Last night’s result was both disappointing and embarrassing. Considering that Bodo/Glimt were preseason and scored their third long after the affects of cramp and exhaustion took hold, it was even humiliating. Only a remarkable turnaround will see Celtic remain in the Uefa Conference League, an outcome that would be very harsh on the comparatively underpaid and over-performing Norwegians.
When I looked at the teams left in the competition earlier this week, only Leicester and Marseille seemed out of reach. This was a chance, I thought, to go deep into a European competition – perhaps our last and easiest chance for some time, as we hoped to compete on higher ground in the years to come.
We have both seen enough of Celtic in Europe, though, to hedge our bets. On Wednesday, I wrote, “You and I are also full of confidence right now. What we are missing is a test against non-Scottish opposition. Drubbing a limp Newco gave us hope that we are watching something special. Tomorrow night will give an indication as to whether that hope is valid.” We have our answer.
Welcome the truth instead of living deluded. It should fortify us for the challenges ahead, better to know, than to rock up at Easter Road next week with an unbalanced and porous midfield. Or to think that the world has been put to right during two transfer windows.
Cameron Carter-Vickers was head and shoulders above everyone on the field. He operated at a level Bodo/Glimt were unable to reach. Similarly, Carl Starfelt and Joe Hart did not put a foot wrong. Our full backs and wingers on both sides were bossed out of the contest.
Callum McGregor has seen this movie before and covered every inch of the park in a vain attempt to prevent a sequel. Did anyone think Tom Rogic and Matt O’Riley would be an effective midfield pairing? Apart from Ange, of course. Daizen Maeda scored with a peach of a header but spent much of the game isolated. I hope Reo Hatate was carrying an impediment that made his exclusion from the starting line-up necessary. Any other reason would be inexplicable.
And for the record, Ange, no, we did not control the game. That ability lay with the men in yellow, who played exactly how they wanted.
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So we now know that Ange isn’t a football management genius, he’s just a better than average manager trying to improve his own game and that of the Celtic players, we pretty much all knew that right at that start of the season, many posters on here saying we have to be patient and accept the odd blip, yet when we get one…..
Sunday against Dundee with a new manager who was at the game last night watching, us will give us a better idea of what kind of manager we have, I think he will come good, but we wont really know for sure until the league is decided, meantime I’m sure most sensible Celtic supporters will be KTF. Hope so anyway.
BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 18TH FEBRUARY 2022 5:38 PM
Just been overtaken by a wheelie bin on the Kingston Bridge!
StormEunice csc
——————-
Glad you’re recycling :o)
Greenpinata – Great post about Neil’s honours but as you say his last year was a disaster in so many ways a lot of it of his own doing.
But wow what Honours.
D :)
ROCK TREE BHOY
Spot on. I’ll be there on Sunday cheering on the team beside my son and grandson.
It will be the wee man’s second Celtic game.
The media telling people to stay at home meanwhile reporters are by sea front , on top of hills and on bridges.
GREENPINATA on 18TH FEBRUARY 2022 5:43 PM
Good on ye !
Read just about every post since full-time last night.
Some have been pretty much on the money….
Others, their money shoulda been on Bodo….
ahtoldyizCSC
I missed this.
Those who abused him so personally last season, I do wonder if they ever reflect on their own actions.
————————————————————–
Neil Lennon on ‘what playing for Northern Ireland meant to me’ as ex-Celtic boss reflects on threat that ended international career
Neil Lennon has been talking about his reluctant decision to call time on his Northern Ireland career.
Neil Lennon has been talking about his reluctant decision to call time on his Northern Ireland career.
GH
Gareth Hanna
February 17 2022 02:12 PM
Neil Lennon has said he wishes those responsible for the threat that ended his international career “realised what playing for Northern Ireland meant to me”.
The Lurgan man has addressed what he admits was a “horrible time” when he was forced to call time on his international playing days back in August 2002.
Read More
Neil Lennon feels ‘absolutely’ free of sectarian issues as former Celtic boss eyes managerial return amid Ipswich and Hibernian links
It was on the day that Lennon was supposed to captain Northern Ireland at Windsor Park for the first time that a call was made to the BBC, claiming that if Lennon took to the pitch against Cyprus, he would be “hurt”.
In the end, after discussions with his father Gerry and manager Sammy McIlroy, he decided not to play in the game and would soon confirm that he would not feature for Northern Ireland again.
“It was a horrible time and something that was difficult to take,” Lennon told FourFourTwo in a recent interview. “It was more to do with the fact that I played for Celtic than my Catholic background – Anton Rogan had experienced something similar a few years earlier.
