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!
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ALMORE
Didn’t think so,bud. Just desperate for a cafe!
Ffs,Queen’s Park have a cafe,we should have too. Used to be a great pub,that….
Bobby
I was in the cafe a few weeks back, still a decent pint.
Right, out of here, one more dram then dreams of what awaits after champions league eve. Hope Santana is good to us, whatever combo you want. Mon the hoops , Glasgow is green and white. Be nice(ish) to each other.
Alongside other West Bank places, I visited Aida Refugee Camp and ate a meal cooked at the Lajee Centre in March, 2013. I was invited on to the roof to look at what surrounded the camp (that term can be misleading since it has, of course, grown into a township since its early days) and to see land once cultivated now cut off to farmers by the great walls that dissect the land everywhere. While there, my attention was drawn to the fact that a high-powered rifle was being trained on me from a watchtower not too far away. It was unnecessary and provocative. The history is complex and unjust and made more confusing and intractable by stupidity like that, by daily restrictions and by what is happening in the “greater” Middle East. It pushes many Palestinians towards blind militancy untempered by any thoughts of compromise. However, it is important to point out that there are peace movements. I met impressive representatives from both sides of the divide. No doubt, individuals will be pulled towards violence especially when provoked by much more threatening incidents that I have described but, in the Lajee Centre, the extremism of Hamas was spoken against. I have my uncertainties but think that on the whole the action taken by the GB will have beneficial outcomes for the recipients of the money and for Celtic. As an aside, I want to point out that although the Christian population has dwindled drastically in recent years (it is a persecuted minority), its representatives play a huge part out of all proportion to their numbers in providing social and medical care in Palestine.
I look forward to returning to the Camp to watch Aida Hoops in action.
masty on 25th August 2016 10:45 am
If I could work it out I would not have asked
Asi have said to big Cup Winners on many, many occasion, i’m not here to educate anyone.
In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king.
Would we commanding upwards of £25m if the the champions league reverted to a straight knockout basis
Guys, the missus and I are taking part in the Celtic Foundation sleep out in November to highlight the plight of the homeless. If you can spare a shilling or two you can donate here.
https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/helendunese1
Many thanks
Chris
MASTY
Bucket list,that one. Mystery to me how my Dad and I missed it at the 2015 League Cup Final.
ERNIE LYNCH on 25TH AUGUST 2016 9:21 AM
HOT SMOKED on 25TH AUGUST 2016 9:14 AM
By inference, not implication.
And no, there have been no threats of violence.
Violence might be a possible outcome of the encounter suggested, but the point is that it is implicit that the encounter would not take place because the invitee is not what he purports to be.
LOL.Ernie doing his”Moothful of Bools”impersonation.”I say chaps,why are those natives revolting”.
Said uladh
Your the one calling posters huns
Saor uladh
Sorry for mis spelling your moniker
Bobby
Ye missed the brazen aswell ya pair o cards
HT
I will be straight on it when I get in, are you both on the same page or does H have her own?
Is the group draw today?
Got a load of ZTP requests in my inbox which I,ll process tonight, so panic not if you,ve not yet recieved yours. Keep the requests coming. Still mullyins available……:_)
Thanks again bmcuwp for posting the addy.
The huns ears are burning the length and bredth of the planet.
HH
Pat McGrath. -Very interesting and reasonable first hand observations on Israel and Palestine. Can I ask, are you a Christian working out there? And, who is persecuting the Christians there?
Pricing for the group stages,here’s the formula.
Start with a base price,say £90 or £100.
Award each team in the draw a co-efficient, + or -5 or 10.
Apply.
So if it’s,say,Real,Dortmund,Spurs that would be +25. If Moscow,Napoli,Kiev,-20.
In other words,we should be able to figure it out fairly accurately as soon as we know the groups.
masty on 25th August 2016 10:52 am
Yes, but i’m not calling fellow Celtic supporters Parasites or a Cancer.
That to me is Hun behaviour.
But, each to their own.
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on 25TH AUGUST 2016 10:46 AM
ALMORE
Didn’t think so,bud. Just desperate for a cafe!
