Manager Neil Lennon glossed over the defeat in Amsterdam last night by stating the obvious;
“Some players will have regrets about the game tonight because they were nowhere near their best. At this level you can’t have that.”
“We have to regroup, which we will.
“There wasn’t a great deal in the game but our quality was missing at times and I need more from some players. But we will look to Celtic Park now and try to turn things around again. We have to improve our away form.
“We played well in Milan but didn’t play well in the first half tonight. It’s not enough.”
Barcelona have now qualified after beating Milan 3-1 in the Camp Nou, but will still want to win the group, so they should be expected to take something from their visit to Amsterdam next time out.
Celtic have to beat Milan at Celtic Park to retain an interest in European before Christmas, never mind afterwards.
“It makes it very difficult. However, the whole thing could flip around again if we beat Milan and Barcelona come here and take something off Ajax.
“But we have to beat Milan now. It’s imperative we do that to have any chance of qualification.
“And we will have to play better, particularly on the evidence of the first half tonight.”
Lennon didn’t go on to say it was his own fault for picking the wrong team, playing the wrong tactics and doing nothing to change it when it was apparent it wasn’t working.
But thats okay, thousands of Celtic fans are saying it for him today.
Its all right to say that we should support our team through thick and thin, but they could at least match our effort, and perhaps even meet us halfway.
Kris Commons, getting his practice in talking to the press for when he has to do it as part of his job-come on, he’ll be the next manager when Lennon goes, as he’ll be cheap- was refreshingly honest;
“I think that’s one of the first games where we really did lack belief going forward.
“The first half was probably one of the worst we have seen, attacking-wise.
“Sometimes you can half accept it if it’s in the SPFL the week after one of these Champions League nights.
“But, for the lads who felt fresh and played Ajax two weeks ago and beat them, we lacked confidence going forward.
“There are not many times we have come to one of these occasions and not performed at a proper level.
“Coming in 0-0 at half-time flattered us, really, because we didn’t pass the ball well, we didn’t look inventive.
“We had no imagination going forward, and we were losing the ball too easily.
“We looked a little bit out out of our depth.
“But, second half, when they did score, we were looking more on top.”
“That’s the last thing you need, because it is very difficult to score not only at home, but certainly away from home.
“We came out with the bit between our teeth after the break, and, if other things had gone our way in the final third then we could have come away with something.”
On the rest of the campaign, he added;
“Barcelona will take a lot of beating, so there was no surprise Milan didn’t take anything from that game,”
“The Nou Camp is a very difficult place to go.
“But for now we have got it all to do at home against AC Milan, and we’re looking to win.”
Commons seems to have had a reality check, and is hoping that his team mates wake up as well.
“A lot of people went to Holland hoping we were going to beat Ajax. But, that’s not like going to Hearts or Hibs or Ross County away.
“You are coming to one of the most elite clubs in Europe, and there was a bit of a reality check that, we beat them a couple of weeks ago, but you can’t just turn up and play.”
In the post match interview on Sky, Virgil van Dijk said pretty much the same thing, and looked extremely pissed off.
Well, that kind of result can actually inspire players to go out and put it right, and being ever optimistic, it could still all change.
But the question remains, who is going to score the goals ?
Put purely and simply, the class of forward required to do a job at this level, whether by scoring himself or creating room for others, simply isn’t there.
But happily, we’ve got loads and loads of money in the bank, and Peter Lawwell says that next years season books will include a framed picture of the end of year financial results which “would look great on the wall of any true Celtic fan. ”
Sky Sports News is reporting the arrest of 39 fans, some Celtic, some Ajax, after trouble erupted on the square in Amsterdam yesterday. Dutch undercover police had been mingling with Tims when , according to a spokesman for the police;
“At the end of the afternoon a large group of Celtic supporters attacked police officers in plain clothes,” a spokesman told Press Association Sport.
Celtic fans, wearing plain clothes to disguise who they were, attacked the police ?
“Eight were injured and one was knocked unconscious.
“A few of them had broken noses and needed stitches above their eyebrows and on their lips.
“Bottles and sticks were used in the attack which came out of nowhere.
“There were 15 arrests, mostly Celtic supporters.”
Later on, all hell broke loose as the police moved in to even the score, because although the statement is a bit vague, it was the police who got hurt, so they called their pals at the Rodney King police training college, and it all got propa nawty.
I wasn’t there, a few of our CSC were, and I’ll wait until they get back before commenting further, as trying to establish the facts here would be difficult, and its important to give a fair and honest account of what happened.
