El cormaco has come out from behind the sofa to tell us what he’s been thinking, and tries to look forward…although Sunday’s game seems like months ago now, it’s still on our minds.
So Sunday still hurts. It’s embarrassing, it’s unacceptable, it’s all our chickens coming home to roost, but is it a blessing in disguise?
Firstly though it was an unacceptable performance. There are ways to lose a game, and this was not how to do it. To bring up more painful memories, Seville for example; we lost the game but were proud of their efforts, apart from Rab Douglas no one really let themselves down in the game, everyone turned up and gave their all.
On Sunday only Tierney and Sviatcehnko can say they positively impacted on the game. (Gordon and Mulgrew did okay too to be fair). No one else can honestly say they left it all out there on the park and can be proud of their efforts even in defeat.
The worst culprits were the midfield trio of Brown, Bitton and Johansen.
Brown’s passing percentages in the first half must have been eye wateringly bad, he simply could not pass to a team mate. His passing has never been great but he was a disadvantage to have in the team as he could not be relied upon to find a team mate even over 5-10 yards. Minus the snap to his game of old he was in effect a snarling passenger, adding nothing to our efforts. He got marginally better but the game passed him by.
Bitton seemed to want to pay a different game to everyone else, where he could slow it down, look around assess things and then play it sideways, as is his wont. Unfortunately the *Rangers players weren’t going to give him that time which he never seemed to come to grips with. The best players they say can buy themselves time, Bitton is not a “best player”.
But Johannsen. Oh my days. This is the most difficult, that a player can fall so far out of form but still get picked game after game after game. I couldn’t name a particularly bad thing he did, but I genuinely had forgotten he was on the pitch by the time even Ronnie decided enough was enough. A complete an utter passenger, he offered nothing at all, and the question must be is this his true level and was last season his blip? Remember he had been something of a journey man in the power house that is Norwegian league football (not that this Celtic team haven’t also been crushed by a Norwegian team of late)
GMS also deserves a mention for his total failure to bring anything positive into the game. I can only recall him going on one run before ballooning the ball out for a goal kick. Wingers will drift in and out of games by the nature of the position, but having drifted out as early as kick off, he never bothered drifting in again. I liked him when he first came; his teuchter heid annoys the hell out of me now.
Boyata is Boyata, he was no worse or no better than we’ve come to expect from him, so I ll not rant too long about him. He’s hopeless, end of.
Bottom line, you have no chance of winning a game if four / five players are having absolute stinkers. That it was these four is no surprise, they have all been varying degrees of mediocre all year, so to think they’ll turn it on in a big game, when they haven’t before, was optimistic.
No one wanted to lose on Sunday but we did, and now it’s happened its an opportunity. Had we won, say we’d even won in the shoot out having been given the run around the whole game, the board would have been happy enough, and we’d be having online discussion about whether or not the performance matters, we’re in the cup final etc etc.
That we lost removes any possibility of masking that performance. Like doing a sneaky parp under the duvet only for your Mrs to come in and pull the duvet off suddenly, we stink the place out and it was very publicly revealed to everyone on Sunday, with no way of pointing a finger at anyone else.
No referee conspiracy; a mis-given throw in, yes it happened but come on there was still plenty of chance to stop that goal. The ref was fine
No wonder show like in days of Andy Goram, their keeper had very little to do.
No potato patch like last years game, the pitch allowed for passing football.
No, Sunday showed up everything about the huge chasm between Ronnie’s stated vision and what he has been able to get out of this Celtic team.
High pressing? Nope, we stood off them for literally 5 minutes at a time as they knocked it about for fun
Super fit? Nope, we were blowing out our arses from around 60 minutes in.
Fast passing and movement? Nope, our “tactic” seemed to be to punt it long in the direction of Griffiths and leave him to fight for it on his own.
Dominating possession? We treated the ball like a hot sack of sh*t being lobbed our way, and could wait to get rid of it.
In was in reality the final realisation for those last few believers that Ronnie was indeed not the man to take us forward.
