Work at Lennoxtown today will surely focus on how to avert the stem of chances Celtic have given up across the past three games. Decisive wins against Dundee United and at home to LASK belied the story of both games; the manner of defeat in Austria delivered the unavoidable truth. Even Kilmarnock made five attempts on target in a game when they were truly awful.
We cannot let Tuesday distract from what happened earlier in the season, Celtic have an on-field structural problem. We are porous, teams find it simple to break our press and when that’s achieved, they are quickly able to make an attempt on goal.
When this is the case, anyone can score against us and everyone will fancy their chances. We have six games in the next 24 days, two against Newco and one in Europe. The summer is over.
Congratulations to Hearts, who were the epitomy of focus in Vienna last night.
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“Celtic have an on-field structural problem.”
Anything to say about the off field one we have Paul?
Good points, Paul. Our results have flattered us somewhat. Good goals rather than good performances.
I hope things change.
“on-field structural problem”…perhaps…more importantly ,Celtic have poor players.
That didn’t happen did it ?
A wee bhoy was once asked by his father, there are two games we could go to today! – Cambuslang Rangers or Parkhead to see Celtic Reserves which game should we go to ? The wee bhoy said who’s that team they call the Celtic? a story began, the rest is history in a long walk to and fro.
Anticipation and curiosity of our Champions League seat package, evaporated in extra time in leafy Linz, the ‘rich’ Celtic supporter doesn’t much fancy your seats verse Falkirk in Parkhead. You need to throw in a Real Madrid or such for the modern Celtic man. This is where the Celtic stalwart takes over, the Desmond’s get it, and sit back and whilst “from every street in Glasgow they proudly make their way?”
The big bad internet is to an extent for supporters to support the supporters. Telling, teaching recounting history ‘this is the way you support Celtic’ here is my opinion listen, love Celtic ‘like what I do’ There’s even guys supporting Celtic for a living now or so we’re told, and here we are on a daily diary, that’s 24 / 7.
We were thrilled when Celtic made moves in the transfer market Duran, Hogh, Baur and Hassan seemed a long time coming. Who knows how long they were ear marked, let’s hope recruitment has changed and been modified. We are encouraged by the way Celtic hit goals away domestically, and surprised with three class goals in the first leg.
Automatic qualification to the CL is gone, our record of qualifying and going one step beyond just beating Rainjurz ( or Hartz ) is very poor given our our fan built resources. Celtic need more ambitious men to bridge that gap, a remit “ to do a bit better in Europe “ isn’t a plan. The tsunami when Celtic get beaten up in Europe ensues because we seemingly can’t compete’ in a Cup that was truly miraculously paraded in our stadium, a very a long time ago.
The wee bhoy was there too, now older, wiser and enriched by a Celtic life that set out a club, open to all. With the grace of god he’ll see Celtic beat Falkirk when Saturday comes, and the Marist miracle, will live on.
Hail Hail
I dont know if something was lost in translation but Calmac’s quotes after the game are pretty confusing:
“We actually looked scared to go on and with the game”
Calmac captained the team that got hammered 7-1 in Dortmund then went to Bergamo and then, after a complete tactical rethink drew 0-0 with Atalanta.
He’s played enough football to know momentum in European away games is incredibly important.
Not to suggest this is all his fault, but it’s a major concern if thats the message that the team are going out with in such a huge game.
“ We cannot let Tuesday distract from what happened earlier in the season, Celtic have an on-field structural problem”.
It’s not just earlier in this season, but last season as well.
I can cut MON et. al. some slack for not wanting to make too many changes last season, but they’ve had a preseason and nothing seems to have changed.
That’s one of my main disappointments from Tuesday’s game.
Por Cierto on 27th August 2026 10:19 am
I agree.
Having battled through 13 straight victories to lift the double against all odds I had huge respect for the team, with sheer heart compensating for the absence of quality relative to previous Celtic teams.
I lost a lot of respect for some of our players on Tuesday. Some played like gutless cowards. Hiding, bullied, afraid. The captain saw it up close on the pitch. There should be a plan to move those players on ASAP, even if not practical in this window.
The midfield is defensively hopeless. We knew that. We did nothing on or off the pitch to mitigate that known risk. We got what we deserved. If we double down on this gross negligence at this stage heads should roll. Is this one season too far for the legendary Martin? I would have full sympathy for him saying enough is enough.
