This morning we have the luxury of being concerned at the volume of chances Motherwell passed by before briefly pegging Celtic back in yesterday’s encounter at Fir Park. Before kick-off, all that mattered were the three points that necessary to keep our title challenge on track. We got what we wanted.
Virtuoso performances by Mohamed Elyounoussi and, to a lesser extent, Tom Rogic, meant the win was eventually secured in some style. Motherwell threatened repeatedly from halftime until they eventually scored on 72 minutes, better teams would have done more with the chances, but stout defending, by Diego Laxalt in particular, kept them at bay.
Elyounoussi’s potent ability to time his arrival into the danger perfectly brought his first hat-trick as a Celtic player. He described the first, a rebound from Albian Ajeti shot off the post, as lucky, but he was the fastest ‘lucky’ player to make the follow-in run. His second, from Rogic’s cutback, made the most of tight space inside the Motherwell area. The salmon leap-like header for the third goal was a delight. On this form, Mohamed will have a big influence on the season.
Shane Duffy and Odsonne Edouard were rested, with the returning Kristoffer Ajer and Ajeti preferred. Both did well. Ajer’s early retirement through a recurrence of his groin injury is a concern, I don’t think we will see the best from Celtic until he and Christopher Jullien are paired together at the back.
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CELTIC
Amazing what a good victory by The Bhoys does for your
podium chances lol.
H.H. Mick
Let’s go celts
C’mon bhoys lets be avin ye.
H.H. Mick
Good summary Paul67……I’d like to flip away from the ‘all that mattered’ narrative at some point though:)
I like Moi and I like Tom Rogic’s dancing feet. Talented bhoys.
HH
We don’t defend well enough as a team. On the other hand we created sufficient chances to be out of sight in the first half. And they should have been down to 10 men before they scored and 9 before the end.
At times our defence were at sixes and sevens,right,Celtic backroom bhoys watch and repair!
ILJASB on 9TH NOVEMBER 2020 11:23 AM
AN TIERNAN
wasteful and lazy mispelling
Brilliant comment, NOT.
if you have been lurking youll know that is a traditional question of a new poster
are you a hun?
FYI I’ve been supporting Celtic since I was a schoolboy. I actually watched Wee Jinky, Big Yogi et al from the Jungle. Your apologies accepted.
good for you.many here have.
now rwmember to answer thw queation
no apology offered by me- is that clear
hh
I think that we’re looking at any chances created by the opposition through a nervous prism expecting them to score on every occasion.
While we weren’t punished we are giving away a lot of unnecessary chances. Whole structure, system & tactics need looked at. Massive part of problem is the balance in midfield which I think is throwing the whole team off. The midfield are disorganised & don’t have a cohesive system or play as a unit so we leave gaping holes in the centre of the park & don’t provide adequate cover to the defence. A defence which is often only 2 CB’s with both fullbacks essentially playing as wingers.
Alarm bells also ringing about our defensive organisation not only from set pieces but from 2nd balls after initial set piece is cleared. Our players seem to lack concentration and completely switch off. We lost 2nd goal against Rangers with poor organisation after corner initially cleared and gave away another chance against Motherwell yesterday when Watt came in unmarked at back post after initial set piece was cleared. Fortunately Watt tried to square it and it was eventually cleared. We need to drill defensive awareness and concentration into our players as we cannot keep giving away easy chances or we will get punished.
Talented players papered over the cracks IMHO
Our noisy neighbours are focused, better coached, and institutionally supported. We don’t have enough to overturn that at the moment.
Tin hat on…
HH
Slabhoy
BHOYJOEBELFAST
Think we’re all on the same page as regards the shaky defence.
We’ve been unlucky with injuries and big Shane unexpectedly all
at sea, hopefully we’ll get a settled defensive unit from here in.
Big Elhamed at right back pleeeease.
H.H. Mick
All eyes on Easter Road. Straight of the back of an international break, what could possibly go wrong ?!
Win at Easter Road and we’ve a kind run of fixtures and a SC final to see out the year.
One league fixture between now and 6th Dec affords us time to get big players back or closer to a return.
Rest the main guys for the Europa.
Easter Road is the key.
We’ve 3 months to break the back of this season and effectively do the ten.
AN DUN
Agreed . Easter Rd needs to kick off a post-Dubai type run without the benefits of Dubai . Getting and keeping our defence fit and settled could be key , although the chance of avoiding injuries with refereeing like we saw yesterday is zero.
