That was the latest instalment in a long running series of Behind the Couch Celtic away performances in Europe, with the wonderful exception that after Hapoel Be’er Shiva had us on the rack in the opening period of the second half, Celtic put five at the back and closed the game out without any stressful incidents in the final 15 minutes.
There are a few moments worthy of comment:
Hapoel’s penalty came as a consequence of Celtic pressing high up the field for the first time in the game. The home team dropped deep as they were temporarily reduced to 10 men, but when Celtic pressed high to take advantage of an opponent receiving treatment, they easily passed through us, switched the ball left and gave Saidy Janko his first difficult moment of the night.
More on Saidy in a moment, but we cannot allow teams to pass through us so easily. We should never have been caught so high up field. Our alertness, interceptions and tackling were not good enough. Craig Gordon’s block at the penalty was priceless (or at a price of circa £26m, if you’re being picky).
There’s a reason teams who mark zonally at corner kicks don’t mark the penalty spot. It’s because headers from the penalty spot need to be exceptional in order to beat the keeper. Sahar’s goal wasn’t an exceptional header. It bounced before passing Craig Gordon three feet inside the post. It should never have been a goal, and although Craig’s mistake for the second was more evident, the first was as worrying a goal to concede.
We’re fond of talking about “schoolboy errors” in football but Saidy’s lack of awareness of his direct opponent and goalkeeper at the second goal was a classic error from the 9-year-old’s game. I’ll be generous and say he’s not ready for a game at this level. Craig Gordon doesn’t have a let off for this one, either. While his fullback made a mistake, an alert keeper would have prevented the goal and knocked Saidy into next week. Awareness concerns exist for him too.
Whether it’s Craig’s self-confidence, or that the defence don’t have confidence in him, goalkeeping mistakes came perilously close to seeing us drop out of the Champions League last night.
Not that Craig shoulders all responsibility for what was a weak performance. The middle of the park was experimental and looked it. On the back of one of his best games for Celtic a week ago, Scott Brown’s passing, control and influence was miles off the pace.
Scott, Callum McGregor and Nir Bitton were swamped in midfield. Too few Celtic players were showing for the ball, which was thrown forward aimlessly whenever a Hapoel player closed us down. If central midfield is right, your defensive and goalkeeping frailties are less evident, but we were exposed too often at the back last night. There was a period in the second half when watching on TV made it impossible to know where we were going wrong. After a Hapoel chance, we would see a replay, and before it cut back to live pictures, Celtic had lost possession and were again under pressure. This happened repeatedly. Central midfield was the major problem with the performance, if not the result.
Don’t let any of this dampen your spirits. We’re into the Champions League group stage, a fact which will see us break through the £80m turnover mark for the first time. By comparison, turnover was £51m for 2014-15, the most recent season accounts are available for.
Despite the increase in expenditure this season, we’ll pay our bills without increasing borrowing or selling players. We’re on the circuit again, which means we’ll find it easier to attract talent going forward, it means we’ll find it easier to attract commercial deals and pretty much every KPI at the club will become that bit more attainable.
Last night was a transformational day in the life of your football club. We’re back, enjoy it!
903 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- ...
- 24
- »
So Leicester, Leverkusen and Brugge or Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Spurs?
I’d really like a crack at Madrid. Don’t want to see Barca or Benfica again. Been there done that.
