For all Celtic are being criticised for their shoddy work in front of goal, it was Shakhtar Donetsk who missed the most glorious chance of this or any season. They passed up an additional chance that was at least the equal of Kyogo’s effort that went straight to the keeper.
We knew the script Shakhtar would follow in advance: defend deep, seldom venture up field, then break with devastating pace. Mykhaylo Mudryk was almost worth the entry money alone. Josip Juranovic did well to get goal-side of him on 58 minutes but the Ukrainian no. 10 cut inside before unleashing a devastatingly good shot from inside the D. The warning signs were there from a break down the Shakhtar left a few moments earlier.
Most of Celtic’s effective work came from their own left, where Greg Taylor and Sead Haksabanovic caused problems, especially in the first half. Haksabanovic demonstrated his crossing ability when he whipped in a ball on 34 minutes. Leil Abada again showed his predator’s timing by arriving in front of goal. His shot deflected for Giorgos Giakoumakis, who made no mistake from 7 yards.
Kyogo should have put Celtic ahead soon after Shakhtar equalised after Giakoumakis slipped a ball through to him, but last season’s sharpness seems to have slipped for our talisman.
Although Abada was key in Celtic taking the lead, we were not as effective down the right until James Forrest came on, on 65 mins. From that point, Shakhtar were more than happy to defend deep to protect their point and hope for chances on the break.
Matt O’Riley was again very impressive in the deep mid position. He and Reo Hatate both tired with around 20 minutes to go. The delay in bringing David Turnbull on until the 84th minute was odd, David’s energy tidied up what was previously an exhausted central midfield.
Lots of questions for another day as we take stock looking in the European mirror.
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Hmmm…
Silverfish?
How much has the competition been worth ?
We knew the script Shakhtar would follow in advance: defend deep, seldom venture up field, then break with devastating pace
—
Yep. That’s how they play – every game at this level. Why we played into their game plan when we’re 1 up and they need to come forward and score is up to our manager to address.
Maybe football’s just not for certain posters?
Great open game last night end to end stuff, Celtic punched well above our weight, everyone wants their favourites in the side AP fielded most of them in the end.
Gave up wanting pragmatic Celtic sides 20 years ago on these pages, AP plays a widely copied modern game, some may have better players and end up more Manchester than Milton Keynes.
Tremendous performances from both full backs and the starting midfielders were immense in the system. Abada can be wasted wide, we still have two wings but started without the only fit winger we have. Saed is a tidy player but like Liel and Maeda could be more effective centrally, playing for the scraps that GG makes.
Squad depth tested and unfortunately at CL level the test is stern, but the Celtic paying public have voted – Ange. Best Celtic viewing for years and years, the philosophy might not suit some cosy curled armchair ‘enthusiasts’ but you can’t argue with the box office.
MOM Moritz Jenz
Agree that was the best Jenz performance in Der Hoops.
And Ange has clearly sprinkled the auld Ralston dust on wee Greg [mibby shoulda kept some to top-up Tony]
P67 — you are having a laugh regarding your thoughts on the performance of MO’R.
He is a fish out of water playing at DM/pivot.
Pigeon toed fan dancer would be a better / more accurate description.
He cannot dictate the play — he needs someone to hum the tune before he can clear his throat.
Stx2 @ 12.02
Not sure how much the CL is worth to us — exact figures will come out later.
However we have left £14mill on the table after 5 games.
Not good.
“TIMBHOY163 on 26TH OCTOBER 2022 11:04 AM
MADMiTCH IS LIKE EVERY CELTIC SUPPORTER THAT COMES ON HERE ,HE IS ENTITLED TO HIS OPINIONS”
I have read that many times on here but I have yet to see ANYONE on here show why everyone is entitled to an opinion. What if that opinion led to a negative outcome?
Mad Mitch has Matt O’Reilly down as a ‘pigeon-toed fan dancer.’
Many European pundits have Matt O’Reilly as Player of the Match.