Anyone unfortunate enough o read anything I’ve written before will know I’ve thought he was a chancer for a long time, I m not trying to be clever after the event and I m certainly not alone in having drawn that conclusion a long time ago, but there was certainly unease among supporters to call for his head, especially as we progressed towards a double.
Well Sunday removed the blinkers, it allowed people to really see the shambles of unmotivated, unfit, unorganised uninterested spare parts, never weres, never will bes and WTFs that have passed for player recruitment over the past few years and currently populate our team.
So the opportunity is there now. There can be no way back for Ronnie. Norwegian TV report he’ll be away in the summer (I’d get him out the door right now) which is not a surprise but poorly handled by the club if this is how the story is coming out. (Which is not a surprise either)
The board cannot be oblivious to the anger of fans, its coming up for season book renewal time, the team on the park is clearly malfunctioning badly, let down by poor recruitment, poor coaching, poor motivation, poor tactics, no heart, so something has to change.
And at this point in time any change has to be a positive, surely? That the fans are of one opinion again, even if that opinion is Ronnie GTF, then that’s a positive
The board have no hiding place over this, that’s a positive. They will have to make a change, and will (hopefully) have to appoint a safe pair of hands after getting themselves burned with the Ronnie Revolution
For me I d go to Stevie Clarke, some one who has lots of experience, and at least coach a defence, get that sorted out and build it from there.
But change is a positive thing (I’ve been on management courses and everything where they tell you this so it must be true) and surely to goodness Lawwell, Park et al must accept the transfer strategy of calling Man United and Man City to see who they are about to release or trawling Scottish football for one paced midfielders is at an end, and will re discover that streak that located promising players from other places
Change. Its coming
Good stuff. Interesting times ahead.
I have to agree with everything you say El Cormaco. I was one of the ones saying that we had to give Ronny a chance as he had a long term visión for the club. I don’t doubt for one minute that he had, but at some stage the wheels fell off, probably shortly after the Inter game I’d imagine. He wasn’t able to get the wheels back on for one reason or another and as the manager that must be his primary concern. That he had his hands tied, he was stymied by Lawwell or whatever reason is irrelevant to the Celtic fans, the buck stops with him. We were hopelessly outplayed by sevco, a lower league team but the worst was that the management team didn’t have any idea of how to win that game, or resort to plan B. I hold my hands up and admit I was wrong but I liked the idea Ronny was trying to implement at the beginning and saw occasional flashes of, but the wheels are truly off. Get an experienced manager in after the flag is secured and jetison the flotsom back to Dundee United. Hail, hail.
I think the wheels came off fifteen minutes into the Malmo first leg. The second half of 2014-15 had been promising, and he’d negotiated the qualifiers, and been true to his word about keeping VVD. But 2-0 up against a team bricking it from the Parkhead atmosphere, we lapsed rather than go for the jugular. Then we all know what happened next.
Champions League participation this year would have allowed some to forgive the previous year’s debacle, and put it down to new in the job and he learned from those mistakes. As soon as you fail again he’s a joke, VVD goes and the lack of planning for losing the heart of last years central defence is shown up. And the players haven’t played for him since. Oh, and the recruitment since has been shambolic.
whoever comes in now has an awful lot of players to shift. I hope he or she gets the full backing of the board. A decent transfer kitty and players who are not finished, have poor reputations or are injury prone. Ther is nothing worse than seeing Parkhead with empty seats. Oh and by the way the board are accountable to the shareholders so sit up and listen to these sites.
she
Good Post El.
When i look back now that the anger is diminishing, the only feeling i have is one of relief.I am relieved that he is going,i hope that his Team GTF as well.
He to me was a fraud someone like a lot of politicians who talk the talk but cannot walk the walk.
The players,well they are a direct product of Downsizing,purchased by an accountant,who is more interested in bookkeeping than the team on the pitch.
How to fix it is easy,get a good Manager in to coach the team and bring in a Director of Fitba to supervise and regulate the players coming in.
Oh and some cash to help build up the team,that along with the selling of the 100 midfielders we have should do the trick.H.H.
no more spl players their all shite
Mornin’
RD leaving is the best bit of news out of CP in years.
Should have happened long ago…but I’ll settle for him just leaving any time soon.
