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Physically light Celtic

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By on CQN BLOG & Comments

Celtic responded to consecutive league defeats last month in decisive fashion, with authoritative wins against Livingston, Dundee, Newco, St Mirren and Buckie Thistle.  The record books will show another win on Saturday against Ross County, but the champions lacked even modest authority.

After their capitulation at home to Partick Thistle in the Scottish Cup a week earlier, I assumed Ross County had “chucked it” and would bring minimum resistance to Celtic Park.  There’s a reason I don’t bet.  Refreshingly, County pressed Celtic throughout and were denied a point by the width of the crossbar and an added time save by Joe Hart.

After taking the lead in the opening minute through a fortuitous Alistair Johnston deflection, the champions should have finished the game off in some style, but by halftime it was clear a spark was missing.  By then, County keeper George Wickens had a few of us reading his bio (on loan from Fulham).  He had not only saved a Luis Palma penalty, he did so twice, after an encroaching defender cleared the first rebound before Luis could latch onto it.

Palma and Alexandro Bernabei were involved in the move which led to the goal, but as the opening half closed, both looked short of confidence; Alexandro has surely been pondering his place at the club in recent weeks, Palma with penalties on his mind.

The midfield pairing of Matt O’Riley and Paulo Bernardo, which has been so important in Celtic’s winning run, failed to cope with the game.  Maybe Matt’s week, full of distraction, didn’t help, maybe the Celtic Park pitch, which has was in its worst condition in years, interrupted their quick passing game.  It was certainly a day for an industrial, as opposed to cultural, midfield.

Palma and Liel Abada were replaced during the second half by Nicolas Kuhn and Mikey Johnston.  I worried for the debutant, it is always easier to introduce players to a team that is playing well, instead of hoping a new face will turn the tide.  As it was, the changes made little difference.

As we left the ground it struck me how physically light we were.  There was not a bruiser in any midfield or forward position.  In defence, Cameron Carter-Vickers has width, but Alexandro Bernabei is almost adolescent-looking.  On a wintery pitch, these things are noticeable.

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  2. bigrailroadblues on

    Tontine Tim

     

    “I’ve seen more brains in a Halloween mask”.

     

    Ffs hahahaha 😆 😆🤣🤣👍

  4. corkcelt on

    Just popped in for a readback but feel obliged to make a Post, thanking Bondock Saint for his excellent Post.

  7. Darwin on

    Certainly don’t agree with all James Forrest writes, however surely all fair-minded posters on here must recognise the following:

     

     

    “CQN is full of Celtic fans telling other Celtic fans that they aren’t Celtic fans just because they hold a different point of view. I see a lot of bitchery and bullying and sarcasm where there used to be questions and probing and where people genuinely wanted to hear each other’s point of view instead of shouting it down”.

     

     

     

    There are of course ring-leaders – they know who they are, and so do we – it is their raison d’etre.

     

     

    And now for something completely different. With the smell of a treble, progress in the Europa League and of course next season’s re-vamped Champions League, the Ibrox club are putting everything they’ve got, and everything they haven’t got, ‘on the table’. Coming off another loss-making year, is it impressive brinkmanship, or, foolishness on stilts? Time will tell.

  8. marspapa on

    SAINT STIVS

     

     

    That is exactly my point…

     

     

    The board won’t change their mentality as long as the figures (bank balance) is healthy .

     

     

    Can’t argue with that .

     

     

    The only way they’ll ltake notice is if fans vote with their feet and voice their displeasure……

     

     

    They know they have a hard-core of mibbe 25,000 or so who’ll turn up regardless ….fair do’s .

     

     

    It’s maybe just aswell well the seats aren’t full as there could be a big percentage of those who might boo too.

     

     

    I find it shameful and something I reserve for opposition players (huns new and old ) and Neymar 😊

     

     

    Anyhoo , see you soon.👍

  10. scullybhoy on

    Transfer news: Player recruitment Q&A with former Tottenham technical director

     

    By Simon StoneBBC Sport

     

     

    As the January transfer window comes to a close, it is not just the deals themselves that attract attention, it’s the strategy behind them.

     

     

    Whether it is the clear planning at Brighton, the big-spending approach at Chelsea, the focus at Manchester City or chaos at Manchester United, it seems everyone has an opinion on recruitment.

     

     

    Steve Hitchen spent time as a scout at Liverpool, QPR and Derby but is chiefly known for his five years at Tottenham, where he earned huge respect after advancing to the technical director role, working to chairman Daniel Levy.

     

     

    Hitchen left Spurs in February 2022 following the arrival of Fabio Paritici and has joined the established Unique Sports Group agency as director of football, which looks after numerous high-profile players including Chelsea skipper Reece James and Newcastle forward Anthony Gordon.

     

     

    Hitchen spoke to BBC Sport’s Simon Stone about Premier League recruitment.

     

     

    Why is recruitment so difficult? Why do Brighton in particular make it look so easy?

     

     

    If you have a common way of working, you know your market and the standard of football you are going to play, you are halfway there.

     

     

    Man City’s success rate after Pep Guardiola came in went up dramatically. Why? Because they had a group of people in Txiki Begiristain, Ferran Soriano, Pep and others who all had a clear idea of what type of player they were looking for.

     

     

    So consistency, success and money all combined for them.

     

     

    If you look at Manchester United, which is my club from my childhood, they have lost that consistency.

     

     

    You don’t know who the coach is going to be from one season to the next. If you have no clear identity through different types of managers, how can you have a clear philosophy when you are trying to recruit players?

     

     

    Most new coaches want three or four of their own players. All of a sudden you have four different types of players that probably don’t marry with the next coach and what he is looking for. That breeds inconsistency.

