Slightly later than usual today, but my excuse is that I am a wee bit tired after a long , long day at the football yesterday, and i didn’t get back until half past midnight. In fact, I only managed half a cup of tea and half of fanzine Not the View before falling asleep face down down on my back on the couch.
Still, when i walked the dog this morning by the canal, I saw two blokes sitting in fold up chairs, wet through, armed with fishing rods, and suddenly the long trip to Glasgow didn’t seem so pointless.
Celtic drew 1-1 with Dundee Utd yesterday, thanks to an injury time header from Charlie Mulgrew , after the players all gave the impression that they would rather have been somewhere else. Neil Lennon , speaking after the game, tried not to sound disappointed;
“It was a difficult first half for us. Credit to United, they played well, but we could have kept the ball a lot better.
“The players will take full blame, we didn’t move the ball fast enough, we didn’t keep it as well as we can, we didn’t create enough chances, and put away the chances we did create.
“We need to do better than that. Ajax is a different game altogether but we will need to up the performance.”
From the start, Anthony Stokes seemed hell bent on setting a record for missed opportunities-he could have had a hat trick before most of the support had taken their seats-, and as United began to settle, the inevitable happened.
Gordon Waddell, of the Sunday Mail, described it like this;
” Armstrong controlled Nadir Ciftci’s wonderful chip over Virgil van Dijk to perfection and although it looked like he had gone too far around Forster, he squeezed the finish in. ”
Ralph Malph, of the Etims website, said it was more like this;
Honest mistakes were back, and although they wouldn’t have mattered if Celtic had tried a bit harder to win the game, it is a timely reminder that the oft spoken of ten in a row won’t need a “resurgent Rangers ” to put the knackers on the dream.
Yet, post match, when you consider it, it wasn’t a bad game, and United deserve a bit more credit than perhaps they’ve been given. They were sharp, they did go forward at every opportunity, and didn’t kick everything in green and white in that time honoured fashion that we have grown accustomed to.
And they did provide the high spot of the game-Sportscene will be worth watching for this alone-when Brian Graham found himself with time and space to score a second just after half time, but he somehow managed to make a complete arse of it , and actually sat down in disgust afterwards. He actually seemed to aim his effort at himself, what looked like at least twice.
The biggest worry again is that Celtic are completely hopeless in front of goal. Stokes himself now doesn’t believe he’ll score anymore, and despite trying everything he can, isn’t getting any better. Its not even about confidence, he has that, or composure, because he doesn’t look like he’s panicking, so its difficult to put a finger on it.
It reminds me of the old story told by Dave Allen, the Irish comedian, who did a wee thing about an Irishman, when you asked him directions, telling you to start from somewhere else, as it would be easier.
Thats what Stokes needs to do. He’s trying to score from the wrong place. He needs to be on the end of moves, not somewhere in the middle. He spent a fair bit of time “organising ” the other forwards as well yesterday, and should forget about them. Whether we like it or not, he’s our top striker. So, he needs to , er, strike.
At one set piece during the game yesterday he seemed more concerned with where Finnish newbhoy Teemu Pukki was positioning himself, when really he should be more worried about his own game.
Neil Lennon, in the Scotsman, is also a little peturbed about the lack of goals;
“We had 20 attempts at goal, 10 corners, we’ve got to do better.
“We keep flashing balls in the box
and I always see an opposition defender getting there first, that’s something we need to do better. We need to be braver in the final third.
“It’s a concern. You keep giving teams encouragement. Dundee United scored a very good goal but didn’t create much else.
“The goal gave them something to hang on to. But the amount of chances going begging was frustrating.
“We don’t expect to score in injury-time but we always hope.
“There’s a great character about the team even when they’re not anywhere near their best.”
Its difficult to disagree with any of that, but for those who are losing patience with Pukki and Balde, and they are two more than decent players, keep tremiding yourself of the inauspicious starts that Henrik Larsson and John Hartson had with Celtic.
These two are more comparable with Pukki and Balde than say, Biggins and Cascarino, and we need to give them time and space to settle.
Celtics defence performed admirably again yesterday, and Charlie mulgrew put in a good shift in the middle. Joe Ledley seemed a little frustrated during the game, and Derk Boerrigter managed to avoid injury. James Forrest could have contributed more, but seemed afraid of commitment, while the forwards huffed and puffed, but didn’t quite pull it off.
On the bright side, Lennon did say he expects Kris Commons and Gergios Samaras to be fit for Wednesday, while Beram Kayal should also be available. And the team do seem to move up a gear away from home in europe, and adopt a maturity that no-one seeing them domestically could hope to uncover, so there is cause for optimism, nay even confidence that the team will get a result.
I just wish I could be sure we’d score. Which is not really a doubt that you would associate with a trip to Amsterdam.
Pep Guardiola, the Spanish Neil Lennon, has revealed he is desperate to bring Bayern Munich to Glasgow to sample the European night atmosphere at Celtic Park.
The ex-Barca boss said: “I’ve never had the chance to go to Celtic but I’d love to.
“I am young – just 42 – and still have a chance to go to Celtic Park.
“In the last two seasons Barca have been there when I was not with the club.
“I was coach there for four years but never got a chance to take a team to Parkhead so I would love to have this experience for myself.
“The reason we play football is for the spectators. That’s what I tried to put in place at Barca and now at Bayern.”
Look, it really is time we started to make Celtic Park a place where the opposition don’t want to come to. Its not a fecking holiday camp.
For instance, we could close the airports and make them travel up the Clyde in a car ferry.
Tonight we are recording a podcast with author Stephen Sullivan, who deserves credit for solving the problem of what to buy the older members of our family when he released the book on Sean Fallon.
We’ll be discussing the book itself, the man himself, and of course Sean himself tonight, so if you have any memories of the great man, any stories you’d like to share, or any questions for Stephen then you can addd them here, send them to us on twitter , or email us at the usual address.
It was Shunsuke Nakamuras goal at Celtic Park that sent Celtic through to the ;ast sixteen with a game to spare, way back in Novenber 2006.
Heres how Kevin McCarra, who also featured in an Etims podcast, saw the game;
Another great European night here, but who is in the unfamiliar strip ?
Is it Ajax?
Real Madrid?
Real Madrid. I remember being gutted they didn’t wear white, the wonderful Johnny Doyle header and the equally tragic Laurie Cunningham running past the Jungle when an egg landed near him on the pitch. 2-0 & we were gubbed 3-0 in the Bernabeu
well that,s 4 points lost due to the men in black,just watched it on sky and it,s a blatant handball deliberate to push the ball pas Forster,known in europe as an Henri or in beano land as a Ralph Milne,just shows feck all has changed in all thode years,still being cheated by the funny handshake brigade
bhramblejelly said it all!
Aye Real in March 1980 or mibee late February grubbed them 2-0 in front of officially 67,000 but was more like 90,000 – could barely move yer arms they were either up or down & stayed like that for rest of game!!!
Hard to believe that before Seville that was last time we’d been in Europe after Christmas!!!
If we’d had willie miller in centre defence we’d have done 10 in a row back then but we never could buy a centre half hopefully big Virgil will be the exception & we can hold onto him.
By the way, I think Guardiola may prefer “The Catalan Neil Lennon”
The last game I went to with my Dad. Also my mates Ronnie Russell and Neil McLachlan, who sadly is no longer with us. Gubbed in return game but one of the best European nights at Parkhead
Francos XI