There goes that job in the MSM again.
If anyone was out there, contact us at the usual address and we’ll try to tie them all up into an honest and fair report from the supporters point of view. And any coppers who want to put their views forward can add their peice as well, , but frankly, they will get theirs treated with a pinch of salt. I’ve never come across one who tells the truth, and I can’t imagine the Dutch are any different.
Working title is ” All Coppers are Bastards. ”
Most notably, if the person who took this photo, allegedly of bullet holes in glass, could get in touch, I’d like to hear their story.
” holes from the bullets getting shot at my family and other celtic fans.. Ajax fans are disgusting man “
Some Celtic fans are still in custody, and Sky will be following the story all day. John Hartson will not be covering the story, as he wasn’t there, which usually doesn’t stop him, as we saw after the Dundee riots last year which he covered in his Sun column.
No doubt the MSM will have their own angle, but at least we can try to look at it openly.
Moving away from the Champions League, a couple of people who claim to be in the know at Everton have mentioned that Aiden McGeady is on their radar, but has hinted to Roberto Martinez he is waiting to see what Celtic do….
Thats vague enough to be a proper rumour, but it came from nowhere and these guys have no reason to make it up, and if you pardon the pun, it came out of the blue.
The youngsters mirrored the seniors when they lost in Amsterdam as well, 2-1 to the Ajax kids, who judging by the age of the first team were probably just approaching puberty.
At least the kids can point to a couple of penalties, though missed, and claim they were unlucky.
Tom English has apologised for a simple, honest mistake in his report in the Scotsman;
” On top of everything else, Celtic could be landed in trouble following the behaviour of a section of their fans inside the stadium. Sectarian chanting directed at Frank de Boer was audible in the Arena before kick-off and in one corner of the ground a group of visiting fans hoisted a banner that had the words “Fenian Bastards” on it. Quite what Uefa will make of that is a question for the coming days. ”
Er, really ?
So , Tom , fair play, said sorry.
” Not lying. A daft error. Meant to write ‘home’. Hold my hands up.”
Fair enough, until you examine how he actually structured the original statement. Doesn’t sound like a typo to me.
Yesterdays picture was from the Bobby Petta inspired 3-1 win in amsterdam in 2001, which really does seem like a long, long time ago.
Today, lets go back to before there was European football around to make us all miserable.
Elsewhere, the news that India has sent a space rocket to Mars has intrigued me.
” Delhi, we have a problem ”
” Your call is important to us…. “
The way we played last night was shocking it was powder puff and huff it made us look like that karagandy mob pretty embarrassing. The only decent player was VVD he should be made our new captain he’s a born leader as for stokes, forest, samaras, izzaguirie its time for them to move on they make the team as predictable as xmas.
Cant believe that bullet story….Celtic had nae shots!
pretty bad night all round,off the pitch im more than confident 99% of Tims behaved and our hard earned reputation wont have suffered but on the pitch-
we played poor.
it begins and ends there.
All teams do it have done it and will continue to do so, so lets not get too hysterical.
remember we were glad to just qualify, given the constant need for the cheapest team in the CL to reinvent itself
I always take a Celtic defeat (/humiliation?) personally, but today’s worse than usual as I had to drag myself to work here in Amsterdam (!!) and face a barrage of slagging from the Ajax fans here. My son’s also just phoned from school telling me how close he’s been to blowing a fuse at the slagging he’s getting.
At times like this it really HURTS to be a Celtic fan. If 1 more female collegue says “lighten up, it’s only a game” or words to that effect, I swear she might find herself the 1st ever victim of a forced hysterectomy resulting from having a PC rammned up her crack
The whole PC?..Just use your 3″ floppy
Whole pc? Snigger.
HOLE PC indeed. but don’t call me s nigger! tee hee
Well played Sammi. (Unlike last night …)
After black sunday one of our csc went through to edinburgh. He was confronted by loads of huns and to this day reckons the players should have been made to go with him. Same goes for last night. They should be at school with your boy. Let them know what it means when they don’t try.
Is Lenny taking it On the chin?
There was a classic close up on Celtic bench and you could see Gary, Lenny and Johann all staring in despair…either their instructions are beyond the players capabilities, their instructions are being ignored or the instructions are awful or all three!
I was hoping for a nice wee 4-5-1 but no we had 4-2-3 and stokes….I have no idea what position he was playing and that’s not slagging him, despite the clear excuses to.