Poor signings..players who don’t look remotely fit…and worst of all…a system that is utter shite.
That’s what this guy has given us..and I’m delighted he’s off.
Your analysis of the players from Sunday is spot on..but I’d have hammered GMS more than you did.His commitment stinks…in fact he’s what we used to call ” a big feartie.”
You can excuse a player an off day..he’s just crap.
As for where we go from here…who the Hell knows.
All I do know is…DD and PL and the other Board Members better realise what is going on with the support…and do something about it.
No more penny pinching shite…we claim to be a “world class” club…well start fuckin’ acting like one !!
What about the Spaniard Julen Lopetegui Argote as coach ,
ex Porto,Spanish under 19,20 &21 teams.He was head of Real Madrid`s
scouting dept. for 2years. Currently unemployed,his favorite team formation is 433,something i`m sure all Celtic fans would love to see again.
Being based in Porto and working (sort of ) for the Club … I can tell you that Lopetegui could probably be Ronny mk2 … Yeah he was great with the Spanish teams BUT his teams played possession football which bored the life out of the fans. There were certainly no love lost when he was finally axed .. If you are looking this way however you could look at Marco Silva who is at Olympiakos at the moment .. Good young coach took a small club like Estoril to european places … then was given the poisoned chalice that is Sporting .. and fell out with the idiot who is the president .. he sacked him after winning the Portuguese cup .. his reason ? He wasn´t wearing the club suit! As I said he is currently at Olympiakos not sure how long his contract is .. but as Greek football is in line with the economy there .. Panathinaikos once decided not to play any games under floodlights to save money .. then maybe he could be an option … Hell even Vitor Pereira (the Fenerbahce coach) was in talks with Sevco … probably for about 5 mins ..
We did press high. Or at least 2 of our forward 3 did. The reason everything in the first half came down our right was because roberts didn’t press. Not once. I lost count the number of times their keeper bowled the ball out to their right back, who when confronted by gms, played it inside to a centre half. He was pressed by griffiths and so passed it quickly to his ch partner. Who then calmly strode out from defence because the bould paddy was 20 metres up the pitch, not doing much.
Once the high press was sprung we then fell back into a defensive shape. It’s what all teams who play the high press do. Guardiola’s barca teams did it. You might not have noticed because their high press often worked. But then again Barca’s messi did the hard work off the ball, Celtic’s couldn’t be arsed. Roberts didn’t confront the man on the ball nor did he go with a runner. He picked positions inside our half, marking space, while they played around him. This meant lustig often came forward to confront the man on the ball who then played the ball in behind him, invariably to an unmarked wallace. Boyata was then dragged out to meet him. Denayer & vvd were able to defend in the full back areas, boyata can’t. Yet we let this happen time and again.
If Robert’s had pressed his centre half on Sunday we may still have lost. But it’s likely 3 things would have happened more often:
1) the centre half would have lost possession to roberts or put it into touch; or
2) the centre half would have kicked the ball long or passed it back to his gk, who would have kicked it long- where brown, bitton & jo hansen could compete for it.
3) with his centre half under high pressure, wallace would have had to drop back to full back in order to help him out.
They would not have had so much easy possession. With wallace having to play as a full back they would no longer have had the extra man in midfield. And they would not have been able to overload lustig quite so much. Whereas we would have been more on the front foot, about 30 metres up the pitch worth of front foot. We would have had more possession. Perhaps we might even have used it to create more chances. More possession would also have helped with our fitness levels, whilst having to chase the ball more would have tired them.
In short whilst gms might have brought nothing positive to the game, he did at least work for the team. He pressed, closed down and even tried a few tackles. If roberts had done the same we might have won the match.
Excellent analysis. Good post.
The high press only works when EVERY player does their bit.
This is why Commons was dropped from the team as he is too lazy to either press or track back.
Spot on analysis though some of us have been saying this for the past 18 months.
Too many of our key players have either not performed or have gone past their best this season.
Lustig Brown and Johansen being the main ones.
Deila needed to compensate for this by altering the setup again when he did that failed to ignite the season also.
At some point the players have to hold their hands up and accept their part in a very poor season.
