Congratulations to Brendan and the players, last night’s results makes it virtually certain we will qualify for the knockout stages of the Europa League. This tournament will give us peer-level competition into next year, Uefa coefficient points and could see income hit (drumroll) NINE figures for the first time.
While the wider context of last night was positive, the performance in Paris was tactically abject. In successive seasons we have conceded seven goals away to the top seed in our Champions League group. The total of 12 conceded to PSG this season contributed to them achieving a new record of all-time top scorers in a group stage, despite having only played five games.
I love the football we are watching under Brendan as much as you, but we are singularly unprepared to face opponents who perform at a higher level than us. This issue has nothing to do with our lowly league, or the calibre of players we are able to recruit, or even their endeavours during the game, it is about tactical choices.
Last week I watched Sweden resist Italy for 90 minutes at the San Siro. Sweden were awful, they couldn’t string two passes together. It was an exercise of attack v defence, but whenever the Italians turned one man in a yellow jersey, another two would descend upon him. There was no space inside the box, no overload of unmarked strikers fighting each other to latch onto a loose ball.
The contrast to the acres of space we allowed PSG last night is stark. While this is a great PSG team, one who have a good chance of going all the way in the tournament, this result is exceptional, even for them. No one in French football has conceded as many as seven to them this season, nor did a poor Anderlecht side.
The reason for this is not that the weaker French sides are all better than Celtic, it’s that they pack their penalty box, as we used to do, when facing top teams in the Champions League.
Think back to how Neil Lennon’s team pulled narrow at the back to deny Barcelona, with Lustig, Ambrose, K Wilson and Matthews in defence. Or how Gordon Strachan’s teams twice kept Milan, out for 90 minutes, with defences of M Wilson McManus, O’Dea, Naylor at home, and Caldwell, Pressley, McManus and O’Dea at the San Siro.
None of the defenders Strachan used would get into this Celtic team, nor would Efe, Kelvin or Adam Matthews. The key difference between the respective outcomes is not personnel, but tactics.
I loved the confident way we played for the opening 8 minutes but I also knew what we were in for as soon as PSG started making passes. We are, by a magnitude, not good enough to take the game to PSG in this manner. They found it very easy to carve us open and score, and as soon as the goals started raining in, that early confidence evaporated.
Instead, we played most of the match looking unsure and exposed. Any development opportunities had to be crammed into an 8-minute period, after that, it was just brutal. It wasn’t even down to poor individual performances. In fact, several players did very well, they were just tactically abandoned.
After Gordon Strachan took Cafu, Maldini, Gattuso, Seedorf, Pirlo, Kaka, Inzaghi & Co. all the way, Milan went on to beat Bayern Munich, Manchester United, and Liverpool in the final. Don’t pretend this PSG team are significantly better than that Milan team, because it is just not true (I could argue the opposite). Nor are they better than the Barcelona team Neil Lennon beat 2-1 and lost by the same score.
The key difference between now and then, is that Gordon remained haunted by his first dreadful result as Celtic manager, as was Neil, who was schooled 4-0 by Utrecht in his first season qualifiers, whereas Brendan’s equally dreadful debut result did not impose the same need to learn a lesson.
There is beauty in defending, so let’s learn to do it well.
FRIDAY EVENING ON CQN…
Friday night’s @CQNMagazine Podcast
A CELTIC STATE OF MIND
With Lisbon Lion @Cairney2Subscribe here: https://t.co/7i8rarBBl3 pic.twitter.com/RMjDOVrrKF
— Paul John Dykes (@PaulDykes) November 23, 2017
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I’ve just googled style mile carnival because until I was accused of mentioning it I had no idea why, what and when it was
Thanks Greenpinata but I deal with shite on a daily basis, you have just proved it
Do you present appeals for DWP ?
Thought MacIntyre might have had the violins on after the news about McInnes.
Paul 67
Would you tell Brendan Rodgers to his face that his side is tactically abject?
The same criticism was made of Ronny Deila both of them play high pressing neither did well
in Europe but at least under BR we still punch above our weight which is manifestly shown in the
league table. Reminds me of when my old man told me Jock Stein was a lucky man with all the Celtic players
he inherited when he arrived at Celtic?