Starry
nothing tacky
1. Leopard print
2. Tiger print
3. Zebra print
and in that order
HH
Afternoon Bhoys, the problems we have at the minute are not going to be easily sorted
*Gordon – its already been said – fine shot stopper but he commands about as well as Lt Dyke from BoB, problem is he’s what 33, and if he’s not going to be first choice i’d say he’d be off – what would we get for him? Do we have replacements lined up? Its all early days yet – would we be happy with DeVries as no.1 and Bailly as n0.2? Problem is we only have about a week to find out – we may yet get lucky and he may be a bit David James esque – ie when he has 3 organised commanding defenders in front of him (Kolo, Sviat, Simu – with Lustig and OConnell as backup) he’ll have to make less rash decisions and be told what to do……
*Our size – we look tidly out there, I seen what he was tryig to do with the 2 banks last night but when one of the banks includes mcgregor, forrest and sinclair – its not the toughest shield i’ve ever seen – they tried mostly but 8st cant easily push 13st off a ball. At spl level a right hand side of Saidy and forest is fine, at ECL level it’ll be largely ineffective going forward and light/inexperienced going back – i’d keep saidy around but at that level he’s too slow at the moment to be a right wing back to go past the final players regularly and still naive and clumsy in defence
* We need to find out who we want to keep and what formation we largely play before deciding who stays –
I cant see us primarily playing 352 in the SPL unless Kolo plays slightly forward of the other 2 as a DM/CB
But therein lies the problem – there are too many players who have an asset value in certain positions who while fine in the spl most of the time, in big games still have serious Questions over them who may not want to play second fiddle
Lets assume for the moment that the goalkeeper position is sorted or wont be changed this window
And in the SPL we play some sort of flexible 352/442 diamond formation
2 Proper CB positions(Simu and Svia – with Oconnell and Lustig as backup) seems ok if untested and injry concerns
One CB/roaming DM position in Kolo – Maybe with Dedryck as backup for that if he can mange it or he’s likely off – maybe ajer in there as backup due to flexibility- we all agree Scott Brown and Biton are not proper DM’s
2 Wing backs- at the moment that would be tierney and janko – with emo as backup on the left / ralston on right- not sure i’d have James on his own on the right…..
Assuming the 2 forwards are griffith and dembele – that leaves a midfield 3 of rogic, roberts and sinclair in all likely hood – would brown and biton be happy as backup – assuming stefan goes – that would still leave plenty of backup in the middle – so essentially we need to decide who goes before who comes in…..
ACGR,
Thanks for the ringtone…
It’s ringing loud and clear in Clogherhead.
HH
Shooie is spot on about Gordon. He was more concerned about Tierney giving him a bruise than he was about getting down to save a very savable header.
Second goal he has to command his 6 yard box. He hasn’t done that for a while now and imo that goes a long way in explaining our corner kick problems.
Funny how nobody hammers Brendan for playing one up front. Just saying.
quality podium thetimreaper
I hope Brendan is as ruthless as they say.
Bitton, McGregor Gordon, Janko all look shaky.
That away mindset needs to be radically changed.
Brendan has a huge job on his hands, but i believe he can do it, with a bit of help from the PLC?
Players can always be replaced….Thats football.
HH
THETIMREAPER
Might be one spearhead. Lots of supply and back-up.
Usually. Mibbe not so much last night.
I’ve not read back to see if anyone has mentioned it, but how bad are we at throw-ins ? We give the ball away 3 out of every 4 we take giving away possession constantly. I’m not talking about last night’s game, this is something that has been bugging me for the last couple of seasons, sort it out Brendan…
Hapoel Be’er Sheva were liberated by the fact that the probability of them going through was slim, so they could throw caution to the wind (wind generated by Celtic’s sneaky bums) and just go for it. They did that very well – played with intensity and passion. They even suffered two injuries in the first half and still kept going. I have a lot of respect for how they gave us such a torrid time they “left it all out there” as the cringeworthy saying goes.
In the group stages I think we will be competing for the 3rd place spot and our game away against the other team vying for that spot is likely to be a much more cagey affair. The games against the Pot 1ers and Pot 2ers might be similar in terms of pattern of play to last night but I don’t think we will see many more games like that this season…thankfully…
Emdy seen or heard from Stefan Johansen lately? Last seen missing a pass on the counter attack late in the match versus Astana. Warmed the bench against Hearts, then Zap! Gone.
We’ve played 9 competitive matches so far this season. Johansen has been a used substitute in one (Astana above), and an unused substitute in another.
He was SPFA Player of the Year little more than a year ago. Now he can’t get on the teamsheet, let alone the pitch.
If you’re compiling a list of players to punt, I’d be inclined to add Stefan’s name. Seems Brendan likes a different cup of tea.
ACGR
Naaaaaa, not even close, thanks anyway, if others are getting it, then it’s obviously my fault, thanks anyway , I’ll keep it in my mail and when a bump into one of the cut they’ll fix it I’m sure, once again thanks HH.
shooie on 24th August 2016 12:39 pm
I accept Calum McGregor didn’t appear to have a good game last night however we do not know what he was asked to do
——-
I suspect he was asked to sit between Brown/Bitton and Griffiths. The problem was that gap was so big (as was the one to the two wide players) that he had nobody within 30 yards of him!
Domestically we play in a very small area of the pitch. You can’t then expect to play the same way using the full pitch.
