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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Sell your best players …..buy cheap crap …employ an unproven manager = where we are
We know who is to blame …
Deila a rebuilding job …I’d start the rebuilding buy giving him his jotters
Football isn’t only played out in a players diet , a players fitness , a managerial ethos
It’s played on the field where circumstances change , events happen …a manager must react or be pro active …frankly Deila has shown he’s not up to it ….
Change now or there’ll be 20000 at CP by November
Coolmore Mafia
I don’t think Ronny can be blamed for any of that, the long balls were out of desperation in lack of options going forward! These are the same players Lennon got a reaction from and drive, last night some of them couldn’t complete a pass, cross the ball, track a man or be bothered to run, thats not down to Ronny, once the players are on the pitch they have to take it upon themselves to perform, he motivates and picks the team, his tactics weren’t wrong and the team was set up well. We started brightly but faded, Maribor were crap but got lucky from our own mistakes.
The performance was dreadful granted, Peter Lawell and Ronny aren’t to blame for it.
Ronny was and still is, a complete unknown. He was and still is one of Celtic biggest ever gambles, and probably one of Celtics biggest ever projects. Initially a great many good Celtic men supported Ronny, even though they knew nothing about him, they Supported him because he was the “man in the job” and nothing else. They may still continue to support him regardless of his performance. I don’t hold that against them,they are just trying to support the club, in my younger days I did the same with guys like Mike Galloway.
Statements like
“I like the cut of that mans gib”
“Ronnys vision of how the game should be played”
“There is something about him I like”
“he has been to Dortmund”
And other assorted baseless pash appeared all over timternet. These messages of support for the unknown quantity were based on raw hope alone and nothing else. They certainly weren’t based on his achievements. I have based my opinion on what I see, not on what I hoped he would do……
I see 4 defeats in one month.
I see being knocked out of Europe twice in one month.
We didn’t get knocked out by the likes of Arsenal or Barca either
Ronnys reputation, if he ever had one, lies in tatters today among very large sections of our support. By his own admission we are not good enough. Can he recover from this? This morning, very few of us will reckon we will go onto do well in EL group stages. Unfortunately for Ronny, this is the only remaining “on field” measure of success nowadays. Ronny will get very little kudos for winning a hunless league title, even if he wins it by 20 odd points. It’s a given that Celtic will win the league title. (never in our wildest dreams would anyone have contemplated losing a hunless league title) Domestically, however we have already equalled the amount of defeats we had all last season and its only August.
There are still those who continue to measure Celtics success by the amount of Money we hold in the bank. The bean counters will have noticed that even by that measure, our income this season will be about 25% lighter than last season. The loss of the CL bounty may provoke even more first team sales.
Many may continue to shout that signing players in preparation for CL qualification does not in itself guarantee CL qualification. There are generally very few guarantees in life, but in my opinion, selling our best players season after season will almost certainly decrease our chances of qualification in the long term.
I took flak earlier for calling for Ronnys head if he didn’t qualify. I still hold that position. IMO we wake up this morning kissing goodbye to 20 million quid.
P67, regarding yesterday’s blog in defence of the defeat at the weekend? Don’t go down the line of supporting him unequivocally, while ignoring the facts. There are still some sevconians who support Super Sally while ignoring the blatantly obvious. Let’s not go down that line. That’s what the Celtic View is for.
Tractor bhoy
The squad is depleted because FF and TW were sold and Sammi wasn’t given a new contract ..otherwise it’s the same team that broke records last season …to absolve Deila is to ignore the obvious
davidopoulos
;-)
Need a smile today!
HH jamesgang
DD and PL are destroying the Celtic we love.
Lets see how many want to clap next season, when sevco are pumping us.
If you think im exaggerating, watch what happens from here on in.
The crowd will shrink, they will downsize more, to help their sevco pals they wax lyrical about.
The Celtic board…you only want to see the sevco.
We are being destroyed from within by huns, that’s my conclusion.
What else could explain the actions of the Celtic board?
You would think, that they want the team to beaten, and that’s right….they do.
Sack the board, or let them move to ibrox to see the team they love.
HH
Jamesgang
Have tried for the last 5 minutes to work in a joke about posters and imposters, but I’m afraid I failed.
Trusting you appreciate the intention though.
