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Pedro should be in the dock

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By on CQN BLOG & Comments

A week ago you and I discussed how Newco fans were more confident ahead of a Celtic game than they had ever been, while we, chastened by a lacklustre Celtic performance against them last month, thought we had a game on our hands at Hampden.

Five days after a very one-sided Scottish Cup semi-final and sentiment in both camps has shifted. Newco were awful on a level that it is hard to do justice on the page. Celtic were imperious in possession and attacked with a swagger.

Don’t let what happened a week ago cloud your judgement. I’ve been going to Ibrox for over 30 years, and many on here have been going twice as long, but no matter how poor old Rangers were in that time, we seldom had it easy. On my first visit there we scored four second half goals against a truly awful outfit, but 45 minutes into the game we were two down and struggling.

If you win at Ibrox, you have played well. Celtic will need to be unscrupulously faithful to their tactical system. Brendan will know how to prepare the players for this.  They will need the concentration and energy to deliver the performance.

I have some worries for Pedro (apologies, but I’m not sure if he’s going to be around long enough to make it worthwhile learning how to spell his surname). His 10-second principle is a case in point.

In the interview Chris Davies gave to a few Celtic bloggers, including myself, he explained that when Celtic lose possession, the players are told to spend up to six seconds pressing directly for the ball. If they fail to win possession back in this period, they are to drop back into defensive positions.

They have been trained to do this since preseason. It’s risky, and you will note that they do it every week in domestic football, but the technique was used sparingly in the Champions League group stage. The risk of a Barcelona-type team passing through the press is dangerous, as when players are pressing, they are out of position.

This is how modern football is played, but Pedro should be cautious.  You cannot reeducate players overnight.  If you attempt to and fail, it’s the manager’s responsibility.  In fact, this quote from Pedro is exactly what you should expect when you try to force a new system onto a team midseason:

“When we analysed the game in some moments of the game some players were acting in one direction, which was the right direction and other players were not doing the same thing at the same time.”

This was clearly not the outcome Pedro expected, but his explanation suggests he has a lot to learn about how to tactically change football teams.

What’s worse, instead of shielding his players by taking ownership of the blame, he put the players in the dock.  It is no surprise that you can detect grumblings of discontent emanating from loyal Ibrox sources.

Taking about “in the dock”, Sir David Murray is currently in the witness box at Craig Whyte’s trial.  Proceedings are enthralling, but we’ll catch up with that later.  A point worth reiterating:

It is acceptable to report on what was said at court, but unacceptable to prejudice a witness or defendant with your view on that individual, or on evidence presented.  So stick to what was said – that’s fascinating enough.

Thanks to everyone who participated in our auction to play in a match at Celtic Park on Monday, to benefit Celtic FC Foundation.  It closes around noon today, so last chance!!

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  3. Henri is my all time favourite on

    Sorry! However unable to manage the change to read ‘Henrik is my all time favkourite’. Technology is, at last, getting the better of me.

  4. Henri is my all time favourite on

    Delaney’s dunky

     

    Thank you so much

     

    CRC great support in difficult times!

     

    Tomorrow will be a great day and Brendan will have the team more than well prepared!

  7. Moonbeamswd on

    Just raising a wee glass to my pal, work colleague and Good Celtic man Jim O’Donnell from Maryhill who sadly passed away today.

     

     

    One of life’s genuine good guys. You’ll be sorely missed buddy.

     

     

    Thoughts and prayers with your wife and your family.

     

     

    RIP Jim.

     

     

    MWD

  8. Art of War on

    Henri is my fav….

     

    Better get the ‘k’ added or half the Irish contingent will be trolling ye!

  9. starry plough on

    WEEBOBBYCOLLINS

     

     

    Great tune:))

     

     

    I saw ye posted some Weather Report earlier, never thought I’d see the day on CQN:)

     

     

    Awe them ancient rockers oan here:))

     

     

    Jazzfunksoul CSC

  10. Delaneys Dunky on

    Henri wi a K

     

    :)))

     

    Great player in a great team.

     

    The future is green and white shining bright.

     

    HH

  11. Henri is my all time favourite on

    Art of war.

     

    Yes and thank you!

     

    My IT skills are good BUT I can’t change the log-in, no matter what I do. For the avoidance of doubt, I want to read ‘ Henrik is my favourite’!