Now…whom to believe?
From what I can gather on here, successful Managers change their approach,tactics,objectives and anything else that is necessary for victory. If the opposition then change their tactics etc to gain victory, where are we?
FIELDOFDRAMS on 26TH OCTOBER 2022 12:17 PM
Did MM really say that?
Then again, everyone is entitled ……:-))))
MO’R — two thirds / one third performance.
67% @ DM / Pivot — honking.
Lacking in belief / experience / appetite / ability to run the game from deep.
33% @ advanced RM — came onto a game / played some great stuff.
Used to the position / got involved / some class footwork / some great passes.
He is not ready to play DM / pivot.
He doesn’t have the experience and he is a slow learner.
AN DÚN on 26TH OCTOBER 2022 12:08 PM
After half time they had much more of the ball and we sat back. We conceded from a corner where they had 10 players in their box and one inside their own half
We did change the way we played after we scored
I know we are all disappointed with the result and aspects of the performance last night. That is understandable. But the mass return of the small active group of “Celtic are Scheidt and Ange is inflexible” brigade needs answering.
When Andy Murray was a. developing player beating most of his peers but coming short regularly against the top 10 players, he had already worked out that he could not develop to the level he wanted by just beating everyone in Scotland or the UK. He had to be in a competitive Spanish coaching school to harden him to the standard he needed to reach.
Now, as that development came to a halt, he needed to reach out to coaches to help him break into that elite. None of them told him to become a more defensive player, even though that was his strength; he was a great service returner. They all told him that he had to go toe to toe with them, get braver in his attacking options, and, most importantly, risk more regular defeats, to see and test himself to get to that level. It took a couple of long years of regular defeats to Nadal, Federer and Djokovic before he started to win a few against his “betters”. Now Andy only became number 1 because rivals had injury issues and he will, in retrospect, still be seen as the number 4 in his era behind Federer, Djokovic and Nadal. But he will not die wondering if he could have made it. He took on the challenge and did not play safe where he could make a lot of money and never win a medal or fame.
Now, I am not naive, Andy is a Singles player in Tennis. He did not have to develop 10- 15 other players to reach that elite level; he just had to do it himself.
So, should, Ange rein in his ambitions because his task is hard or double down and say this path is the only way. It may not work but there is no increased safety in reducing your ambition. Like the “park the bus” teams who visit Celtic Park, hoping to avoid conceding more than 3 goals, warming themselves with the memory of a once in a decade draw or win with these tactics, but changing your status in the game not a jot.
The game for Celtic remains the same. Back Ange or Sack him, because he knows there is only one way to improve. There may be many ways to play safer but there is only one way to play more bravely and that is to develop the courage and confidence that comes with increased performance, and then, increased results.
Jenz distribution out the back is horrendous.dont know what game you were at if you think he was M.O.M.and liel abada is very poor at that level
Me and little Miss went looking for CQN corner last night.
Couldn’t find it.
:-(
Can I urge people that, if we are going to maintain the improvements in the blog over the past week, we should try and avoid getting dragged into tabloid level debate with some of the posters ho prefer to use the tabloid language that fails to explain anything.
Let’s not lose what we gained
HOT SMOKED on 26TH OCTOBER 2022 12:21 PM
From what I saw last night they changed their approach after half time and we did too
“Pigeon toed fan dancer would be a better / more accurate description.”… shockjock poster on CQN
” excellent in central midfield as a playmaker in distributing passes. O’Riley was also defensively balanced, winning back possession and stopping counterattacks,” UEFA’s technical director
SETTING FREE THE BEARS FOR RES. 12 & OSCAR KNOX at 12:27 PM and 12:32 PM
Two fine posts. Agree wholeheartedly.
‘There may be many ways to play safer but there is only one way to play more bravely and that is to develop the courage and confidence that comes with increased performance, and then, increased results.’
###
I would disagree that there is only one way to play more bravely.
We could for instance play with 11 outfield players.
