Newco won 3-0, hit the woodwork twice, had an incredible 24 shots on goal and 9 on target. Their stand-in goalkeeper’s only job of the day was the parry a shot from Reo Hatate that was hit into the ground.
Before we get into what went wrong, let’s put some boundaries on it. Cameron Carter-Vickers was outstanding. Kasper Schmeichel was faultless throughout. None of the forwards contributed anything to the game against a defence who scarcely knew each other, but Celtic so seldom got the ball into advanced areas, we need to conclude the substantive issue lies elsewhere.
Just as in the League Cup Final, and in the Champions League against Brugge and Dinamo Zagreb, Celtic were allowed plenty of the ball. In the 12 games since beating Leipzig, we have had at least 60% possession, which is both remarkable and informative, considering the battering we took yesterday.
We have been figured out. Allow Celtic possession in their own half, man-mark in the middle of the park and press when they approach halfway. Get the ball forward early and if Carter-Vickers cannot shut you down, you are in with a chance.
Brugge, Zagreb, Newco (twice), Dundee United clearly understood this. The 0-2 win at Kilmarnock and the 3-0 over Hibs were bizarre results against weaker teams who played the same tactics as Newco. Comfortable home wins over Ross County, Motherwell and St Johnstone flattered Celtic. The wins over Hearts (1-4) and Aberdeen (0-1) I’ll leave open to interpretation.
Newco’s first goal yesterday came from the same source as their second at Hampden (intercepting a Liam Scales pass). Their second yesterday and third at Hampden came from corners – the only two goals Newco have scored from corners in over 200 attempts. Their third goal yesterday was a copy of their opener at Hampden – anticipate a pass, break quickly and score with the second ball. They can successfully replicate plays against us.
It is all about the system.
Man-for-man, yesterday’s full strength Celtic are significantly stronger than Newco’s makeshift lineup. The system is making good players look bad. Watch great teams. 99% of what they do looks easy, because it is easy. It is easy because their system ensures that players in possession have a low risk/reward ratio when choosing a pass. We have substantial evidence that Celtic players’ risk/reward ratio is high. In possession, teammates offer few safe options.
This has two consequences:
1. We face a high volume of dangerous turnovers against better teams.
2. We find it difficult to progress the ball to the front line against almost everyone.
“Individual errors”, “lack of composure”, “poor passing” can happen in any game. When these things are persistent, as they now are at Celtic, and does not reflect players recent ability, the issue is systemic. “It is all about the system.”
On Tuesday I wrote that Brendan is a “master tactician” as he got the job done on tight occasions last year. His system has been exposed repeatedly over the last two months and needs urgent revision. Best of luck to those who want to have a chat to him about it.
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Burnley78- for someone who constantly regales in our recent history of trophies, and constantly berates guys for not supporting the team,a lot can see right through you and Paul 67,a tag team totally against the manager. League Cup won,11 points ahead, good chance of CL progress, great season so far and a possible Treble, I will settle for that.
ORDINARY JOE ,You will be on GFTBs List ,like me he will be saying you are a plant,by the way JOE. I agree on your statement about Nawrocki,Lagerbiele,in fact I’ll add Holm to ,
to play for Celtics midfield, you need consistency and technical ability. Hatate is so inconsistent and has not learned the value of keeping the ball. Often looks like he doesn’t care. I have no idea but body language is important.
Both our wingers take ball to feet and both cut inside 90% of the time. It’s predictable and we lose possession too often from these situations. We have speed in the team yet our ball to feet obsession nullifies this threat. Against that rangers defense we should have been more direct and had Idah on to promote passes through the midfield and get us up the pitch.
We beat ourselves and need alternative solutions on the high press.
I’m hoping this is what we do in this window – KT, Jota type, and another midfielder who has skill, pace and consistency.
Timmy Boy 10.17pm
No list here mate
Just think you post pure pish
By the way … feel free to think the same Aboyne my posts … but I know what team I support unlike your great self
Ordinary Joe is a Celtic fan … he just doesn’t like Celtic
Hope 2025 brings you much joy … especially the stadium upgrades to a stadium you have only visited when away fans are allowed in :-)
Bada Bing@10.13
Don’t waste your time with him.
