I know we had nothing up front, but Odsonne Edouard has looked more of a passenger in some games this season than Patryk Klimala and Moi Elyounoussi this afternoon. The game was lost elsewhere.
Newco’s shape allowed them to dominate space whenever we had possession. They were able to swiftly double up on Jeremie Frimpong and Diego Laxalt when the ball went wide, while they were compact enough in the middle of the field to keep Celtic from penetrating their final third.
Games are won and lost on mistakes and yet again we are talking about the defensive line at set pieces. Connor Goldson’s ploy of standing offsite in the hope that a defender would break the line and play him on, was not subtle, but it was effective. It was an excellent cross from the free kick (which wasn’t a free kick, but no excuses), Duffy was an enabler and Valarie Barkas could have done better. Questions remain for both.
Culpability was less clear at the second goal, which was well worked. With so many Celtic players in the box, you would expect one to get in the way of the drilled cross, but it fell to Goldson; teams who create chances get these breaks. It was a deserved goal (again, no excuses, but the handball!).
The last time we dominated Newco was two years ago in a 1-0 win at Celtic Park when Olivier Ntcham controlled the game and scored the winner. Stephen Gerrard learned from that day as Olivier has not had a sniff against them since.
Being ineffective up front and shaky at the back are worries enough, but the biggest concern is that we were unable to do anything to change the flow of the game. An inability to control the any part of the game is more worrying than poor defending or not attacking. It is more worrying than the result.
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DESSYBHOY on 18TH OCTOBER 2020 11:20 AM
Many thanks pal, will do. This is serious if a player has come out with such comments….
ONIL
Click on archive select october you will see the article Calmac clarion call, internal issues are near the bottom of the article.
@ Lazydynamite
‘The one thing that will make winning the league easy for our challengers this season is a complete civil war at celtic park and huge shit storm over getting rid of our manager.’
Not having any shots on target against them makes winning the league easy for them as well, but that’s too obvious.
We have played Sevco 3 times in the last year – not once at Ibrox – and all games have followed the same pattern. There is not a chance in hell Neil turns this around now if he has been unable to do so for a year. You can also add in disasters such as Cluj, the Hungarians and Copenhagen to the mix- all at home.
If this was Tony Mowbray or Ronny, they’d be gone and with scant support on here. Neil is a good Tim so gets a lot more rope.
But let’s face it. He took over a double treble winning team, on its way to a treble treble and spent £35m, with the loss of only Tierney, who was basically injured for 6 months before he left, so the loss was mitigated.
With all that initial quality and cash spent, where are we? Not in a good place.
The board appointed Neil because he was cheap and, unlike BR, wouldn’t be demanding; no one is looking to hire Neil. They have then had to spend a ton of money trying to support him and make up for the lack of quality. Money BR could only dream of.
Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. A PL masterclass at play.
ONIL
Completely agree the lid cant be put back on this.
We had a few out yesterday who would’ve made a difference if on form, namely Edouard, Jamesy and Christie.
At this juncture Barkas and Duffy appear inferior to the players they have replaced but that may change.
Klimala has potential but looks raw with a lot of improvement required, looks to be a real trier so I’m optimistic about him medium to long term.
Some positives to take from yesterday…
Laxalt looks accomplished and will only get better with games.
Welsh looked steady, and like Laxalt will only improve with games. A promising future beckons for the bhoy.
We won’t play any worse than that against the
I still have faith in Lenny to get us the Tenth title on the trot. He’s a proven winner and whenever he finishes his time with us he’ll do so as one of the most decorated Celts in history. He’s a Legend and he’ll prove it again this season.
A lot of work to do. Yesterday will remove any complacency from our group if there was any. I expect to see a positive reaction to that performance.
We have the better players and by far the better squad. Quality will prevail.
HH
I see our now media pundits Chris and John are laying into the players with not a mention of Lennon and his clueless performance in the dugout. I also note Allan Thompson’s comments on Twitter laying the blame for yesterday at Peter Lawwell…..
GREENPINATA on 18TH OCTOBER 2020 11:20 AM
Ajer and Jullien have been fine domestically for us. Jullien has had some issues on plastic pitches, but has been great in the big games.
This desire for Shane Duffy and his ilk is baffling to me. Shane was supposed to be the quality, experienced CB yesterday and he looked completely average, particularly with the ball at his feet.
We don’t need that. We don’t need to try and bring ourselves down to Hamilton’s level. We have gone from being a team qualifying for the CL and building up our coefficient to Pot 3, to now being concerned about playing Dundee and Kilmarnock. Baffling.
