith in the purported supporter mouthpieces.
I’m happy to walk alone, I don’t ever distort the truth of the past and the actions of the support in order to make myself look something caring and good, especially not when I know I”D KNOWINGLY BE LYING TO MYSELF.
Do you want me to explain that, I won’t, I no longer care, I don’t need, nor wan,t the attention, nor to dare ever speak for other people, Can Paul do the same. No he can not.
JOE FILIPPIS HAIRCUT on 11TH DECEMBER 2015 5:58 PM
AKBW.1888. Fella and in my opinion thats the way it should stay.H.H.
Yours damn tooting Joe, you know what they say about fools & money
easley part ways/company but being wise especially in nowadays
world financial climate holds stead for long term stability
Oh Lord my God in all your awesome wonders
why didn’t you strip hypocrisy from those who lie in print
Oh Lord my God in all your awesome wonders
you failed.
Now I am so hurt
so sore
so bruised
I’m going to watch Ted 2
Oh Lord my God in all your awesome wonders
please make the huns go away.
Kitalba
“nor to dare ever speak for other people, Can Paul do the same. No he can not.”
You realise with that “no he can not”, that you did exactly what you claim you dare to never do- you spoke for him. You asked the question “Can Paul do the same? and you supplied your own answer to it- before waiting for the person’s own opinion.
Now it is easy to write ” Can Kitalba go on and on about not seeking attention- yes he can” But my writing of that sentence does not make it any more true.
Why am I bothered to meddle in a private spat? I think it’s because I care that good guys maintain the standards of what makes this a relatively good place (you are free to think differently but it will not make me a liar). IMO both you and Paul are good guys but of a different type. I don’t think either of you “own” the Celtic tradition but you are both part of it and can share it.
It is sad to see the good guys on the blog fighting and falling out.
I will catch your reply when I get back from my own duties.
Kitalba,
Some interesting posts.
Let’s agree that there’s a laziness, a malaise concocted from Plc navigation, an absent owner waiting on realisation of long term profit, a steward driven by his own agenda for bonus and his version of Celtic, hingers on pulled in by a Celtic badge and dinner conversation.
There is a cluster of agendas that contribute to our predicament. We are a microcosm of what has gone on at FIFA, athletics, cycling etc etc. Rich men getting richer on the bare back of capitalism. Back handers, legal or not, now exposed as corpulent miscreant behaviour laid bare. As we gasp at the lack of a faint from a tricky winger or Shudder at a crunching tackle they twiddle their tash and ask for a 4 iron… All in the while getting semi over the growing bank balance.
All about the money
Nah Kit watch Ted 1 that’s a better movie & how can you blaspheme
it’s nothing to do with the king of kings as regards to flaws on this
Planet don’t you know that the king of kings has enough on his plate
rather than worrying about trivial matters in the great scheme of all
things & as for Sevco Inter we’ll just go bust to get out of the mess
nah they will also be around as well but they won’t be the exact same
pay your dudes dodgy force they where like years gone bye when
such matters went bye under the radar that’s for sure
SETTING FREE THE BEARS. Like YOU I think Paul67 and Kitbala are good guys but this site is owned by Paul 67 and if we use it I liken it like Pauls house and it is his rules.If you visit anyones home we are surely on our best behaviour and would never break the hosts rules.H.H.
Joe Fillipis Haircut,
I think a coach translates his thoughts on his teams place in the world to us charges. I also think we put less into European games under Ronny. Hence Ronny gets more from his team after a European game.
Lennon, Strachan and MON would have their teams fully concentrated and then knackered after European nights. Full houses full pelt no quarter given. With Ronny it’s a long term data gathering exercise towards some unknown horizon. I’m not surprised that our players can keep something in the tank for a Sunday game.
I didn’t half love those flares even although they were a sixty thingy…..my favourites were a pair o velvet ones which were kinda embroidered material…..the burds loved them…..a kinda curtain material……always had to draw myself the gither afore i went up onto the dance floor…..these modern flares are no a patch on the old ones.
yeah Mullet it’s all about money & playing in a results industry but for the
time being we have to put the European footy on a learning curve where
patience is the key & forgiveness is divine hail hail
AKBW1888
Mate: watch Reign on me.
I know Topcat what happened to the Glam music scene?
It moved on apart from the style
mullet and co 2
No matter what mate, dross football aside, this is no longer the club I adored. The club I see now is a wannabe Chelsea.
Reign On Me? Kit M8 I’ll see if I can find it on my wee Android box
Yeah Kit if only we had the same amount of shekels to spend like Chelsea
but you know what they say about a Woman’s scorn & Chelsea’s result’s
in the EPL this Season
Not one comment about Collins being ditch you heartless bastards won’t someone think of the children :0)
http://www.thefootballlife.co.uk/post/134988837616/spfl-winter-scouting-report-who-wants-who-in
The January Window Run Down