Serious question marks have arisen about this management team, there’s no getting away from that. This has the potential to become a Ferenchvaros season.
Well done indeed to Hearts.
Didn’t see that one coming.
Sobering and mildly depressing when one’s crumb of comfort from Euro competition week comes from Hearts (HEARTS ! ) helping the coefficient.
I’ll watch the results (not the games of course) involving the 2 other Scottish clubs with interest.
As for our beloved Celtic? – on to Saturday
As for the outpouring of grief … manifesting at rage against everything and everyone?
Probably still got a few days before the extreme edge of it wears off.
But wear off it will.
To each his own I suppose.
THE BLOGGER FORMERLY KNOWN AS GM on 27TH AUGUST 2026 12:18 PM
As is often the case with Celtic when we solve one problem (lack of goals) another one comes up , sometimes even more serious.
Coughing up 60 chances to LASK over two CL qualifier games suggests that we’ve made ourselves worse.
It does also suggest a “on-field structural problem,” or to put it less technically, stinking tactics.
Saw this elsewhere:
Hearts are the first club in UEFA history to play in all three European competitions during the same qualifying campaign, win none of their qualifying matches, and still reach the league phase.
Suggestions nine weeks ago that Shaun and Fozzy were essential to MON’s ongoing success and it was a total disgrace they weren’t signed up?
Totally untrue. They are both clueless.
Reports 28 days ago that Kasper Hogh was a magnificent signing … absolutely the kind of pedigree we should pursue?
Did not actually happen.
He is a dud who can’t play on grass.
(©️ Orwell’s 1984 CSC)
PS – My personal favourite from last night’s comments?
“We won the league but ….”
Sure thing, bro.
He of the brown brogues, with the built in heighteners, will see what other managers can see, (not only because of the height advantage), and will take full advantage of those “structural problems” again and again!
We can mostly get away with it in games v the rest, but this needs to be sorted and sorted el pronto tonto, por cierto.
Paul 67,
Reality:
Celtic squad value €116.5m
Lask €44.5m
Kierat Almaty € 9.5m.
Our European doomloop trend suggests that flinging money at the problem does not guarantee a fix.
Subsequently we must explore alternative reasoning for our continual failure.
HH.
Not sure if its already been posted but Hearts are the first team outwith us and the huns to qualify for the league stages of a European competition by knockouts since 2007
TBB @ 12:37.
Yip. 3 draws, 3 spankings
Which is just one reason why their qualification is important for the coefficient.
Coefficient points won in the qualifiers are used for the purposes of country coefficient calculation (But not for club)
With the opportunity in the group stages to get points for BOTH club and country to come … IF you qualify, of course.
If a club is going to fail – which, ultimately, Motherwell will likely do?
Fail valiantly … like Motherwell have done.
They’ve chipped in 3.50 points 👍
Hearts ? (After last night) – 1.50
CalMac’s comments in the players being scared points to a lack of a plan, a lack of preparation and a lack of coaching. Players didn’t know their role. Players don’t know what the plan was. We were individually chasing shadows and all shape went out the window – that’s a lack of preparedness.
It would appear that our managerial team made absolutely no preparations for a defensive set up to see out the game should we concede.
It’s very alarming.
We have not had a team physically strong enough for Europe since O’Neills first term inn charge. We are constantly knocked of the ball, including big lads like Høgh and Trusty.
We spent £9 million on a winger when it was glaringly obvious we needed an experienced right back and, more importantly, physical presence in midfield.
I will never understand the introduction of Tounekti and McCowan, decisions that sealed our fate.
Nygren having a nightmare insured Duran was not going to shine and Donovan was going to be under constant pressure.
It was a disgraceful result, it really was. Four nil up !
We allowed McGregor and Bauer to attack ,in tandem, leaving gaping holes behind them.
Totally pissed off, same crap year in year out.
Disgruntled CSC.
Anyone honestly think this week’s training sessions will be any different from last weeks? That new formations will be worked on? A formation where we don’t play against a team with five in midfield with four forwards (cos Nygren is not playing as a midfielder) and two midfielders? That defenders and midfielders will be shown how to work as a unit and how to protect each other rather than ball watch? How if an opposing player has the ball 30 yards out he should not be able to run 10 yards without being intercepted?
