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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CELTIC40ME @ 8:02 PM,
But we didn’t draw the game, we won the game on penalties didn’t we?
Hail Hail
2 degrees tomorrow, sleet all afternoon, really poor conditions again, it will be a slog.
i dont care about a performance or to be entertained, just get a result please.
ibit
that game finished a 3-3 draw.
From St Andrews Day through to playing St Johnstone at the end of December
Celtic won 5 and drew 1 SPL games
Won the League Cup (third trophy of calendar year)
Drew away in the Champions League
Anybody, and I mean anybody disappointed with that needs to find another club to support…
Because the one thing you are not doing is supporting this one
CHAIRBHOY on 4TH JANUARY 2025 8:04 PM
You sound like Clement
CELTIC40ME
We didn’t get beaten by Brugge, Zagreb or Rainjurz twice either ( no Cluj Malmo or even an Artemedia in there.)
We, not you perhaps, are debatably watching the best footballing Celtic side since MON, and have just won the first trophy of the season and sit 11 points clear in the only League in town.
Generally we have broken Sevco into a rebuild a year, very nearly every year since 2012, and even have a resource big enough to withstand fairy story cataclysmic retrenchment. Next thing you known we’ll be able to sign and re salary players we sold for £25M
What a time to be alive CSC
CELTIC40ME @ 8:13 PM,
There have been eight managers of R2ngers during Brendan Rodgers spells in charge of Celtic…
Hail Hail
chairbhoy
Eight managers?
That sounds like systemic failure to me….
BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 4TH JANUARY 2025 8:16 PM
You know enough about me to know that I’m the last person to need to be told to appreciate our success. I’d like to think years of arguing with the haters the moaners and the minshafters to prove I’m not in the least bit entitled. You’ve probably forgotten but one argument a long time ago led to you offering to fight me outside the ground.
Brendan Rodgers Celtic plays as good football as any team I’ve seen, less effective but easier on the eye than MON’s and without the luck of having Henrik in the side. At its best that is. It’s also capable of some very poor and ineffective football, as we all saw last season when I genuinely thought we’d lose the league. It’s not very often, and Brendan did turn it around last time but I think there are signs that this team is heading that way. We’re easier to stop, and we haven’t been beating better teams, drawing four out of four isn’t good enough for Celtic. And Ibrox the other day was a complete failure, really bad.
I think there’s a debate to be had, without being told to be quiet and just appreciate all the success.
CELTIC MAC @ 8:32 PM,
Yes, it would certainly qualify as that.
The fundamentals at Ibrox were flawed from the Clubs inception.
It is a huge task to change that.
It’s why at Celtic we should be so happy that for the 21st century we have ensured there would be no systemic failure by looking after the fundamentals.
It’s led to a Generation of Domination dontcha know:))
Hail Hail
CHAIRBHOY on 4TH JANUARY 2025 8:41 PM
That does sound a bit like entitlement.
Probably a good time for a break 👋
Maybe someone could confirm…
My thoughts were, you can’t change your Champions League squad until the next phase of the competition i.e. after playing your eight games and the League phase is complete.
However the last paragraph in an article in The Celtic Star states…
…“Entering the peak of his career, the best is yet to come. Celtic signing Tierney is a statement signing. Michael Nicholson and Chris MacKay should be aiming to accelerate the deal this month so that he can play in crucial Champions League matches against BSC Young Boys and Aston Villa.
https://thecelticstar.com/tierney-taylor-and-valle-comings-and-goings-at-celtic-park/
Could anyone confirm what the current situation is with adding players to our UCL roster this month?
Hail Hail
P67,
im not one for censorship,
but can you ban the word ‘entitlement’ from your site?
it is a meaningless word that gets used on here to abuse other posters because the abuser doesnt have anything to discuss.
Chairbhoy
Can’t play for the next two games, but can if we qualify for the next stage.
Nite y’all
A wee tune for tomorrow, for Brendan and the Bhoys.
Orange Juice – Rip It Up
https://youtu.be/UzPh89tD5pA?si=LhFZyQlbQn9THvpu
It’s good to be a Tim.