Nothing what so ever to do with tactics it was posted on your own forum before the K.O. we’d likely be be punished.
Since we’re so abject at ‘defending’ nobody will ever know it might have been a lot more than seven if we’d ‘parked the bus’.
It really is that simple.
BLANTYRETIM IS PRAYING FOR THE KNOX FAMILY on 23RD NOVEMBER 2017 5:41 PM
Sorry for rant
Hail Hail and KTF
This place is meant to be about Celtic so apologies ⚽️⚽️⚽️
#############
If it wasn’t for people like Br. Walfrid with a charitable conscience towards the poor ,there wouldn’t BE a Celtic.
sumhin to cheer you up,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKIFrPn0m4c
KINGLuBO
Thunder Road
Makes perfect sense. Mark Lawrenson always says as a defender you have to be a pessimist. I don’t think we have enough pessimists.
I did the same analysis after the Barcelona game and the numbers were the same. We are obviously not learning.
The whole “to park the bus or not” is a bit of a red herring. Whichever way you play you need to get the basics of defending right.
You can defend well without parking the bus.
Always been a bit suspicious of footballing philosophies. The greatest manager we have ever had said that you should never ask a player to do something that they are not capable of doing.
It is now glaringly obvious that we do not have the players capable of playing the way the manager wants them to in these European games. It then is the managers job to devise a system and tactics that give us the best chance of achieving a good result. Getting hammered time and time again is unacceptable and so is committing yourself to simply repeating the same same mistakes in the future. DD needs to have a word with Brendan because a refusal to change is going to hammer our “brand” if nothing else.
The late great Tommy Burns was a fabulous player and a tremendous human being but he was a poor manager because he was enthralled to his “vision” of playing the game the way he wanted.
Tommy’s answer to why we weren’t winning things was to sign more and more forwards when it was patently clear that our problem wasn’t scoring goals but our complete lack of defensive nous, culminating in a disastrous loss to a lower league team in the SC SF.
Wim came in and signed a CB and two aggressive midfielders and we won the league, wim made great play of the fact that he spent a lot of time getting us used to playing without the ball.
Brendan has already earned a place in our history but he is not infallible and he needs to change things or spend real money on bringing in quality defenders.
HH
packy bonner is a true souptaker how celtic man can still call them by there old name is a coward and a souptaker disgrace
I see Tony Donnelly is still posting his anti debate, anti intellectual, anti thought posts.
Oh dear CQN.
Oh dear.
Reads like follow follow. Smells like follow follow. Attitude like follow follow (don’t question anything).
To defend well you must be able to tackle
Sticking the wrong leg weakly into a tackle will win you nothing
Defenders are called that for a reason..
You don’t have to have been a coach or have a. badge to know that basic fact
https://twitter.com/stephen4_2/status/933763035621216257
Muhammed Ali at CP
Evening folks,
Tough to watch us getting a tanking last night. Obviously there is a huge gap both financially and in terms of class between the two teams. Thought Paul’s post was pretty much spot on. When you are at a disadvantage to the opposition you have to make the best of what you have and set up accordingly to negate them as much as you can.
I would not have started with McGregor and Rogic in the same team. With the team being up against it, these young lads don’t in my humble opinion have enough defending agility in their game to give us that wee bit of dig and shape in terms of defending when we do not have possession. We then have the situation of Scott Brown and Olivier Ntcham having to cover vast amounts of space in the midfield, which in turn leaves the defence unprotected.
I love Brendan as our manager, he has been a breath of fresh air, a class act for our club. Perhaps a wee re-think for our European games against top opposition. A wee bit more rigid formation in midfield to help the defence. I would like to see us sign a hard man in midfield to take the pressure of Broony. Thought he had an immense game against Hibs in the semi-final of the cup, but could do with a hand as he is no spring chicken. I reckon Sunday could be our most difficult game of the season, Motherwell are a well organised physical side.
BT,
Just seen your comments buddy. Hope you are okay, can’t imagine what it must be like dealing with the UC situation day in day out. Have been reading lately some of the hardship cases this evil policy has brought on unfortunate souls, and it’s absolutely disgusting.
