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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That was a hard shift,just watched the game after a 12hr nightshift.
Wow.
I need a drink.
Estadio Nacional
11:51 on
27 August, 2014
Why then do we have to sell players and even more so when there is no CL income when Lawwell has us so well run?
LawwellGTFCSC
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Is it possible that you are unaware of contractual agreements which exist between players,their agents and Celtic football Club?
Just possible?
In short, we need to focus on a hooper strategy (2-3 seasons good service and £2-3m profit) rather than chasing the wanyama strategy – we’re probably making a loss on that strategy due to lots of frogs, few princes!
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS
11:56 on 27 August, 2014
That was a hard shift,just watched the game after a 12hr nightshift.
Wow.
I need a drink.
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Ooooh, yeah, shouldn’t have done that….
I’m going to say it……Anthony Stokes is our Kris Boyd.
Dung against anybody decent
Bobby
My shout.
Would this Celtic Manager know what to do in an Old Firm game? I doubt it.
I’m tired of every few years hearing people say “The manager needs time”
Apart from MON, let’s face it, every manager since has been a major gamble.
We are a joke. Constantly in flux. Balancing the books. Just enough to win the diddy league. Whipping euro boys.
niallo83. Indeed the stats don’t lie. Pukki’s are awefull
He was awefull in Germany. Spoke to my mate in Germany when we first tried to get him. ” he said we got out of jail there. Worse than useless ”
Then we signed him
macjay1 for Neil Lennon 11:57
Sure is, so players have agreements to be sold if there’s no CL?
Or bad management that means we have to sell to cover failure, or selling just so the account book look good sitting pride of place on top of the Big Cup in the trophy room?
EN
kitalba
09:31 on 27 August, 2014
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~++~~~~~~~~~~
The Captain of Our Ship,KITALBA?
Cue for a song.
“Peter is the captain of our ship,of our ship.
Peter is the captain of our ship,of our ship.
Our ship is a tanker,and Peter is…”
Well,I think more people than ever are realising that we should never have handed such a huge amount of responsibility to someone manifestly not qualified to deliver.
And btw,Peter is not a banker.
MICK11
11:54 on
27 August, 2014
Posted when I got back last night that I was numb rather than angry. If it wasn’t for my kid I don’t know if I’d be going. Probably more to do with my growing disconnection with the club than results mind you. I have supported them for 40 odd years so I’ve seen some poor teams.
I find it bizarre when people talk about Celtic being one of the giants of Europe and why aren’t we now.
The football world has changed incredibly since the 60’s and 70’s. Celtic are looked on as a great historical club with a wonderful support but money talks and we are unable to compete with the big leagues in Europe. To be honest we are unable to compete with the 2nd best league in England. We are a grand club in a rubbish leagueWe would all love to have kept our diamonds, Wanyama, Forster, Hooper etc but realistically they came here with the only thought of getting noticed and moving on. Hooper has done nothing and has been less than impressive but he is has more than likely double his wages as have the others.
Celtic are now unable to hook a big signing and those that make a name don’t want to stick around. Can you blame the club when a player wants to move on. Celtic tried to keep Hooper and Wanyama but they wanted to leave.
Celtic aren’t able to bring in even the average Epl player because they are on ridiculous wages and have no appetite for Scottish football, why should they.
So although I’m disgusted with what I watched this morning (oz time) it’s not as simply as spending money on (60m) on that Real Madrid player who probably won’t make that much different anyway.
Let’s get realistic some years we will get a bit of luck and qualify for the champions league and some years we won’t.
DAVIDOPOULOS
I hope you at least had a good time with the lads from Wimbledon.
You and Green and White Tiger.
I’ll see ya 13/9 if yer unlucky!
rogueleader
11:58 on 27 August, 2014
I’m going to say it……Anthony Stokes is our Kris Boyd.
Dung against anybody decent
I’ve been saying this for the last 2 years. Rangers rarely played Boyd against us or in Europe because they knew he hadn’t enough pace or work rate to trouble good defences. Why no one from our club has figured this out about Stokes is beyond me!!!
MACJAY
Too late.
Met your type before,haha!
Where do I start?
Last night was sluggish. You could se the decision not to play our first team at Inverness was a bad one after 20 mins.
We did not show any sharpness or zip. Our midfield was as poor as I can remember. I have backed Charlie Mulgrew many times and like him but he put in a terrible shift last night. He looked like he was either toiling with injury or just slow. He is not captain material. We are struggling at the back and I think Charlie would be better going into the position where he won POTY. Ambrose is a man I have felt sorry for many times. He never hides. He always plays where selected. Ronny made a mistake last night not playing the new Bhoy who was on loan from City. I said last week after the Maribor game that the whole defence and goalkeeper should play at Inverness to gel and keep the consistency of playing together. That did not happen. I think in our competitive games this season we have not played the same defence and goal keeper more than twice. You will always leak goals when you do not have a consistent defence.