We all know the first leg score flattered us. It was one of those nights when there was magic in our shooting boots and lead in theirs. On Tuesday we could have lost 10-1 and had little to complain about. Never seen such a meek surrender in all my years as a Celtic fan.
I have lambasted the board plenty of times for their transfer ditherings and for letting down the managers when they need players in. But on Tuesday Martin and his coaching staff made an arse of it. Team formation, tactics, selection and substitutions were simply wrong when already holding a 3-0 lead against a team that had to come out and attack from the start.
GP – “ Our European doomloop trend suggests that flinging money at the problem does not guarantee a fix.
Subsequently we must explore alternative reasoning for our continual failure”.
That’s a very good point.
I’d be interested to know things like how many of their players from Tuesday were there last season, how has their squad evolved over the past 2 seasons, when did their season end, when did they start preseason training, how many preseason games did they play, how many competitive games did they play prior to Tuesday.
I’d repeat that process for the likes of Bodo,Viking, Slovan Bratislava and other teams who seem able to punch well above their weight.
p.s. I don’t expect you to have the answers and I would hope non-quantitative stuff like this gets analysed to identify patterns.
Gp
Subsequently we must explore alternative reasoning for our continual failure.
Or Gp we can develop our inferiority complex with excusary,that seems a comforting option along with whiturrthihunsdaen.all triggered when our plan to fail crystalizes
:-)
HH
Yes…
Watch the training, I know we don’t see it all …
Right , run between the flags and pass the ball to him over there …
Do tippy tippy in tight little pitch , you know it’s good for your ball control…. Could have fooled me.
Run with the ball and dribble between the flags.
You know the type of shite thay my cubs football lads have been doing fur 40 years…..oh and make sure we all have a joke and laugh as well… hahaha….
The guy Andrade the other night was head and shoulders above any of our players, absolute class… seriously haven’t googled him but would bet he was a cheap option for them..Greta player..
I’ve heard it described repeatedly, that Thursday/Sunday games are a slog. They are a pain in the arse for the support, especially these who travel and those who like a drink on match day. But they’re just the same as Wednesday/Saturday from a playing perspective. Huns, Hibs and Motherwell (unlikely) get through, then most teams will be in the same boat. Also, we’re in the Europa, which is where we usually are, and still make quite a bit more money than the rest. Tuesday’s debacle cannot see us halt in strengthening the squad, where it is sorely needed. Just noticed that the Huns are possibly spending again. Will the mute CEO or the long term interim chairman speak about our repeated failure 🤔
Near twenty years ago, I was part of a GAA squad that had a massive game coming up. Our coaches walked us through every facet of the game and the big day.
We practiced our walk out and warm up routines. We even went through a breakfast dummy run ! We visited and ate breakfast at the same cafe that we’d use on final day. This was all done to keep players calm on the big day – nothing would come as a surprise to us. We even knew who was sitting beside who on the bus and in the changing room !!
Needless to say that every possible game scenario was mapped out in the training sessions, we practiced every drill for every conceivable game state – seeing out the game, chasing the game, a man up, a man down – we all knew the role we had.
It’s alarming for me to realise that my amateur coaches from twenty years ago put more preparations in place than MoN and Shaun Maloney did for a £40 million play off tie.
Players get scared, they lose focus and shape as a direct result of poor preparation. We seen utter panic on Tuesday night because our management team failed in their duties.
onenightinlisbon on 27th August 2026 12:06 pm
“Celtic have an on-field structural problem.”
Anything to say about the off field one we have Paul?
#
It does not matter what anybody says about the board if 53,000 season ticket holders financially justify the board every year, knowing full well what the board are like, and then within weeks they moan about the board? 👀
Surely if the PLC businessmen put a product on the self and the 53,000 customer base buy that product year in year out, then the PLC must be thinking wtf is wrong with these people?
They ask for a product, we supply that product, and within weeks they moan their asses off about the product, and then the same hamster wheel begins next year?! 👀
The outsider would say, “Well that ain’t the board’s fault. It’s the 2 faced customer’s who are to blame. Surely?”
