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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The bus exits the M8 at exit 24 and heads for Edmiston Drive
The bus turns right on to Edmiston Drive and pulls up alongside the main door, hazard lights flashing
They hardly came up his wing if I remember right, and if they did, they didn’t get any change back, that’s for sure.
http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/madness-kieran-tierney/
The doorman approaches the darkened bus curiously and the door opens.
Offer Man City £10mil for Roberts and Denayer..
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/24/bastian-schweinsteiger-manchester-united-will-be-my-last-club-in-europe
Bastian Schweinsteiger has stated Manchester United will be his last club in Europe, a decision that appears to pave the way for a move to Major League Soccer, China or the Middle East.
__________
I guess lining up against Joey Barton wasn’t enough of a motivation
!!BADA BING!! on 24TH AUGUST 2016 1:38 PM
Offer Man City £10mil for Roberts and Denayer..
___
They wouldn’t accept it. They paid about 10 for Roberts already and Denayer is a wanted man in the market
As the doorman pokes his head into the bus and looks at the driver
A cell phone rings playing Zadok the Priest
The bus driver and passengers burst into raucous laughter, the doors close and the bus heads for Paisly Road West.
TONYDONNELLY67 on 24TH AUGUST 2016 1:21 PM
thanks for posting that.i did notice he had a piece yesterday re THE BANNER.did you miss that one or did you not think it was worth letting everyone see it
JISTASKINCSC.
I don’t think Craig Gordon was at fault for any of the goals. Didn’t like his blue top. Never seen a CFC goalie wear a blue top
Nice to hear BR praising Israel last night also. Very classy manager. Leicester or Real please
Last night he was certainly not at his best , but Calum has proved his worth in the past.
Important away goals in Europe for Ronnie.
Too early , imho ,to write him off.
Incidentally , before being subbed , he looked absolutely knackered and red faced .
Climate ?
!!BADA BING!! on 24TH AUGUST 2016 1:38 PM
Offer Man City £10mil for Roberts and Denayer..
====================================================
A bargain at 15.
this 200,000 the spfl are getting – is that on the proviso they have a published set of accounts
As GLASSTWOTHIRDSFULL stated in a good post earlier we allowed the pitch to be to big.
We started the game with the wrong personnel and tactics and only really got it right when Erik came on.
Brendan has rightfully been praised so far but last night he got it wrong for most of the match.
Those absolving Gordon for second should realise it’s the keepers job to hold on to the ball..Janko bumped him but not enough to knock him down so blame lies with the goalie.
He has cost us to often and i think the coach recognises this.It’s poor judgement not bad luck that has seen to many weak goals conceded.
Janko was awful but was exposed by a poor system.He unlike some never hid.
Lustig was okay.
Toure was fantastic.
KT was exposed and let down by system but his class saw him through.
JF looked like the guy who through his hands up and stopped playing everytime he lost the ball.
McGregor i can’t recall a single piece of play.
Brown worked hard but was not great.Never stopped trying though.
Bitton an impostor.Everytime i see his name on team sheet i cringe.Can’t recall a single tackle and only pass i remember was when he had Sinclair and Dembele making good runs ahead of him he gave ball back to Janko who was marked resulting in a turnover.
Sinclair was excellent.
Griff had no service so don’t see what he could have done.
Rogic i only remember one great pass to Dembele almost resulting in goal and another great dribble resulting in Sinclair shot being saved.Wish he had been more involved.
Dembele was very good as he stopped them having any easy out balls and had one great effort just past the post.
Erik mad a few good tackles and solidified our defensive effort.Good.
Jamie McGeever @ReutersJamie · 14h14 hours ago
Thanks to sterling’s 12% fall since Brexit, Celtic will get at least an extra £3M for Champions League qualification.
“They wouldn’t accept it. They paid about 10 for Roberts already and Denayer is a wanted man in the market”
Timalloy,
Are you sure about Roberts?
Press reports sourced yesterday suggested that at the time of signing the initial fee was between 2 and 5 million.
Rising to 11m after certain targets hit.
