![\"Worried](\"https:\/\/media1.tenor.com\/images\/1f8c7736a46059a800df67a2779b3a86\/tenor.gif?itemid=7121337\")
<\/p>\nWhilst games are won on the pitch, there is no doubt that proper planning and preparation prevents, as they say, piss poor performances.<\/p>\n
That sort of planning should take place on the Green and White Mile, somewhere in the bowels of Lennoxtown, and of course, what happens on the mile stays on the mile,,,but oh the gossip….<\/p>\n
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As Celtic have had the monopoly on piss poor performances for some time now, then its fair to assume that there has been little or no planning taking place. thats why on a number of occasions a number of players…alright , mostly Dieg Laxalt, have found themselves in a space that is already occupied by a team mate, who appears equally bewildered to have bumped into a comrade at that point.<\/p>\n
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Statistically, there is evidence to suggest that Celtic cannot or will not defend a set piece. Long ago, the presence of Shunsuke Nakamura or Lubomir Moravcik would more or less guarantee a goal for Celtic from a free kick, and a damn decent delivery from a corner.<\/p>\n
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These days, a set piece against us is as good as a penalty…<\/p>\n
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Yet no one has sorted it out. no one has drilled the defenders into defending, theres a real fear in the team when they are forced to defend, and that kind of fear leads to mistakes, which lead to goals. and so the spiral of confidence whirls downwards…<\/p>\n
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When Brendan Rodgers left, he wanted to take some of the backroom staff with him. So you’d assume he rated them, and if only the figurehead has gone, the coaches should have been allowed free reign to continue with the standards and development set in place by Ronny Deila and built on by Rodgers.<\/p>\n
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That didn’t happen, what we had instead was the removal of the teacher from the room and the class ignored the substitute.<\/p>\n
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Neil Lennon, the manager , adopted a hands off approach, allowing or encouraging the coaches to carry on as they had under Rodgers, but it soon became apparent that they weren’t paying as much attention to him as they did to Rodgers.<\/p>\n
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In a sense, it looked as though the disrespect shown to Ronny Deila had returned, and that could be explained by Lennon’s half arsed attitude to discipline and fitness, epitomised when everyone thought it hilarious when Leigh Griffiths tied his monitoring equipment to his car, to give the impression presumably he’s still capable of 0-60 in a few seconds, when all it did was expose that he probably needed a new engine…<\/p>\n
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All great larks, but as that attiude began to prevail, the overall level of fitness dropped, to the extent now where Celtoc rarelyt score in the second half of matches, but most of the players could tell you whats on daytime TV.<\/p>\n
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Lennon comes from the old school of management, which is not neccesarily a bad thing, discipline is important, but it is difficult to shout at someone for not doing their job when they know they can tell you to fuck off and get another job, which probably pays more money.<\/p>\n
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Then again, he didn;t exactly stamp his personality on the way the team played…opting to keep with one up front and the 4231 method employed by Deila and Rodgers.<\/p>\n
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Despite having three strikers to choose from.<\/p>\n
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And Griffiths.<\/p>\n
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As for the defence, he seemed to pick players at random when choosing his back four. Or five, or even three. Even the defence didn’t seem to know what was going on, or indeed, where it was going on.<\/p>\n
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The new goalkeeper probably felt it was all Greek to him, but not a dialect he was familiar with. He suffered a crisis of confidence at exactly the time he needed some familiarity around him in a new environment, and as a result got the blame for a lot of stuff that wasn’t really his fault.<\/p>\n
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Another problem was , and still is, in the reliance on loan players.<\/p>\n
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Celtic could have had Frimpong, van Dijk, Denayer and Tierney as a back four, and instead we have around aboutb fifty million quid instead from the sales of three and whatever we’ve saved in wages on the four….<\/p>\n
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A loannee from Everton, one from Milan and and one from Brighton does not a defence make.<\/p>\n
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Though there was money spent on Chris Jullien, that would probably have been better spent on someone who didn;t spend nmost of is time in the Derk Boerrigter room at the club hospital.<\/p>\n
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After Marvin Comperr, maybe a little more time should have been spent on medical examinations.<\/p>\n
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The midfield had been organised and galvinised by Scott Brown for so long that it didn;t know how to cope when his legs and heart gave up, which was around September, and there was a failure to rest him and gradually introduce a replacement.<\/p>\n
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When turnbull and Soro got the chance, they showed promise, but for some reason they were dropped as soon as Brown stopped coughing and said he was fine.<\/p>\n
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All of which seems to indicate that every now and then, Neil Lennon popped his head around the dressing room door and made a few suggestions, which john Kennedy then adhered to.<\/p>\n
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When Neil wasn’t looking, did Kennedy put his own ideas in place ?<\/p>\n
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And does that explain why very little has changed since the ginger guardiola stepped away from the dugout ?<\/p>\n
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He did seem to get a little more involved towards the end of his tenure, suggesting improvements such as analysising games after wards, once admitting on tv that they “hadn;t done that for a while ”<\/p>\n
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Perhaps that revelation had been as much of a surprise to him as it was to us….<\/p>\n
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Hands off management works, but eyes and ears off doesn’t. And if you don’t get results, you don’t keep your job.<\/p>\n
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Then again, the pandemic took its toll on some of the players more than others, and Lennon was maybe more involved in helping some of thiose who needed it with the mental and physical aspoects of the plague, certainly more so than has been made public, and probably a bit more than has been whispered privately.<\/p>\n
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Maybe it took its toll on him as well…<\/p>\n
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When Lennon left , Kennedy had the chance to put his own ideas in place, offer opportunities to players he would have promoted ahead of some of the lollygaggers who just had to turn up every week to get a game.<\/p>\n
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That he didn’t suggests that he didn’t need to…his players and plans were already in place.<\/p>\n
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As far as we can ascertain, work is going on behind the scenes as the reboot of Celtic takes shape.<\/p>\n
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Eddie Howe is just getting a few more quid out of Bournemouth before he takes the job officially.<\/p>\n
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In a sense that sounds encouraging, and may explain the dreadful malaise of the last few weeks, after all, if he wants to do things his way, those at the club who want out may get their wish..and one or two have already gone, apparently with his blessing….<\/p>\n
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We can only look forward, but if we don;t get a manager in who commands respect and knows how to, well, manage, then we may yet look at this season as a bright oasis in a bleak wasteland of despair.<\/p>\n
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But I’m sure it won’t come to that….<\/p>\n
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