Until we figure out how to compact the pitch and play on the counter-attack (and I think we DO have the players to do this) we are destined to more away failures.
*cut…CYT….. Castlemilk Young Team :))
Tell yeez whit. There’s some right crabbit aul basturts stomping round the office in brown brogues the day….
The thing is.
If we get 2 good players in for the group stages.
We could have potential.
A hard fought victory away, would see us come on leaps and bounds imo
Those bhoys need to believe they can do it…..and they can, but they need to work hard to concentrate at all times, too many minds wandering at the moment.
The ability is there, but we must conquer the fear.
HH
WEST END
I’d say thats directly linked to our physicality issues – we are largely either short or lanky, not great for shielding
West End of East End…..
Think you’re spot on re the problem with throw-ins. Maybe not the biggest problem…..but did contribute to the continual loss of possession and that was our biggest issue. Still………we made it ! HH
THETIMREAPER on 24TH AUGUST 2016 1:00 PM
Funny how nobody hammers Brendan for playing one up front. Just saying
Lol, I thought about posting it but I said, naaaaaaaaaaa better not, well done you sir :))
NatKnow
Oi, nothin wrong with stompin about in brown brogues…provided you are imagining marching to the tune of ZTP…like me…
Craig Gordon has been a good signing and despite some mistakes generally is a safe pair of hands. Would feel sorry for him if dropped for DDV, especially after all his injury problems. But, I think Brendan is ruthless and will make the change.
Whistle the auld Zadok.
NATKNOW on 24TH AUGUST 2016 1:09 PM
Tell yeez whit. There’s some right crabbit aul basturts stomping round the office in brown brogues the day
A mid size private jet landed at Glasgow airport and has been directed into a secure hangar.p
THETIMREAPER
I hope Brendan is ruthless.
Players need to learn not to repeat their mistakes, or they wont be in the team.
Id say thats fair.
HH
Picked the wrong day to start glossing :(
just seen the Wales squad and noticed Robson-Kanu unattached……worth a punt?
HH
And where was the leadership? Why was someone not saying to Forrest – “look, Janko’s having a mare – get back and help him out”?
Maybe the lad could have recovered his confidence with a solid 15mins.
It’s almost as if they were thinking “Janko’s having one. As long as I’m not as bad as him, he’ll get the blame if we go out”.
Not good enough.
A large Securicor bus, with bars on darkened windows has pulled up alongside the private jet which took off from Geneva earlier today.
The GB get plenty of credit for highlighting charity.
So why doesn’t Craig Gordon get credit for wearing the closest thing you’ll see to a Rangers top in the CL last night?
Must have brought wistful memories to thousands of teeth-gnashing Huns yesterday evening. Thank you, big Craig, for bringing small comfort to the seriously afflicted/demented.
MUFC will be my last club in Europe. I respect other clubs, but Manchester United was the only one which could make me leave FC Bayern München. I will be ready if the team needs me. This is all I can say about the current situation. I want to thank the fans for the amazing support over the recent weeks.
Hats off to the SPFL chappies for giving us a Home game against Aberdeen, our main rivals for the Title, as the first game after a very demanding Away match representing Scotland in the Champions League.
Last year, if memory serves, we had the Dons Away after a tough European game.
JJ
Strange Atletico M are in pot 2 and CSKA are in pot 1
Isn’t it always?
https://johnjamessite.com/author/sitonfence/
Six men wearing dark suits and sunglasses are carrying chests into the back of the bus.
The bus is closed, the doors secured and the bus cautiously exits the hangar.
‘GG on 24th August 2016 1:19 pm
A large Securicor bus, with bars on darkened windows has pulled up alongside the private jet which took off from Geneva earlier today.
==========================================
So they’re finally releasing Terry Hurlock from captivity.
‘Love your suit…’
‘GG on 24TH AUGUST 2016 1:23 PM
Six men wearing dark suits and sunglasses are carrying chests into the back of the bus.
The bus is closed, the doors secured and the bus cautiously exits the hangar.
That bus be heading to ibrokes wi Budgie Bartons wages for the next two months, thank you CFC :))
The bus takes the M8 east on ramp and gathers speed
Bhoys having fun, an why not :))
http://www.talkingbaws.com/2016/08/scott-brown-shares-celebratory-picture-in-bed-alongside-leigh-griffiths-and-craig-gordon/