Out of the Champions League qualifiers at the hands of a team with a smaller budget than ours, for the second season in succession. Where did it all go wrong? Two shortcomings stand out: team planning and tactical strategy.
I’ll take the latter first. We had 60% possession last night, a remarkable figure for an away European game which was lost. We dominated possession, didn’t score a goal and conceded twice (for the fourth time in five games).
Let me take you back a few years to a Dominik Diamond TV interview with Martin O’Neill, then Leicester City manager, in 1999. O’Neill laid plain his tactical philosophy, “My teams have big guys who know how to defend, they have players who can throw dangerous balls into the box, and players who can get on the end of those balls and put them in the net”.
A year later, when Martin came to Celtic, it was like going to school as we watched the observance of these very rudimentary rules transform our club. His defenders could defend, he had wide players who could throw dangerous balls into the box, and strikers who knew where the goal was. Martin’s teams never dominated possession against a European peer, never mind a team who beat them so comfortably.
It doesn’t need to be explained that there was no team in the world who could score three times from corner kicks against the Celtic team of a decade or so back. Today, team planning has insufficiently focussed on a few fundamentals of the game: know how to defend, know how to translate possession into chances, and have a handful of players in the team who know where the goal is. This is the fittest, fastest, Celtic team I have ever seen, but we looked like busy fools last night.
Ronny Deila’s post-match comments about the team being scared was an instant reaction to the defeat, but it’s worth digging into what prompted this perception. There were actually many occasions when Celtic players showed for a pass, the Uefa possession and completed pass stats conform this, but what we never did was boss the middle of the park.
In yesterday’s blog I asked Celtic to own the park as I have had a worry about this aspect for a while. This is different from covering a lot of ground (we do that), or being able to make a pass (we do that too). We have Scott Brown (runner) and Nir Bitton (passer) in central midfield. I like both but we need extra bite in this area. Celtic’s most effective period over the last decade was when we had Wanyama and Brown central-mid. The role Wanyama fulfilled has been sacrificed for the player in the hole behind the lone striker.
Players of Wanyama’s calibre are not common, and we shouldn’t go 4-3-3 if all we have is a Kayal to fill the additional central midfield space, but Brown and Bitton are not enough in central midfield in Europe. It’s also clear that selection for the four advanced positions (the 3-1) has been so fluid since the start of the season we’re clearly not cohesive in that area of the field either.
For me, if it’s Brown and Bitton, and I think it should be, we need another Brown-Wanyama influencer. Think back to our last Champions League group to consider the prospect of playing a European game without Scott Brown. At the very least we need cover for him, but in Europe we need two in his position. Go 4-3-3.
So much for tactical strategy, what about team planning? For the third August since parting company with Gary Hooper we are hawking around for a striker. Gary’s not a panacea, so I’ll ignore him as a prospect for now, but while Leigh Griffiths has performed beyond the call of duty, we are, again, out of the Champions League without having any idea who our primary striker will be this season.
We are in a loop of mistakes, and frankly, the most likely next action is that we respond by recruiting an identikit of the many strikers who have passed through Parkhead gates in recent years. We know enough about this problem to be aware that it’s our primary challenge, yet we have been unable to overcome it.
In my State of the Club blog at the start of the season I cautioned that we’d swapped Gordon Strachan’s soft spot for recruiting from Hibs, for a desire to see stars at Dundee United. Ciftci, Mackay-Stevens and Armstrong have been our primary recruits for advanced positions in 2015. Only one won a place in the starting line-up last night, leaving us relying on players who struggled to get in the team a year (or longer) ago.
Ronny Deila may well be able to polish Dundee United players into top performers at Celtic, but we didn’t recruit the finished article. We should have known this, and should have been aware that our August cup finals would have made calls on bit-part players from recent seasons.
We will find the occasional Champions League player in Scotland, but you can’t raid a mid-table SPFL team and expect to leap to the very top table in the game. This team planning strategy always looked vulnerable and it’s proven to be.
On the money side, you know my views. Over any business period you pay what comes in, no more and no less. We’re losing to team who spend less than us, not more, and on this occasion a team who picked up a player we discarded.
On just as important matters………
The golfers among you have three days to buy a raffle ticket – for £1 only – to win a round of golf at the fantastic Aberdour Golf Course for four people! Check it out here on ebay. Money raised (by Taggsybhoy) will go to the Foundation. This important work, always needs to be done, win, lose or draw.