Get it and punt it to Samaras is 3rd Division Juniors tactics….the amount of time we rolled the ball back to Forster to humph it when Ambrose or Van Dijk was 30 yards to the side and open for a pass wae unbelievable!
The main person I blame….Scott Brown….the captain and the leader on the pitch…nowhere to be seen and all his own fault….the one night we needed his energy and motivation, hes awol. Pr1ck.
Regarding last night’s performance. its, pretty much all been said. I just think that has been a steady reduction in the quality of players at Celtic – some good players, some not so good but no genuine superstars (VvD the possible exception).
I appreciate it is difficult to attract the very best to Scotland but surely we can do better than what is on offer just now – if we spend the money!
PS Captain Jock Stein lifting the Scottish Cup to complete the treble>
Well at least the Celtic bank account looks pritty cause the fekn football definitely isn’t, i can excuse lenny for a pish poor team selection and tactics in a spl game but to have no idea what the fek your doing in the CL is inexcusable, how on earth can u make £20million+ from last seasons CL campaign yet have a team that perform like last nite, now i know the scouting team have found some quality players these last few seasons but how many duds have they discovered as well, especially center forwards, you cant make a silk purse out of a sows ear, but PETER LAWELL will keep hoping Celtic can. Im afraid last nite reminded me far to much of a Tony Mowbray Celtic team and display, and i fear that its not the last time i will say that, hail hail, KTF+
Ordinarily I am entirely supportive of Lenny – remember the state we were in when he got the job – 4-0 doing off St Mirren, and yes, we should be grateful for just being part of the CL, but on this occassion I ve got the right hump.
first, Commons: should never have played. Nowhere near fit. At his best he’s slow, last night I though my TV was on the blink when he was “running”. Ironically he was involved in our very very few creative moments, but why sign a guy like Pukki if hes gonna get less than ten minutes replacing a knackered, half fit, slow tub of lard?
Samaras: The run with your head down til the ball is taken off you or goes out of play tactic is wearing very thin. He didnt look up for it before kick off and was so passive in the game he should not have had the cahnce to play for 90 minutes of completely ineffective fannying
Forrest: has pace, so why keep strolling inside or standing still when your team mate has possession and wants to pass to some one, adn an Ajax player is marking you? See space, go to space at speed, receive ball, do something with it, repeat. And please please please stop getting touched, stopping and putting your hands in the air as your opponent tears upfiedld with the ball. please
Midfield: I quite like Charlie and dont really get the criticism, but last night he made Kayal look impressive (and thats not easy). The two of them – no composure, no range of passing, often let Ajax palyes run directly at our back four, Kayal’s “shots” ridiculous, Charlie’s free kicks generally poor, no ability at all to impose our gaeme (whatever it was) on our opposition
Stokes: he tried hard and held the ball up welll enough at tiems, but he could be out there now still playing and wouldnt score. he is not a lead teh line striker, and shouldnt be chosen to do it
praise for V V D who is a beast of player, and for Lustig who ran himself to a standstill, and shock, horror, had composure in possession, Izza I thought was Ok, but playing a team low on confidence, who arent actually that great anyway, and be so passive, so meek in attack, so despeately playing for a 0-0 from the start, so lacking in the courage to play football was totally depressing.
Good summary. And depressing is the right word.
Give Tommy Rogic a crack!
Maybe I’m just being overly critical cos I’m pissed off but does anyone notice how bad our first touch is. I’m amazed that a professional footballer can’t take a pass and get the ball under control.
If I was managing a team that was playing Celtic I would tell them to get in close because they can’t control a pass and if you’re within 10 feet of them the ball is going to bounce out to you.
Ssshhhhh
c’mon all celtic fans ,look to the positive side here, we are still in with a shout of EURO/FITBA EFTUR XMAS INAT.SO LET’S GET BEHIND THE TEAM, THERE’S LOTS TO PLAY FOR STILL INAT !!!!!!!!! AND REMEMBER WHEN YOU ARE GOIN’ TAE BUY THAT NEW CAR OR SUV, DON’T BE CHEAP “BUY A JEEP” ATS BETTER INT IT TOODLELOO THE NOO
Bottom line is we need to spend on quality in the next 2 windows.
I was working so had to suffer Radio Shortbread. I can’t say anything about our performance because regardless of the fact that the commentary team were in the Arena they reported repeatedly in detail from the Sevco Dunfermline game.
It’s Big Jock with the Coronation Cup in 1953. First treble was in the 1966/67 season.