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“I loved international football and put my heart and soul into it, but that wasn’t enough for some. In the end, when I received that death threat and had to leave camp before a game, I decided enough was enough.
“You can only take so much, and it wasn’t helping the team either. I’m proud of my (40) caps but felt like I could have won an awful lot more. I just wish those who instigated it realised what playing for Northern Ireland meant to me.”
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He has previously explained that the decision to retire came with chief concern for his family, who had a year previous seen threats graffitied on walls in the build-up to Lennon’s first Northern Ireland game as a Celtic player.
Just two months after signing for the Glasgow club, then managed by former Northern Ireland captain Martin O’Neill, Lennon was booed by a section of supporters during a 4-0 defeat to Norway at Windsor Park.
Lennon, of course, would go on to become a club legend and make over 200 appearances for Celtic, winning five league titles and four Scottish Cups as a player before repeating those tallies over two spells as manager.
Throughout that time, he relished the Old Firm derbies against Rangers, a rivalry he now admits can “go too far at times”.
One of the most infamous examples of the passion involved came at the end of a Scottish Cup replay in 2011, when Lennon, then Celtic boss, squared up to Rangers number two Ally McCoist.
While the pair are now close friends and play regular five-a-side matches together, it was an exchange that was then branded “unsavoury in the extreme” by the match commentator.
While then-Celtic coach Alan Thompson would later claim it was sparked when McCoist told Lennon not to be “speaking to my players like that”, only for Lennon to respond, “They’re not your players, they’re Walter’s,” referring to Rangers number one Walter Smith, Lennon wasn’t keen to confirm or deny.
“That incident was all about two winners in a very competitive environment coming together,” he said. “There wasn’t anything insulting said – it just came down to a difference on opinion on the day. It happens all the time and it’s quickly forgotten.”
That rivalry with Rangers didn’t cease even when he stepped away from the Hoops and managed Hibernian from 2016 to 2019.
On the final day of the 17/18 season, a 93rd minute equaliser earned Hibs a point in a bonkers 5-5 draw with the Gers and Lennon responded to the full-time whistle with aeroplane celebrations.
“It was quite an amazing game,” he said looking back at that incident. “As you can imagine, I was getting a bit of stick from the Rangers fans so decided to have a bit of fun after the whistle myself. It was all a bit naughty, but nothing malicious – just my own way of telling them that we’d all just seen something quite extraordinary!”
Lennon also spoke about some of his favourites moments at Celtic; two landmark wins over Barcelona. The second, and his favourite game to date in management, was a 2-1 win over the Spanish giants at Parkhead in 2012. The first was in the 03/04 UEFA Cup, when Lennon confirms he really did tell Brazilian legend Ronaldinho that “you’re not so f**king good now”.
“Yep it’s true,” he laughed. “Mind you, he probably didn’t understand a word.
“There was a bit of bad blood after the first leg that Celtic won 1-0. They were favourites to get through at the Camp Nou, so it was very satisfying holding them to a 0-0. But looking back, I guess we were all a bit naughty.”
The good times weren’t to continue last season, when Lennon departed the club midway through the campaign that saw Celtic fall at the final hurdle of their bid for an unprecedented 10th successive league title.
While a section of the fans turned on the club legend, Lennon hopes that “most” of them would now regret that.
He has also been open about his battles with mental health, which he admits can be linked to the success or failure of his team.
“During my career, I was sometimes described as a midfield warrior or a born winner, but it was important to let people know that it could affect people like and Tyson Fury, or outside the world of sport, a giant figure like Winston Churchill,” he said about going public over his struggles.
“There’s a fallibility about all of us and it’s nothing to be ashamed about.
“I’m feeling good now and have developed my own coping mechanisms to keep the wolves away fro the door.
“But depression and anxiety are sadly so prevalent in the high echalons of sport, because you’re so driven and want to win so badly that your life just isn’t balanced.
“When everything is going well, life’s great and the highs are very high, but when they don’t go so well, you back away from the person you normally are. Something triggers inside which makes you go into this black hole, and you become the total opposite of who you are.
“Over the years, I’ve learned to talk about it and tried to put everything into perspective – I certainly don’t see mental illness as a weakness.”
Lennon also reiterated that he still has “fire in (his) belly” to return to management, having recently been linked to Sunderland and Aberdeen.
Jackiemac……..You may not value the Conference League but the embarrassment of losing when so much was expected and so little was delivered is hard to take. However, let’s move on and focus on Dundee and then head to the Arctic Circle for the second half next week.
https://twitter.com/OhFFSKaty/status/1494457377231364096/photo/1
Nice photy ,hope it works.