Mister know all ,who thinks he is better than anyone on this site .
HH
a few nuggets from big baldy last year…
clearly he sees feck all wrong with his treatment of khun in both recent hun matches …
feb last year
https://www.footballscotland.co.uk/spfl/scottish-premiership/philippe-clement-stirs-up-rangers-28609867
https://www.irishnews.com/sport/soccer/philippe-clement-calls-for-protection-for-his-players-after-rangers-shock-loss-FLEKA426TZMJTN3ZM66YLLOP6A/
KT wanted by Brendan and will be here soon.
Timmy Boy
What about the good signings ?
It’s easy being negative …
Enjoy Celtic mate
11pts clear, 12 with the GD, league cup in the trophy room … do the Celtic tour you might see the trophies and … 3pts away fae the CL knockout
But you mump 8 moan away about everything else
Celtic fan …. My hole :-)
Bada Bing
You probably can see right through me.
If you really can then you would see my aim to for long term domination and not just a short term jerk off to a last 16 CL place and opening the door toward financial parity with our rivals in a few years by inflating a wage bill to satisfy the whim of a manager whilst our only domestic rivals gets its act together with a proper strategy such as we employed in the mid noughties. A strategy which enabled our generation of domination.
We can easily spend the money on getting to the last 16 (should be easy with this seasons draw) and just as easy be put out in the Qualifiers next season. The manager goes because his ego can’t take it and leaves a bloated squad of players on high wages that the new guy can’t move on….. whilst our rivals gets its act a leg up on their timeline to catch us.
Personally I believe we need to recognise the writing on the wall which is what our manager has failed to do this past 2 months in my view.
I respect your view that you are happy with this season so far. I hope you are right of course and I am wrong. A happy New Year to you btw.
Fanadpatriot
So you really were happy with the result yesterday and didn’t see it coming ?
b78
given that callum is supposedly the highest paid player, how much do you think br wants to inflate the salaries ? and for how many players ?
and what should be done with any “extra money in the bank” should salaries remain “low” ? do we know what “the rainy day” actually means ?
Burnley78
My first Celtic game was in 1957 ,
One swallow doesn’t make a summer HH
Bada
Leading off the IPWT Brigade 😂
https://x.com/Gerry31D/status/1875205785393017017?s=19
In(provos)
Kieran Tierney
Talks continuing
Outs
Aleksander Bernabei – South America
Odin Thiago Holm- North America
Still busy working away
HH
First defeat in a calendar year no wonder they could see it coming.
BURNLEY… your concern about performances and results – especially against them – are valid. Stark realisation will be prompting BR and team do find ways to do it better; some will be coaching based, other trading based.
But you lost me at “…by inflating a wage bill to satisfy the whim of a manager whilst our only domestic rivals gets its act together with a proper strategy.”
Is it that you really think so poorly of Brendan that you believe he’s only bringing in guys on bloated salaries to, what, indulge an egotistic whim ? I dont know where such disrespect for our truly top-tier manager stems.
Surely he’s simply paying the market rate for guys who are available and who he thinks will properly improve our prospects as a Euro force ? We need a balanced payment structure; big dollars for big players and wee dollars for well-scouted wee prospects and punts.
I believe what motivates Brendan is making us a serious football force; that’s good for us and for him.
As for the bit about ‘domestic rivals getting their act together’… the only act Litigation/Skinto FC can quickly get ra-gither is a clown car show at a circus convention.
The appointment of an ex-Man U exec who presided over one of The Reds most calamitous periods of decline doesn’t automatically show the huns have got anything together.
Parsimonious as they are, Peter and Michael’s exec crew do a grand job and will take a helluva lot of catching.
Aff oot; predicted top of 36 celsius (98 in old money) forecast all this weekend.