TBB
The Board
There were good reasons for downsizing nine years ago but in the last four years whilst Neil Lennon has been manager we have seen a real reduction in the lack of investment. A lot is made of John Park and his scouting system. I would say it is way over rated. Yes, Gary Hooper, Fraser Forster, Wanyama all went for big money but for every one of those there have been at least three that have failed miserably and not for insignificant money. If you question the board we are told that we don’t understand accounts and that we don’t want to end up like “Them”. Very few are asking for us to spend tens of millions every summer but we are asking for better quality on the pitch. We have no real quality players in that side even if you compare it to three seasons ago. Our best and most effective player is Kris Commons (as goals win you games – people should remember that) and he is not flavour of the month but i can come on to that later. Peter LAwell has been good for the club but like Prime ministers and presidents that are allowed to stay too long they become dictatorial and blinkered. He is definitely that. However, we have a board which seem to be happy to produce profits before entertainment. I am a shareholder but my profit is reinvested. At this moment in time we should be dominating Scottish football. We are not! The board talk the talk but do not behave like a big club. They want to be considered amongst the top clubs and expect us to keep paying up front for what every season becomes less entertaining. It is easy to blame economics on this but 20,000 are turning up for games that 40,000 have already paid for. However experienced players like Ledley, Samaras, Wanyama, Hooper, Wilson have all left and been replaced with inexperienced ones. Are we West Ham Utd? Under NFL we under performed domestically in the cups and that is important despite what many may say. However he was moderately successful yet chooses to leave Celtic with no job offer as he feels he can do no more. What a dreadful indictment on our board.
The New manager
People keep on saying we are a “work in progress” and “he should be given time”. People said that of Tony Mowbray. I can see and hear the same comments about both men. The squad that NFL left was good enough to beat Maribor if he had not made wholesales changes to the playing style. Playing the system he plays leaves your defence exposed and yet he continues to do that. Yes, he misses Brown. Forget Forrest as every manager misses him and will continue to do so. He shouldn’t even be considered as a loss as he is injury prone. The manager went into the most important games of the season experimenting on a team that had enough quality to beat Maribor. Dropping Kris Commons – our talisman was extraordinary. It is early to judge new players but they shouldn’t be in the side yet. The current squad had enough to get through. Gordon, Matthews, lustig, van dijk, izzy, mulgrew, biton, kayal, commons, stokes lined up in a 4-4-1-1 whilst hardly mouth watering would have been familiar with each other. Yes, Mcgregor has been a real bonus but wholesale changes was unnecessary. I can see Tony Mowbray like tendencies again.
When Celtic fans criticise even objectively we get hammered as “Non Celts” amongst other things. I have watched Celtic for 28 years and gone to the games for 24 of those seasons. I believe I am entitled to criticise rather than “always look on the bright side of life”. The manager is partly to blame but who appointed such an inexperienced man and why? The answer is a team of Accountants that have ONE aim and that is to produce a profit every 12 months. How very sad.
What kind of extraordinary illogical mindset feels that the Board lost the game last night ?
To the extent that they ,presumably,chose Ronny,then they are culpable.
The game was lost on the park by coaches and players,not in the Board Room.
….PFayr supports WeeOscar
Wohhhh, slow down with that jerky knee
I posted last night that this is a blessing. We are never in a million years good enough for the CL and we would have taken some real hammerings (might still in the EL!!).
Real vs Celtic at the Bernabeu anyone?
However, serious questions need to be asked about our lack of preparation for the CL. It was always going to be difficult with a new manager, but not for the first time our pre-season schedule was a complete shambles and actually hindered us rather than helped us prepare.
Secondly, if the manager identifies players within our budget we need to get them. Far too much havering and hedging going on, which leads to us missing out on top targets and settling for duds like Balde and Boerigter.
We are in a tremendous position financially and in terms of knowing the league is won. Let’s invest early, and make sure we are ready to become what we all know we should be – a regular post-group-stage CL team.
It’s not uncommon for players to start a league season slowly after a world cup. The emotional as well as physical toll mean they need a break.
I was surprised to see Efe starting last night. His form has not been good. Izzy was less of a surprise as we don’t have another left back, only right backs who can play there.
PFayr supports WeeOscar 09:01 on 27 August, 2014
Sell your best players …..buy cheap crap …employ an unproven manager = where we are
We know who is to blame …
Deila a rebuilding job …I’d start the rebuilding buy giving him his jotters
——————————————————————————————————-
I have this nagging doubt that RD is the next Tony Mowbray but worry about who we would get him to repalce him. Lennon left because of the transfer budget. Keane knocked us back because of the transfer budget but RD took the job in full knowledge what his transfer budget would be. If we get rid of RD, what self-respecting manager would come to CP to work with Lawwell and the current player acquisition strategy. The truth is we are stuck with RD for the time-being and the focus of our anger and dis-enchantment needs to be directed further up the CP food chain. An organised boycott of the EL home matches would the obvious first step for the support.
You know when it gets to the stage that even I’m saying that there is £10-12M (maybe even 15) clear to spend regardless of CL football – it’s there in black and white and with the use a bit of basic arithmetic.