VOGUEPUNTER on 18TH FEBRUARY 2022 6:19 PM
thats brilliant, saved it and was able to zoom in on myself, well the back of me, down at tunner corner, nobody else knows its me, but i do.
I wonder if Celtic were the most attended match in all of europe this week (well if we ever bloody published attendnace figures)
It’s still early days in the Ange project. He, and we, are still learning and building the foundations. Last night was a wake up call to avoid over confidence, but it was also a very timely reminder that one of the keys to over-performance in Europe is club stability and a well understood pattern of play. We need to give Ange time to learn more, develop and impose his style and philosophy on Celtic. He will be worth it.
The turkey comes out his pen to talk absolute pish.you don’t even go to games your an armchair rocket that’s got an opinion on everything and it’s total cack 99% of the time.spacecake
Celtic F.C. v Dundee F.C.
cinch Premiership
20/02/2022 3:00pm Celtic Park
Referee:Gavin Duncan
AR1
Graeme Stewart
AR2
Graham McNeillie
Fourth Official
Greg Aitken
Dundee United F.C. v thems
cinch Premiership
20/02/2022 12:00pm Tannadice Park
Referee:Bobby Madden
AR1
Calum Spence
AR2
John McCrossan
Fourth Official
Chris Graham
I don’t remember reading any personal abuse directed at Neil Lennon in here. If there were, I’m confident P67 would have quite correctly taken matters into his own hands.
Many like myself questioned Neil’s competence and called him out on his criticism of fans – referring to some as a breed at one point. Completely uncalled for and unbecoming words from any Celtic man.
My friends in Celtic,
I think we all agreed Neil’s time was up. Most of us have embraced the Ange journey.
,However it is good to remember what Neil achieved and how much he personally suffered playing for us.
His Celtic record is second to none.
He remains a Celtic legend.
HH.
Voguepunter
That you that tried to cut me up wi your chopper?
BSR
Had the wind at my back :O))))))))))))))) hh
I think Neil could maybe have started to mend some bridges by now but a year after his sacking, to my knowledge he’s still pretty much blaming everyone else for last season. That’s sad but not unexpected.
TOM MCLAUGHLIN on 18TH FEBRUARY 2022 6:09 PM
Cheers Tom, for your boys sake I hope we hammer them :-)
I think most of our issues are about a lack of defensive structure. We play park the bus teams most weeks and so struggle when faced with sides who have a bit of a go. This sees us typically ship three goals in 3 situations:
1) getting caught on the counter – we run back in a panic with no structure;
2) a shot from the edge of the box – we end up with most players defending in the box and no-one closing down on the edge of the box; and
3) the cut back and runner has a free hit – again most players in the box and no-one is tracking the runner.
The other three types of goals we lose are mindset or concentration related – set pieces; defensive errors; and goals that come just after a goal has been scored (like last night).
The league we play in doesn’t help – outside us and them, the highest ranked team in the UEFA coefficient is Aberdeen in 133rd place – that’s the level of Sudova for example. So a pretty low bar and, looking back at our results over the past 5 years, that’s a level we comfortably despatch.
Where we struggle is higher up – teams lower ranked than us but ranked higher than Aberdeen. We’ve lost to the likes of Cluj, Ferencvaros, Sparta Prague, AEK Athens, Midtylland. We also rarely punch above our weight – in 20 games over the past five years against teams ranked higher than us we’ve won 4 – Zenit (lost the tie), Lazio twice and RB Leipzig. We’ve drawn one game (Copenhagen – lost the tie) and lost the other 15.
For context, in the same five year spell, Rangers have gone from 94th in coefficient rankings to 39th. We’ve just hovered around the late 40s-early 50s mark. They’ve gone further than we have in two of the last 4 campaigns and on course to put-perform us for a third consecutive year.
Why do the outperform us? I think largely because they change their set-up to be more solid in Europe – they tend to play a workmanlike midfield 3 with Aribo (a CM by trade) pushed wide. Only Kent and Morelos are proper attacking players. They keep it tight, don’t give away much and take their chances. It’s basically the way O’Neill and Strachan used to play – MON sacrificed Lubo for Lambert in Europe and Strachan often changed his 4-4-2 to a 4-5-1 in Europe. The likes of Liverpool do it too – a workmanlike midfield (with quality) of Fabinho, Henderson and Milner/Oxlade-Chamberlain is common.