If celtic are being reckless with money, I have missed it. The idea the club are gonna become reckless spenders and place themselves into hardship is fanciful.
I would expect the football department has a budget and that has historically been used to sign lots of projects (to spread the risk of signing). However, there has been more misses than hits over the years. Even now we have a large group of youngish players who have been brought in the building, take large sums out and contribute very little.
If celtic wanna be participating in european football at a decent level and upping preformances (needed in new formate) signing quality players is vital. That can only happen if the club relooks at its footballing operations and adjust accordingly. It’s not about moving away from signing young players with talent, it’s about getting a better balance over youth and experiece in the squad.
ORDINARY JOE ,Apparently you really don’t know me ,I’ve been a Season Ticket holder for over 30yrs ,I had a triple bypass surgery in2019 along with a collapsed lung I ended up with COPD,Last season was a struggle for me to attend home games,this season I still renewed I pass it on now and again to old bhoys,I’ve been a Celtic Supporter for over 70 odd years.
tbhoy163
the rebels of celts for change and save our celts still attend the games too…
you are in good company – hail hail
A bit late in coming to this commentary feast, but IMHO I think it’s a mixture of systemic and individual failure that’s the problem. Six goals scored by the same opponents in a matter of weeks tells you something BIG TIME. Clemens adopted a strategy at Hampden that worked, but not just enough so he tweaked it to take more advantage of Celtic’s predictable tactics- this time Celtic didn’t even have three shots on goal never mind three goals because of Clemens tweaks – this was predictable. Unfortunately, Brendan is stubborn or was he overconfident? Did he not realize that Clemens’ lot would be much more aggressive at Ibrox and their fans would test the players psychologically? Hatate is too inconsistent to start games these days as is Liam Scales. Calmac is easily nullified too by close marking and we have no answer to that – it should leave more space for another aggressive midfielder. Unfortunately, PB had an off day.
Please let’s not go for Tierney – he will make us all happy we brought him back but after a couple of great performances he’ll be out injured for 6 weeks or more and miss crucial games. He’s just not wort h the money. He’d be better off in Italy or France than the very rough SPFL. Let’s stick with Valle, Trusty, Engels and Bernardo and Idah up front to start for a while. Let them get to know each other better and improve and gain confidence by playing.
https://youtu.be/YBRrqvFmXfg?si=v0zDLBKKCUjRVIwo
Some decent advice on the link above bhoys.
Brendan will look in the mirror this morning with his thoughts having permeated since Thursday evening. He will have had input from John Kennedy and Calmac and start shaping the evolution. It will probably be a tweak , one or two player changes initially for the St Mirren game. There will need to be variations as we go through January as we have important games in three competitions.
Outwith this he will discuss matters with Dermot Desmond who will listen and offer his thoughts in a psychological safe space. I can imagine Ross Desmond will be on the fringes of the conversation a very clever , level headed man who is very passionate about the club as well.
He will not go to the bent out of shape chairman or listen to a couple of spoilt brats.
Three Irishmen doing their best to work through this with support of Nicholson & McKay who were in Ireland 3 weeks ago.
I wonder if it’s the three Irishmen at the helm of the club that’s causing the toys to come out of the pram. The myth of the Lawwell dynasty is over with Marks gardening leave expiring. He certainly ain’t no Wayne Rooney as he takes every cent from the club despite his huge financial impact in the club. There is a festering sore here and it needs to be addressed in the summer.
KTF !
Looking forward to Sundays game and to see our reaction to Thursdays humiliation.
Aside from that , seen very little condemnation about the Huns “Tifos” .
Quoting parts of banned songs .
What’s next .. “ up to our knees “ “ the famines over “
Time for some folk to grow a pair and call this out ,
Be very careful outdoors today ,like an ice rink out there🫤
LUCKY CODY @ 8:28 AM,
Yes, you may well be getting to the cruix of the matter.
It is clear from the Lawwellites input on the blog, that deep resentments remain in a split Boardroom.
It was very interesting that they choose Dublin as the location for the recruitment planning meeting.