Tell your friends, they’ll like it.
Stay classy.
HH
BOURNESOUPRECIPE @ 9:24 PM,
Cheers…
That’s what I thought, wasn’t sure if there was some kind of loophole if we lost players… I.e. Greg went the the star was alluding to but think you are right and they have it wrong.
Hail Hail
Saint Stivs on 4th January 2025 8:06 pm
2 degrees tomorrow, sleet all afternoon, really poor conditions again, it will be a slog.
dont care about a performance or to be entertained, just get a result please.
——-
I agree.
However I am at pesky work and my ticket will be used by a family member. I just want to hear that Celtic got 3 points..
If I was making the effort to attend the game in the conditions you describe then I would want to see a good combative performance playing positive forward entertaining football resulting in 3 points.
HH.
i
Re the Jefte assault on Kuhn, if douglas ross had of been the linesman he would of told the ref in no uncertain terms that a red card was needed for the sevconian!!
Because he has previous!!
It’s up the Brandon and the team to look at what went wrong, adjust personal and tactics accordingly and to bounce back from a poor result. That is the only thing that matters at this stage, all the moaning in the world ain’t gonna change a thing and is not particularly helpful.
See a few folk worried about KT’s injury record and his levels. Injury is an occupational hazard for footballers he might get injuried and he might not, no one knows. However, there is no doubt if KT comes back he will easily be the best leftback in Scotland and will over far more offensively and defensively than what is currently available. He is a quality player who could easily continue to play in a top 3 league. He has played 150 games at the highest level over the last 5 years. That’s about 120 games more than any of our players. I have watch plenty of him over the last 5 years, cause he is one of our own, and he is easily better than anything we have had since he left. He is still able to get up and down the line, he still has great qualities in terms of his positional play, tackling and delivery, if anything his passing and decision making has improved.
I would agree he is unlikely to play 50 games a season but that is no different from most all of our players. Would we have to manage his game time, yes, just like we do most players. Would we need someone else in that position as cover/ development again yes, just like every other position. Could we attract a better leftback than KT. wee recap of the last 5 years and the answer is 100% not a chance and we are talking about a 27 year old man not a 34 year old guy ticking of a bucket list.
Time to come Come home KT
HH
On Thursday’s game I think something WGS once said (although I might have Eric Morecombe wise have not necessarily put them in the right order) sums it up.
The team with players that run fastest, tackles hardest and jumps highest wins.
Surely there can be no debate that team on Thursday was R2ngers. The question is why?
Is it the system? Hardly totally so as man for man we were second in every department .
So what was it?
How about attitude that derives from pre match expectations in some cases of an easy win that leads to a common human trait i.e.. complacency. Anyone who ever played football at any competitive level knows that if they go 14 ahead then the physical effort put in to get you there drops off. Indeed it can turn into show boating.
I mentioned at a competitive level and suggest that was another contributing factor, the competition is to win the SPFL Title. With a 14 point lead is it not at all humanly possible (remember players are human) that some players and staff thought that the title race is already over and that influenced their attitude?.
At what might be entering conspiracy territory, football to be a sport relies on competition, coming out of the game 17 points in front with the potential of that being 20 tomorrow after they play Hibs away( although that is less possible given the lift Thursday’s result might give them, a lot depends on Hibs making themselves as difficult to beat as the St Mirren we play a couple of hours later, or Motherwell or even Dundee Utd at Ibrox .
With a 20 point lead who could think the SPFL as a competition was not over by mid Jan? That is bad for business, try selling the SPFL to any broadcaster as being a competitive tournament supported by a 5million population with players of lower standards than play elsewhere and getting a good price for it. Celtic do not depend on TV income to anything like the same degree as other clubs outside the richest top two. But other clubs are needed to have a competition to sell at all.
That brings in another factor which is the interdependent nature globally of the football industry. It is the reason UEFA have raised the amounts paid to clubs that fail to compete in any UEFA Competition in the form of Solidarity Payments which all competing clubs including Celtic agreed to.
