\u00a0Killie draw<\/a> would be just the start of a pull your remaining hair out session.<\/p>\nIf you’re ready for another rant, well here it comes, but this time Im just gonna throw out questions and please feel free to add your own questions, thoughts and disappointments in the Comments section below.<\/p>\n
Ok?…lets begin<\/p>\n
..<\/p>\n
Last night we exited the Champions League at the 2nd Qualification Round.<\/p>\n
We exited in a shambolic, pathetic manner and everyone at the Club BAR the fans ( although I may come to us later) should be ashamed of their involvement.<\/p>\n
Im not gonna go over the players ( or lack off!) performances in a report or individual rating as I think its the big picture that needs addressing more than this dreadful showing.<\/p>\n
The players to a man were shite, the Management decisions, tactics, substitutions and post match interview were even shiteier(!) and the goals that put us out were avoidable and the defeat entirely self inflicted.<\/p>\n
So to the questions, or more to the point, things I just dont understand…<\/p>\n
I just dont understand<\/strong> how Lenny can repeatedly make the same mistakes in these games. Saying its “individual errors” is nonsense. There was no need for El Hamed to be 1 on 1 ( Jullien getting back to cover was as slow as a week in the jail if you watch it) with their main danger man. There was no need for so many Celts to be up the park. Once again we over committed at a time of comfort in the game and left ourselves exposed for no reason other than managerial error. We have now lost 3 games to European opposition where the Manager has come out and said “We have to learn”. Not we Neil, you.<\/p>\nI just dont understand<\/strong> how, even with the irony or no striker, we can still shoot ourselves in the face, let alone in the foot. Every year the fans step up and give their all. The Board and Management then fuck it up. No quality signings in early enough to be ready when needed. No thoroughly prepared and peak fitness team in full readiness. A Complacent attitude against the opposition alluding to arrogance, incompetence and negligence.<\/p>\nI just dont understand<\/strong> how we can find ourselves in the same situations year on year. Remember Lewis Morgan as Centre-forward anyone? Do we actually have a Planning Committee at Celtic Park that looks beyond 2 weeks into the future?<\/p>\nI just dont understand<\/strong> how we can have 4 strikers on the books and yet have none ready for a game in late August.\u00a0 With Eddy “injured”, then Klimala or Ajeti should have been in place ready to go. The fact they werent says more about Neil Lennons Management Team and Fitness preparation and Peter Lawwells purchasing policy than it does about the players themselves.<\/p>\nI just dont understand<\/strong> how Patryk Klimala cant be ready for that game last night. He has been at the club since January. He scored against Ross County. How can he not be fit enough for that game? How has he not been given sufficient game time to ensure he is match fit?\u00a0 If Klimala is deemed not good enough to start a game or even get early substitution appearances in league games then who is accountable for another expensive benchwarmer?<\/p>\nI just dont understand<\/strong> how Lenny can criticise Leigh Griffiths one week, then salute him the next and then 2 weeks later we are back to Griffiths out in the cold. The Club have to sort this out once and for all as we can only have people we can depend on.<\/p>\nI just dont understand<\/strong> how the players can seem so unfit. Might just be my untrained eyes but they are slow, ponderous and look weary. Has Gavin Strachans ideas burnt them out or taking a long time to come to fruition? Are all those rumoured days off having an impact?<\/p>\nI just dont understand<\/strong> how Lenny thinks substitutions are a luxury. It was plain for all to see that players were toiling out there last night yet his only instinct is to watch on and then freshen things up when its too little too late.<\/p>\nI just dont understand<\/strong> how so many of our players are shadows of the players they should be. How can Jullien can be so tall but have all the defensive presence of an empty crisp poke in the wind. The guy should be commanding and in charge of all around him. He should be ensuring adequate cover is in place across the back line. On the right, I just dont understand whats happened to James Forrest this season, he is almost invisible out there. In the middle, Callum MacGregor just seems to restrict himself to one area as if held in a force field of containment. There’s no Calmac swagger,\u00a0 no injection of Calmac pace,its now just slow safe\u00a0 short passes to Broony. Broony to be fair is trying but he knows he should be getting subbed for fresh legs and talent by now. Where are the personalities to rally alongside Broony?, nowhere to be seen at present!<\/p>\nI just dont understand<\/strong> our mind numbing attacking tactics. The premise seems to be..get it down the wing and cut in. No hitting the by-line and cutting back. No.\u00a0 Its get it, and if on the left, Greg Taylor fails to cross it beyond the first man or on the right, James Forrest simply plays it back to a central midfielder. We face 6 guys across the 18 yard line in every game and continue to just run up and hit a brick wall. No invention, no adoption of different approaches, just same old\u00a0 blunt crowded area blindness hoping an Eddy or Mo can do us a twinkle toe turn.\u00a0 Lest we forget, our goal last night needed a deflection!<\/p>\nI just dont understand<\/strong> how we can see clips of Greg Taylor in training doing spins and dribbles yet when he gets on the pitch, he never takes a man on directly. Its always give and go. Is he lacking confidence to play like that or is he\u00a0 instructed to play that way as the Management dont have confidence in him being so direct. Something needs to be done one way or another as the crossing approach just isnt paying off…especially when no striker in the box.<\/p>\nI just dont understand <\/strong>how apparent top quality footballers need to take 2 and 3 touches on the ball. The play is so slow that the opposition just regroup and wait while we play it across the middle of the park going nowhere.<\/p>\nI just dont understand<\/strong> how James Forrest and Jeremie Frimpong cant play together. Surely these thing can be worked on in training? If we need El Hamed in defence then why not promote Frimpong up the park and have him genuinely challenging Forrest for a start rather than a desperate late substitution.<\/p>\nI just dont understand<\/strong> how we now seem to have purchased\u00a0 a Keeper that wants to play it out from the back with scary 6 yard box passing. Wasnt that why we got Fraser Forster to get away from the Brendanesque style of play? Is this keeper one that Lenny had any decision making in buying?<\/p>\nI just dont understand<\/strong> what John Kennedy does. If he is the main Coach then clearly something lacking there and if he is a Defence coach then clearly something lacking there. We left men exposed and conceded 2 goals. Where is the coaching there? We now have Kennedy, McManus and O’Dea at the club in coaching roles..I really dont know if thats a good thing or not.<\/p>\nI just dont understand<\/strong> why Lenny would do that Press Conference and state that players who dont want to be there should leave. Was it throwing them under the bus? Was it an impassioned plea for unity? It just raised everyones eyebrows, including Broonys and raised so many questions. The most obvious question of all being “Why fucking play them then Lenny?” but the big worry was the hint that there is a major lack of harmony in the dressing room and possibly at the Club.<\/p>\nand finally<\/em><\/p>\nI just dont understand<\/strong> when we the fans are going to decide enough is enough. We stick with the Club through thick and thin. We have no real say in who is accountable for those who repeatedly let us down. At what stage does the final straw come? The Ten is the totem that is protecting Peter Lawwell for now, come May and next summer, it could be a very different picture once that goal is laid to rest one way or another.<\/p>\nThanks for listening – please add your thoughts below<\/p>\n
Desimond<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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