However, as a general rule, our playing environment and income doesn’t support the kind of player we need to be more assured in the CL. Except right now we can. We have the money and let’s say we have them and don’t get into the CL. Players of that quality can easily be moved at the point it’s clear we can no longer afford them, probably in a second consecutive CL free season.
As far as I can see there’s only one possible reason that the board aren’t releasing the funds and that’s partly to deal with The Rangers arriving (which is not an acceptable reason in my opinion) or to make absolutely sure we get there when the CL money increases from the 2015 season onwards – still not really acceptable.
Here’s hoping for a decent EL run. Spend the money.
.PFayr supports WeeOscar
09:03 on
27 August, 2014
You`re right.
Basically, Lenny`s players lost last night.
The difference?
Lenny wasn`t coaching them.
Mindless runout team.
Followed by mindless subs.?
Yes? No? Maybe?
Even without the required signings, that Celtic squad should have been good enough to take care of Maribor last night. We lost because of the decisions taken by the new manager.
Tony Stokes is never in a millions years capable of doing the job he was asked to do. He works well enough with Commons around him and the two of them create chances. On his own he is hopeless.
Admittedly there is something about Celtic these days that prevents us winning cup matches – Morton and Aberdeen last season for example. When Celtic were down in the nineties the huns were mopping up Trebles – we haven’t even come close. Why?
However this wasn’t the issue last night – we lost because the manager made awful tactical and team selection decisions. Jury well and truly out on him now both in the stands and also in the dressing room.
Sorry Paul – that is one of the most benign reviews I’ve read of last nights watershed experience.
You owe it to yourself to provide some critical analysis of the abject mismanagement that is driving our club deeper and deeper in to the no man’s land of European football.
We have a cheap team, a cheap management team and an expensive CEO who is making the fans pay dearly.
Time to call it as it is.?
I forgot Lustig was subbed – Oh God it was a clueless clusterfupp of monster proportions.
Just saw the goal, Adam Matthews, Let me tell you something…..If I were your manager you would never play for me again. Not only did you let the cross come in you then just stopped caring completely. Unacceptable bhoyo.
Not surprised..
Easy to understand .The unfathomable aspect is the presence in the team of players who simply are not good enough .At least 3 of last nights team wouldnt get anywhere near a Maribor shirt
The better team won . .( distinctly average in European terms)
The hard bit is explaining how a small Club with small resources managed to win ..
Maribor did the basics——-they kept the ball, they moved the ball, they defended, they kept their shape, they concentrated ,they didnt wilt after 75 minutes and they took their chance .
In comparison ,Celtic were a shambles..
Much work to be done ——–get on with it
Scorchio ——-way down south
Yas, another reason to further deepen my dislike of cyclists…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-28945834
Anyway, enough of these distractions….sign a striker, or something, or anyone, or whatever!
Other people are gambling with our money, why aren’t they accountable?
Go tell the Spartim
09:19 on 27 August, 2014
Other people are gambling with our money, why aren’t they accountable?
—————————————————————
Because if you ain’t a shareholder, you are just a customer and a stakeholder. That’s the way you are viewed from the ivory tower.
What would be appropriate and fair would be for Peter Lawwell to call a press conference and explain his strategy and take responsibility for getting it wrong.
Unfortunately he will not do that.
I wonder if Ronnie will rest any of the squad this weekend
Nobody could be that clueless, to rip up a 20 millon golden ticket.
We have the chance to progress in the CL, but the board cant invest in the team. it stinks to high heaven.. it can only be sabotage from within.
Where is the money going?
Who is reaping the benefits of Celtic, is it the supporters?
Who is getting well paid and perks galore, is it the supporters?
Where is the money going?
If you truly wanted the team you represent to progress, why on earth wouldn’t you invest in the team Peter.
I will tell you why…..you want the slime from the bigot pound.
To foster bigotry by selling tickets for a Celtic v Sevco game, that, is totally shameful.
Peter ,you have said nothing about their corruption, because you only have bigot pound signs in your eyes….shame on this PLC.
HH
That game was crying out for Samaras. And this is a guy who wanted to stay.
Last night was abysmal. In the first half you would have thought the players had never seen each other before – a repeat of Saturday and last season against Morton, Aberdeen and Camps League except Milan, away, and Ajax, home. While I feel we have no choice but to continue with the management team th ”little frightened’ aspect is down to their planning and communication. The players appeared to be unfit, the team was not well organised and there did not seem to be any clear plan or playing routines. It was massively disappointing from a stratégie, management angle. We know the level of the players. To leave out your best player is eccentric to say the l’East.
Neil canamalar Lennon hunskelper extrordinaire
07:05 on
27 August, 2014
Reading the drivel macjay posts about the club being run on a sound financial basis is just a joke, every penny has been down to luck, lucky to get into the CL lucky to get a cheap player we could sell on, none of it can be predicted.
