So what did we learn yesterday? Primarily we learned that you can’t replace 8 players from a team which won 0-4 at Tynecastle while leaving the core element of the team in place. It is justifiable to be critical of the performances of experienced key players who didn’t perform, but Wanyama, Brown, Matthews, Miku didn’t become bad players overnight, nor did Tony Watt, what happened is the essence of our team – the system – was missing.
The effort was there but the focus which makes this Celtic team wasn’t. In many ways this was the perfect setup for a Champions League game against a team too many people are telling me we’ll turn over. Our Christmas Cup Final on Wednesday will require every element that existed against Barcelona last month.
The knives are out for Spartak’s foreign players, who are taking the blame for the clubs disintegration since losing at home to Celtic, both in the press and online fan polls. We may see a more Russian looking Spartak on Wednesday. Which will be no bad thing.
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This is a very different and unique season for Celtic, our oldest rivals are dead, our concentration is definitely not where it should be,
we are playing well in Europe,
but not domestically,
our supporters are not showing up and getting behind the team,
some of our so called supporters seem to be bringing there personal problems to the games at Parkhead …
we have brought in Jim McGuinness who should help, and given time all will be well,
Patience please ….
Win, loose or draw..
Kayal
My uncle reckons he’s away from DR to Sevco.
Perhaps yesterday was the last time we will see a much changed team for a cup tie. Although it`s been a while since Celtic had a settled eleven.
I have a feeling the minis will beat Hibs today – hope not but history favours thems
comeonthehibisCSC
SiciliaBhoy
13:40 on
2 December, 2012
Guys we watched some rubbish performances during the BJ era as well
6 consecutive League Cup Final defeats including a 4-1 doing from Thistle come to mind for starters.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Aye your right – our record in the League Cup under Big Jock was truly shocking! We ONLY won 6 during his 13 (-1) years in charge. Only once every 2 years. Personally I think he should have been sacked because of this!
Probably the only thing that saved him was winning 10 League titles (including 9 iar), 8 Scottish Cups and a certain European Champions Clubs Cup!
HH!!
sadauldnostalgicbassaCSC
sunni camlachie
15:27 on
2 December, 2012
ABSOLUTELY …….We are privileged to have been brought up Celtic Supporters and, without a doubt, this young team is progressing admirably well…..HH
“there was a couple of scary moments when Elgin nearly scored”-Billy Dodds.
CultsBhoy loves being 1st forever & ever
15:24 on 2 December, 2012
‘Is Traynor off to work for Newco?’
Or Media House?
Why is a self confessed Hearts fan allowed to referee the Edinburgh derby?
Wonder if Beckham will be wanted joining greengo’s revolution …… Will probably be in dr tomorrow …..LOL
CelticMac
I watched the 67 final hanging from a drainpipe under the North Enclosure – maybe I should have listened to it on the radio
sixteen roads to Golgotha I wrote a considered and constructive comment that emphasized my support for Neil Lennon and the celtic team Your vitriolic and unjustified personal comment sadly explains why I and so many other original CQN posters prefer to lurk and do not post as often as we would like
Its just not worth the hassle
Hail Hail
TMWTL
well they wouldn’t be able to find a Hibs or Celtic supporting ref in the SFA
There is always a tendency to have a debate from an extreme position and then look for the facts that fit.
So we have
mineshafters vs happyclappers
Customers vs supporters
Communists vs Libertarians
Glory hunters vs Celtic family members
Truths are usually to be found somewhere nearer the middle though, rarely, in the dead centre.
There are times when it is appropriate to despair of Celtic’s form and prospects ( the early 90’s was one such occasion) and there are times when we should rejoice (late 60s/ early 70’s) yet we had Celtic fans who remained on either side of the debate during that period. There were fans who found evidence to support their belief that Michael Kelly and Chris White could turn Celtic round and there were fans who were blistering of their criticism of the Lions and Big Jock for the failures vs Kiev (67), Milan (69), Feyenoord (70), Ajax (71), Inter (72), Ujpest Doza (72) & Atletico (74) before we entered our Euro wilderness years from 1975 to 2001.
