Surprised? Well, yes. This was a no-contest early-on in Maribor last week. Even though Celtic didn’t come home with the win, the chances, balance of possession and play, were well in their favour. A defeat last night was never out of the question, but it was the nature of the defeat that was most concerning. We were second best in defence, midfield and attack.
Pre-match, Ronny told us he expected Maribor to sit in and counter-attack. They didn’t, forcing Celtic into disarray. We were fortunate to go in level at halftime; I was screaming out for a tactical change from 20 minutes in.
Kris Commons proved his value. From the moment he arrived, we had an out-ball for the first time in the night, but it was not enough.
Celtic tried to qualify for the Champions League without a target man, or a striker able to play the kind of football Ronny Deila requires to play his kind of football. Stokes, Griffiths, Pukki and Balde are not an appropriate Champions League strike force, by some distance.
We have plenty of midfielders who are happy to pass and run but no one with the composure to hold the ball. Brown, Forrest and Tonev were all missing, but none will occupy the holding roles given to Kayal and Mulgrew last night. Or to Wanyama two years ago.
The defensive collapse since last season is unfathomable. Virgil van Dijk was clearly a class above, whether in defence or attack, and Mikal Lustig was also assured – it is perhaps no coincidence that we lost the goal moments after he was replaced, but Efe Ambrose and Emilio Izaguirre have returned from the World Cup in alarmingly poor form.
This is where we are. We knew this at the end of last season, perhaps Neil Lennon did too. Ronny Deila has a significant rebuilding job on his hands.
Will we make a significant moves forward this week? This season? The Europa League isn’t the cash-cow of the premier tournament, and it carries none of the glamour, but it is a competition we need to be ready for. Perhaps more importantly, qualification planning for next season’s Champions League starts now.
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no green brigade
no backing from the off – no atmosphere at all in first half
audible moans and groans – the players were affected – confidence shot
stand up for the green brigade
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Really!!! A small minority of supporters can change a very mediocre team in to winners!!
Well then, no need to sign a striker.. get the GB back,demand a replay and we’re back on track……Gies piece
Italian media reporting that Teodorczyk has signed for Dynamo Kiev – 4.5 million euros.
Now that we’re in the Europa League I take it we’ll be facing a string of games shifted to lunchtime on a Sunday.
And another thing: now that we’re in the Europa League, we’ll be up against teams from ‘top leagues’ like Spain, France, Germany, Italy, England and Spain, instead of fellow ‘diddy’ leagues like Slovenia and Poland.
I can’t wait …
FF(S)
It’s not just about backing our own team.
Unnerving the opposition can play a huge part.
Hail Hail.
groundhog day on here. Nobody that makes decisions at club takes a blind bit of notice. Even Paul’s unending enthusiasm for the current model seems to be waning.
HH
quonno
12:39 on
27 August, 2014
spikeysauldman
12:27 on
27 August, 2014
stand up for the green brigade
——————————————————————————————————————
Who didn`t stand up for us.
Disappointed and bemused at that performance and result last night, surely winning the treble must be the only acceptable outcome now for this season.
Haven’t managed to scroll back due to work, so apologies if already covered, but I noticed one of our supporters in the main stand needed medical support in the 2nd half including help from the club medical team. I hope all is well.
macjay1 for Neil Lennon
12:38 on
27 August, 2014
My point is that minimum fee release clauses are really, really common and we got Henrik Larsson for £650k using precisely that method.
I’m not sure if it was you or Ernie that was suggesting this was a point of criticism. If it’s what’s required to get a decent player to sign on, then so be it. That’s what we have to deal with.
I’ll state it again, so that people don’t think I’ll be giving the board blanket support. The accounts and some basic arithmetic show we have £10-15M available to spend regardless of European football and it should have been spent before now.
Whit is the Maitter, Kiddies?
Celtic, Lost.
Big Deal.
It’s No that Oor Being Turfed oota the C.L. wiz A Shockerooony!
Na.. It wiz.. well.. Predicable.
