Since Dinamo Kiev inflected Celtic’s first home defeat in European competition, on what was our first European game after winning the European Cup four months earlier, last night’s shocker to Sparta Prague was our 36th and worst home reversal in Europe.
Three years ago PSG scored five, but, unlike Sparta, they did not hit the woodwork on two other occasions, and they are PSG. Last season Cluj also scored four, winning by a single goal, but by any measure, across 58 years of home European ties, that is without shadow of a doubt, the low point. We are now the team fans all over Europe point to and laugh, all the money, yet Cluj, Copenhagen, Ferenvcaros, Sparta.
What has gone wrong?
It is not the formation. Without changing to three at the back, I don’t think we would have won the league last season. This season, we tried four, then three, then four, then both defensive lines at different times of games, but the formation is not the problem. It is possible to defend, control games and create chances with either line-up. And as we have seen, a change in formation does not make a slow or clumsy defender fast and assured. If only it were as simple as Scott Brown’s advancing years, or injuries and absentees; they are red herrings, this malaise is more serious.
Post-match, Callum McGregor and Neil Lennon spoke well. The player admitted to humiliation, the manager walked that fine line of showing contained anger, but he was clear: a lack of application from the players was to blame. What a thought to ponder.
I am fond of many in our squad; they have delivered success beyond my wildest imagination. I am fond of the manager too, for the same reason – results are all, and his filled the well some time ago. If I thought sacking the manager would safely resolve matters, I would tell you so.
It is Neil’s responsibility to put the players on the field in the correct frame of mind to compete at their best every time. He is failing in this, his criticism last night is self-directed, but sacking him right now would be a Gambler’s Play. It might work, it might result in carnage, anyone convinced they know how it would play out, underestimates the complexity of the question.
What I know for sure is that we stand at an historic precipice and no one is coping. We need to reframe the challenge ahead, if we do not, the season will play out as you now fear. Together, we have a great opportunity to record magnificent achievements, a fourth consecutive treble, 10 and all the glory that comes with it, but all you see are demands weighing everyone down.
This responsibility lies on Neil Lennon and the players because they are winners. They have the Scottish Government hammering them while punching for Newco, they have 10,000 critics weighing-in online (which they read and are not helped by). These are the wages of success, lesser mortals have six critics, let this fuel their engine.
After the game, Chris Sutton insisted Europe was still important to Celtic. Chris, you don’t live in the towns of Lanarkshire. Europe has gone this season; we need to reframe this too. Our three remaining Europa weeks are an opportunity to develop the squad and rest weary legs, while Newco will have at least five competitive Europa games. We must now think of this as an advantage; make the most of it.
We know how to win leagues and trophies. We were on our knees at New Year but while others “bottled it” and we got on with the business of winning. There are no white, saltire or union flags here, only green league title flags. To the manager, coaches and players, what a privilege this challenge is.
Relive some of the better days that took us here in Celtic: Treble Treble, by Alex Gordon, a 100 page full colour booklet on how the Invincible, Double and Treble Trebles were won. Our stock is available here for £5 each (retail £9.95).
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THE BLOGGER FORMERLY KNOWN AS GM on 6TH NOVEMBER 2020 9:42 PM
If I really need to spell it out to you.
Know better than engage in Green Hun-like behaviour as evidenced by your contributions over the past hour or so.
Goodnight all.
I’m sorry Ernie.
I can see your recent ‘all proddies go to hell’ comments for your wry humour.
But tonight, your comments are in my opinion, ‘insidious.’ Because beneath your clever prose, the dog whistle messaging was pretty clear.
HH jg
Good night all
HH jg
EXCATHEDRA44 on 6TH NOVEMBER 2020 7:09 PM
Not sure I understand your point. Howe would be out of his depth because he doesn’t know anything about Scottish football but BR wasn’t out of his depth because he’d had experience in England (similar to Howe).
I’m not being obtuse but really not sure what you’re trying to say.
What went wrong was not hanging on to Fraser Forster. Away to Motherwell is as hard as it gets after this result. High Noon at Fir Park on Sunday. Bring in some fresh legs and go with just Odsonne and Leigh up front.
Stuart Armstrong has just scored a beauty for Southampton, who go top. A player we never replaced.
Jamesgang, me thinks thou protest too much’.