POV: There is far too much back scratching, nepotism and secret societies that are involved in Scottish business practice for my liking.
Hail Hail
Delighted to see Dane Murray coming back. Played every week for a decent Queen’s Park, so, hopefully his injuries are a thing of the past. Looked a decent prospect when he was a young Whippersnapper, thrown into the early games of Ange. Good luck to him and Johnny Kenny. Hopefully, KT will complete the trio returning.
Lots of interesting views offered during my long read-back (family dominated life for last few days!)
Too many different opinions to address them all so I will just reference something I have not seen on here (may have missed it of course). Gutted as I was to lose to the Hun, for the first time in ages, I then recalled how I felt after MoN’s first game at Ipox after the 6 – 2 game that season. The 5 – 1 doing we got that day was a really sore one, but Martin marshalled the troops, got them back to winning ways and the rest, as they say, is history.
If we pick up where we left off in December, motoring into the rest of January and beyond, we will soon have the smiles back on our faces and a wee spring in the step. Oh, and for the rest of this month (and beyond) I will still wake up a Tim, and not a horrible, hate-infested follower of a Deid Club.
Ave Ave
League Cup Final: 2 teams trying to win a trophy.
JAN 2nd: one team playing for 3 points the other playing for own and their managers liveleyhoods
if the Huns lost they knew that In-Clement was “oot the door” along with some of his players. What greater incentive do you need to fight for your job.
Having said that, that was the poorest performance for a long time and I blame Peter Lawell & Paul 67 for allowing Brendan to take over.
My 1st game was cup final replay in 55, worst defeat 4-0 against Thistle at Hampden
This century, happiest years of supporting CELTIC and longs may they continue.
67? Merchant Navy sailing in to Liverpool,only jock on board, Saw game on tv “Happy as Feqq” HH
Good morning all from a 19 degree scorching Tenerife.
Unfortunately our time here has come to an end.🤬 flying home later.
Be back in October and Xmas after a wee wedding in Turkey in the summer.
Now what’s all this cold weather I am hearing about back home.
D. :)
Stephbhoy67 you missed £20 million on Engle’s and Idah.
Jury is out whether this is reckless. It does parallel pre ragers 1 demise. B67 has a point. We should not speculate to accumulate. Plenty of glory hunter teams out there. I will be happy if we win the treble this year and replace some of our peak players with quality prospects that don’t cost £10M each. Our season tickets must be about £25 million. Think about it.
David66
You still here tomorrow for the game .
. I’m staying in Adeje
HH
You know all this talk of not wanting KT,he might get injured.I remember the most injured player,still playing for us now,never off the treatment table for a few seasons,James Forrest.I am sure everyone remembers.Going to break honours record this season.
Players get injured,some are lucky,some not.Anyone thinking that KT will not get a fine tooth comb medical from Celtic,are up the Lum.
My favourite topic,Jota.Why are we not in for him?.Best winger we had since Jinky.Reports say,BR wants a winger.This guy can play both sides brilliantly.Jota is suffering the same malaise as Paddy Roberts.Forever homesick for a club he loves.If he was just average player,no problem.But he is not.He lit us up.
“rangers” fan media seem to have decided that Clement is once again a tactical genius , seemingly a number of Celtic fans have arrived at the same conclusion after Clement manged his first win over Celtic at the 7th attempt to narrow the gap to a mere 11 points. Funnily enough it seems to be the same posters who have a grudge against our manager. Burnley 78 calls out posters on a regular basis for “not enjoying ” Celtic yet criticises a manger who won 3 trophies in 2024 whilst remaining unbeaten at home all year , seems somewhat harsh to me.
Turkeybhoy I agree that Jota would be a no brained if at all possible. I would really like to be wrong on KT but a premium for a player with a proven long term injury pattern is a no imo. We need to keep on finding nuggets at the beginning if their careers and coach them the Celtic way.
But we also need a mix of some experience.
D :)
THE HAND OF GOD @ 11:05
Correct,only thing I can add;
For it’s a GRAND OLD TEAM….