I’m not sure which targets be will have hit with city so far.
HH
Canny see any “marquee” names coming in. Prices are crazy and most clubs are desperate for players.
I’d like to sign a couple of players from the Israeli team last night
GlassTwoThirdsFull
Correct
I always remember on one of the Lisbon Lions videos, one of the Lions talking about ‘you know in the first 10 mins of a game if you are going to have a nightmare and if someone else in the team is going to have one’ thats when you knew you would have to work twice as hard to help your team mate out……
or something along those lines.
That didnt seem to happen last night.
GEORDIE MUNRO on 24TH AUGUST 2016 1:49 PM
“They wouldn’t accept it. They paid about 10 for Roberts already and Denayer is a wanted man in the market”
Timalloy,
Are you sure about Roberts?
Press reports sourced yesterday suggested that at the time of signing the initial fee was between 2 and 5 million.
Rising to 11m after certain targets hit.
I’m not sure which targets be will have hit with city so far.
_________
Roberts is a star for England U21’s and has played well for us
With each team in England requiring 8 home grown players he will be sought after.
Secondly, it’s a big assumption that both Roberts and Denayer actually want to play here permanently. We offer CL football and an opportunity to play professional football rather than a development league in the short term. Both players probably see their future in the big bucks of the EPL.
Finishing words a touch of class……
Take a look at @CelticTV’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/CelticTV/status/768224118063898624?s=08
Big Johan is right, the best form of defence is to keep the ball. I am mystified as to why Celtic can’t do this away from home.
Brendan has done well to qualify first time, even if it was not very convincing. It’s hard to see much improvement on last year when Malmo were slightly tougher opposition. Remember Malmo’s results in the group stage last year? If Celtic’s midfield is not radically strengthened we could suffer some embarrassment too, especially if we are drawn against the likes of Real or one of Guardiola’s past or present clubs. Schweinsteiger can’t run? He would make a huge difference to this team. Get him in on loan.
Timalloy,
I agree it’s assuming he wants to play here. But if he does, I don’t think the figures would be as crazy as first thought.
HH
The bus continues eastward passing Glasgow’s landmark Grand Ole Opry, attracting scan attention from the lunch time queue at Greggs or the patrons of a bar sitting in the sunshine.
God Knows how it was for you Bhoys and the “behind the couch” watching the game last night, but i am in Yokohama on business and couldnt get a decent stream, and I can assure you that “watching” the game via 2 whatsapp groups, twitter and Sky sports centre “live” commentary, is a total feckin nightmare! Especially after a 03:40am alarm call to “watch” it!!
However, we made it and we are back where we belong!!
HAIL! HAIL!
Token
Dates for the diary
Matchday 1: 13–14 Sept
Matchday 2: 27–28 Sept
Matchday 3: 18-19 Oct
Matchday 4: 01-02 Nov
Matchday 5:22–23 Nov
Matchday 6:06–07 Dec
By the way, Beram Kayal is in his last year at Brighton. We should be keeping an eye on that situation.
His only problems at Celtic were injuries and Victor Wanyama. He was a fine player.
The pressure on our players to make it through last night (i was nearly sick with worry waiting on text updates and watching highlights later) was immense,i cant begin to imagine what the players were feeling.
Some will improve with the experience some may not,this is just the start of our journey with Brendan and his bhoys ,i just hope he is backed to replace those he discovers wont hack it on the journey .
Keep the faith and enjoy the moment it is going to be great IMHO.
We’re in the moneyCSC
Well spoken Brendan…great PR…and he didn’t mention the word ‘respect’, he just showed it…
GLASSTWOTHIRDSFULL on 24TH AUGUST 2016 1:18 PM
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.
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Well pointed out mate. I thought some were hiding and passing the buck last night, as someone posted earlier throw ins tells the story.
Maybe some had bad memories of previous European games and others were shell shocked by the start be’er shiva had, it’s for Brendan to fix.
For by that, I’m proud as punch to be through, it was job done and well done to our team to get over the line. HH
Gary,
Not too bad. 3 home and 3 away domestically after euro games I think
I remember one year under wee Gordon. It felt like we were away after every euro game.