Ah agree.. Wholeheartedly, wi.. Ronny!
Celtic ur No good Enuff.. In Thur PRESENT State, tae Compete successfully wi C.L.ers.
Case Closed..
Noo..
It is time fur Celtic, tae dae Something aboot it…
Right?
Sure it’s Right..
Ah am Confident the Ronny , wull Dae jist that..
Re-Build the Team.
Obviously, Ah don’t hiv Many Fellow CQNers ..sharing those Thoughts..
Fur, Maist of Them ur too busy..
Dismantling oor Administration n oor Present Managerial Team
Nice.
But.. well.. it’s jist…
NUTS~
A fat Loatta good it wid dae us..tae
Fire oor C.E.O. March oan the Stadium.. Burn Desmond in Effigy..
N..
Well.. Tear up Paper!
Noo is the time fur Reason.
no.. in Ma Opinion..
TREASON~
Fur if we Did Dismantle oor Board of Directors.. Brought in A Fresh Managerial Team..
n..
Tore up Paper…
We wid Be jist Pitting the Finishing Touches tae Daein in
Oor Beloved Team.
Noo it’s Re-Building Time,folks.. That is the Only Noise that We should be Hearing..
Coming fae the Ruins? o’ Parkheid oan the Clyde..
Go Ronny.. Go!
Kojo
Still Laughin.. Why No?
Macjay:
Off the top of my head… Man U. Barcalona, Portsmouth, Rangers, Juventus(?)
Fred C. Dobbs
The thing is, we did bring back the thunder,then the money was counted, salted away and the manager and fans got nothing back. Neil correctly judged he was been taken for a charlie and scarpered.
The next PR crusade is to have us believe we are planning for the future by bringing in a young, up and coming manager manager who is bringing in great ideas on sports science, diet, attacking footbqll philosophy etc. That PR campaign is coming off the rails already.
The Board need to come out and actually really talk to the support to tell us what their plan is. The PR bumpf has run its course. We gave you our money Peter, any chance of getting anything back in the way of a sustainable, planned footballing strategy that will allow us to win games and progression instead of regression ?
There has been an unfathomable collapse in my confidence in the current board and management setup to deliver anything.
Marti
Burning_Bush
spot on mate.
I’ll re-quote you.
“We’ve played four Champions League matches in the past month without winning one of them on the pitch. In two “home” games we failed to score. (Let’s not count the three from the walkover eh?)…
If all he has to say is “more tempo” and “run faster””
the teams we played were legia warsaw and maribor..
want me to shout it
LEGIA WARSAW AND MARIBOR.
get this joke of a manager out the door now.
KevinBhoy
11:24 on
27 August, 2014
20 minutes to go.
I know!! Let’s bring on Derk because…
Anyone..?
Yep.That is a cracker.Only days before he is telling the world that LG is a fantastic striker.
Does he play him?Nope
Does he bring him on to help us get a goal?.Nope
He brings on the most useless player at the club.
Is this now what we are about? We try each year to qualify for the CL spending as little in the process as we can. We bank the £15m just to balance the books and we win the league. We uncover the occasional nugget in the transfer market but we’ll sell him as soon as a decent offer comes in. How do we improve the team then, we develop the youth….em, em. Nope.
We no longer compete when we get into the CL so what is the point? If they ever get around to setting up a European league we may find we’ve become that much of an irrelevance that they forget to invite us to join.
I thought Jock Stein inherited a team and worked wonders without having to build his own team. I thought Bill Shankley did too. And maybe Cloughie too.
