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
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— Paul John Dykes (@PaulDykes) November 23, 2017
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434 Comments- Pages:
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DD
Hopefully Sunday will help ease the memory.
TTR
Think we have enough to hammer Motherwell on Sunday.
Looking on the bright side.
Last night’s unlucky defeat will have released some of the pressure building up on our 64 and counting run.
Now, I bet you all feel better already.
SFTB,
As I said earlier, Celtic are not Sweden. They didn’t have to reinvent themselves in order to choke Italy.
I also stated that you couldn’t compare the CL climate that Strachan and Lennon operated in to today’s financially super doped model.
Right,so we’ve won the league(and everything else) at the end of last season,what do we look for right away? How many qualifiers to get into the CL? Aye,that CL so many are moaning about because we got gubbed by a team with three forwards costing c.500 million pounds sterling !
I believe in miracles but I don’t believe Celtic are going to finish in front of PSG and BM.I hope we can edge in front of Anderlecht and get into the Europa League.And that’s only when I see the draw made!
It’s a league system and the results so far mean my ambition can yet be filled. I am a happy bunny (as opposed to clapper) and will be there to watch the Bhoys against the Belgians,as I will be against Motherwell,Brechin,Sevco and any other team we are playing.Why? Because that’s what Celtic supporters do! Doesn’t make gubbings any easier to take but you’ve got to take the rough with the smooth.
GORDYBHOY64: Condolences on your loss.RIP. Josephine.
Thanksgiving Day over and a wee read back.
Perspective.
A mere 18 months ago we were ecstatic as we welcomed Brendan to Celtic.
Now it seems that a number are ready to start throwing brickbats and abuse at him.
I didn’t see the game as I explained yesterday evening.
Regardless, I have complete and utter faith in Brendan.
He has raised us from the Deila doldrums.
He has brought back enthusiasm and excitement to the support.
He has added verve and skill to the stodgy side that won 2 titles before his arrival.
Our key objective as a club is not only to win titles, but to win them in style.
Win them The Celtic Way.”
Brendan and his back room team have delivered.
In spades.
We could never in our wildest imagination dreamed how well he has delivered.
Yet some are reproaching him for his “tactical prowess.”
Prowess that has replaced the pragmatic oftentimes ponderous tactics of his predecessor.
Prowess that has filled Celtic Park with fans and admiration.
We were starved of creativity and guile before.
Brendan has brought it back along with confidence and Invincibility.
My personal tactical acuity amounts to the square root of zero, and I suspect most if not all posters are in the same boat, bailing.
I bow to the obvious expertise of Brendan and welcome his stance and adherence to playing the game The Celtic Way.”
Si Ferry Meets…Frank McAvennie …
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lWA_eOUuzPw
HH
INVINCIBLE ‘GG
Damn right!!!
Btw,every time I get an intrusive pop-up advert,that product goes on my personal banned list.
I doubt I’m alone in this,and high time companies woke up to it.
Guinness had better not try it,btw…
For instance,”Game” are out of the game,far as I’m concerned.
So far WGS’s European record is superior to BR’s
But then again he is a proddy
Probably doesn’t even go to mass
And still has a yogurt lying in his fridge
CELTARELLA
BR is bringing culture back to the football we play,not to the dairy products we consume.
How you keeping,ya stirrer? Surely you must be happier with the type of football now than ten years ago.
BMCUW
Yes I am happier. However, Europe is Celtics mantle not gubbing the Huns which most on here express. Unfortunately it’s worse than that. Just as corrupt monopolies with no competition is the logical conclusion of capitalism, global football has similarly succumbed. The game is a bogey. It is no longer sport. It’s like formula 1.
CELTARELLA
Agreed,Europe is where we should be aiming at,where we will judge success or failure. But let’s not forget that we have to work our way up the rankings to do that.
The way the CL is structured works against us from the off,and our co-efficient-and standing-in Europe has taken a kicking in the last decade.
Of course I want us to beat the huns,though I’d prefer that they had been buried in 2012. I want us to beat everybody! BR managed that in one year in Scotland,I think he deserves the time to get it right in Europe.
Meantime,barring a disaster,we have an EL tie after Christmas,probably against a top side. But it won’t be PSG,and it won’t be 12-1.
I’m happy to gauge his progress on that. And I expect progress next season too.