HH
Absolutely delighted to be in the CL proper after what feels like an age. The status and finances of it should see us out of sight for years to come.
But, and it is a big but, personally I think that was a shambles last night. Throughout the team we looked like back to the worst days of Ronny. Cowardly play in large periods of the game where players would not make themselves available or put the work in for their team mates. We look like we don’t know how to sit back and hit on the counter anymore which is a huge problem but until we can do it why not just play our own high pressing game (while staying compact at the back). Particularly against opponents like that who I truly believe we are better than.
While there was barely a decent performance out there there was two things of note. When the pressure is on the central midfield collapses and gets bypassed. And Saidy Janko. I said last week he was raw but could be a weapon but I’ve changed my mind. I’ve never given a player a 0 out of 10 until last night. Can’t defend, can’t pass, has pace but shows too much of the ball, positioning is poor and his crossing isn’t the best. There’s plenty of athletes out there who can’t play football. I don’t want to be harsh on the boy, people have off nights going forward or make some mistakes at the back but last night it was everything, the simplest of passes, even under no pressure. How he stayed on the park is beyond me, his last kick he had the ball in acres of space, didn’t look up and punted it forward straight to their player to start another attack.
Right back a priority as Lustig is starting to lose his legs for that position.
Oh and… Bring in Xavi CSC
Games round our CL games:
Matchday Game before Game after
13/09/2016 Rangers home ICT away
27/09/2016 Kilmarnock home Dundee away
18/10/2016 Motherwell home Hamilton home
01/11/2016 Aberdeen away ICT home
22/11/2016 Kilmarnock away St J home
06/12/2016 Motherwell away Thistle away
FAVOURITE UNCLE on 24TH AUGUST 2016 1:42 PM
TONYDONNELLY67 on 24TH AUGUST 2016 1:21 PM
thanks for posting that.i did notice he had a piece yesterday re THE BANNER.did you miss that one or did you not think it was worth letting everyone see it
JISTASKINCSC.
Actual no I saw it, but I’m done with the banner/flags thing, my last word on it is, I just don’t get why the glorious GB freedome fighters have anything wrong with the people from Isreal as they say not caring about others and doing what they want whenever they want to Palestinians when they themselfs are doing the same thing to Celtic football club?
And don’t bother giving me a malcontent answer, I’m not interested I get it, honestly I do, it’s democracy right? God give me strength .
Under the Kingston Bridge and headed along the river past the Grand Mosque and then the bus turns left towards Bridgeton cross.
Janko thinks he’s JINKY!!!!
DAVIDOPOULOS on 24TH AUGUST 2016 1:11 PM
NatKnow
Oi, nothin wrong with stompin about in brown brogues…provided you are imagining marching to the tune of ZTP…like me…
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Careful now – you’ll get tarred wi’ the ole baun stick on here wi that kinda admission about your footwear..! :-)))
Make no mistake about it. We won this tie at CP. In the same set of circumstances if RD was still in charge he would be getting pelters from some. Last night was another Malmo. If we had won 4-2 at CP we would be out today. I cannot remember the last time I was so relieved when the final whistle was blown. BR is a very good manager but some players let him down last night, he is also v lucky, but I’ll take lucky, any day.
Whoever said we are crap at thowins is spot on, been bugging me for ages.
PS. CG has now saved 4 pens in his entire career. A 20 million one. ;-)
Howevahhh we’re through and it’s a great place to be HH.
I’ve said my piece on the game here: http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/back-where-we-belong/
I have heavily criticised (I think rightly) some of our players; some I’ve even labelled anonymous. However, what I find disconcerting in some of the posts is that a good few people have accused the players of cowardice. I just don’t see that. Some players had right bad night and maybe there was a bit of fear but it’s a big, big step to accuse players of cowardice. Without getting into a slanging match, would those who use the term coward/cowardice explain precisely what they mean because IMHO it’s a helluva charge to level at a player. It’s accusing him of cheating the fans and his team-mates. I don’t see that.
KTF