People like yourself who are trying their utmost to help souls affected by this are to be commended most highly.
Keep the faith mate.
HH Dan
Something for my reader, if he is on tonight, to ponder.
Is comparing the C L of this year to the years that Strachan and Lennon walked the Earth of Celtic Park a fair comparison?
Would it be similar to comparing players of different eras?
Who was better, Larsson or Stevie Chalmers?
Tactically, etc., the game may not be too dissimilar, but resources?
Fact is we are never under any real sustained pressure or without the ball in the SPFL – going from Ross County to PSG within a few days is one heck of a step – mind the gap it most certainly is. We can only play what is in front of us on a weekly basis – it is not Cetlic’s fault that we lack real competition – that is not to say we won’t lose games or get knocked out of cup competitions – we are where we are.
But getting beat 7-1 hurts – no matter who the opposition is.
If you can face it go back and watch the goals against us last night and you wll see Craig Gordon playing lke a man with no arms and it is not his first time in Europe either. He in my opinion needs to be rested his kicking also left a lot to be desired.H.H.
Tony Donnelly
Whilst you are one of the addresses my hope is others will read it.
It’s a pity that you don’t read the SFM blog. It might get your dander up enough to do something about changing how it is, but it’s an individual choice. I’d love to see you confront Broadfoot one to one. :)
On the coaching front and as a guy who built an amateur team around a spine of good Castlemilk boys that went up 3 divisions to the top from creation I nevertheless know my place when it comes suggesting what BR should do.
In fact I’ll go further. BR must know that sticking to his philosophy is going to attract criticism so how much easier would it be for him to abandon it for the sake of an easier life?
You have to admire a guy who has his principles and sticks to them at the risk of personal criticism and judgement.
I think his judgement is that over the long term he can build a team that is hard to beat but can entertain as well in the circumstances that Celtic find themselves as a club.
If we were meeting teams of PSG calibre every week then the criticism would be justified, but we aren’t and that is how it is.
GORDYBHOY 64-been reading back and just seen your non football post -sorry for the loss of Josephine mate,and I hope today went as well as can be expected at a time like this.HH
Hypothetical question. Would fans welcome an Arab/ Chinese/ Russian takeover of the club which would stop us getting a doing in the CL?
I would be concerned that this would have a negative impact on our identity
CALL OF JUAREZ
As long as they are good practising catholics I’m fine with that.
Derek McInnes: Aberdeen say Rangers target has told chairman he’s not leaving:bbc website
GORDYBHOY64
Sorry for your loss too.
May Josephine rest in peace.
BT,
As my comment was so soon after your post about UC ; I though it was maybe insensitive to quote a celebration of music , dance and joy to celebrate the start of the festive shopping spree , when so many families are really struggling with the injustice of UC. I realise that you deal with thie consequences of inequality in the real world on a daily basis.
There is no ulterior motive and absolutely no disrespect was intended to anybody.
Gordybhoy64
Missed your original post – sorry for your loss – on this Thanksgiving day then give thanks for the happy times
RIP Josephine
Greenpinata
I never mentioned any celebrations so I’m still not aware of why you had a dig?
AULDHEID
TONYDONNELLY67 on 23RD NOVEMBER 2017 5:53 PM
AULDHEID
I don’t need to read the SFM like them and yourself I have my take on what’s going on in Scotland, and it is what it is, I do what I think is right and don’t need anyone else or tell anyone else what to do, I give the SFA and the SPFL as little of my money as possible, I’m what CFC are a stand alone policy, I do my own thing others do theirs, .
My point is I have my own take on what’s going on, I do read SFM often, and I tend to keep an aye on it.
Greenpinata
Cool pal..
BT
Whatever the intent of UC the reality is the poor are the ones that get hit. I work in my local foodbank and one of the main reasons for people needing to visit is the delay / reduction in benefits. Unfortunately I can only see us getting busier. It sounds as if you work at the sharp end – keep on keeping on.
illegitimis non carborundum CSC
JOE FILIPPIS HAIRCUT on 23RD NOVEMBER 2017 6:54 PM
Craig Gordon was just one of several players who had an off night last night. His kicking though, is an on going problem. Unless he is able to roll or pass the ball to a teammate close to his box, he is hopeless . Long kicks seldom find a teammate and he can’t seem to judge a shorter clipped ball to a man near the line without it going yards over his head and out for a throw to the opposition. It only leads to a loss of possession when Craig has the ball and opponents push up on our defenders.
