Very pleased we appear to be on the verge of signing a central defender, especially one who at 24 (Erik Sviatchenko), should be very much in his prime. The previous two seasons each brought excellent defensive performance records but things fell apart from the very start of this season – way before Virgil van Dijk left.
The reasons for the are varied. Jason Denayer left to be replaced by Dedryck Boyata. Dedryck is more settled now but he was well short of Jason’s standards early on. Still is. We have also regressed in the full back positions. Emilio Izaguirre’s decline has been gradual but clear. 18-year-old Kieran Tierney makes fewer mistakes and (I think) poses a greater physical challenge.
Then we have Mikael Lustig. Mikael has always been a favourite of mine; as recently as September I regarded him as our best defender, but I think he’s been well off his best for most of the season. He has been regularly caught in the wrong position and his distribution is often a possession-losing lump upfield.
Craig Gordon would be first to admit his form is nowhere near where it was last season, when he almost single-handedly was responsible for us reaching the Europa League knockout stage. The questions for Craig are what’s going wrong and can it be fixed?
Think back to the latter days of Artur Boruc’s time at Celtic. Artur has gone from having Bayern Munich scouts at Celtic Park to watch him to a guy we sold without fuss as a backup for Fiorentina for £1.2m. Whatever it was he had, had gone. I thought he was finished. Six years later he’s at something approaching his best at Bournemouth.
Craig Gordon has the best part of 4 years on Artur. He has time to get back on form.
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TCR
The first half fae Dingwall was better than that fae Anfield.
Hope you are well, Fae a green and very white Dalmuir. :)
Hail Hail
We need another striker.Anything happens to Griffiths we are in bother.
Hun end 1960 …………………………gubbed 1-5
Is Stoksey playing for hibs ?
No snow here DD.In fact,its not a bad day at all.
Hope yer well too fella.
BURGAS HOOPS on 17TH JANUARY 2016 3:01 PM
Hun end 1960 …………………………gubbed 1-5
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bloody hell-no wonder my Dad’s a happyclapper wi memories like that to haunt him.
3) I think Boyata has the making’s of a defenders defender, a bigger version of Enrico Annoni. Deploy him as a marker, don’t ask him to build the play, and he will be a good solid player for us.
Celtic in majority of games in Scotland have most possession. We build from the back if any CH can’t do this they’re not good enough. Football is moving on just clearing your lines isn’t good enough.
Canamalar
According to BT the deal ain’t done yet.
1- 5 in 1960.?
John Kurilla – Shudder !
St Stivs,
That picture is of the deid team’s end at Celtic Park, in the early 60s.
SOUTHOFTUNIS
Nae place for a 19yo rookie centre-half in a game like that.
Having said that,he might to this day make you shudder. He,along with his Colchester team-mates,probably has the same effect on Leeds fans!
Good to see a new defender coming in. As usual with Celtic, it creates a paradox. Efe is playing well! He is likely to be the casualty. If he drops out of the team altogether then his time with us is probably up. Pity, because I’d like to see him tried in midfield as a defensive mid.
The evidence on our new recruit is, to be honest, mixed. His team’s defensive performance in their domestic league was excellent. Eric clearly contributed to that, plus he is the team captain, so maybe we can expect leadership. On the otherhand, in Europe, Midtjylland conceded the same number of goals as Celtic in the Europa Group stage. Just as credit isdue to ES in the domestic league, so too must responsibility be accepted for European performance.
Like everyone else, I look forward to new faces, but I feel that personnel is not the basic problem. The two basic problems, imho, are A) the team shape or lack of, and B) square pegs in round holes, including selecting under performing players.
Anything else is merely arranging deck chairs as the ship heads towards the berg.
Rebus
SOT,
Who was saying it was a 5-1 game to the deid team? I have obviously missed something.
By the way, Falkirk and Hibs game is poor fare.
REBUS67
It was a very strong EL group they were in. And they qualified from it.
But I take your point,they sure shipped some goals.
Rooney, yippee!!!!
KD or Best
Need to go with the Belfast Boy.
Best had everything 2 footed, great in the air , sublime control and passing and nae bum tackler either.
Bollocks,watched this dross for far too long and nipped out for a fag.
Even missed the replays!
Paul 67
Delighted the Celtic board continue to back our manager with cash, and are allowing him to chose from Scandanavian choices, and clearly planning for another CL campaign next year.
We’ve lost two good CB’s so signing another one makes perfect sense, and Erik Sviatchenko another leftie, could be our Daley Blind.
I agree that Emilio Izzaguires performances have been in decline, but only because has been continually more and more exposed, and he was never a great defensive full back even in his first season.
Mikel Lustig is suffering from the same fate in his first sustained spell of fitness after all his time at the club.