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You only have to look at the PLC narrative.
They make it known to the football world.
A: Appoint a rookie manager nobody has heard of….because he was the cheapest option
B: Sign substandard players and pretend you are taking a new coaching direction to cover the reality
C: Up the bonus culture at board level….while diminishing the standard of the playing staff
D: Sell your best players
E: Get your rookie manager to tell the worlds press that Celtic were “scared”
F: Sell your best players
G: Pay board members more than the manager and players.
In my book….that is gross mismanagement, and the longer you ignore it, the worse it will get.
It is not acceptable.
HH
Back to Lurking again, Still in shock to be honest at how far we fall and so quickly. No idea how we fix it.
KLV
Supersutton
One of the tasks of senior management is to ensure that the standard if employee is up to the task
They choose he manager …they pick the players…the set the budgets
They are culpable that’s that’s the name of the game
Btw are you the corner stats man ?
Morning all.
Rotten weather-wise down here once again.
Imo, our team has been playing better football under our manager than previously. The players’ collective bottle seems to have crashed the other night in Sweden. We have to face that, rather than have a witch-hunt. We exist in an environment which makes things very difficult, as we have little money to really improve our team and the opposition have even less and, on the whole, don’t stretch our players, as John Collins rightly asserted.
Ronny is an imposing man as is John Kenedy
The only fear in Celtic players should be of the manager
Get them in doing double shifts and open the gates and let the Duracell bunny run all the way to Norwich
Last post before I go away for a long time
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
kevinlasvegas on 27th August 2015 8:13 am
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Kev…quick fix !!!
…go the whole Dundee United hog and, bring
in Wim’s-Tims from the United dug-oot…Jackie-Sid-Jacko…to join-up with…GMS-SA-NC and, cut the cord of…RD-JC-JK…maybe Wim’s-Tims would get big Ciftci playing?
Papering over the cracks – CSC
bye.
I see the meeja are going loop de loop ….. Bless them ….they’ve got papers to sell, don’t cha know….. :)
TET mentioned that Kris Commons had a bust up with someone before the game. That’s all I remember being posted; does anyone have any more details, without going into a minute by minute account? It may have had some effect on our team’s performance.
67Heaven .. CHALLENGING THE LIE ..I am wee Oscar…… Ipox belongs to the creditors on 27th August 2015 8:26
am I see the meeja are going loop de loop ….. Bless them ….they’ve got papers to sell, don’t cha know….. :)
————————————————————————————————————————————
If we provide the live amo, don’t be too surprised if our enemies fire them back at us.
Ronny/PLC need to bring in players where a B tactic can be played, at the moment we dont have them.
Our 4231 is piss rotten against European teams and i think Aberdeen and possibly Hearts will give it a good go.
Got a lot of grief yesterday down at the course from the AIK supporting greenkeepers who have had a soft touch for Celtic since Big Johans days add their hatred of Malmö to the mixand you will understand the complete slaughtering the players and Ronny got. Stupid,weak,cowerdly,inept at football and tactics but the bit that hurt the most was ” Malmö outplayed your team from start to finish”
KTF Ronny should get the 6 EL games but any more farces then he will have to go.
I often wonder whether I should bring this unhappy news to the attention of the Celtic family,however the latest Sydney and nationwide news broadcast shows a number of lads , two with faces pixelled out,one wearing a Celtic top.Perhaps the victim.
I`m afraid that there has been a spate of assaults on young Irishmen in Sydney in recent years.
This lad`s from Cork apparently.
Thoughts and prayers.
http://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/irish-assault-victims-family-to-speak/story-e6frfku9-1227500495358
http://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/irish-assault-victims-family-to-speak/story-e6frfku9-1227500495358
It’s amazing how quickly we revert to “Where’s the Seville money gone” and “I want a new left back” and “We gotta speculate to accumulate” mode.
All of the patient explanations of where we are finance-wise, all of the comparisons with clubs that do operate their desired approach (and I don’t just mean the deid Rangers and Leeds- do you see big spending Turkish clubs who buy the likes of Van Persie getting their money’s worth?).