This UEFA report is informative and might show the difference between BoardThink and FanThink.
https://europeanleagues.com/wp-content/uploads/REPORT-THE-FINANCIAL-LANDSCAPE-OF-EUROPEAN-FOOTBALL.pdf
Going back to Thursday after 20 minutes I could not identify one player from the bench that would bring on a different attitude, not one that I thought fulfilled WGS criteria, all good footballers but no “snarl” factor that say Neil Lennon had that would have altered attitudes.
A systemic change is not needed, easier to recruit players with the attitude Celtic need to have to compete in Scottish football and against Europe’s best.
KT is a good example of a player that meets WGS criteria. Don’t change the system or manager , just recruit players who can make it work better or is that a problem for whatever reason for some on The Board?
Celtic4 0 ME,
Good idea to take a break.You were actually showing signs of” Entitlement” when you said 4 draws against bigger pubs was not Celtic.Please come back to carry this idea on at the end of the month.We will be able to actually judge then.Forecasting is not an exact science.
Stephbhoy67 on 4th January 2025 10:12 pm
Spot on.
I would have KT back in a heart beat
I wonder how many pensiones will freeze this next ,maybe week,sitting with one bar on.Minus 10 forecast for large swathes of England.
The Twat in number 10,will not be sitting shivering,nor the Witch who thought this up.
Heartless Bastards.
KT and Jota back.Both side of the pitch would give teams nightmares.If we are going to do this,do it right.Don’t shit out because we spent a pittance last window,if at all.
Remember we had MORs money.
Auldheid on 4th January 2025 10:17 pm some folk forget the quality of our leftbacks over that period included diamonds such as
Taylor, spfl level who is a frustrated midfielder
Kenny, worse than bad
Laxuat, headless chicken
Montgomery, young kid
Boli Bolingoli, scapegoat who did not know how to track runners in behind
Alexandro Bernabei, frustrated winger in leftback
Izaguirre, came in to cover when injuries were an issue.
Turkeybhoy on 4th January 2025 10:32 pm
No net spend in summer transfer window, think about 5 million up on salls vs spend. Looks like bernabei is moving on for 5 million and I expect we will get money back for pamla, around 3.5 million. No reason we can’t get ourselves 2 quality players as well as KT.
I would like a ball playing left winger and attacking midfielder.
…….
Central Government’s are full of rich entitled folk who don’t care about normal folk. The politicians that give a fuck are rarely able to climb the ladder and if they do manage it, they always hit a glass ceiling. Power is more important to those than principles. Most folk don’t even bother voting cause they have been disillusioned and marginalised. The truth is Westminster and democracy does not exist, there is Jo real alternative parties.
Stephbhoy67 on 4th January 2025 10:12 pm
It’s up the Brandon and the team to look at what went wrong,
Who is Brandon?
HH
Auldheid
Agree 100% system is jot gonna make a leftback run past a player or a centreback pass the ball out quicker etc..
An tearmann, i am talking about footballl on a forum about football. Not writing for the times ffs ps our manager
Turkeybhoy on 4th January 2025 10:23 pm
I wonder how many pensiones will freeze this next ,maybe week,sitting with one bar on.
A considerable amount, perhaps even fatalities, disgraceful decision to save £2.6b, other targets where available.
That’s my politics for the year done already….
AULDHEID on 4TH JANUARY 2025 10:14 PM
At what might be entering conspiracy territory, football to be a sport relies on competition, coming out of the game 17 points in front with the potential of that being 20 tomorrow after they play Hibs away (although that is less possible given the lift Thursday’s result might give them, a lot depends on Hibs making themselves as difficult to beat as the St Mirren we play a couple of hours later, or Motherwell or even Dundee Utd at Ibrox.
With a 20 point lead who could think the SPFL as a competition was not over by mid Jan? That is bad for business, try selling the SPFL to any broadcaster as being a competitive tournament supported by a 5million population with players of lower standards than play elsewhere and getting a good price for it. Celtic do not depend on TV income to anything like the same degree as other clubs outside the richest top two. But other clubs are needed to have a competition to sell at all.