Full backs that are encouraged and coached to attack ‘at all costs’ will all suffer from over exposure, ( including young Keiran Tierney ) at some stage, and will fail to cover the pitch, or mark up.
This problem won’t go away under the present system which requires a full revision for European games.
Onwards to the treble with Ronny CSC
JERRY CORNELIUS
Agreed,mate.
Loved KD to bits when he was with us-but my Dad and I never had a fantastic night out with him.
The one we had in Detroit wi Best will live long in the memory. And not just ours…
Btw,he could tell a tale as well as he could drink back then,79. Great company wi no airs and graces.
Heavy snow forecast tonight
Judith Ralston CSC
BOURNESOUPRECIPE
Playing with two at the back is the way forward!
Not a good idea though because without a covering midfielder the results are plain.
The last time Wayne Rooney scored at Anfield, Ronaldo still had blonde highlights.
Bobby murdoch,
Agreed a tough group for them. Tangentially, it will be interesting to see how our masters, Molde, get on against Seville. If they win, should we feel better?
Rebus
I recall he singlehandedly beat Scotland in 67 or 68 .Big Tam G applauded him off the park at FT.
BSR
…And his namesake was still slim. :)
From Midtjylland to Mighty Celtic – Welcome to Paradise Erik!
BOURNESOUPRECIPE
I’ve had some blonde highlights in my time too.
The memories keep me going nowadays…
BMCUW
The system needs changed for Europe especially ( see my last line )
It’s not rocket salad and is easily adapted for cover with one of two full backs tucking in, and forming a back line of three.
If is was up to me it would be much more defensive, but I think defensive coaches are a rare breed and unpopular at the moment where nobody admits to wanting to park the bus type football.
REBUS67
IMO,no. No point dwelling on the past,what might have been,etc.
We were poor far too often and from a good position many times.
Let’s hope we’ve learned.
BMCUW
It is a good job that like me, you have a loooong memory. ;)
Hamiltontim
Just been reading back over last blog and saw your comments regarding the Minx’s Bhoy being put off a bus on Friday night along with a large number of young Celts despite him informing Police that he had no money, shelter or operational phone. This beggars belief in such cold weather and these kids so far from home.
I can remember a case from many years ago involving the Edinburgh police which resulted in a man’s death. He had been drunk and abusive towards his wife and the Police were called. Instead of arresting the guy, the Police drove him to the opposite side of Edinburgh and dropped him off on the outskirts of the city to make his way home and to give him time to sober up. The alcohol in his blood lowered his temperature on a freezing cold night and the guy became tired, fell asleep and froze to death. There was an enquiry into the matter which established that this was a common practice among Edinburgh police when dealing with drunk and disorderly punters. Apparently none of them had the brains or common sense to realise the dangers they were placing these people in.
Friday night’s situation that you described could have ended the same way for one of these kids. Somebody shoul point this out to Dundee Police authorities or whoever monitors their practices.
I suppose that those of you describing today’s fare from Anfield as dross will be advising Celtic and the support against any future offer to join the EPL until the standard reaches the dizzy heights of the fare on offer from the much vaunted SPL
BMCUW,
I look forward to you posting something that i disagree with!
Have a good day(or evening).
Rebus
Jurgen Klopp is funnier than Brendan Rodgers.
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on 17TH JANUARY 2016 1:46 PM
MIKE IN TORONTO
He thinks he’s beyond reproach because he’s only expressing his opinions.
Meantime,he’ll be down the boozer regaling his coterie with how he’s got the blog in a tizz as usual.
I just scroll and ignore. Personally I think if we all did that he’d wrap it eventually.
But I can well understand why people find that difficult. It took me long enough!
***
BMCUWP …. I generally do scroll by inflammatory posts, but there has to be a certain standard of, if not courtesy, then decency ….
I do believe that Hamiltontim is owed an apology for that post. If the author will not apologize to HT for that post, then I shall.
HT, you posted in good faith expressing a concern about your family (the fact that you would have that concern is troubling in the first place). You did not deserve such a reply, and as someone who posts on this blog, please accept this apology.
Leaving aside the issue as it relates to HT, the expression that was used has no place on any site with which I would wish to be associated. I will be asking P67 to remove that post.
As for the post itself, I will be asking P67 to have it removed, as I believe that it reflects poorly on CQN as a whole.
Hibs denied a stonewall pen
Mickybhoy1888
To be fair most modern football matches are dross.
Style has been remove due to finances and dull coaching.
The mantra of possession over everything makes for lots of boring sideways and backwards passes.
The chances created in games nowadays are few.
Entertainment has been sidelined for financial rewards.
The game is on a very slippery slope with football having lots of competition for future audiences.
THEORIGINALSADIESBHOY
I described it as a reckless disregard for public safety. Which it was.