Sometimes, to try and work out the solution to a problem, one has to approach a subject from a different angle. With Celtic conceding another three goals and almost three points last night in Dundee, there is clearly a problem with what once seemed an impenetrable back line.
One way of looking at the issue is to adopt the mindset of an opposing manager and find a way to if not beat Celtic, then certainly make things difficult for them.
It’s been obvious for a while now that Celtic don’t like to play against an enrgetic press, and although I don’t have the stats to hand, I’d guarantee that somewhere around two thirds of all passes are between the back five. Manager Rodgers calls it “looking for another path to goal “.
Although he didn’t say which goal.
Whilst it’s important to retain possession, it’s also important not to be predictable, and to do things at a pace that doesn’t put pressure on the players involved. Most of the time, Celtic players look for the closest green and white shirt and play that pass, which is predictable if an opponent remains alert, and leads to mistakes.
Which lead to goals. Put simply, if Celtic’s defenders are not allowed to play the ball to each other, then sooner or later one of them will make an arse of it.
A forward coming back to help often sees him running back to goal with nowhere to turn, which…often leads to mistakes.
Complacency at best and predictability at worst has crept in.
If we look at individuals, then criticism must be tapered with the realisation that players are human, and it’s been a tough period where games are concerned. Young boys of Berne roll into town next week, and since their last Champions League game they will have played only two competitive matches, filling the time with friendlies, whereas Celtic will have played ten.
Squad rotation has been important as injuries and illness take their toll, and little breathing space between games doesn’t allow for coaches to go over fundamental errors and correct them.
had bought a house in Linlithgow With Greg Taylor fairly certain not to hang around after he heard Keiran Teirney had bought a house in Linlithgow, which is just a little too far outside the M25 for him to commute to Arsenal, his mind has begun to drift. He still gives his all, but I can;t have been the only one to notice he tackles opponents much less frequently.
Alastair Johnston has been consistent, and will probably get back to form when Nicolas Kuhn returns, but again, when the ball is on that flank it’s fairly obvious Kuhn will cut inside and play the overlap with the Canadian.
As for central defence…we saw another Carter Vickers masterclass last night, but no one seems to criticise him, as he’s the best defender we’ve had since virgil van Dijk in some minds.
So, how come the list of failed defensive partners is longer than a week in jail ?
Watch last nights goals again.
Celtic have a corner, Carter Vickers heads clear and Dundee run up the park and score.
The American then diverts one past his own keeper, his second own goal of the season, and the third ?
I’ve watched it a couple of times, and I’ve no idea what he is trying to do. More worryingly, I suspect he hasn’t either.
Auston Trusty, Liam Scales and quite a few others may well be taking the rap for a player who many say plays in his smoking jacket. Well, maybe he should try it in a football shirt.
Trusty seemed a little too concerned with Aaron Donnelly standing on his toe last night , which allowed Donnelly to focus on scoring. Maybe Trusty did, as the manager says, go down too easily, and maybe he does need to toughen up a bit, but you can’t blame him, to an extent, when his pal plays in a smoking jacket…
It’s very difficult to move effort up a notch when the opponents are not giving you time or space to think.
Of course, the midfield should be covering and protecting defenders, but with Calum MacGregor in semi retirement and the other two , whoever they may be, often crowded out, Celtic are forced to go wode, which allows opponents to regroup and simply stifle the forwards.
Except for Maeda, who is that little bit dofferent in that he can’t be stifled. Which is probably why we are a dofferent prospect when he plays.
Not only does he create, but he stops opponents from creating, both in the middle and in defence.
The recall of Johnny Kenny and Dane Murray suggests that there won;t be much spending this window, after Rodgers broke records last summer, though at some point we need to realise that buying players who can’t get a game for their club isn’t the way forward.
Adam Idah, who couldn’t get a game even for Celtic last season, somehow ended up joining us for an incredible £9m. a tag that seems to weigh heavier with each game. Idah is more than capable of playing for Celtic, but I think maybe someone should tell him that, and tell him to relax and take his time. He’s trying too hard and he doesn’t need to. If one chance is missed, there will be another along shortly.
Forwards at least have that luxury.
Of course, it could just all be a blip…good teams don;t become bad teams overnight, but other teams learn how to play them.
So maybe it’s time for a reset, or at the very least, a rethink.
Or, to put it in coaching terms, a boot up the arse.
Last time out, we had this…
Caption: Furore in Foyers as Nessie is convinced she saw Napoleon on loch shore.
Today
How do you “ try too hard “ ?
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“Adam Idah, you’re under arrest for impersonating a striker”.
Good analysis of our defensive frailties, Ralph.
Wee Greg’s going away party
At last, someone who sees it as I do, maybe I’m not going mad after all, or maybe I already am , but not where football’s concerned at least.
Is the caption picture theRangers new recruitment policy?
It’s no wonder passes are getting misplaced at the back if Carter-Vickers is cutting about with a smoking jacket on.
He needs to be told to cut that out and wear a Celtic shirt!!
Caption
Davie Hay recalls the time he asked Jack McGinn what his transfer budget was
Caption: Ralph climbs on his high horse again and hangs a For Sale sign round Carter-Vickers traitorous neck
I believe in the old saying ,you win as a team and you lose as a team . In football a team has 11 players ,last night we had at most 9. Idah wanted contract with Celtic & played last season to win one . This season he seems to be perhaps over indulging in ScottIsh hospitality, hence black rings round eyes, or else is looking for record of our most expensive flop.
Trusty , his name is an oxymoron, he isn’t to be Trusted and any links between Trusty and a capable centre defender is purely incidental. Maybe with coaching he can improve, the first thing he needs to be coached is that as centre back its usual for cb to face the side the corner is on , as ball will come from that side and Trust BR , he is right about that.