     

     

    We had it at Tottenham. We went from Mauricio Pochettino to Jose Mourinho. Two amazing coaches but two totally different philosophies. If they had gone from Jose to Antonio Conte directly, with Jose’s players and Antonio’s players, it probably would have worked.

     

     

    If you had gone from Mauricio’s players to Ange Postecogolou’s players it definitely would have worked because they are similar in outlook. Brighton have a clear football philosophy. The manager has to fit that philosophy. As a consequence, you get a clear idea of what type of player works for Brighton.

     

    What do clubs look for in players?

     

     

    I had no plans to work for an agency but I liked the people. Clubs offer you a lot of responsibility, but when you scratch the surface you realise that you are not going to be given it. You could see how dysfunctional some of the clubs were that I spoke to, at home and abroad.

     

     

    The people inside this agency are giving me the freedom and scope to do different things than I have done inside a football club and also bring more football club aspects into the agency.

     

     

    The game is evolving. All clubs, even the biggest clubs, are looking for ‘business’ players under the age of 24 with resale value.

     

     

    We work off the same characteristics that we have for 10 or 15 years – physical, mental, technical, tactical – but there are different ways of building and playing within each team. I have this big thing about scouting, there has to be a mix.

     

     

    We have to go with the data to back up what the eyes are saying. Data can give you a lot of metrics but the reality is the person on the ground, who speaks to people, who knows how the player is in training, how he behaves, how he is off the pitch, is just as important as the data – and agents know the player better than the club because they are their clients.

     

    Working with Daniel Levy?

     

     

    Daniel takes a lot of criticism but he is one of the best to work with in terms of at least you know where you are. Even at the end it was good. He understood why I wanted to leave.

     

     

    He is quite fair. He fights and fights and fights, but in the end both parties have to be happy otherwise the deal doesn’t happen. He normally gets what he wants and the player gets what he wants.

     

    Navigating through the agent world

     

     

    There is no getting away from it, there are bad agents out there and they give everyone else a bad reputation. Like most aspects of life, where there is money there is greed and where there is greed you will get certain characters that shouldn’t be in the game.

     

     

    But I can honestly say inside this group I am surprised. When you get to know the bigger agents inside the company, who are working with the younger players, they genuinely care.

     

     

    From the other side, working inside a club, I know there are a lot of guys who are just there to make money as fast as they can. They don’t care about the player. Two or three times at Tottenham we had a player who signed and then came to see me and said ‘this guy has done this and it wasn’t correct’, and we have had to take care of it because false promises have been made.

     

    Tactical view

     

     

    There is too much of everyone trying to play the same way. A lot of coaches want to express themselves like Pep and show these characteristics.

     

     

    I think the Premier League has always been the best because it has had such contrasts. If you go to watch a game in La Liga, it doesn’t matter who plays it is more or less the same football. We have to be careful we don’t go down the same route in the Premier League.

     

     

    It is nice to see Brentford sometimes play the way they do, with low blocks and being very good on set-pieces. It’s effective football. There is still a place for that in the Premier League.

     

    Financial restrictions on spending

     

     

    I fight myself about financial fair play rules (FFP). I see the benefits of it, with all the problems through the pyramid where clubs have ownerships who don’t have the money to back up their ideas.

     

     

    But by the same token, we don’t want Man City to win the league every year and [also] for there never to be another Man City. Why can’t Newcastle do what Man City did and compete? It is a big issue that football clubs can’t have the freedom to trade.

  18. bankiebhoy1 on

    Boondock……………….

     

     

    A great CQN contribution……….

     

     

    Thanks for sharing

     

     

    HH

  22. scullybhoy on

    Bhoyjoebelfast on 29th January 2024 5:38 pm

     

     

    SCULLYBHOY @5.35

     

     

    brilliant answer.One to go.

     

     

    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

     

     

    Struggling big time.

  26. scullybhoy on

    Celtic won the 2006-07 league title in Jarošík’s first season with the club, meaning that he has now won league medals in a record four countries – Czech Republic, Russia, England and Scotland.

  29. An Tearmann on

    DARWIN/JHB/CLOUD9/ TAM WALAKA SALAAM(BAM)on 29TH JANUARY 2024 5:23 PM

     

     

    You have a different moniker for each day of the week

     

    One of your previous monikers loathed James Forrest as he opposed your racist BORIS asslickin and stop refugees pash as JHB.

     

    A so called fan of Celtic

     

     

    The CLOUD9,with hun like penchant gor talkin shoite about CBC.

     

     

    James comes on and flounces annually but unlike yourselves he keeps his own name continually.unlike you.

     

     

    Nope!steering convo as to what your refugee chasing hun friends talk of is your last port of call.

  32. stebhoy on

    there is a negative energy around Celtic at the moment – the green brigade, Rodgers, the board, the pitch.

     

     

    The media magnify it and it compounds. THE ONLY way out is giving Rodgers what he asked for – QUALITY signings. At least 2 more by Thursday.

     

     

    I’m absolutely astounded right now at this board – the silence. The fans, managers and football experts can see what wed are missing, yet the board is not out supporting the manger and aligning on vision.

     

     

     

    Rangers with significantly less money, are at least trying to invest and improve (time will tell).

     

     

     

    We need height and physicality in this team. As striker who the midfielders can play off – Kyogo is not that player and never will be. A left back who’s priority is dominating his defensive area and a # 6 to let mcgregor free up top.

     

     

     

    A few days to go – but their silence is making me anxious.

     

     

    PS Not inspired by links to Sydney van h – rather have Miovski

  35. bigrailroadblues on

    And a good evening all from the Victoria Bar. Nobody told me there would be days like these…..strange days indeed.

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