GENE on 9TH NOVEMBER 2020 12:21 PM
I think that we’re looking at any chances created by the opposition through a nervous prism expecting them to score on every occasion.
——
I think we’re looking at the season through a nervous prism.
I honestly don’t ever recall fans and I include myself, losing the rag over an effective three point gap in November.
Against Rangers you just assumed the league was going down to April or May but we’re now use to having it effectively won come St. Patrick’s Day.
Throw in the ten and this season has taken on a very much heightened sense of pressure- the Sevco will feel that when they have their stumble.
AN DUN
Great post.
H.H. Mick
Paul67
The guts of £25M worth of transfers warming plastic seats in Motherwell, I blame Peter Lawwell for failing to back ten in a row? – never has so much Celtic money been spent in the history of our club. Neil Lennon bit his bullets to drop Barkas, Duffy, and Edouard. He’s bought Klimala , Soro, Turnbull, and aging striker Leigh Griffiths none of whom it appears can break into a side, thumped most Thursdays,
No soft loans, no shares, just full refunds and every penny of VST reintroduced to the playing squad, the supporter’s locus now continually swings back to the showers at Hampden. Intermittent Europa games are a pain in the grass it seems, as for the upmpeeth week in a row unfit, uncoached, uncouth, unformatted Celtic despatched Scottish opposition with more than a bit to spair. Green shoots of recovery and respectability aren’t too much to ask for, with Celtic’s most expensive ever assembled squad.
There’s only ‘One Neil Lennon’ and its never been more apparent or obvious, its time somebody at the club took the weight off the poor guys shoulders, and gave him the support he requires whether its behind a microphone, or beside the traffic cones at Lennoxtown, he’s firefighting in a beleguered title tilt, with the weight of the world clearly on his shoulders.
Even I can help him see his best back four, if only it was……. El Hamed….. Jullien….. Ajer….. and Laxalt…..but he needs to integrate the bench into his midfield, at least one by one if not in stages, granular analysis, its not and every internet amateur, is using their devices to try and help.
However, it’s the same Celtic ‘culture’ for Sundays and Tom Rogic couldn’t get fitter than you’ve ever seen him because of Neil Lennon could he? I hope by the time Neil Lennon leaves Celtic there will be a vaccine, anything else along the way is, too late towel time, and the underlining of another appointment seen by the unreconciled mind, as not good enough.
Get behind the man you said was best pick Celtic.
M.O.M El Younoussi ( now benefitting from Diego Laxalt )
Neil Lennon & McCartney
Not very impressed with an attempt to influence us with a link to a solitary Aussie Traffic Cop who spoke, uninvited, on behalf of many of the Aussie Police, to portray his anti-lockdown views, anti-vaccine views and anti-BLM views.
You can tell who is attempting to influence you when you see the adds on the site you linked (the so-called Cairns News)
Australian Patriot News (a Tommy Robinson type site protesting lockdown measures)
An anti- Paris CLimate agreement ad
An undisguised white power ad – Saying “We” founded Australia.
A whining ad by Racists who don’t like being called Racist
An anti-Australian Labor Party ad equating a vote for them as a vote for Islam
A “jokey” poster about how Islamic women look like umbrella stands from the back
Stay on long enough and you’ll get Holocaust denial and the Jewish Blood Libel to complete the Bingo card.
It’s the standard whiny puny White Power right wing nut job list of unrelated grievances which have deprived them of their legitimate right to have an underclass that they can lord it over.
This stuff has no place on a Celtic site. No Blueshirts here!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYluS5kLit0
P.S. The Australian Police have a Fact Check site; They have decided not to comment on this for fear of drawing further attention to a lie.
This stuff is being spread by active right wing circles and the usual agents of chaos- it needs to be stamped on in CQN
I posted yesterday the difference in our reaction to 2 similar goals – Moi leaping like a salmon for our goal compared to defensive sieve for theirs. In both the defenders were found wanting.
Great result. Rogic and Moi superb. We live to fight another day.
But.., we are a continuing shambles as a defensive unit. That includes the midfield. The management team appear negligently incapable of improving it. So much so it’s transported me back to the 90s.
Our only hope is out scoring teams, but on current form we’ll get skelped in Europe and by Sevco. We made a strategic choice to make ourselves this vulnerable.