The team selection was wrong. I felt that was the case from the first time I looked at it. It went from bad to worse once the game got under way. Johansen probably put in the worst 45 mins I have seen in a long time. He couldn;t pass a ball two yards and is clearly a favourite of the gaffer because if anyone deserved to be hooked at half time it was him. He did up his game in the 2nd half but by then we had taken off the only midfielder who seemed to actually be breaking up the Maribor play. We were so far off them in the first half in midfield that they were able to pick passes easilly and gain confidence and keep possession with ease. Our best midfielder is a wee Bhoy from our youth set up. He was able to take the ball an do something. He showed little fear and got stuck in. He created our best chance in both halves and also hit the bar. This is probably our biggest problem highlighted by our European disaster this season. Celtic either as a club or our managers since Strachan do not rate Scottish players or many players from our own league. Why? McGregor has illustrated more than any other player this season that Scottish Bhoys if given the chance will put a shift in and take their chance.
We had at least £10m worth of talent in the stand. We had a further £5m on the bench with a loan player the manager himself said is a £10m player. Why?
The manager bottled it last night and went for the tried and trusted. He had a ready made excuse. These players are not good enough. Easy for him to say that when only one of his players started. That did not show guts and I am dissappointed with his lack of bottle last night.
The players again must take the share of the blame. Where they man for man better than their opponents? It’s hard to tell because they did not look it for the most part of the game. We badly lacked leadership and if I have said it 100 times I will say it again. We need experience in this team. We must go out and buy a couple of players who have experience to help the players on the pitch. We are badly lacking players with guile and nous at key points of games. I’m not talking about guys shouting and bawling. It’s about talking our younger guys through the games. Leaders are required because apart from Brown and maybe Gordon we have no others.
The subs last night made no sense. Boerritger should be nowhere near a Celtic jersey. Kayal unless injured was a crazy change. Lustig was unavoidable due to injury but the replacement should have been the new CB.
Ronny got it wrong. He didn;t have the balls to accept that he blamed the players. That disappoints me.
The players should be part of the blame in house but the manager got it all wrong last night and took the easy option to play Lennon’s team when he should have played his £10m man at the back and played someone up front who can score goals. Mcgregor was the only chance he took and he was a success. One of few on the night. I have said for a year now that Izzy will cost us in Europe. That clearnace was ridiculous although most of the defence must share the blame. Gordon had no chance at the goal.
The reaction after the loss of the goal was embarrassing we were frozen it took us 5 mins to realise we were a goal down. Lack of leadership to drive the team on.
The team is not a total disaster but when your experienced men are letting you down and we have almost £20m worth of players not playing and a manager who rates a Bhoy at £10m on the bench then questions must be asked. We were under prepared and still look like we don;t know where we are going. The manager needs to get monies to buy his own players but more importantly we need to cut the surplus because we have way too much money sitting not playing. Criminal for a club like Celtic to have that amount of cash sitting depreciating. 6-1 against United cut Ronny some slack. The draw in Maribor got him some confidence from the support. He made big calls that night. Last night was cautious and fearful and it proved to be the case. The team bottled it and so did the manager.
Team meeting, board meeting, manager and board meeting. This is not good enough and anyone who wants out can go now. The fans are not happy and while I don;t agree with shouting sack the board at the main stand it is a game changer. Actions speak louder than words though and it is over to Celtic to sort this out because there is a lot not right and it is easilly sorted if they take action ASAP. If they allow this to stagnate then we will probably be in for worse nights before it gets better.
Time to show some bottle at all levels and get to work!
LB
As I walked away from the park last night, for the first time I felt disgust at Peter Lawwell and the Celtic board. They have let us all down badly. They gambled with CL qualification for the 3rd time in a year and lost twice, both in a matter of weeks.
We are European minnows now, two years after the world marvelled at our victory over Barcelona. Everyone wants us in every draw and it’s got nothing to do with the atmosphere at Celtic Park.
we are in a bad place right now. Unlike a lot of CQNers, I won’t pretend I know the answers. I am not paid to know the answers.
Someone at the top has to stand up and be counted and drag us screaming into the real world.
P
Rogue
Tony Stokes was asked to do a job he was not equipped for.
Don`t blame him.
He ran his whatnots off attempting to do what he shouldn`t have been asked to do.
Meanwhile,top scorer Kris sits watching.
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS
12:04 on
27 August, 2014
MACJAY
Too late.
Met your type before,haha!
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Well.
Lucky you.
Pumped twice and out the CL.
You couldn’t make it up.
A total shambles.
You wont hear a word from pl…he will be hiding again.