Give me Jullien any day of the week over SD.
The only thing that we blame Lawwell for is appointing Lennon in the first place. He now needs to rectify things quickly and not wait until it’s too late.
But then again I’ve being saying this since September.
The coaching staff need replaced immediately
Just come on and read back to see people putting John Terry’s name forward. Is that some kind of joke that I’m slow on the uptake in getting?
Forgetting him as a person for one minute, what are his credentials?
Remember a couple of years ago when we laughed at “them” for appointing a “name” with no managerial experience? Are they now the template to which we follow?
How the hell has this happened?
The reason Shane Duffy was deemed surplus to requirements at Brighton, was because he was not good enough with ball at his feet
DBHOY – I agree re: Welsh in particular.
However, we were saying that we wouldn’t play that bad against them again after the League Cup final, and after the last defeat at Celtic Park – they outplayed us in both of those, and they outplayed us again yesterday.
It is now fairly clear that Gerrard, his coaching team and squad of player has more than got measure of Neil and ours in this fixture. This is the fixture that will likely determine who wins the league.
There is little recent evidence to make you think Neil can turn things round in this fixture.
HH pal
BGFC
The fear I have is that Lennon will go, it should be now but no doubt our inept board will wait until it’s too late. Or replace him with JK….
Calm And Still In The Chilterns – What Has Happened To Autumn!?
There has been a lot of good comment on here since the gemme.
It is one of the poorest old firm derbies I have seen in a long time, maybe three reasons…
I) No crowd
II) A very flat performance by Celtic, disappointing but not unexpected
III) A rather staid performance from Rangers, who were more interested in the result.
LETS ALL DO THE HUDDLE @ 10:05 AM,
Some good points there most of which I agree with.
What I don’t with is our recruitment had been poor, just too little, too late.
The analogy I made recently on another place was of the athelete well out in front of a long distance race, he is the best athlete in the field, he has the best sprint finish – problem is though, as a competitor makes a burst on the penultimate lap, and as they approach the bell, can the elite athlete respond, or does her competitors momentum see her over the line first?
That is where we are, that is why our position today is so worrisome.
I have seen the hand of DD at play in the summer recruitment, big Pedro less so, but unlike the iron fist that brought us MO’N or BR whenbthings needed shaking up, we’ve seen a bit of a wet slap. I believe his respect for big Pedro and Lenny has coloured his often excellent judgement.
They have to go if we have any chance of TIAR!!
Hail Hail
Even our much weakened side yesterday should have produced more against thems…………….
ONENIGHTINLISBON
Also, for Lennon to walk or be pushed, it’d require a few more defeats and the league will be over by then.
We win it or lose it with Lennon but right now I rate our chances at 45-55 against.
Faith in the manager only goes so far. At what point do we concede it isn’t working ? We’re 3 months into the season and we’ve failed miserably in the big games while labouring to wins against the also rans – we’re devoid of any attacking or defensive cohesion.
Imagine had we not scored late against Saints or Dundee Utd – he’d be gone now. We shouldn’t wait for the season to get away from us before we act.
I will say it’s not all Neil’s fault. Some of our players have behaved shamefully this season.
Saying that yesterday had anything do with missing personnel is wishful thinking.
Eddy has been off the boil all season, plus, how many games have you seen Eddy put in a performance similar to Klimala- completely isolated, back to goal and crowded out when he gets the ball.
On Christie, well Neil had £4.5m Ntcham, £3.5m Turbull, £2m Soro or Rogic to choose from, so not much sympathy there.
The only place where you could definitely say we would be weaker was at CB and Welsh performed admirably.
Once again, we rely on individual brilliance to get us out of a hole and when it isn’t forthcoming, we fold like a deck of cards.
Memo to manager,coaches and players:
October 17 2020 the day you failed the fans,stats don’t lie,
Work to be done by ALL if anyone not up for the job then………….off!
Not much more to add except Get the 10 stop their 1.
Duffy would be a decent player in the lower reaches of Premiership where teams are defending doe their lifes.
He is totally the wrong guy for our domestic season.
He might play a role in Europe tho
Individual performances win games all the time…………usually the mark of champions…….. or a Champion.
We missed a fair few of ours yesterday.
Goldson’s goals were well taken – thur galakticos failed to catch the eye with the Kolumbian Kris Boyd again failing to register aganst us, even with the backing of a supportive MIB.