Pish!
In your opinion, obviously. I think people are over estimating how good sevco played and how bad we were.
Lets see if the ‘cliche’ accepts the ‘new’ management team or tries to undermine them, like the present incumbents.
For me, it’s time to stop picking at that ‘scab’, It’s all about keeping your head held high and ‘moving on’ now. 🙂
HH
Great summary Ralph, but the only thing missing is we desperately need a right back, Lustig is we’ll pass his sell by date, I would have played the kids in the midfield, Christie, Allan, McGregor, Rogic, high tempo from them from the off, but hey I’m not in that position to select, I hope the new manager ( Di Matteo ) with Steve Clarke beside him would get the best out of the young bhoys, Hail, Hail
Rogic should be first on the team sheet christie and allan have not played for weeks just not match fit,Allan is just a lower league player
I actually think that bar a few players we have the bones of a good squad. We just need to get someone in who will get them going.
Gordon
Lustig Simunovic Sviatchenko Tierney Mulgrew
Armstrong, GMS?, Christie, Rogic, McGregor, Roberts.
Griffiths, Kazim?
This doesnt include the likes of Allen, Fischer, Nesbitt, Miller and Thompson etc who are promoising players.
A strong manager should be able to win everything going with that lot.
Augmented with another tough midfeilder and another good striker and we are good to go. Sorted.
I meant to say that time is up for Biton Brown and Johansen. How they could not control the midfield against a light weight but well drilled rangers midfield I will never know.
Brown and Johansen weren’t fit and Biton was prepared to play a different game from his usual.
wasn’t
biton was let down the passes h got from brown and johansen constantly put him under pressure
Ex-goalkeeper Rab Douglas will be the next manager of Celtic. That means they won’t have to change the initials on the tracksuits.
Elcormaco,
Total agreement here.
When Bgbhoy texted me to say Deila was ‘ Hallelujah’ out, it was the first time I smiled since Sundays shameful performance.
Still getting waves of nausea every time I look for a positive, the reality is for me anyway, no positive, I’m glad he is going but would be happier still if those who employed him fucked off with him.
I still can’t believe we let them beat us, it is what it is but I still feel like I did on Sunday, absolutely mentally shattered.
That sick feeling at the pit of your stomach is still there, I hate seeing those cunts celebrating, especially at our cost.
Ambrose, Boyata, Izaguirre, Mulgrew, Brown, Johansen and Cole need punted at the seasons end, Same with Ciftci and Scepovic.
GMS has not been great but I think a better management team and tactics/formation will bring the best out of him.
This squad, with 3 or 4 high quality additions has a lot of potential, but first team level players must be brought in, if Leicester can sign Mahrez and Vardy for a combined £1.4m on fees, then so can we.
Lawwell’s vision of a new approach when he appointed Deila may have been OK in theory, but it hasn’t worked, he got it wrong and the end is close, but the two of them should go.
Celtic should never be paying £1m per year for an CEO it is just wrong.
Lawwell has served Celtic well up to a point in terms of reducing debts and controlling that aspect of things, but when the fans hear the click of the turnstiles as they head into Paradise, the only thing that matters is the strength of the side.
Get the team right, get it strong and entertaining and we the support, will do the rest.
The banner at the top of the Lisbon Lions stand that say’s ‘CELTIC – MORE THAN A CLUB’ is correct, so from those at the top of the club down to the dressing room..FUCKING ACT LIKE IT THEN! HH
Agree, Lawell doesn’t deserve £1,000,000, but what about Parks reputed £600,000. Great money for getting about 1in 20 decisions right. Who decided he was worth that level of pay. Bet he was on about £25,000 at Hibs.
Leicester Cities rise to prominence is being revised by the FA at the moment with irregularities from previous investment under scrutiny…
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/apr/11/leicester-city-finances-football-league-financial-fair-play-investigation
I’ve wanted Delia gone since Malmo and we’ve got worse since then. Sundays game was so predictable I don’t know why anyone was surprised by our failure to perform once again. A mixture of free signings and loan players outperformed us again. His failures will not only taint those who played but those who backed him in the boardroom. Delia has eaten away at our club like a cancer.