But im sure he will hear what the supporters think of him…very soon.
Somebody needs to take some responsibility for failure.
Before we go completely backwards.
HH
E-times have nailed it.
Delia must go.
Now.
Oh and I think myself, Bawsman and one or two others have been proved right in criticising the decision to rest the entire team at Inverness.
som mes que un club
11:55 on 27 August, 2014
What odds on Sevco at Ibrox in Round 3 of League Cup.
_____________________
I think it’s a stick on Celtic will be drawn against Aberdeen, Dundee Utd or Inverness away.
Make Collins the manager ASAP.so we can win the SPL. It will be less messy imo.
Les miersbles –
Calling for the manager’s head and you can’t even spell his name?
Neilmcallumlennon,
How many teams in the wonderful English second tier have a football budget of 40 million quid or near enough ???!!!!!
Another complete urban myth rubbish…
RogueLeader .
Udinese ?
Last years accounts show that Udinese spent the best part of 7 million euros on scouting .
They make money from spotting players,developing them and then selling them -Handanovic, Asamoah,Sanchez,Isla,Pereyra,Benatia etc :They are profitable enough to be able to tell the likes of Man U / Dortmund and Rubentus that Yes the likes of Muriel are for sale but we want a lot more than you have offered . . We will keep him until we get what we want
They make money . They are good enough to play in Serie A but they are very unlikely to ever win anything .
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.
We were 16mins away from C L and we blew it big time!!
MACJAY
Not a dig,mate.
The “my shout” when it’s just too late is a running gag in Kilwinning.
I think I started it….
macjay1 – see when Ronny switched back to his favoured formation 20mins into the 2nd half? With Commons on, the Commons whose pace is akin to a 1.2 Fiesta towing a caravan, allowed Maribor to push their defensive line 10 yards further forward which squeezed the game into our half. When he had the midfield 4, Commons in the hole behind Stokes just after half time, we were dangerous. That decision to revert back to the formation that wasn’t working cost us the tie.
It proves my suspicion that Commons cannot play Ronny’s formation. So Ronny has to change his formation to play Commons or we all forget about Commons. There is no 3rd option.
Ronny has to change his formation as it is not just Kris who can’t play it!
Tom McLaughlin
12:09 on
27 August, 2014
Les miersbles –
Calling for the manager’s head and you can’t even spell his name?
——————————————————————————————————————–
Best laugh of the day,Tom.
Jeez.Did I need that.
On the flip side. Would we rather have beaten Queens Park 2-1 last night?
Get a grip negatonians, the man needs time to clear out the dross he’s inherited, Mulgrew, Boerrigter Balde, and a few others.
Saw last night, why Efe tends to bring the ball out of defence, his passing was absolute bollocks.
Anyway, Europa League beckons, I think that’s more our level.
There are some on here with a hun-like mentality, that we’re entitled to win everything, let’s enjoy being Celtic supporters.
HH
End London rule. YES.
So heres a question-what if last night we had GMs from Dundee Utd instead of Berget and Armstrong from same club instead of Mulgrew -would we have been better..I think we would have.
tom mclaughlin
12:09 on 27 August, 2014
I can spell his name…
S.H.E.N.G.U.S.
macjay1 for Neil Lennon
12:11 on 27 August, 2014
‘Agreements between players and Celtic F.C. that under specific circumstances,players will be permitted to leave should they so desire.’
####
And the first specific circumstance, and the critical one, is that a transfer fee dictated by Celtic will be on the table.
sydneytim
12:01 on 27 August, 2014
niallo83. Indeed the stats don’t lie. Pukki’s are awefull
He was awefull in Germany. Spoke to my mate in Germany when we first tried to get him. ” he said we got out of jail there. Worse than useless ”
Then we signed him
I’m not trying to say Pukki is a good striker.
My point is his goal ratio doesn’t change much as he goes up the levels (i.e. from SPFL to Europe or international football)!! 8 goals in 37 games in Bundesliga, 7 goals in 27 games in SPFL or 8 goals in 32 international games. His record is a goal every 4 games……even against better opposition.
Stokes record in SPFL is about a goal every two games. An impressive record. However, because he has zero pace his scoring record when he goes up the levels is abysmal. 2 goals in 21 European games, 0 goals in 8 internationals and 1 goal in 20 EPL games.
If you are picking a striker for a European games it has to be Pukki ahead of Stokes!!! That is my point.
If we had better strikers I would pick neither!!
LiviBhoy
12:04 on
27 August, 2014
Excellent post mate and reflects a lot of my own thoughts. Gutted last night and still feeling it today. This could last a while. The Board needs to communicate clearly to the support. Enough of the PR we are subjected to as it has run its course.
What’s the plan Peter ? Dermot? Anyone ?
Marti