We, by contrast, effectively try to play the same way we always do and concede the same goals we always do. We’re also not clinical up front – we see lots of chances created in games – often 12 shots or more with most on target – but don’t routinely rack up big scores domestically. So when we step up a level – and most teams we face in Europe after the early qualifiers are a step up – we concede more and score less. When we’re only winning most domestic games 2-0,3-1, etc that’s a recipe for disaster, as we saw last night.
Given we rarely beat teams ranked above us, we really do need to be sure of beating those below us and need to work on our defensive structure and mindset. The first is on Ange – he needs to drill the team in defending, especially in transitions, and needs to pick more solid teams.
the second he needs help with through better fitness coaches (so our players are fitter, stronger, faster than opponents), psychologists to help with our belief in such games, and scouts and analysts so we can better prepare for opponents who aren’t familiar to us (domestically we play teams so often Ange can generally work it out after a game or two against them).
dapper yogi in black and white.
https://i.ibb.co/23WRpmk/FElsoea-XMAAx-YYv.jpg
AN DÚN on 18TH FEBRUARY 2022 7:17 PM
I think Neil could maybe have started to mend some bridges by now but a year after his sacking, to my knowledge he’s still pretty much blaming everyone else for last season. That’s sad but not unexpected.
______________________________________________________
That sounds very much like he brings it on himself, something we’ve all heard before.
AN DÚN on 18TH FEBRUARY 2022 6:49 PM
I don’t remember reading any personal abuse directed at Neil Lennon in here.
your joking right ?
health , drinking habits weight problems, fall outs citied, that “new breed of fans” has to be taken in the context of people attacking celtic staffs cars and busses outside the ground.
i could go back and dig out the worst of the comments, but why open old wounds.
he is entitled to say what he wants, and i doubt very much he is going to say “its all on me”.
but that is what some want of him.
ROCK TREE BHOY
It sounds like what I posted. I don’t need anyone translating my posts mate. Personal abuse whether physical or with words is abhorrent and unjustifiable.
On the subject of defensive midfield, now that Barry Ferguson has left Alloa , feel a bit easier talking about Lewis Ferguson.
Celtic have an official interest in Lewis (probably pre McCarthy ).
Lewis was desperate to leave under Stephen Glass.
Lewis has a fee in his contract (unknown )allowing him to speak to potential suitors.
Wouldn’t be surprised if Celtic have accepted its not happening for McCarthy and interest in summer was rekindled.
No world beater but made of the right stuff mentally, good pro who can take penalties and being Scottish is always a major factor.
You think you have it bad with Boris.
Take a look at Ottawa now.
Shocking …..
Lennon has accepted no responsibility and indeed blamed everyone else for the abject failures of last season. We now have a manager in place who expects professionalism from all of his playing staff and leads by example. If only we had that last year….
Well beaten last night by a team playing ange ball. Learn, we must and create chances, we did last night but finishing was woeful.
Still think we need a ” hard man” in midfield, a Ngolo Kanta or even a Broonie. We are too nice, too soft.
I personally think Soro is the man for that job, but hey, on we go
KINGLuBO
Big man behind celtic, interesting .
https://i.ibb.co/Gp7q1Gy/img20211011-15182551.jpg
I have barely scant memories of Jinky playing, but something that has struck me in recent photie searches is that he had some menace about himself, look at that face, someone is getting hit back.
https://i.ibb.co/hK0Bv5x/img20211011-15251664.jpg
SAINT STIVS
That’s fair enough. I do now recall a few, calling out Neil Lennon for his weight. The vast majority on here, including myself, called them out on it.
As for the speculation on his mental health, I’m not sure if that was abuse or people genuinely concerned about him. It certainly wasn’t helpful though.
I could go on about Neil’s behaviour towards the support last season ( a season 53000 of us including myself bought a season ticket for a streaming service) but it’s been and gone. We deserved better treatment than what we got from our gaffer – I’ll leave it there.
Brian F,
Told you before.Stop making an absolute James Hunt of yourself.
apprentice welder
https://preview.redd.it/2bapgl2uxuu51.jpg?width=1274&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=12d160aad34cb2f77b65759cd1cc3d2f4707c9ef
coolest kid in the yerd
https://preview.redd.it/nj8fca2uxuu51.jpg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=216fea657c8824b11c9069e526df1a55a0d9d1d6
https://twitter.com/bhoysanalytics/status/1494678166128009221?s=24
Was watching Now That’s The 70’s. On came ABBA singing Dancinq Queen in 1978. In front there was a wee lassie lookalike of Greta Thunberg. Mibbe her Maw.