Philboy
Mibbe our new owners could convert as part of the deal:-)
Just caught a bit of NFL half time show featuring Jason Derulo. Poor man’s Michael Jackson.God help us. Popular music is going down the pan.
For what makes a football player this is worth reading.
http://howtowatchfootball.co.uk/Post/Display/1274?t=the-right-stuff-what-makes-the-modern-footballer
Apart from CB and CF Hold up play and GK distribution I think Celtic meet the position profile.
Where PSG excellent is speed of control , thought, awareness and movement in all positions.
Celtic have the best players in scotland, PSG have the best players on the planet.
I’m waiting for the analysis by Celtic by Numbers.
Cause I think I watched a different game than everyone else last night.
I agree there were many mistakes last night, but that’s what happens when you are put under pressure by better players. We force Scottish teams into errors in the same way.
Where I differ, and I haven’t read all the posts, is in the assessment of 3 players that caught my eye as a I scanned through.
Tom Rogic, Kieren Tierney and Craig Gordon.
Tom Rogic. Some of his footwork when in possession was magic, as usual. He also found passes from the middle to out wide left which opened up space for us. He got caught with the ball many times. Yes he did. Sometimes he was swarmed by PSG players and there was no way out, even for big Tam. Other times he was given a pass (usually by James or Broony) where the chance of him getting possession and being able to pass it were minimal.
Kieren Tierney. I was watching with two sons and a friend. I commented on a number of occasions how Neymar never got past him. Yes, Neymar played on the opposite side of the pitch, but he did come up against Kieren and failed to beat him. Mbape did. Once. Blistering pace and a better starting position. Won’t get criticism from me for that.
Craig Gordon. My eldest son, like many on here and Chris Sutton, have a pre-conceived idea that he is poor at distribution when kicking. Oh yes, sometimes his kick out don’t find a man. There’s a lot of outfielders do that. However, a large percentage do (or at least I think so). The one that grates most with my son is when he kicks it out the park. I believe that is erring on the good side. Under hit it and you are in trouble. Over hit it and it’s a throw-in in an area where there is little danger. Perfectly Acceptable in my opinion.
And lastly. A rant. Those who phrase their solution as Celtic NEED to do… or Celtic MUST do…
Why? With the funds available we cannot compete. And I don’t have a problem with that. Brendan already has us doing what we need to do. Playing football, winning domestically. Anything in Europe is a bonus. Group stages is a huge bonus. Qualifying for Europa by finishing 3rd, should we do so, is beyond a bonus.
Auldheid
That bollocks has nothing to do with football
Donald Park FFS..
Then we wonder why we haven’t achieved anything as a country in the football world..
Stop making it complicated
Seen a post from earlier stating that Celtic had two young players playing in their back four last and referencing Tierney and Boyata. Well Boyata ain’t no spring chicken, he reaches the age of 27 next week, an age when most accomplished footballers are reaching their prime years.
As it was Boyata was the oldest of the four followed by Bitton, then Simunovic and then Tierney.
Btw one of the players that led the four of them a merry dance Mbappé reaches the ripe oldage of 19 next week
While we are on the subject corrupt organisations, happy enough to accept FIFAs best fans award,were you ???
Tobago Street,
If you are lurking, I grabbed tickets for Liam and I to see the TFC game next week …. let me know if you will be going. If so, we really should try to catch up for that drink one of these days.
THE EXILED TIM on 23RD NOVEMBER 2017 7:42 PM
Celtic have the best players in scotland, PSG have the best players on the planet.
———–
Or I could just have said that. Well put.
TET
I agree.
And we will get better.
The next window will, in my opinion, define by how much.
We need a goalkeeper and 2 centre backs, at least.
We don’t need midfielders. We’ve got loads.
Strikers will do if we can hang on to Moussa.
If Paddy and Stuart could rediscover last season’s form, we should make progress.
Brendan needs to sign his defenders, not play those he inherited.