Ffs,Queen’s Park have a cafe,we should have too. Used to be a great pub,that….
————————————-
Cafe Tantalis was another watering hole, usually used after the Esquire was shut. A quick dash down the road that would give Usain Bolt a run for his money.
If a cafe can be named after a mythical Greek King, then yes we should have a Celtic cafe. I would even be happy if it had no seats and was called the team GB cafe
On second thoughts.
HH.
Masty
Good man P. Same page just to make it easier. Cheers mate.
MASTY
Nope,we were in there for a few afterwards. Over by the front door.
Walked it too.
coolmore mafia on 25th August 2016 10:56 am
Logged on just in time to catch Pat’s post eh!
Dipped in here for a quick look.
Jeezo it’s like an episode of the glums!
Apparently the blog is now inhabited by huns trolls and racists according to the pleasantries being flung around.
Just remember racism is like cricket………………………. Invented in England but perfected in Australia.
GREENPINATA
Call it Starstruck,wi a green four-leaf-clover on the door. See if anyone sues us.
Interesting that all it took for the Green Brigade to be labelled ‘a cancer’ in one posters eyes was showing solidarity with Palestinian people.
No sectarian songs, no violence, foodbanks, anti-racism events etc.
But hey, a few flags, and they’re a cancer. By all means disagree with their actions, but, a cancer?
This ties in with the highly sinister MSM attempt to ‘derail the match the fine for Palestine’.
Interesting to see the poster in question attempt to create division amongst everyone else. Getting rumbled on his/her multiple usernames probably wasnt part of the plan.
HH
Masty
Jealous of the attention the GB get compared to the rest of the fans, jealous of the fact any pictures of the Celtic fans are pictures of the GB, the fact that the GB, in general, are admired by the rest of the fans for the atmosphere they create on match days and the work they do, the fact that the iconic images of Celtic in the last few years have been displays and tifos and such which were created by the GB, the fact that Neil Lennon left the trophy in front of them a few seasons back thanking them for the backing they give the team…
The fact they don’t wail and slag off every Celtic player that makes a mistake during a game.
The fact they have the balls to stand up to authority
I think some fans are jealous because they aren’t part of it all tbh
SAOR – no I’ve been logged on for ages. How you doing?
Whoever thought up the Green Brigade strategy over the flags issue got it spot on, putting UEFA, the Scottish media and even the level 5 plants on here into an uncomfortable position where they need to criticise a hugely successful charity initiative just to keep their sniping going.
Level 5 wallopers and their hangers on- GIRUY, cos we’re in the Champions League
coolmore mafia on 25th August 2016 11:03 am
Very well, and i hope i find you the same.
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on 25TH AUGUST 2016 11:01 AM
GREENPINATA
Call it Starstruck,wi a green four-leaf-clover on the door. See if anyone sues us.
########
More than likely with the prices it would be called ” megabucks ” :-)
BHOYLO83 on 25TH AUGUST 2016 11:01 AM
Probably some truth in that. However.
Was the banner that stated ” Gutless in Malmo” not slagging off every Celtic player ?
HH.
50 shades of Green
:-)))))))))
Bhoylo83 on 25th August 2016 11:01 am
There will be some buzz at Celtic Park on Saturday, and everyone will be part of it, no matter where they sit/stand.
HH
^^ sheep excepted :)
50 SHADES OF GREEN
Ffs,wash my mouth out,giving them ideas like that!
new article posted.
Emdi got ticket office number?
Ta hh
Almore can’t see the Museum being built near the Superstore more likely place I think.is were they used to park the Buses,anyway there is plenty of land around Celtic Park.i hope the museum and other things get built should have been done long ago,but this month’s running theclub drag there heels they want your hard earned cash and that’s it. A piano a Bovril good enough for us.
Sorry, I can’t remember who posted the link to the mock CL Draw last night.
I tried it and we came out in a group with Leicester, Seville and Lyon.
That would be OK. We could come third in that group. Maybe even get to last 16. Easy travel, Battle of Britain.