Speculate to accumulate is a safe territory to play the game of “What If?” Because who else but a sugar daddy or a tax cheat like Murray is going to indulge that approach and for what? The chance of the glory of being CL quarter-finalists once?? You don’t really believe a Scottish club is going to have the money to threaten beyond that glass ceiling, do you? So you know it is not going to happen and because it is not going to happen, you can blame it all on PL and DD. If it wasn’t for those pesky kids we would have gotten away with it. It being spending money we don’t have.
You think I am being unfair because all you are asking for is a wee £5m or £6m for a centre forward (just forget the accompanying wages for a moment). Aye right? You want the same spent on a LB and the same again on a midfield general. And, if any one of them turns out to be a dud or injured, you will want a “Mulligan” buy of just another £5m on the same position or on another that suddenly becomes our weak spot. Just a wee £5m spend on one player will satisfy not-one and improve nothing.
The solution is always hard work on the training ground and Ronny is better at that than any of the critics on here. We are being asked to compete with both hands tied behind our backs financially because of the market we operate in, not because we are choosing to under-spend.
I hope we get world wide football reorganisation soon. Big clubs in small leagues are doomed to perpetual diminishment until that happens whether they have Peter Lawwell or Viv Nicholson in charge of spending
Aff to work- still in a down mood.
KEVJUNGLE
Hope you are well pal,
that would suit big peter to a T, Pity none of the utd bhoys are firing on all cilinders yet.
Take care
KLV
Celtic lacked passion on Tuesday, lacking such they are beatable by teams below them who bring passion, fight and desire.
looking forward to seeing who the journeyman, projects or Scottish diddy’s we are now linked with between now and the window shutting. Stevie May, Johnny Russell, Paul Dixon type signings can’t wait.
Perhaps not quite as bad as the above, but assuming we had a Plan A for getting past Malmo, I wonder what Plan B now looks like?
Anyone know if there is anyway we could collect a few bob to help TCR. He is obviously unable to work
Sorry just to finish off on TCR, maybe coorslad could set up an account that we could contribute to
Celtic Gossip @CelticGossip 14m14 minutes ago
Virgil, scepovic, sick note, stokes and McGregor all for the off. A centre half, left back, winger and striker coming our way from list B HH
Sick Note is Derk apparently.
WITS
good idea
When I heard sick note, I thought of Lustig.
So that means, hopefully, that Boeriggter is being sold and not just released.
still scunnered
Gooooood Morning CQN. ( ok beginning to feel a wee bit better)
TCR, Kev J and young Olivia – hope you are all improving along with us
Hail Hail
Morning Timland from a warm hun free mountain valley.
So it’s the B list is it.
Well, this is apparently someone from the B list.
Please let it be pish.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faissal_El_Bakhtaoui
HH
From an article on this website, I read that Willem II want to buy Derk Boeriggter.
Anyone else have any details of a possible bust up involvimg at least one player on Tuesday night?
Sick note can refer to Lustig, Forrest and Derk if we are honest but the first two when on their game can be useful players for Celtic.
Losing Derk and Scepovic is no great loss and in one case a required removal.
Virgil is going. We’ll get a good fee, thank him for what he has done.
I feel sorry for Stokesy but maybe his time has come and gone.
McGregor had a promising start. That was a bout it.
As for the incomers (if they actually exist)
I get we need a Striker, left back and centre half but why another winger?
We need a midfield destroyer so teams don’t run through us but that would mean the manager would change his beloved system which is a huge part of our problem.
442 or 433.
Ronny’s system is guff and it produces football that doesn’t score enough goals to the number of chances created.
DB
I heard the bust up happened after the game, it was between KC and the coaches, no mention of anyone specific.
KC has a track record if I am not mistaken.
Also rumours of a split in the dressing room, no idea if there is any truth in it, just what I heard from someone who would know these things.
HH
setting free the bears
Nobody is asking for £6.0 million strikers, we are asking for some reasonable investment in much needed areas of the team (Too late now). Failing that then we need some honesty from the club in where our true ambitions lay. I suppose actions always speak louder than words & selling Matthehws early in the window, while spending around £1.0 mil net and reducing the wage bill, should explain exactly what they are. Signing players from the SPFL and parading them like a “£6.0 million striker” is not only insulting to the support but again crystallises our ambitions.