Bobby yon celtrella fella sounds awfy like a hurtin Hun troll. Being on here will only harm him more. Have pity.
I lost a tenner on us winning or drawing but it was a well spent tenner. I was dreaming away hoping we could be David against Goliath. For 2 minutes I was in ecstasy. At the end my crystal palace colleague reminded me that the first 2 minutes are the best. I agree. Not at all worried about that score. Dreaming on. In Europe after chrimbo. BR is here for ten in a row. It’s great to be a Celt. First Cup of the season in Sunday. Mon the hoops.
Hello again all you young rebels.
Just back from our wee jaunt round the Bass Coast and what
a lovely part of the world but finding internet was a nightmare
especially when you are dying to know the Celtic score, and
when i did find out my wee princess was less than amused when
i turned towards the Bass Straits and shouted ” Tongs ya Bass ”
childish i know but it made me feel better :-))
EDDIEINKIRKMICHAEL is presently touring South Australia heading
for Adelaide but promises to be back for our big day in the park a
week on Sunday, don’t suppose either of us will be thinking about
the PSG score that day lol.
H.H Mick
Good morning CQN from a cool, dull and damp East Devon .
Let’s be realistic here, our objective is to get to the CL group stages, anything above that is a bonus. Hail! Hail!
Good morning friends and a Big Happy Friday from a cold and frosty, windscreen-scrapey East Kilbride. The 4th trophy won under Brendan in 17 months is only 2 sleeps away ;-)
Once more into the breach comrades
BLANTYRE TIM,
I’ve been done for a “Breach”
HH
“CELTARELLA on 24TH NOVEMBER 2017 5:02 AM
So far WGS’s European record is superior to BR’s ”
You should really compare like with like. How did WGS`s side do against PSG, for instance?
Cheerio for now. Golf awaits.
JJ
TAURANGABHOY on 24TH NOVEMBER 2017 5:55 AM
Bobby yon celtrella fella sounds awfy like a hurtin Hun troll. Being on here will only harm him more. Have pity.
………………….
TAURANGABHOY and BMCUWP..
You might be right mate..I dunno….but this CELTRELLA guy posted on here after the match on Wednesday night/ early Thursday…that many of us on here were ” PSYCHO’s” ….just because most of us were STILL showing support for Celtic.after PSG gubbed us.
He should have been warned by The Mods at least ?
He’s might not be a Hun….but he aint no Celtic supporter.
HH
COWIEBHOY on 23RD NOVEMBER 2017 9:44 PM
Liked your idea of an alternative to the CL except I wouldn’t link it to the Elite league. Let’s set it up as a distinct competition which stands or falls on its own merits. Leave the elite clubs stranded forever to play each other every season and see how quickly their own fans would get bored of that.
I keep hammering this point – they (Uefa and the elite clubs) need us more than we need them. Why? Because without the rest of Europe’s champions participating, the CL is no longer a pan-European competition and would soon lose its appeal to TV companies and corporate sponsors. The sooner the rest wake up to this inescapable fact and act as a united bloc to force real change in Uefa’s premiere competition the better it will be for all.
The way things are going I can see football in Europe going down the road of NFL with two conferences where the winner play each other at the end to decide the eventual winners.
BLANTYRE TIM,
” BREACH”….I know what you meant mate ( Universal Credit Issues ?)….however I should clarify that I was indeed charged with a “BREACH” some years ago and appeared in Court.
Not only did I prove that the two arresting officers were lying thru their teeth to the Court…I gave the Judge the real story ( I added some colour to it)…..he was almost in tears as he Admonished me !
My “real” story was that good….I was nearly Greetin myself !
HH Mate
Big Jimmy
Doesn’t surprise me in the least :-))
With 5 British Cities NOT being allowed to compete for “The European City of Culture Award” cos of feckin BREXIT……….
Maybe ALL British Clubs ( including The Celtic )…will be banned from European competitions very soon also…due to BREXIT ?
IF that were to happen…all those on here and elsewhere would be the 1st ones greetin and moaning about Celtic not being allowed to play in that corrupt UEFA CL….as obviously we would be missing out on UEFA money etc.
For Celtic to continue to prosper we MUST be in that corrupt CL at least for the money….” IT IS WHAT IT IS”, Sadly.