We feel a part of the Celtic family and share that feeling with most fellow supporters, but we do not get unconditional love and gifts from the Commercial part of the family. If you cannot pay the price of entry for the commercial part of the contract, i.e. attendance at the match, then you do not get in. It is part of the price of our choosing, from the beginning, to try to be a serious player in Scottish football. We were never a public park/ amateur outfit. We always had ambitions to achieve so we had to embrace professionalism, from the off, which meant that the product was priced and we needed moneymen in charge. That has always been the Celtic tradition. We were never a democracy or a social club; we were and still are a commercial club with wonderful fans.
After every defeat we will get down and after every win we get high but some will find it harder than others to express joy or appropriate criticism. The Anhedonists will always fight with the Polyannas.
It always amazes me that the rebel in us sees the Board as the default enemy rather than a necessary evil. The way you frame your thoughts can help you understand why events come about. Even events you do not like or want to acknowledge.
We are in a recession. Crowds will drop. You can foretell ridiculous doomsday scenarios of regular crowds of 10k or you can be realistic and see that our days of regular 55k SB holders was the abnormality rather than the norm and realise that, at times like this, we have done reasonably well to retain SB sales at our current level of circa 40k ( my uninformed guesstimate). Now many amongst that 40k or so are picking and choosing which of the games they have paid for in advance they will actually attend. Celtic will lose out on food & drink sales and Celtic shop sales (though online shopping mitigates this drop) but, compared with many other clubs, we seem to be negotiating the recession quite well with a good strike rate in good player identification to offset the odd Bangura or two.
In every football blog I read, whether Barcelona or Celtic or Cleator Moor Celtic, the fans will delight in slating players for lack of effort and the manager for tactical rigidity and naivety following a defeat. Every defeat must be somebody’s fault because the blame-spreading fan did not foresee this possibility so someone must be responsible for their forecast failing.
If, however, they re-framed that thought and realised that they will, occasionally, lose to weaker clubs no matter how good you are, because form varies, then the individual defeats are less inexplicable. Of course, you can still be alarmed by a repeat pattern of unexpected poor results and we do have a legitimate complaint about domestic home match form in the first half of this season.
However, we also had this problem last year from August to late October and, remember, we rectified it. We rectified it in a more competitive league than we have now.
Neil Lennon and his team may be able to effect the same trick again this year but the negatively-minded may be fearful that it won’t be repeated and we will never get a settled run of positive home results. I think that is unlikely but, equally, I could be proved to be unduly optimistic and complacently expecting that last year’s pattern will be repeated.
In the end, only time will tell which predicted direction will prove true. I take comfort in the fact that most bookies agree with my expectations. Bookies are not infallible but they are generally more often right than are the punters.
So, in summary, my predictions are:-
We will win this league by a margin of more than 6 points and I care not a jot if that is not a good enough margin for many of you.
We will lose some unexpected games and drop points unexpectedly in the future. I am confident on this prediction :-)
We might lose one or both of the cups as trebles are rare but I’d predict a double (League plus AN other Cup this year)
We will qualify, against all odds, for the last 16 of the CL, a level where we are highly likely to get eliminated. A last 8 achievement should (but won’t) see NFL exempt from criticism for the year. If, however, we enter the Europa League, I also think it unlikely we would get past a q-f stage.
Our crowds will drop in line with the pressures of the economy and the poor state of Scottish football. A new playing environment might help give us a boost but we will only get back to 55k plus SB holders if we get the double whammy of a recovered economy AND a new playing environment. We will not drop below a 25k SB sales level unless there is a severe double dip recession or a Eurozone collapse this year.
Those are my predictions, made and recorded. I can be evaluated on how accurate they will prove to have been.