Will Tierney play for Scotland ahead of Wallace? Not without Strachan taking serious flak. Will we get any decent transfer fees for our players? Any club negotiating with us will highlight games like Sunday and want money off. Our attempts to play down south? We have just given ammunition to those that don’t want us.
I’ve been one of the few that has backed Lawwell but he should be gone as well. We’ve been like a ship heading towards an iceberg and Lawwell has ordered full steam ahead.
I wouldn’t even give Delia to the end of the season.
I agree Doc,he should have been papped out on Sunday evening.
I raised this point before, what if we slip up over the next couple of games, what then?
Surely then it would mean we have a team full of bottlers if that were to happen?
Time those cunts put a shift in worthy of the Jersey and stop baming all on the Manager.
Tierney and Erik aside obviously.
@ Andy and Charlie. In 11 Stromsgodset were 3rd and Molde (1st) slipped up allowing them to go top, they won one game in six and ended mid table.
In 12 they led the table for most of the season but slipped to 2nd with 8 games left. With 6 games left, a win would have put them clear at top, they only won 3 out of the six (including a defeat to a team in the relegation zone) and this let Molde in to win the title again. I don’t know if this was due to injuries or what (google sometimes doesn’t translate well from Norwegian) but Deila’s team threw it away again.
In 13, when he did win the league, they kept up all season and this time Rosenborg bottled it by dropping points against Honefoss (bottom of the league) and to Molde as well. Stromsgodset won 4 of the last 5 to go and stay top so credit where its due there.
His title run in record isn’t good in two of the three hes been in and that doesn’t fill me with confidence.
His run in record was fine last season.
5 Games to go and 8 points in front and you want to hand HIS 2nd title to someone else?
Thank fuck the Club have standards above that way of thinking.
Charlie, would that be the same standards that have seen us travel in ever decreasing circles?
The League should be secured at all costs and that includes the manager in my opinion.
The guys a dick and he should be nowhere near Celtic Park.
Andy, I don’t think Deila is a dick, quite the opposite. I think he has been too nice, I think he has tried to be the players friend rather than their boss and I think he has been too accommadating to the board when he should have been demanding and I believe that attitude has led to him not being shown the respect the job deserves and demands. More of a Mr Nice Guy than a Yes Man. I have nothing personnal against him, its strictly football. He is, in my opinion, the wrong man in the wrong job at the wrong time.
Who? Charlie Saiz?
Absolutely right, more important than giving RD his final “roar” is getting the right players ready for the CL qualifiers. That means a new man in quickly to ship out the passengers and prune the squad, name some good buys and stamp his mark on the attitude going forward. Lennon would be a quick fix, Moyes and Keane aren’t even thinking about it till the summer, GS and MON haven’t spoken as far as I know (either would be my top choice alongside NL) and the rest are less inspiring or less well-known alternatives…apart from Henrik in some capacity. Mark McGhee will probably get a Liverpool call up according to himself so that rules him out!!!
Watching Jock Stein talking about insisting on “full control” shows how important that aspect of the manager’s role is, the relations with PL will be key.
If John Collins is still in there he needs to be smoked out today!
The biggest change or decision the Board has to make involves the relationship between the PLC and the Football Club.
Is the Football Club there merely to prop up the PLC?
Or is the PLC there to support and nurture the Football Club.
It’s the same entity the “Club” only exists as a department of the Company.
Or are we saying Rangers never died?