In twenty years Celtic have turned their fortunes full circle, from near bankrupt to “The Glorious Balance Sheet”. What hasn’t changed is the contempt to the supporters. The club are in a position to afford a sustainable debt to allow them to keep players ( who want to stay) and buy quality players to keep up a good standard of what the fans expect to go and watch. It is the supporters who pay to keep the club alive, the Board should remember that. We don’t expect them to spend tens of millions, as that does not guarantee success. They could meet us half way by investing in the team to challenge for champions league qualification. As we all know this should have been done two years ago, and it should be on going every transfer window in preparation for the following years qualification. How can anyone think that trying to get players in at the twelfth hour of a transfer window to play in a weeks time is going to achieve anything. Preparation is the key to success. I am not going to name & slate any players from last night, we all know who let us down – again – and the tactics were wrong, the game was one of the worst home Euro ties I have seen, and the atmosphere was not the usual to lift the team. Celtic went out with a whimper, when they lost the goal, they lost heart, and knocked the heart out of the support.We got what we deserved. My biggest bugbear before the Maribor games was we let go a man who wanted to play for us, a man who had been our talisman in Europe in recent years, and I am sure, would have made the difference, Samaras is that man. It didn’t make sense to me, but I suppose the board don’t care how we feel. Are they ever going to try and match the ambition of the supporters ? I wouldn’t hold my breath. I hope we do not have to go down the same road we did in 1994. Celtic Football Club should be going onwards and upwards but are being held back. What are they waiting on ? A deid club being resurrected , a club that I personally wouldn’t care if I never saw them again. The board nearly got a get out of jail card when we got a lucky break to get the opportunity to qualify to the group stages, we failed, the team failed, the manager failed, but most of all the board failed. They failed and let down the supporters once again, through incompetence. They are not as smart as they think they are. Dermot Desmond doesn’t like an EGM but I bet he likes a good night out, an occasion such as Seville for instance, it will be a miracle if we emulate that again, but that, as Celtic supporters, is what we strive for, it’s what we have always done. At the moment we are hardly good enough to play in Europe.
SickasapigCSC
Spd1956
sydneytim
12:32 on 27 August, 2014
niallo83. I think we have been playing this merry go round of non scoring strikers for long enough
As you have said more than once……when we had Hooper we needed one more good striker….now we need two.
I would keep Pukki as striker number three for the reasons outlined earlier!! I know you won’t agree:-P
In my honest opinion,I do not think there is anyway back.I think Ronnie has lost the dressing room.
You can all say what you want,but when that happens its game over.
Vinniethedog
You can take it from me that Celtic have been out bid for a number of players from Englands 2nd tier. I am talking about Norwich etc. Some of these clubs get parachute payments well beyond what Celtic make a year even when they make the champions league. Ross MacCormack 11million that guy from Norwich Snograss etc etc
My point was / is players ultimately want to move on, don’t want to come to Scotland, we are not a big fish anymore, no one apart from us the fans cares for us as they use to. Correction some care but unfortunately they aren’t Henrik.
We can’t compete in Europe unless we get a manager who can work miracles, not so sure Ronny is the miracle worker although O’Neil, Strachan and Lennon all had their moments.
Unfathomable is the word, alright.
Ronny Deila turned into Tony Mowbray last night.
Kayal, the only midfielder functioning properly and doing a good job, gets hooked at half-time for Commons and we effectively go 4-2-4 in a CL qualifier we don’t even need to win.
Unfathomable.
Unbelievable.
Unforgivable.
Pish team. Pish manager. Pish league. Pish CEO. Pish Owner. Pish results. Pish prospects.
It’s Re-Building Time..
No..
Recrimination Time..
Whit’s done is Done,kiddies.
Time tae Get Weavin’
Kojo
Still,Laughin
What time today will our next loan signing be announced. A bit of media management required to deflect the difficult questions the board won’t want to answer.
Weeminger.
This may explain.
macjay1 for Neil Lennon
12:11 on
27 August, 2014
Estadio Nacional
12:01 on
27 August, 2014
No,mate.
Agreements between players and Celtic F.C. that under specific circumstances,players will be permitted to leave should they so desire.
Betcha that was why Hoops,Wanyama and F.F. were permitted to leave.
Betcha.
Joe Filippis Haircut
12:41 on 27 August, 2014
All the posters who would sack our CEO and our Manager exactly who would you replace them with ? and why would they get us success ? H.H.