*well, that’s what I was alluding to yesterday and of course I was being lambasted for it as being a conspiratorial, wtf look where I live, our noisy neighbours former and soon to be president awarded medals to those of that disposition.
What I was saying is that performance stunk, and it cant just be because 9 players plus subs were below par, and it disnae take a whole slew of players coaches etc being in on it either as all you really need is a compliant manager plus board members, especially if the manager stresses that he disnae coach but only selects the players and tactics.
Then there’s the danger and fear situation of going into a hate filled arena where the possibility of a St Stephen’s Day riot at Celtic Park Belfast in 1948 repeating itself with the hate filled support further fueled with the authorities allowin a beer tent in close proximity to the stadium itself, oh and the same authorities plus judicial system that fail to enforce any and all rules.
Oh and as for the morra at Easter Road who are we kiddin here the home side always Hibs it
Stephbhoy67 on 4th January 2025 11:17 pm
An tearmann, i am talking about footballl on a forum about football. Not writing for the times ffs ps our manager.
Well when reading of pamla-palma,jot-jota alongside Brandon-Brendan take a second and we will know exactly who you are talking of.
Just because its a football forum does not mean you can be intentionally lazy and makes you look dumb when referencing our players only.
Just take a second
HH
If Brendan gets a job at a big club it’ll be zero to do with his skill-set it’ll be because he manages a game on the pitch in whatever way the Celtic directors instruct him to.Or any new, or old directors.
How much£££ did Brendan have on Leicester to get relegated for example?
The keep Stevie G in a job stunt at the 1-0 defeat for us at Ibrox with Callum at leftback, lol Lewis Morgan as a lone striker, lol at Ibrox with tippy tappy pish ensuring zero service, a bit like Kyogo and Maeda on Thursday and hunners of previous times.
And remember that Brendan was recruited in 2016 to create a media circus, to sell the half empty park oot, but crucially, to change the Sevco-Rangers narrative to being all about Brendan, which enabled Celtic PLC to put old Rangers 2012 ticket prices onto the tickets of 2016 new club lol Sevco tickets and cement the same club lie criminality, and the PLC knew that Celtic’s easily gulled all seated era fans would queue up to buy the dodgy as fk 7,000 £49:00 tickets for Ibrox and then like clowns they would sing…
“Your Not Rangers Anymore” like the daft arses that they are. FFS!
Brendan has got sleekit looking out of those ‘make out you don’t get it’ when the team has been sussed eyes!
Eye!
Good Morning Fholk – Grand Day To Be A Tim…
ORDINARY JOE @ 1:05 AM,
You are slipping mate…
You need to get your narrative sorted out.
Brendan Rodgers has zero coaching skill-set but can manage a game to get any result/outcome he wants.
Brendan Rodgers was recruited in 2016 to create a media circus around the “old firm” brand and sell out Celtic Park.
Then he goes and crushes the relevance of the OF by trouncing the Ibrox side home and away on every occasion and winning every trophy.
C’mon – you can do better than that.
You Rodgers Loathers are getting very lazy
Rodgers has zero skill-set
Rodgers will bankrupt the Club
Rodgers is throwing the games
Rodgers is a systematic failure
Seriously don’t be insulting our intelligence – up your game.
Anyways… back to reality… the small matter of a football game…
Celtic 3 – 0 St Mirren
COYBIG
Hail Hail
Ignore the outside noise is always the best advise a good day for footy and blow away the cobwebs I’m expecting the team to play well score a few and march in our procession to the title and treble and I’m confident a couple of first team starters will be added soon onwards and upwards.
Hail Hail
❄️🍀
Looking forward to game today but could be tricky. An early goal would be very helpful to calm any nerves in the stands and on the pitch.
That being the case I hope we start quickly and take a few chances going forward down the wings and the channels to pressure defenders into facing their own goal. No place today for slow build up.
STEPHBHOY67
Well written
Agree on the KT theory
I also noticed the typos
But I choose to read what you meant not what you wrote
67ECW
Burnley78 on 4th January 2025 5:37 pm
Obviously time will tell – but I’m not panicking just yet
Hibs are playing well – could the bubble burst after 3 days ??
67ECW