Then the outsider would be witch-hunted and smeared as a “troll racist” by the customer’s who can’t handle the truth because they’re asses will go on fire.
Madra Rua on 27th August 2026 1:03 pm
“It was a disgraceful result, it really was. Four nil up !”
#
And still no one has the integrity or principles to resign, or has the board shown any direction and got rid of yet another management team who have cost the club yet another £40 million CL Bonanza, after the board made an ass of themselves when they brought Wilf in.
And 53,000 fans don’t have the wherewithal ot traditional Timmy savvy to prize themselves free from the season ticket trap despite all of they’re know all bluster and annual finger pointing cringe-fests twice a year at transfer window time. 👀
Then they take tantrums and throw tangerines and tennis balls onto the pitch because they don’t have the balls to boycott season tickets! 👀
Whoever said you can’t fool ALL of the people ALL of the time was a born liar.
An Dún on 27th August 2026 1:22 pm
Near twenty years ago, I was part of a GAA squad that had a massive game coming up. Our coaches walked us through every facet of the game and the big day…..
You got me hooked AD; what was the final score in that gemme ?
An Dún @ 1:22 pm
Great points but, did your team win?
HH
In the Europa this season we will have 6 former winners of the Big Cup. In total these teams won it 14 times and clubs in Europa can boast 32 Big Cup Finals appearances between them.
Milan, Juventus, Benfica, Marseille, Celtic, Red Star, Bayer Leverkusen. Add 3 English Premier Teams including last seasons Conference Winner and The strength of the field is already clear.
We could easily draw 3 former winners of EC and 2 EPL sides plus trips to Turkey and Israel and Austria.
Even in the Conference there is Ajax and several smaller Euro tournament winners like Atalanta and Rangers (if) and other finalists like Monaco.
We are far from the only former champs not playing in the CL this season. Indeed only 11 (which is less than half of the number who have won it) are in it this time.
On the plus side, Celtic are currently 6th in the Europa League table, perfectly placed for direct qualification to the last 16 knock out stage as a seeded team.
JustSayin’CSC
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/europa-league/table
K Schmeichel
A Johnston A Trusty L Scales Á Valle
A Engels C McGregor (c) R Hatate
N Kuhn A Idah D Maeda
K Schmeichel
A Johnston, C Carter-Vickers, A Trusty, J Schlupp
A Engels C McGregor (c) R Hatate
N Kuhn D Maeda , Jota Neves Filipe
These were the teams that dug in quite determinedly versus Atalanta and Bayern.
On paper, there’s no huge gulf in quality between what fielded then, compared to the other night’s disarray, debacle….
Kasper brought experience against Vil’s youth.
AJ is streets ahead of Donovan.
KT is a claimed upgrade on Valle and Schulpp (mibby eye, mibby naw)
Baur is Reo Lite and Benji a better scorer and worse defender than Arne.
Camilo looks each peachy w Kuhn, but Yang is no Jota and Kasper no Daizen.
For me, Arne and Daizen were the difference makers.
They allowed us to start defending higher up the park, protecting moves before they reached our box.
Course, there is another lesser spotted, less discussed key variable.
Our teams in Atalanta and Munich believed in themselves; how did that evaporate ??
EachyPeachy CSC
Sascha Horvath 5’5″
Bang goes that Big Bang Theory
WeeBarraCSC
To progress in C/L is something we can only dream of.We dont have the players to take us to dizzy heights.I wrote,abouf 5 years ago,we do not have the resources that will bring success in Europa league,let alone C/L.Our two European cup finals was a fantastic achievement as was Seville,now it’s a rich man’s club.Players going for mega bucks and earning huge salaries,is not within our limitations.Previous results in Europe stretching back decades have seen us obtain a couple of brilliant victories,but,defeats and some heavy ones at that sums up Celtic in Europe.Sad,but true.
Bhoyjoebelfast on 27th August 2026 2:22 pm
“I wrote, about 5 years ago, we do not have the resources that will bring success in Europa league, let alone C/L.”
The Huns were finalists in 2022! por cierto.
bigchipsuk@1.58pm
That looks suspiciously like an alphabetical table…..
Hope am wrang…..
POR CIERTO
Yes I’m aware of that…my main point was Celtic’s record in Europe.Middlesborough and Fulham have reached finals.