I still love you, but dispense with the crap. x
*CQN PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2020-21*
RESULTS FROM GAME #19 – CELTIC 1 SPARTA PRAGUE 4 (Griffiths)
As the game was coming to an end, I really did consider pulling the plug on this wee game by game survey, being so dejected and sickened by the lack of fight from many of our players last night. I made a conscious decision not to canvass for votes only to find that many folk don’t wait to be asked and had fired their votes in. So, whilst the overall numbers were well down for this game the fact remains that 5 players are still going to pick up points based on the opinions of those who did vote.
So, a big thank you to the 32 who voted. We had 15 players on show. Only 8 of them received votes. The votes cast for each player are as follows (with my own choices asterisked) –
Bain: 5
Frimpong: 19
Duffy: 0
Bitton: 1
Laxalt*: 28
Christie*: 11
Brown: 0
McGregor: 5
Rogic: 4
Elyounoussi: 0
Edouard: 0
Ajeti: 0
Griffiths*: 20
Elhamed: 0
Ntcham: 0
So the players receiving points for the Sparta Prague game are –
Laxalt – 5 points
Griffiths – 4 points
Frimpong – 3 points
Christie – 2 points
Bain and McGregor – 1 point
*The Diego Laxalt factor*
We will all remember players who had great debuts in the hoops. But for Diego to have played 6 games for us, been our best performer in 4 and our 2nd best in the other 2 is quite remarkable. But I did see an explanation for this earlier today on Twitter. Someone suggested he’s doing so well because he cannot understand a single word that his manager says…. 😉
Anyway, the overall table is now –
1st – Christie and McGregor – 32 points
3rd – Frimpong – 30 points
4th – Laxalt – 28 points
5th – Ajer and Elyounoussi – 18 points
7th – Ntcham – 16 points
8th – Duffy – 15 points
9th – Bitton, Griffiths and Rogic – 12 points
12th – Brown – 11 points
13th – Taylor – 10 points
14th – Barkas – 9 points
15th – Ajeti – 8 points
16th – Edouard – 6 points
17th – Forrest– 5 points
18th – Elhamed, Klimala and Welsh – 4 points
21st – Bain – 3 points
22nd – Jullien – 2 points
23rd – Turnbull – 1 point
24th – Bolingoli, Dembele and Soro – 0 points
Next up it’s a High Noon kick off on Sunday when we visit Motherwell and attempt to reduce the points gap at the top of the table to just 6 points. But I don’t imagine that it’ll be a stroll in the park!
Hail Hail!
Squire, “Green Hun’, what on earth are you talking about?
Hello again all you young rebels.
Just when your feeling down along comes another boot in
the baws.
Our 25 kms travel ban stays in place till at least Mon. so no
meet up with the peninsula rebels CSC for us on Sun.
Gutted.
Never mind, I’m sure I’ll hear them singing our songs from
here 8-))
H.H. Mick
Motherwell v Celtic
Scottish Premiership
08/11/2020 12:00pm Fir Park Stadium
Referee:Andrew Dallas
AR1
Alan Mulvanny
AR2
Drew Kirkland
Fourth Official
Don Robertson
I find it unbelievable that some on here are still trying to defend the manager.
Then I seen the votes for last night, Christie and Frimpong getting votes.
Oh my god, they obviously weren’t watching the game.
JOBO BALDIE on 6TH NOVEMBER 2020 10:01 PM
Thanks again for doing this for us all.
I’ll remember just to email it in next time & not wait etc.
dearie dearie , players actually got votes for that performance.
THE BLOGGER FORMERLY KNOWN AS GM…
Alas, the hard of thinking seem unable to join the dots and realise their leaders employ the same tactics as Sevco- the latter vilified the BBC, the former vilify the English.
Some humility wouldn’t go amis. Or at least treating other contributors with a little respect. We can have a grown up discussion or you can shout ‘hard of thinking’ into the void. We’re all Celtic fans and want the best for the club. It would do you well to remember that.
Same tactics.
Sorry, you’re wrong. It’s a baseless accusation designed to paint the SNP as little more than bigots for pursuing Scottish independence. The same stuff has been thrown at Sinn Fein for years, and it’s as wrong there as here.
As I said, who’s the scapegoat if/when they can’t blame the English? It’s YOU, Timmy.
Firstly, full disclosure: I’m not an SNP member or voter. I’m SSP, and even they are a little too centrist for me. So, I’ve no skin in this game other than trying to be objective.