It’s all there in black and white…
http://www.celticfc.net/pages/corporate
Description of Business:
The main aspect of our business is the operation of a professional football club. This encompasses a wide range of activities including match ticketing and stadium operations, merchandising, multimedia and publications,
I notice that everyone on here likes to refer to Scott Allan is having potential. The guy is 24 or 25 ffs! I really liked this guy when he was with Hibs – he played with his head up and was not scared to pass the ball forwards. To my mind the fact that this guy has hardly been used is the most damning indictment of Ronnie’s reign. The team were crying out for creativity and skill but very rarely was he used. Am I missing something here? Is there some background that caused his appearances to be limited? OK, he made a mistake against Ajaz but so did a lot of our players and they still turned out week after week………
he,s crap
Couldnt agree more shug , kept reading how well him and christie were playing in the development squad but no matter how bad the mentioned 3 were ronny still wouldnt pick them. There was a game we played where at the end of the game christie allan roberts and commons were on the field and we looked fantastic. Ronny was far to negative, why did people in his camp not tell him this , did he mot read papers or talk to fans
The players must have known early on what they had in a management team. They have done just enough to have a shout of Champions League football next season, but still very the manager sacked. Whoever comes in needs to be able to put everyone of these players in their place. Roy Keane is enough of a nut job to do it. The players do not buy into the revolution and many of them were just paying lip service to the “management team.”
I think the real revolution was from the players in the end and it was a quiet creep as Ronnie and John Collins pissed off more and more players. In the end some of our biggest issues have departed or agreed to depart on the last month so fair enough.
I was in charge of all transfers. This stinks. Dictatorship wrote all over your financial handshake Ronnie.
Lawwell and Parks out now. If we are to see any change at the Club
Whoever gave the OK to sign Richards should be shot. Makes Shifty look lke
Bergkamp.
Honestly,WTF how did we stoop so low.
Exactly.Deila was not whiter than white. It’s amazing what some money and a noose can make a man do.
Thanks for taking the time to read and comment guys, really appreaciate it.
I found Delia’s comments today very interesting, and admirable.
Sure the story may change in time but if we take what he said today at face value he accepts responsibility for all the signings and acknowledges we have not been making progress under him for 6 months. I d say longer but thats a quibble.
He also says the players were good for him. Personally I ve long believed that a significant number downed tools on him a long time ago, and his projct stalled ever since.
As to why they did it I could only speculate, opinions very from “because they are over paid prima donnas” to “they could see this guy was a charlatan and wanted him gone” but I dont feel he ever got enough senior players onside, possibly from day one when he said they werent fit enough.
So an honourable guy, a nice guy, the sort of guy youd be happy for your sister to marry; he d treat her well and would be a bit of crack when you had to soicialise together, but that does not mean he was the right man to be our manager
Elcormaco I’m sure that was part of it he said they weren’t fit and he constantly put players down by saying they had to improve this and that and sacrafice , I believe this pissed off senior players who thought who are you mate ? His treatment of commons who was our top scorer and best player before he came in was also shocking and must have caused a rift
Commons is lazy he also has a billy big baws attitude.
I would be punting him ASAP.
You are due on the beach, queue is getting impatient….eeeaaaawwww eeeeaaawwwww
I nearly destroyed my laptop there, tea and snotters everywhere!!!
I think our NEW manager will determine what happens with Kris.
tosser our most creative player just the sort rd hates,should be captain
So creative he couldn’t trap a bag of cement.
Let alone beat it in a 50 yard sprint.
Has anyone seen a bag of cement sprint 50 yards? And I don’t mean Kris Boyd.
So if gus hiddink came in and signed ibrahimavic would you punt him on that basis charlie
To: The bhoy with mcgrain in his side
Agree 100%. Roberts was a waste of space on Sunday. No application off the ball – left Lustig exposed time after time – slowed the pace of the game when in possession – played with his head down and never released the ball at the right time – and, guess what? We have him for another 12 months due to PL’s connection with Man City.
Dorset,
Roberts game is to be fed in the last third, yes he has to do a shift going back as well, but if the defence and midfield are in control of the game, Roberts should position himself 30 yards from goal, get on the ball and attack.
The problem on Sunday was we weren’t in control. HH
Right now ah don’t gie a buck who we have in the dugout next season, the priority is ti win the buken league. European fitba in a wee while…jesus that scares me at present.
dearie me Celtic, dearie dearie me.
Hi Monti,
Agree with you on everything re RD but have to disagree about Roberts. He will look good against smaller SPL sides in the last third but any defence with a bit of organisation will see him off. He is lightweight, plays with his head down and always takes one touch too many. If Man City were serious about developing him into a PL player they would not have sent him to the SPL. I appreciate he is young but apart from looking good on the eye he has an awful lot to learn.