HH
It seems to me that big Shane was brought in as a Talisman rather than his football ability, the fact we can’t put eleven well motivated footballers onto Celtic Park for an old firm derby speaks volumes.
I’m sure Shane would be as disappointed as anyone in that fact. He wasn’t wearing a shrink to fit jersey…
Hope he sticks around to see a true Celtic team scalp the imposters.
Hail Hail
Why do Celtic refuse to let the keeper play it long and quick. The opposition know they can amble back. Could that be why Goldstone felt comfortable about being in our penalty box?
BTW much as I love big Shane, who thought of asking him to spray the long passes (most of which end up in the stands)?
WEE BGFC
I know we’ve been below par against them prior to yesterday, no disagreement there.
Regards evidence that Lenny can right the ship. His record as a manager for us is very impressive, win ratio second only to MON I believe.
What it comes down to for me is, After everything Lenny has been through whilst representing Celtic , bombs, assaults, threats, persistent denigrating media coverage etc he never once wavered from his duties to represent the hoops with pride and face down the bigot both as a player and manager. Never bowed never beaten, that is Neil Francis Lennon.
My support for him whilst he’s at our club will never waiver, it’s the least he deserves imo.
It’s not blind faith either, Lenny will turn this around, mark my words.
HH
Whilst not overlooking or excusing yesterday’s inept display this Covid pandemic and the absence of supporters has led to freak results all over Europe. No way during a ‘ normal’ season would Real Madrid lose at home to Cadiz, or Barcelona lose to Getafe, or Spurs put 6 past Man Utd or Aston Villa score 7 against Liverpool. Some teams thrive on support more than others hence the reason for these results….and I’m sure this will continue until football gets back to normal.
On another point it is not technically true to say we did not have a shot on target yesterday. I only saw the highlights but enough to show Calum McGregor having a shot which looked netbound until blocked by an opposition defender. There was another occasion after that which was similar. Maybe being a bit pedantic but more accurate to say Shagger did not have a save to make during the game.
It’s Duffy’s actual defending that’s the problem, not his modest football skills. He’s a fine addition to the sieve’s tremblin’ mince select.
Saw some comments about DD and PL not caring if we win the league.
I am lukewarm on both – they have done some good things, but DD is all about his investment and PL is myopic in his vision.
However, I think both are smart enough to realise what happens if we lose this season’s league
– Season tickets will drop to around 35 k, compounded by a real possibility of us still having fan restrictions
– The club would be running at a loss
– Several of our best players would be in last month’s of their contracts and transfer fees would be 7 figure rather than 8
– Team would need a serious rebuild, including a new manager
– Momentum would lie with opponents
So, much as though I am not a blind disciple of DD and PL I am pretty sure they will have looked at the stark reality facing us.
Whether I trust them to make the right decisions is a big question mark.
–
The Mole is none other than Neil Lennon,at his press coverages he gives to much away about Players injuries how long they will be out for,for me Lennon thinks he is untouchable,which if I’m right against Ross County at Hampden Park he kept his job,I was at that game and prior to the game ending the changes he made didn’t go down to well with a lot off fans in fact the way they were feeling the language they were saying about him was to say the least a bit frightening,and that was away back then,also somebody mentioned Ronny Delia was thrown under bus by Peter Lawell ,he should be asking Lennon to step aside,as for Delia who I liked as a person and a coach ,The Man was with no mercy shown the door,Lennon is the opposite he can do no wrong ,and that my fri and supporters is one off the many problems facing us Celtic Fans, maybe it’s time for some Celtic Fans who have the clout to get rid of DD and Pl who in my opinion have done well with our club,but it’s time they especially Dermot Desmond sell up and let other good Celtic Fans run our club,another Fergus McCann etc would do for starters.
Sorry, having seen the game I can’t endorse all the warm praise for the kid Welsh.
Sure; always lovely when we get a lad thru from the seconds and he looked ok but he’s 20 now; not a boy.
Again, we put a centre back into a right back posi for what…formation or tactical reason?
Yep Stephen tried gamely (as a good pro should) but offered little forward energy or interplay w Frimpong – now the long lost RB Tony Ralston does that job better; but where is he now ?
Re Shane; we love the idea of a true Irish ‘Tim’ sorting our problems out for us and helping scrap out victories.
It’s hugely romantic or sentimental but, as we see, yet to be proven as a consistent quantity.
Right now,the best signing we could make would be – I have to say it – is a Michael Beale type coach on our tactical staff, and I dont give a monkeys whether he’s a tim or a dan, confucian, hindi or atheist.