That would be true mark of courage and confidence.
Admittedly it would be suicidal, and guarantee failure, but that seems to be a secondary consideration.
Ernie
Give us a real world example of playing more bravely, not more contrarianism
JIMBOB71 & LITTLE MISS JIMBOB on 26TH OCTOBER 2022 12:29 PM
A wee bunch of us were there but it is not the most obvious of `Corners `. Maybe someone should hold a CQN placard up :-))
CELTIC40ME on 26TH OCTOBER 2022 12:47 PM
I’m not arguing for playing more bravely, I’ll leave that to others, I’m arguing for playing more intelligently and more effectively.
SFTB @ 12.27
AM history lesson — good but not great.
He had what it took to beat the best — but not two games on the trot.
He had to beat and did beat RN / RF to get to a grand slam final just a case he didn’t have the appetite / drive / capacity to beat the second one in that final.
His first GS win — he managed to shame himself into raising his failing game.
Up until that 5th set it was the usual AM scenario — could have / should have / didn’t.
ND — was / is probably less of a natural player than AM but he had more appetite / more conviction and he wanted it more and so he crawled to the top one improvement after another.
AM played 10 years at the top with a weak second serve.
The flaw was so obvious you can see it from space.
RF doesn’t have flaws / perfect straight from the womb.
RN is limited but played a game that hid his flaws well.
ND worked his erse off to max out his talent and work out his weaknesses.
Poor second serve — RN / ND would have worked until it was fixed.
AM did not put in that effort.
AM was hobbled by an unsteady troika of his own demons / his ma’s ambition / his lack of real top rank coaching.
Bigger / better coaches — he wins the titles that his talent deserved.
Didn’t we play more pragmatically after the break? It’s always difficult to remember after, and confirmation bias comes into it, but I remember us sitting back in our own half more and letting them have the ball.
It didnt seem to stop the crowd from getting jumpy, which is perfectly understandable
BSR .12.08
Thumbs up . Gid post .
Setting Free The Bears 12.27
Ditto .
HH .
“CELTIC40ME on 26TH OCTOBER 2022 12:32 PM
HOT SMOKED on 26TH OCTOBER 2022 12:21 PM
From what I saw last night they changed their approach after half time and we did too”
I agree. Teams regularly change their approaches to meet changing circumstances. This idea being promoted by some that we have robotic managers in charge of robotic players doesn’t hold up to any logical appraisal.
NTB @ 12.33
EUFA turning up the patronising to 11 if that quote is real.
“ERNIE LYNCH on 26TH OCTOBER 2022 12:50 PM
CELTIC40ME on 26TH OCTOBER 2022 12:47 PM
I’m not arguing for playing more bravely, I’ll leave that to others, I’m arguing for playing more intelligently and more effectively.”
I accept that a good Manager can make players perform more effectively but how does a player suddenly become more intelligent ?
ERNIE LYNCH on 26TH OCTOBER 2022 12:50 PM
If you do that care about bravery, then you’re arguing for the sake of it then. It’s basic contrarianism.
It’s your stick, I get it, but at least be straight about it
I turned to the guy I was sitting next to at the game last night when Mudryk went down injured a few minutes before he scored and we agreed he was the best player on the park by a mile, he sadly them proved me correct. Over the two legs against Shakhtar there is no doubt in my mind that we would have won both were it not for him. He is an outstanding talent and I would expect him to be in Italy or England next season.
Don’t care about bravery should read
It will be interesting to see where Mudryk goes. Based on his talent he’d be better going to a team that defends deeply and plays on the break, for example better Real Madrid than Man City
Seems to me that in the modern game, to varying degrees,virtually ALL players attack and virtually all players defend .
Cheerio for now.
SETTING FREE THE BEARS FOR RES. 12 & OSCAR KNOX on 26TH OCTOBER 2022 12:27 PM
It’s posts like yours above that keep me reading the blog and make all the skipping worthwhile.
T