HH
BLANTYRETIM IS PRAYING FOR THE KNOX FAMILY on 24TH NOVEMBER 2017 8:02 AM
Big Jimmy
Doesn’t surprise me in the least :-))
………………..
What bit doesn’t surprise you BT…………the bit about the two Polis lying ?
HH
MELVIN UDALL on 23RD NOVEMBER 2017 9:11 PM
………
Well said that man !
I have always accused the Huns and the Hun support of having ” very short memories” for DECADES whenever I have came across them ” OLDCO and Newco”………….some so called Celtic fans on here ( and maybe elsewhere) don’t WANT to appreciate what we have with Brendan and this current Celtic Squad….if some of them found a FIVER in the street…they would be moaning and greetin that it wasn’t a TENNER !
HH
Good mornng,
I do not buy into “ we cannot compete against the elite of football. Possibly away from home I grant you , but at Parkhead we should and can match anybody.
Against BM at home we.competed and were extremely unlucky not to come away with a point. We are a team of internationals for goodness sake..
What was the difference. : In a word belief.
Our heads were re high, we had commitment, belief and the correct attitude. The crowd responded and became part of the fight.
L
Would CG have saved some of the seven goals against domestic opponents.
I totally believe that raising our game requires physiological guidance and toughness more so than any physical coaching.
HH.
BATEEN BHOY on 24TH NOVEMBER 2017 8:22 AM
…………………
Naw mate I never got the Key, although I went back to McCuills the very next day after the Hoot in the hope that maybe the cleaner had found it ?
As I said before..it’s no a big deal as it was the key to my residents car park barrier….and I don’t drive anyway, but I had it with me that day at the Hoot as I had promised to give it to a certain pretty local barmaid, to save her from paying for parking her car whenever shes on duty behind the bar….where my motives “Sinister” ?
Damn right they were…as she’s a looker !
ONLY JOKING mate !
I’m trying to get a copy from a neighbour just now to hand over to the lovely barmaid, and give her a nice surprise ?
As for CELTERELLA……..The latter part of your post might be the correct assumption !
HH
Let me stress…I aint feckin happy about getting gubbed 7 – 1…..but given the difference in finances “it is what it is”, although we don’t like it, however…………..
IF Celtic were gubbing teams by 4,5 or 7 goals every week, EVERY one of us would be saying well done Celtic, but at the same time acknowledging that finances and being able to afford better players and coaches etc, might have a LOT to do with it.
IF Celtic gub Mudderwell by 4, 5 or indeed 7 goals on Sunday…EVERYONE will say that it’s because of the difference in finances…better players etc etc…….so some of us need to get feckin real about the Bayerns and the PSG’s of this world…..
Personally, I am hoping that Celtic steamroll this Mudderwell mob on Sunday by 6..or 7…..and IF that should happen will ANY Celtic fans be moaning ?
Don’t think so.
HH
Bateen bhoy like Jimmy says came on straight after the defeat on the wind up. If he’s not a hurtin Hun he is neganon in disguise. Jobo onwards to our next BR trophy. Four in a row. Hail Hail
Word of The Day
paralipsis /ˌpærəˈlɪpsɪs/
noun (pl) -ses (-siːz)
1. the suggestion, by deliberately concise treatment of a topic, that much of significance is being omitted
2. a rhetorical device in which an idea is emphasized by the pretence that it is too obvious to discuss, as in there are many drawbacks to your plan, not to mention the cost
Word Origin and History for paralipsis
n.
1580s, from Greek paraleipsis “passing by omission,” from paraleipein “to leave on one side, pass over, leave untold,” from para- “beside” (see para-(1)) + leipein “to leave” (see relinquish ).
KTF
BATEENBHOY
I can put you out of your misery re CELTERELLA.
Definitely one of the good guys. Though sometimes I think TAURANGABHOY and BIGJIMMY are right about him!
Couldn’t agree more with the analysis. BR must learn how to learn. Adapt and we will survive longer in Europe; more of the same will be more 7 goal hammerings that will do zilch for the faith and confidence of the players. Change is a must.
For those who have not had enough misery this week, there is a wee clip of the so-far unattached (Go Figure!) footballer, Derk Boerigter. Apparently his nickname was not Sicknote but “The Cannon”.
Dirk Boerigter 4 m 10 secs into the dance music clip