We fans harbour champions league ambitions every year, perhaps it’s time our club be honest & temper those ambitions. At least then we would be on the same page, with living in hope instead of expectation.
I heard he was dead
It’s not the system that’s guff.
It’s the quality of the players.
We make chance after chance.
Do you honestly think we will score more by changing the system with the same players, seriously.
HH
THE EXILED TIM
I’m a two up front man.
Henrik, Sutton and Hartson – which one would Ronny play?
See my point.
Especially in Scotland.
How many times have we seen the ball played across the box and the striker is out wide?
That frustrates the life out of me.
Going to Musselburgh racing today any of the horse troops have any tips ?
I heard he was dead
As I said, it’s the quality of the players, they don’t have the ability to change or adapt.
As for 442, nobody at the top level plays it, granted we arny at anything like the top, but trying to emulate them is no bad thing imo.
HH
I hope we are using a air ambulance when transporting DB back to the Netherlands
The Exiled Tim
That’s a given but horses for courses.
My considered take on things, now the dust is settling.
Tuesday night was a complete failure on every level for Celtic. The players did not play to their ability, they looked tentative and demotivated, unsure of the tactics and lacking the desire necessary to win a tough Euro away game.
Ronnie and his management team must take a share of that blame. Ultimately it’s his responsibility to organise and change (if necessary) the team. Whilst he cannot be held accountable for some players appearing to hide and chuck it, it is most certainly his job to remedy it.
At board level, our strategy of buying young gems with a view to sell on, had its limitations exposed. Whilst it makes financial sense to profit from the likes of Wanyama, Hooper, VVD etc, the cumulative effect is that we are unable to build a team. We appear to be in a constant state of flux.
I think our strategy needs tweeked (not abandoned). We need to recognise that not all the players we buy should be bought with a view to selling on. That the odd expensive experienced player will help hold the show together whilst others around him are being traded. Marcus Rosenburg is a painful example of what an old pro can give to your team. For 600k, this 32-year old has effectively guaranteed Malmo £20million in income.
Calls to sack Ronny are ridiculous. Similarly calls for PL to go are pointless. He is not the man in charge.
Ronny needs to learn from this, and focus on building the weakest elements of the team. if he is not backed by the board, he needs to say so, publicly (as MON did, more or less). PL needs to talk to DD and devise an amended strategy which allows us to remain solvent but to invest smarter and more effectively in the transfer market.
These are tough days, but we’ve all been through worse. Time to regroup, refocus, and get back in the race.
I HEARD HE WAS DEAD on 27TH AUGUST 2015 9:15 AM
THE EXILED TIM
I’m a two up front man.
Henrik, Sutton and Hartson – which one would Ronny play?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Joe Hansen
Or to give him his Norse name
Stefan the Undroppable
:)
HH
Kevjungle good to see you back and well. You are gonnae have to work hard to get yer place as chief cry baby back. SFTB I could not agree more . Unfortunately not the best supporters in the World seem to have a need for a whipping boy and today it is Ronny and the ever maligned Peter. I suppose it stops people getting real , just like the sevconians other end of town. As a club we aim for the highest level but will inevitably find the level we are at. Our 4 million pound tries have been disasters. Can’t win when we try to find nuggets like Henrik and Lubo on the cheap, because we demand instant success. Last skins all forgotten. We can’t compete in wages with crystal palace. Get used to it. I think Ronny and the hoops went out to Malmo to win. They were not good enough. End of. New start the next game and what Celtic needs right now is confidence and togetherness. Don’t let our enemies enjoy this for long. The hoops will get stronger. Keep the faith.
DHARMA BAM on 27TH AUGUST 2015 9:03 AM….
I hope there WAS a bust up. It is a normal occurrence when decent teams get turned over. Happens at all clubs.
I would be disappointed if our players had just trundled off to bed.
A team with good organisation and a good work rate can go a long way in football and that is without spending millions we have been knocked out by three such teams Legia, Maribor,and Malmo.I would say in all three cases we lacked good organisation and we had poor a poor work rate and I am afraid that is down to the coach/manager.Can Ronny change it I have to doubt it his remarks about the team being frightened and scared may well be true but it should not have been said in public that was poor management there will be players in the dressing room who resent the manager for publicly slagging them and may never trust him again once again Ronny has been found lacking. H.H.