Ajeti over Eddy from now in. Sell Eddy in January. He couldn’t give a rat’s ass about us now.
Happy podium Mick 😎🍷🍷🍺🌞🇮🇪🍀
The game against Hibs comes three days after Celtic players will be playing for Scotland in Israel and Moi and possibly Ajer playing for Norway. Newco, however, don’t play till the Sunday, so any of their players away on international duty will have enough time to recover.
Why don’t Celtic insist on the game against Hibs also being played on the Sunday? We are severely disadvantaged by this fixture scheduling.
79Caps
Hibs play the following Tuesday, that could have a bearing on the schedule.
HH
Very lazy misspelling of the name of our MOTM and hat trick hero Elyounoussi Paul.
Thought Moi, Diego, Tom and El Capitano were all excellent yesterday. Still concerned about how we defend as a team, from front to back, and the continued poor form of Calmac and Ryan Christie. Hopefully the international break has come at a good time. Period to regroup and reboot.
SFTB,
The draconian Covid 19 actions and restrictions should be discussed, debated and analysed by all sensible parties.
Government’s must be held to account and removal of hard fought freedoms must be completely justified : And removed as soon as possible.
Are the restrictions causing more harm and death that the virus itself? It would certainly seem so, especially to those under the average life expectancy age.
Loony left, extreme far right nutters, it matters not. What matters is rational thinking.
I tend to trust ” the science ” if it’s from an independent source and not from persons who have financial links to large pharmaceutical companies.
By nature I’m sceptical of all ruling establishment , history has shown numerous times where they have been economical with the truth.
We just need to hang in there Bhoys and Ghirls. This is a time for big hearts and minds and there is a need to pull together as one, more so than ever.
Ten is doable, but everyone needs to be at their best for the foreseeable. The Huns don’t like pressure and we just need to be in a position to have them feel our breath on their necks…and then we’ll see who is and isn’t made of Champion stuff.
Paul 67,
“Shane Duffy and Odsonne Edouard were rested”
———
Do you not mean dropped. ?
HH.
Most scientists are financially incentivised
Dbhoy @ 1.08
Thank, I didn’t know that. But it works out badly for us.
Would have liked to have seen Ajeti get 90 mins yday. Its the only way he’ll become match fit.
Not sure I agree that the result is all that matters. I’ve said this a few times. Poor performances will catch up with you when the level of opposition steps up.
For the record, I don’t think the performance was too bad on Sunday and indeed there were good signs. Still can’t help thinking that a better team than Motherwell could’ve caused us great concern.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-54873105
Promising news on the vaccine front
El Hamed is a natural centre back, when fit,why has he not been given a run there considering all the issues we’ve had?
Bada,
I think we are still dealing with the question : “What to do with Mr Duffy”?
A decent player for a certain team in a certain context, currently playing in the wrong movie. As a result, mix in he’s now bereft of confidence.
How do we answer that question? – Stick or twist?
The fact that we are experimenting with new CH options speaks volumes for where we are as a club.
HH
From the Header who on earth is Elynuonissi? Only correctly spelt votes will count you know!
greenpinata
“The draconian Covid 19 actions and restrictions should be discussed, debated and analysed by all sensible parties.”
———————————-
They certainly should.
But you do the Emperor Draco a dis-service by associating him with these mild inconveniences.
And you do the word sensible dis-service if you include the Australian White Power Patriot movement in that tent. If that lot of Nazis ever got to power they would not be including you and yours.
As for Scientists being in the pay of Big -Chem, you’ld be as well as saying that all Scottish footballers are under the auspices of the SPFL. Yet Motherwell will kick and scracth to beat Motherwell and St. Mirren will do likewise with Hamilton.
These guys are peer reviewed and the journals do not depend on the funding of Big-Chem. If a Scientist cannot replicate the results of a claimed successful trial, he publishes the results of a failed replication. That way, the sscience can whinny out the over-optimistic first investigation and can sshow up shoddy research such as that practised by Andrew Wakefield and championed by Private Eye and other lovies
Need Elhammed and Julien into the back 4 asap.
Midfield is a real worry , Calmac needs a rest and Christie offers nothing wide right.
Yesterday reminded me of the first league game of the season against Hamilton and Ross County game when we gave up a lot of chances and corners.
Nothing has changed to try and rectify this.
Jobo
It’s not Paul’s fault that Moi can’t spell his surname – Paul’s never wrong don’t you know.🤭