Your point is verging on the paranoid. Can you point me a council ward where sectarian employment practices take place? Under the SNP you can’t. Under Labour? Absolutely. So, when we’re casting aspersions here, Labour are not our friends. In the same way, Labour were happy to accommodate the Orange Lodge for ‘Orange Day’ and have them running 980 bigot parades through the city every year. The SNP have moved to make life more difficult for them. Additionally, the Tories and Labour were only too happy to join up with the Lodge during the Scottish indy ref to mobilise their quintessentially British friends. One other thing – only one main party has moved to route Orange parades away from Catholic Churches. Labour stood by and watched assaults happen year in year out and didn’t raise a finger to stop them.
So, when we’re casting stones, let’s remember who plays footsy with who. Are the SNP perfect? Not by a long chalk (for me at least). But are they institutionally sectarian or anti catholic? No..
I digress, if you’re going to panic, panic early.
I agree. There you go, two Celtic fans in agreement! Who’d have thunk it! :)
As I said before, there’s more unites us than separates us.
/p
RC
Exactly
St Tams, I didn’t vote for either but to be fair, nobody played well so it was much of a muchness as who to vote for.
I only voted to show my support for Jobo,
He puts a lot of time & effort in running the Competition.
BANKIEBHOY1…
She’s a Daughter Of Govan………( DOG ) ?
Ha ha ha… You’re a bad man! Personally, I don’t have a lot of beef with Nicola Sturgeon. By and large she’s the best first minister we could hope for (especially in comparison to her opposition party leaders). The SNP are not my cup of tea, but I think she does a difficult job pretty well, and come independence, we can look for much more radical and forward thinking people to come forward. Smaller parties will play a much larger role in a small country.
harsh?
It definitely is – she’s not a bigot! I was just suggesting alternatives to the sectarian stuff. I wasn’t calling her anything! I also try and not judge people by their looks (in case anyone does with me!)….well….. except for Ruth Davidson who looks like unreformed serial killer.
NippySweetie CSC
On a serious note for a second – I think the names like ‘wee nippy’ and other nicknames are mired in sexism. They’re names very rarely applied to males, but used frequently to do down woman – people who’ve had to overcome significant hurdles and judgement to get to the same place as their male counterparts. I admire Sturgeon on a personal level even if I find the SNP’s policies very beige (although less evil than Labour and the Tories). Rosie Kane got the same sort of treatment and that should be a source of shame for us all. It’s just a pity that after the ego left the SSP the party struggled to capture peoples imaginations in the same way.
/p
Cornelius @ 2145
Could I add to your theme?
The manager has been in charge for a year and a half. In that time he has had many opportunities to influence, organise, plan, choose, decide,listen, advise, etc
It seems the spine of the team, in both footballing and intangible terms has been lost. The goalkeeper, central defence,centre mid and striker are new, off form, ageing, ill or injured. There has been a consistent need to change , with lots of decisions to be taken by the manager. I wonder about the dynamics as a result of these challenges and whether the players’ responses show a dissatisfaction and disorganisation that is spreading and continuous. They look adrift and then frantic often in the same game and the manager looks personally hurt by this. Lots of emotion. No steel. There is an immediate need for leadership as you say.
NippySweetie CSC
On a serious note for a second – I think the names like ‘wee nippy’ and other nicknames are mired in sexism. They’re names very rarely applied to males,
—
never applied to males
so you are right, its a comment mired in sexism
no doubt P67’s Mods will attend to that
aye right
P8DDY on 6TH NOVEMBER 2020 10:26 PM
You still haven’t explained why the SNP government went to the trouble of publicly commending the huns.
What exaactly did they do that was commendable?
Then I seen the votes for last night, Christie and Frimpong getting votes.
—
to be fair to christie, he did burst his arse running and chasing as he usually does
so he deserves kudos for that especially in the current context of some players looking like they dont give a shit
ERNIE LYNCH…
So why did the SNP government think it was appropriate to publicly commend the huns?
I don’t know. Neither of us do, and our useless media will look for answers.
To cast out one possible reason however – because of the kicking they took for their response to Celtic and Aberdeen? Let’s face it they took a kicking for it. And probably a deserved kicking. But having got the tone wrong once, they got it wrong again.
I agree with you to an extent – in that I think on both occasions they’d have been better saying nothing – but I think it’s also important to note that the government didn’t criticise either Celtic or Aberdeen, they excoriated the players. And that’s kind fair enough – Like I say, I’ve lost a good friend to Covid19, so the notion that Bolingoli could act with such selfish disregard appalls me. And I think Celtic got it right in their punishment. The SNP didn’t criticise or punish either club though.