  15. A Ceiler Gonof Rust on

    Just got a message saying the hun had been granted a licence for Europe. Is that confirmed?

  16. Park Road 67 on

    Just like to say our Dublin based racing correspondent has been on the money at Punchestown this week !

  21. VFR800 is now a Monster 821 on

    HENRI IS MY ALL TIME FAVOURITE on 28TH APRIL 2017 11:43 PM

     

     

    At the top right corner it will say “How are you, Henri ……”

     

     

    Click that, select edit my profile and then change your nickname to whatever you want.

     

     

     

    KTF

  23. Delaneys Dunky on

    ACGR

     

     

    Hope the monkeys play in Europe and get pumped and dumped in the first round fae a team fae Andorra or Faroes. Which will happen.

  25. Melbourne Mick on

    Hello again all you young rebels.

     

     

    Blog has been fantastic for me this morning, all the old

     

    memories came flooding back with all the talk of Lanliq,

     

    Eldorado and now we have a Joe Gallagher on the blog

     

    same name as the man who ran the bus from Benny’s bar

     

    in the gorbals early sixties, my wee da’s pal, i’m getting

     

    all misty eyed now.

     

    Welcome Joe, and ur ye?

     

    Oz tims.

     

    Our CSC are meeting in the Grand Hotel Mornington again

     

    on Sat. for the stickies game be early as we are expecting a full

     

    house for the next hun humiliation and PADDYMACOZ might

     

    just give us another rendition of …The Glasgow Cat…hilarious

     

    and not to be missed.

     

    H.H Mick

  26. Art of War on

    Henri…top right of page there’s a wee Ludo figure. Click on that and it should let you change blog name.

  29. A Ceiler Gonof Rust on

    Park road, I’m still sitting on my SB renewal. I seriously doubt Celtic will react in any way to the hun licence and not within the renewal timeframe.

     

     

    ‘ll give it one more year as a participating supporter and see if my club can grow some bollocks. Beyond that, I’ll slip back to being a fan.

     

     

     

    HH Bruv

  31. Moonbeamswd on

    Park Road, Delaney’s Dunky & ACGR

     

     

    Slanje va

     

     

    Jim was the happiest of happy clappers. In fact in 18 years knowing him I’ve never heard him say a bad word about Celtic, or anything else in life for that matter, always supporting and never slating. He missed a few games as a season book holder to watch his laddie play but a Celtic man to the core.

     

     

    I’ll miss him. He was a lover of a wee red and his family was everything to him.

     

     

    MWD

  32. Henri is my all time favourite on

    Thanks to Art of War and VR800 is now a monster – but I tried and failed on change!

     

    Just enjoy tomorrow’s match. We’ll win at least by 3- 1

  33. Hunderbirds are Gone on

    JOEGALLAGHER. & HENRI WI’ A K

     

     

    Welcome.

     

    Did one of yooz no used to be a Hun?

     

    ;)

  34. Moonbeamswd on

    Henri

     

     

    When you type in your knew profile go down and press update profile button. It will then be added to your old one in the drop down list. Select it from here the press update profile button again.

     

     

    Welcome to the mad hoos.

     

     

    MWD

  36. A Ceiler Gonof Rust on

    DD, as satisfying as it always has been to see the hun being smashed in Europe, that’s not the point.

     

     

    This will be the second time a club playing out of ibrox has been granted a licence to play in Europe and cheat other Scottish clubs out of that chance.

     

     

    I’ll wait to see if this is confirmed and wait to see if Celtic have a view.

  38. Delaneys Dunky on

    ACGR

     

     

    Correct. Let’s just concentrate on destroying the vermin in their crumbling, glorified, Victorian lavvy on Edmiston Drive tomorrow.

     

    Which will be nice.

     

    HH

  41. Moonbeamswd on

    Melbourne Mick

     

     

    Slanje va

     

     

    Your Oz Bhoy Macjay has never been a big favourite of mine on here as is well documented but I hope health wise his and his own are ok.

     

     

    MWD

  42. Dannymac on

    Kieran Tierney is just not a world class full back.

     

    Think, maybe Brendan or other advisors briefed him on how to answer questions in front of the camera.

     

    Well done young man.

     

    HH.

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