_____________________________________________
Restructure the club away from the PLC model and base it along the lines of a fans co-operative with someone of the ilk of Dr Jeanette Findlay(is there a better tim on the planet?) in control. imho
John Collins should have been Celtic’s captain with the maestro being used as a front-sweeper along the lines of what B.Dortmund did at that time with Lothar Matteheus(sp) and, now…I’d make John Collins the manager of Celtic and yeez would all be pleasantly surprised. imho
I know that ye don’t agree with anything that I say so, I don’t expect ye to be any different now, eh?
HH
Les Misérables Hector’s oozing ibrox carbuncle
12:51 on 27 August, 2014
You need to stop sitting on the fence and tell us what you really think!! ;-)
Turkeybhoy. That is just your opinion they played well in the 6-1 win over Dundee Utd.also they repeatedly say they are enjoying working with Rony.However,you seem to know otherwise.What information do you have to back up your opinion ? H.H.
St Patricks day 1956
I agree that the board should retain the talent that wants to stay but at what price and
who wanted to stay?
Ah well, I’ll just have to save the Zadok The Priest ringtone for next year… Sorry about that ACGR!
Not a great day all-round: couldn’t find my paving stone, got stuck in a queue of traffic in London Road for 40 minutes afterwards trying to get to the M74 and then to cap it all there were roadworks at Auchterarder where we spent 20 minutes waiting on a convoy vehicle.
But, it wasn’t all bad: the bhoy drove me for the first time since passing his test and I managed to have a couple of drinks in the Kerrydale, plus we had a great pre-match meal in our usual haunt at the Battlefield Rest (used to be a tram/bus stop or shelter as those from down that way will know). A special lunch promotion of a main meal plus a drink for £6, so we both had spaghetti alla cozze (mussels), with chilli garlic red wine sauce – fabulous – and I had a glass of house wine, while the bhoyo had an irn bru (well it is my car he is driving free gratis after all).
Onwards and upwards HH
Look forward to the Europa League, which is about right for where we are in the evolutionary stakes. And 4 of us will be at Dundee on sunday (5 miles from homen for us, and also the ghirl’s 25 th birthday).
Marti Sandino,
Valid points and I’m no gonnae argue with them.
But for that 90 minutes all bets are off.
We support our team and noise up the opposition.
Hail Hail.
macjay1 for Neil Lennon
12:53 on
27 August, 2014
Ok but in reality isn’t that the case for any player that hands in a transfer request?
Les Misérables Hector’s oozing ibrox carbuncle
12:51 on
27 August, 2014
Pish team. Pish manager. Pish league. Pish CEO. Pish Owner. Pish results. Pish prospects.
———————————————————————————————————————
Got you in a wanny.
Mis by name.
Strangely upbeat by nature.
Les Misérables Hector’s oozing ibrox carbuncle
12:51 on 27 August, 2014
Pish team. Pish manager. Pish league. Pish CEO. Pish Owner. Pish results. Pish prospects.
——————————–
I need a wee…
Kev. Jungle. At least your proposing something different but I dont see it ever happening. H.H.
We have players and youths at the club who are earning thousands of pounds week in week out who need to released. Let’s be honest, cancelling their contracts is the only option to get rid of them as no other team in their right minds would pay money for them.
Ambrose, Izzaguerre, Boerrighter, Pukki, Stokes, Griffiths, Berget, Mulgrew, Balde, Rogic, McGeouch, Twardzik, Atajic, Fridjonsson, Zaluska, there is probably more.
This lot of dross are banking hundreds of thousands from our wage bill each year. Our scouting setup is a joke when you look at these players, complete hangers on who offer nothing to the team.
Joe Filippis Haircut
12:58 on 27 August, 2014
_____________________
Cheers for the response pal
Take care & Hail Hail
Off oot things to do, bye.
fred c. dobbs
12:36
Ye don’t beat teams like Barca by accident.
Bring back the thunder.
————————-
Downsizing won’t bring back the thunder it will however bring in the tumbleweed.
HH GMB
… But I’m still a Tim. Canny change that. With you for life.