{"id":9006,"date":"2016-04-21T09:00:11","date_gmt":"2016-04-21T08:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etims.net\/?p=9006"},"modified":"2016-04-20T08:41:57","modified_gmt":"2016-04-20T07:41:57","slug":"thoughts-from-behind-the-sofa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etims.net\/?p=9006","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts From Behind The Sofa"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

So Sunday still hurts. It\u2019s embarrassing, it\u2019s unacceptable, it\u2019s all our chickens coming home to roost, but is it a blessing in disguise?<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The worst culprits were the midfield trio of Brown, Bitton and Johansen.<\/p>\n

Brown\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t 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 \u201cbest player\u201d.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t 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\u2019t also been crushed by a Norwegian team of late)<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Boyata is Boyata, he was no worse or no better than we\u2019ve come to expect from him, so I ll not rant too long about him. He\u2019s hopeless, end of.<\/p>\n

Bottom line, you have no chance of winning a game if four \/ five players are having absolute stinkers. \u00a0That it was these four is no surprise, they have all been varying degrees of mediocre all year, so to think they\u2019ll turn it on in a big game, when they haven\u2019t before, was optimistic.<\/p>\n

No one wanted to lose on Sunday but we did, and now it\u2019s happened its an opportunity. Had we won, say we\u2019d even won in the shoot out having been given the run around the whole game, the board would have been happy enough, and we\u2019d be having online discussion about whether or not the performance matters, we\u2019re in the cup final etc etc.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

No wonder show like in days of Andy Goram, their keeper had very little to do.<\/p>\n

No potato patch like last years game, the pitch allowed for passing football.<\/p>\n

No, Sunday showed up everything about the huge chasm between Ronnie\u2019s stated vision and what he has been able to get out of this Celtic team.<\/p>\n

High pressing? Nope, we stood off them for literally 5 minutes at a time as they knocked it about for fun<\/p>\n

Super fit? Nope, we were blowing out our arses from around 60 minutes in.<\/p>\n

Fast passing and movement? Nope, our \u201ctactic\u201d seemed to be to punt it long in the direction of Griffiths and leave him to fight for it on his own.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

In was in reality the final realisation for those last few believers that Ronnie was indeed not the man to take us forward.<\/p>\n

Anyone unfortunate enough o read anything I\u2019ve written before will know I\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

So the opportunity is there now. There can be no way back for Ronnie. Norwegian TV report he\u2019ll be away in the summer (I\u2019d 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)<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s a positive<\/p>\n

The board have no hiding place over this, that\u2019s 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<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But change is a positive thing (I\u2019ve 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<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Change. Its coming<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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