———————————————————————————————————————
This contribution from our own cerebral canamalar.
Admired by some.
Sadly.
I am backing Ronny to get things right, but his use of subs last night was terrible.
In a game in which we needed to hold the midfield, Kayal should never have been subbed.
Derk was a pointless addition, as good as being a man down.
Ronny will find out -like Barnes and WGS – that there is no time to learn on the job at Celtic. Barnes was crushed by the experience, WGS drew on his resources and know-how to quickly steady the ship.
On the interminable drive home last night I listened to 5Live (couldn’t stomach the Saltire-Waving patriots of Radio Shortbread). Van Gaal basically told moaning Utd fans to shut up and let him get on with the job. He has the history and ballast to say that, Ronny doesn’t.
Interesting times.
I would imagine that Maribor and Legia players get paid much less than Celtics. How come they are more effective teams than us.
Commons for Kayal made sense as a tactical change. He wasn’t playing badly but we needed to bring on Commons to support Stokes.
Matthews for Berget was a little odd. Our new man did little in the second half but Derk was the obvious straight swap. The change made involved McGregor moving to the left which meant he was coming inside and we lost any width.
Lustig looked to be holding his thigh when he came off, so that one was forced. But again Denayer could have come on as a straight swap rather than Derk,, which once more meant several players changing position.
I would have subbed johansen for commons -the subbing of lustig was strange
Peter….good luck with that bigot pound plan.
You should be sacked.
HH
macjay
There are failings throughout the club, top down and bottom up.
From the business perspective, Celtic have been stonkingly profitable over the past 2 years. We have elected to bank the profit rather than invest it, and at year end we had an 8 figure cash balance. This has been boosted by the recent sale of Forster.
If our business was a talent agency, we’d be thrilled. Delighted. The business performance has been peerless.
But we’re not a talent agency. We’re a football club, and our purpose is to compete in football tournaments at the highest level we can.
In this regard, our performances have been on a downwards path since the 2012/13 season, coincident with selling Wanyama and Hooper.
There’s no problem selling top players for top money, that’s part and parcel of the game. The problem is replacing them with players who are capable of competing at the requisite level, of matching the contribution of the players sold.
There is a litany of players signed over the past 2 years who have made little discernible contribution on the pitch.
The result of this is a downwards averaging of the capability of the team, and the results it achieves.
You might call it: Regression to the mediocre.
One of the consequences of this will be to burn our pile of cash to support operating costs in a season without Champions League income. Comparing 2011/12 with 2012/13, that’s a £17M swing.
We have no right to qualify for the Champions League, but we do have a chance every year. This year we have blown it, and the root cause is a diminished standard of player in the first team squad.
You can take your own view as to where the responsibility lies, but in my view it’s a top down problem in this case. The prioritisation of “commercial value” before “football worth” has compromised our ability to win football matches.
In my view of course.
TBB
This is the strategy I would like to hear from Lawwell and Co…
‘Historically Celtic have been in a 2 horse race in Scotland, occasionally this was punctuated by the temporary emergence of other teams but essentially the Glasgow teams have gone toe to toe.
In the medium term going forward we will be in a 1 horse race and so we are lifting our sights to Europe and will be competing in a new race that requires short term investment but offers the opportunity of great return.
It is likely that by capitalising on the new strategy we will cement our position as the undisputed leading club in Scotland and take our place among the leading British teams in Europe.’
Instead we have focused on asset stripping and downsizing…
Davidopoulos
09:18 on
27 August, 2014
Anybody that hit’s a guide dog is in most cases likely to be a fool no question but let me turn that stat around for you.
Now it didn’t say what period the 25% of Guide Dog owners had had their incident, but lets just say it was a year. That’s 80 collisions.
There are over hundreds of thousands of commuting cyclists in Central London, never mind leisure users. Transport for London estimates over 500k bike trips are made every day in London that’s over 180M/year (taking off some for weekends).
The percentage of cycle journeys resulting in a collision with a guide dog is so small my calculator won’t display the number.
macjay1 for Neil Lennon:
Everybody knows, everybody, the Captain of the ship is responsible when the ship runs aground; no excuses are allowed or acceptable. We haven’t beached yet but if the Captain of our ship doesn’t get his fingers out of his ears soon, very soon, we’re fecked.
The Captain of our ship brought in the manager, he approved the purchase of the pygmies that now populate our dressing room, he failed to bring in players of the caliber required to make a fist of it in the Champions League, he and his wardroom live on cake and wine whilst most of his crew get by on scraps and his team are the worst team I have watched take to the pitch in my life; And all that from an unprecedented position of strength. What an absolute farce. Shame on those for daring to take money for their obscene failings.
It is not the players fault, it is not the manager’s fault, it is the fault of those who appointed them to do a job they are just not qualified, or able to do.