Carl (not so) Jung, well deid actually:”The person who looks outward dreams, the person who looks inward awakens and the person who looks in the mirror screams ‘Oh FFS!’, I look like I took in the 2nd half at Dens Park last night.” Philosophy, whatever would we do without it? Move out of cloud cuckoo land? Have a read of Kipling’s “IF”, er, em IF you want some real bollox philosophy! 🙂
Just want to make sure you are taking about the game last night,because if you are you watched a different game from me ,Trusty was abysmal and to blame for 2 of the goals.Adam Idah reminded me of the wizard from Oz the lion with no heart should have scored in the first half but was frightened the goalie was going to tear his tights , hate saying it but he’s not for me. Seams to me they have something else on their minds at the moment.
Sorry Ralph, but I have to push back on CCV. I don’t think he’s the bees knees, but he was not the problem yesterday. If we’re being honest, every player in the squad with the exception of Kühn and maybe Engels is at Celtic because they have limitations in their ability. That includes CCV, but is also includes all of his defensive partners as well as every realistic replacement should he be dropped.
As for last night… goal 1 is a sore one, but that’s not all on him. It was a poor header that results in a turnover, and that part is on him. But after the turnover Dundee had to run what, 100 yards?, at a full sprint while making 5 passes culminating in a brilliant finish (not easy) by Adewumi. That goal was a total team failure, and a lot of players had opportunities to close down Adewumi before he scored or to intercept one of the 5 passes after CCV’s wayward header. Blaming the guy for a bad header on a corner is fair, but c’mon – what’s the success rate for headers off of corners? 3%? If he’s successful any more than 10% of the time on that play, he’s not at Celtic because we wouldn’t be able to afford him! Genuine question here: what’s the solution on this play to prevent a bad outcome? Like, do we just not send defenders (usually our biggest and most physical players) into the box on corners? Or do we just not attempt headers anymore and prefer to play corners short before transitioning into the horseshoe of boredom? I genuinely don’t understand what CCV is supposed to do differently on this play or what the complaint about him is.
For the second goal, yeah it’s an own goal, but deflections off defenders doing their job shouldn’t reflect poorly on the defender unless there’s something wrong in their decision making. That whole sequence started because Trusty got complacent and turned the ball over with him standing over on the touch line. A quick counter by Dundee and Trusty is completely out of the play leaving CCV to clean up his mess. He tries to slide to block the pass – the same move he successfully pulled off defending a 4v1 situation in the Champions League a few weeks ago! – but the ball deflected into the net rather than behind for a corner. Realistically, what would you have CCV do in that situation other than what he did? And why on earth is CCV the problem on this play rather than Trusty in your opinion? The other thing to note on that play is: who’s supposed to be tracking Mulligan on that play? He’s actually closer to Dundee’s goal when the turnover happens, but he runs through, collects a pass because nobody is tracking back (COMPLACENCY!) and attempts to cross the ball in the box before CCV intervenes. Trusty turns the ball over, nobody tracks Mulligan, but it’s all CCV’s fault because he’s the only one actually in proper position who is attempting to do the job they’ve been given? Make it make sense!
For the 3rd goal… I’m honestly not sure what the complaint is here. Corner comes in and Donnelly wins it cleanly, beats his man (Trusty! Not CCV), and the other 9 defenders are kind of irrelevant on the play.
To me, there’s a lot going wrong right now despite being up 16 points in the table and only having lost 2 games domestically all season. Team performances have been flat in the first half for two months now, and it seems like complacency has set in for a lot of players. To me this is a manager problem rather than with individual players. The fact that they come out and get the points in the 2nd half is masking the fact that the team is going through large stretches of every game with poor play and little intensity. Trusty had a nightmare yesterday, but he’s been generally pretty good (apart from Dortmund) since he stepped in the door. But you go up and down the lineup, and every week multiple players are having bad (frequently lazy) performances. It’s rarely the same players in consecutive games, but it’s also rare that we’re getting a game without some terrible individual efforts. Scales, Hatate, Bernardo, Idah, the list goes on… even McGregor! Rodgers needs to own this IMO.
The horse show of boredem.
Caption: The original design for the Quality Street tin is rejected with a note stating on brief but something a bit lighter please.
Hats off to Dundee they were direct and physical and we have too many players, Engels, Trusty, Reo who just fall over at the merest touch. 3 goals against is sobering. ECL games now seem daunting.
Benjamin pretty right. Own goal irrelevant. Trusty and Idah poor, Hatate a pale shadow of his former self. Give Kenny a run against Killie and Dundee, Scales too. BR is a smashing coach and we have won 1 competition and are still in 3 others. He says, ‘too slow passing forward and over all passing is poor.’Well Brendan get them to pass forwards not sideways in a predictable manner. The keeper does best when he kicks it out.
If Idah wasn’t good enough to get a regular game for Norwich – and he wasn’t – what on earth makes people think he’s good enough for Celtic?
Caption-17th Century Facebook users want to Lynch the foreign guy, as hes over here living in 5 star hotels and getting all the good jobs, and claiming benefits, and raping all the white women.
thats wee Nige Fuherage on the big cuddy BTW
Three times in recent weeks we have lost three goals. This is not a coincidence. Each time we have been hounded by teams who have aggressively closed us down. We are powder puff taking easy options passing the ball back and cross the half way line. We are not half as good as we think we are and the so called strong squad is a myth. Don’t get me started on Yang and Palma. If they are the answer what was the question?
Caption: Chelsea CEO asks if there’s a possibility to commute his sentence to a cash payment.
CAPTION:
Very surprisingly, Philippe Clement’s wig disguise doesn’t fool the (self titled) most loyal loyalists of the loyal loyalists….(aka huns)