Perhaps, some of the doomsayers can specifically predict what their foretold doom would look like.
unew mike
Your posted a constructive post
Ignore the neanderthal reply and post as much as you want
When’s thur share issue ?…Christmas Day…? …..one thing is for sure, they will drag any institutional investors down with them…….this is going to be up there with all the other embarrassments they have (deservedly) suffered over the past 6 years, perhaps even on a par with sally’ s failures on the park, since he became their (ahem…) manager…..
Imagine the very thought of a professional footballer supporting terrorists
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Xl6Zp5Ns7s
Ten Men Won The League
15:36 on
2 December, 2012
Why is a self confessed Hearts fan allowed to referee the Edinburgh derby?
Yeah shocking ain’t it. Thank goodness it never happened in the Glasgow version………
Perhaps Jabba’s joining his beloved Airdrie UTD as PR guru
I believe Jabba is to take up the Chair of Journalism at the University of Oxford.
HH!!
unew mike
15:15 on
2 December, 2012
Excellent post. If people aren’t interested in asking the questions, they’ll wait a long time for the answers.
Paul….afraid I can’t agree with your analysis on this one. It wasn’t the fact that we didn’t have a system. We DO have a system. Only one. No back up. And every coach in Scotland knows what Neil is going to do, and how he will set up his team at Celtic Park.
While we can be very effective on the counter attack (CL games home and away, and SPL games away)……we have no idea what to do when we have plenty of possession. Slow recycling, timid probing, slow recycling again.
This is not a blip. This is at least 4 dismal, predictable, poor performances at home. There wouldn’t be a club in the land that wouldn’t truly fancy their chances against us.
The fact that it is 4 in a row makes it the coaches failing.
All of that being said, I like Neil, and believe he can go on and become a top coach. But he is a long way from that at this point.
And….sixteen roads to Golgotha….pretty shameful post. A blog such as this will not be enhanced by your kind of response.
Hearts have the advantage on Radio Shortbread too! :-)
unew mike-Excellent post.
Tom English is a pandering, boring little no mark and clearly under orders from his WASP sevco loving editors. Why would he bother to mention Sunny Jim and the Killers? Keep that bit under carpet eh? The titles circulation is spiralling out of control. He’s a soup taker through and through. Shame on him. HH
Tallybhoy
I believe Jabba is to take up the Chair of Journalism at the University of Oxford.
…………………………………………
I’m sure if he does old inspector Morse will be feeling his collar
Any odds on Maybury getting booked?
Unew mike
Excellent post ….
Considering the chances created we don’t score near enough goals
None of our coaches have any idea about forward play
Gene’s a Bhoys name
Ably assisted by his trusty sidekick Sergeant Lewis I would expect?!
HH!!
Gene’s a Bhoys name
Above and beyond the call of duty! Was there no floodlight pylons in that section?
Missed the first 20 minutes of the Hibs v Hearts game, due reading your posts…..life is full of wee bonuses….LOL …… Seriously, though, despite their fans, I don’t want any other Scottish teams to go into Liquidation…..well, perhaps Silly Billie Killie…LOL
BCW
Recognize your sarcasm . It happened one day @CP. The ref suddenly grew eyes in the back of his head and gave a pen for nowt !! Apparently hes one of ours ????
unew mike
weeron
A while ago i would have gladly engaged in debate with comedians like you two,not anymore though.It is a complete waste of time.
How come these green huns are never to be seen on here after the team has achieved a good result?
Yet when the team has a wee blip,they are tripping over themselves to post their negative trip on here.
You depress me.
It is obvious that Hibs entire season has been about Griffifths
Tripe talkin’ tripe.
CelticMac
If you remember the old hampden it was the large enclosure opposite the main stand that had that ridiculous excuse for a stand perched above the back. it was a really hot day and i remember looking as if i had been up a chimney.
….PFayr-I posted a few weeks back,I wouldn’t be against Chris Sutton coming back a couple of days a week to coach the strikers……….Henrik’s not busy either these days.
Snake
He has been very prolific ….
Sixteen roads…..
Opinions will differ …you seem very irritable ..chill
Hibs v Novikovas…?