I believe that the SFA/SPL punished both. Again, I imagine that’s because of the fact that others were exposed. The Rangers two didn’t expose anyone in football, so that ‘bubble’ at least has been preserved.
In the end, I’ve no idea with they (in my opinion) got the tone a bit wrong on both occasions. What I’m sure of however is that it wasn’t because they’re colluding with Rangers. And that’s the core of my issue here.
What specifically was it about their behaviour that they regarded as commendable?
I don’t know. You’d have to ask them, because our media won’t. The media want this done with and will sweep anything under the carpet now. The response when it was Boli and Aberdeen players were ‘get the government out of our football’, not ‘lets be level headed and ask questions like journalists should’.
/p
Apologies – our useless media will *NOT* look for answers.
Jobo has created a discussion point on the blog re POTY,it’s interesting to me,how others see the same game,some just sit back and throw darts…🎯
O.k… Positive head on.. Trumps getting pumped, it’s Saturday, 0 Covid
cases for a full week, it’s meet the young Bhoys with their hoops on
for a kick about, and lastly Celtic can only get better 8-))
KTF.
H.H. Mick
P8DDY on 6TH NOVEMBER 2020 10:37 PM
‘it’s also important to note that the government didn’t criticise either Celtic or Aberdeen, they excoriated the players.’
####
Sturgeon insisted that Celtic games were cancelled.
Agreed?
That’s a punishment.
Agreed?
Celtic took action against Bolongoli immediately they knew of his breach.
Agreed?
So both clubs took the same action, at the same time. One is punished, the other is commended.
Agreed?
Paddy 8.
thst was a wonderful tour de fource couple of hours there.
quite wonderful/
welcome back
keep it lit
melbourne mick
Think Paul must have a lockdown policy of his own, given it has taken the best part of the evening to get logged back in. I’m glad that there is at one ‘Celtic’ who has had a good couple of days and that is Joe Biden. Nothing formal for a while yet, but it looks like the voters of his home State, Pennsylvania, have voted in enough numbers to suggest he will get the required electoral votes to get him over the line. Great news re Covid 19 for your part of the world, not so great over here, indeed I only escaped a quarantine from being in Berlin by a couple of days. And I wasnt able to watch Hertha Berlin while there. Didn’t blame Angela Merkel though.
Ernie,
Two team’s bubble had been exposed to the virus, the other team hadn’t.
I reckon that’s a decent reason for the different reactions.
Who do we miss most ? Julian or the invisible man ?
Surely the best defence is attack ,get Griff on withEddy with young Frimpong on the wing ,let’s behaving you Celtic
p8ddy
Some fine posts on the blog this evening.
P8ddy,
To agree with St Stivs there. You have been making some excellent points and arguing your side with a great amount of respect.
Good on you mate. Keep it classy.
Maybe too early but, anyway (ahem) 2 more sleeps 😉. Play nice….
MAJESTIC HARTSON on 6TH NOVEMBER 2020 11:25 PM
So you punish one club and commend the other for doing exactly the same thing simply because of something that neither had any control of?
Are you being serious?
Paul67
In recent times you have been guilty of everything you used to stand against and that is “lazy journalism”. Your position re Covid 19 and football has been ill informed and quite frankly untenable and if you hope to retain the credibility you once had you should readdress it. You are guilty of being economical with the truth as regards events which took place three months ago and yet you continue to present thus, not as opinion which is your choice, but as fact when patently untrue. If you need me to spell out the difference between the two then you have forgotten the reason you set up this site in the first place. And last but by no means least you should apologise for allowing yourself to descend into a level of sectarianism which is surely below you and all that you have given us on here. Defend and support Neil Lennon all you like that is your prerogative, but dont plumb the depths while doing so, you only demean yourself and undermine your own blog. There are others on here more capable of that than you, reason being you’re better than that.
We can limp along to the transfer window and deal in a commanding goalkeeper. Otherwise we’re fecked.
Ave Ave
SNP shills are out in force.
But not one of them has managed to come up with any credible explanation or justification for their party’s different treatment of Celtic and the huns.
One Club was punished (the one they claim to support) and one was commended for doing exactly the same thing. And that’s OK to them.
It’s cultish behaviour.