I just want someone who gets us back to playing the Celtic way; y’know; the progressive, attacking, mair direct, less fanny-annie way Neilly had us going after BR left?
HH
See these pigs at Sky Sports and BT Sports Box Office are really taking us supporters for mugs what you want to see you have to pay ,time some of our politicians starting asking questions about these companies ripping football fans off whenever it suits them,
DBHOY – hope you are right pal.
I’m not one for the screaming over-reaction, but this has been like watching a slow-motion car-crash heading in our directlion.
HH
BGFC
You need to look a lot further back than Saturday to retrace what happened to Celtic.
Brendan Rodger’s Celtic lost at Ibrokes by the same scoreline and he said “ Look we’ve had a great run in these matches and lost today “ or words to that effect. Since that day we’ve struggled against them in most games, a two nil win along with winning the League Cup aside, but back to back defeats at Celtic Park now changes the landscape for our club.
Last season we kicked on somehow in the SPL from January to Covid 19, but let’s be honest we’ve been winning on empty, since BR walked. We sold talisman in Tierney, then made a mess trying to use up the money, and we did the same to an extent when we decided to retire Mikel Lustig on the other side of the pitch.
The side no matter who Neil Lennon pitches in whatever formation you like, ( or don’t like ) haven’t sparkled and the decision to ditch full backs has led to defeat or struggle in every single major game in Europe or any tougher opposition. The problem won’t go away because we’ve bought full backs that aren’t full backs, Bolingoli, Frimpong, Taylor and previously whether this was a conscious decision to play three centre backs and use wing backs I’ve no idea, but doubt it.
Chris Jullien is badly missed, as £10M EPL ‘target’ Shane Duffy continues with sieve like defending of the highest calibre, but the problems don’t end at the back where even the keeper doesn’t impose, the midfield needs a rebuild that can’t wait till eleven in a row, major surgery is required because Brown with MacGregor and one other especially the new enigma Olivier Ntcham, should be off the menu, its done.
The sight of Jeremie Frimpong with the ball at his feet faced with a daisy chain of Rainjurz waiting to take the ball off him, is a sad, sad sign of the times. We could go on and on dissecting the individuals but life’s too short. Flogging dead horses all over the pitch Neil’s problems are the assembled cast, and he is entering ‘Walter territory’ some of them he bought, another manager getting better from them is an irrelevance, its whether he can turn the tide with what he has, because here’s his 10 catalogue, with a Covid damned unwinnable Europa to boot.
Home to Milan 22/10
Away to Aberdeen 25/10
Away to Lille 29/10
Cup semi v Aberdeen 01/11
Home to Sparta Prague 05/11
Away to Motherwell 08/11
Away to Hibs 21/11
Away to Sparta Prague 26/11
Away to Milan 03/11
Good luck Neil Lennon CSC
NL should be relieved with dignity and respect he has given his soul to Celtic. But his time has come The bigger issue is who replaces him
My view and like you I’m mo expert
If a “proper” Manager Eddie Howe/Martinez/Steve Clarke/ and a few others are available and willing then that’s option one
If not option 2 Brown as player manager – less time on the pitch knows the club inside out knows the players. Has the players respect.
IMHO both options better than current situation
67ECW
WEE BGFC
The alternative is unthinkable.
I understand your concern, it’s a monumental season.
KTF
HH
Not long ago Paul67 said we have a better squad and a better manager than Sevco. I agree on the squad. As for the manager we have been deluding ourselves about Gerrard, who is clearly better than Lenny. We should be in the Champions League instead of Ferencvaros but we have a manager who doesn’t understand the meaning of the word tactics. And now he can’t even motivate the players. A bad time to change manager but the league is lost if Lenny remains. I can’t believe how some supporters retain their faith in him against all the evidence of the last three games against them and the CL qualifiers this and last season.
79CAPS
Indeed! But what follows?
79 Caps
Not long ago Paul67 said we have a better squad and a better manager than Sevco.
*******
I think Paul was quoting someone else’s comments in relation to our NY defeat.
Happy to be corrected btw
Unless changes are made both on and off the park and soon, I do not see us retaining our league title.
No chance under current circumstances.
Poor Neil! I hope he doesn’t read social media…although, having said that, he is a much stronger character than most…I’m sure he will know what is best for the club, the fans and himself…I’m sure if he feels he can’t do this he’ll speak to PL and/or DD. The problem may be that they persuade him to carry on against his better judgement…
Then again, perhaps this is a lot of wbc baloney…