Tag: French Eddy

Post-match analysis: Kilmarnock 2 – 1 Celtic: Oh dear!

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I held off on reviewing this one in the immediate aftermath mainly because everyone was losing all perspective including myself.

To be honest I wasn’t so much angry as vaguely disappointed as truth be told I wasn’t surprised.

Kilmarnock are an effective team under Steve Clarke who has done an incredible job there – it’s just a shame more of the locals don’t turn out to see it – and via keeping together the squad that worked so tirelessly for him last season he has a bunch of players who you feel would run through walls for him.

Losing the late goal was one of those things. I believe Chris Burke wanted to play it short so as to waste time for a point and with the Celtic defence switched off he was instead encouraged to swing it into the box where ex-Celtic defender Stuart Findlay got his head to it first and sealed the points for the Ayrshire club in dramatic fashion.

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Finlay returns to haunt Celtic. 

What was far more concerning was the preceding 90 mins where once again Celtic looked one-paced and totally devoid of ideas.

As was the case in the last two games – and most others before that come to think – the constant obsession with continuously recycling the ball from side to side in defence whilst the opposition sit in their own half and watch was once again on show.

Simply put our opponents know what we are going to do and are set up to deal with it.

Scott Sinclair got a rare start but is now a shadow of his former self, lacking any self-belief and looking somewhat disinterested.

Jack Hendry was put back into the starting line-up after Benkovic pulled up with an injury in the warm-up and that pretty much sealed an end to Celtic’s run of five previous clean sheets.

Hendry is a Dundee calibre defender running around in a Celtic shirt. It really is that simple. And he seems more aware of it than anyone else.

Ntcham was of course suspended with McGregor, Rogic and Forrest on the bench with Brendan bizarrely opting to revamp the entire midfield featuring Brown alongside Christie and Mulumbu with the aforementioned Sinclair out on the right. It proved completely ineffective.

Mulumbu had a decent enough first half but then got sucked in by ex-teammate Aaron Tshibola’s tough tackling in the second half and lost the plot. Looking like a red card waiting to happen he was hooked on 70 mins for McGregor.

Mikey Johnstone produced more of the same with a lot of effort but little to no end product. He went off on 79 mins for Edouard but French Eddy hardly got a touch of the ball and his baron spell continues.

Celtic somehow took the lead via chaotic defending in the first half as Broadfoot sliced a speculative Tierney cross resulting in Greg Taylor cracking it off his own post and Leigh Griffiths swooped to conquer as he headed Celtic into a 34th-minute lead.

We should have got a penalty as Boyata was wrestled to the floor by Broadfoot also in the first half but Craig Thomson was having none of it.

In the second half, Kilmarnock pressed and rather than taking advantage of the extra space in their half Celtic retreated into their own shell instead. On 64 mins Burke lashed in the equaliser from 25 yards showing the kind of endeavour which is non-existent amongst Celtic’s personnel at the moment.

And then the ending but I’ve already discussed that.

Al in all an awful day with the only bright spark being Lewis Morgan’s substitute appearance for Sinclair on 65 minutes. He looked bright and effective showing the kind of determination and desire that is generally lacking at the moment. Ryan Christie also produced a moment of sublime skill in the second half as he weaved his way into the box and almost curled into the net only to be denied by a superb save from Jamie MacDonald.

Anyway onto Wednesday night we go as we play St.Johnstone at McDiarmid Park in the League Cup quarterfinal. They got taken apart 5-1 by Rangers on Sunday so, in theory, should be there for the taking but then they probably think the same about us.

Brendan has been cuttingly honest in the last few days admitting that Celtic fans “should be worried” which has raised some eyebrows but for me, he’s just being honest.

celtic-booed-off-as-they-continue-worst-start-in-20-years-in-defeat-to-kilmarnock-while-rangers-leapfrog-bhoys
He looks concerned. 

It’s our worst start to the league in 20 years since the days of Dr Jo Venglos. Though the real issue is our away form. We’ve played eight home games this season winning seven and drawing one with 16 goals scored to three conceded. Away, however, it is only two wins from eight with three draws and three losses. Nine goals have been scored away and seven conceded. Though six of the goals we have scored came in the two away wins to Alashkert and Partick Thistle.

Rugby Park and Tynecastle will be tough places to go this season but we should still fully expect to win there no matter if it’s on plastic or how long the grass is. But I also fully expect other clubs around us to drop points at those grounds as well.

I’m not panicking just yet. But I’m close.

1998 – 1999: THE HANGOVER AND DR. JO.

 

Post-match analysis: Celtic 1 – 0 Rosenborg – The Hoops leave it late.

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Just to begin with the vibe of this post would be very different if Celtic hadn’t pulled this out of the fire via a fantastic Leigh Griffiths headed finish in the dying embers.

This was, to be honest, more of the same from what we’ve seen by and large this season from the Hoops.

Despite having scored 27 goals in an unbeaten 10 game run which featured nine wins Rosenborg did what every team seem to do now when they play Celtic – with the notable exception of the elite – by sitting in and letting us play in front of them.

Brendan Rodgers commented afterwards that the Norwegians surprised Celtic by sitting in and playing a diamond formation which they hadn’t attempted before in any previous games they had studied.

That may be so but Celtic are nothing if not predictable at the moment. As was the case in last Friday’s game against St.Mirren – and just about every other game bar a few this calendar year – we continuously pass back with an instinct to constantly recycle the ball showing little to no width outside of Tierney on the left-hand side and trying to ominously play through a packed middle where both Rogic and McGregor appear to contradict each other with their similar playing styles.

In fairness, Rosenborg gave nothing past the halfway line. They were blatantly here for the point and would have had the team coach parked in front of the goals with all of the players on board if it was allowed.

The last time they came to Parkhead they went a goal up and were the better team for 20 mins before we went through the gears and proceeded to rip them apart for the rest of the game-winning 3-1 when it should have been far more. So you argue they had learned their lesson but still, considering how dynamic they are in their domestic league their total lack of ambition here was pretty disappointing. Thye it almost worked. Almost.

Celtic created chances with Rogic gliding through the middle in the first half and setting up Edouard who fired over the bar and not long after the visitor’s goalkeeper made a wonderful double save from both the Australian and the Frenchman.

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In the second half, Mikey Johnston spurned a great chance as he fired over the bar shortly after coming on a sub. Scott Sinclair, who’d also come on a sub, also went inches wide. But it just didn’t seem to be our night until another sub, Griffiths, popped up in the 88th minute to head the ball intelligently down off the turf and past stranded keeper AndrĂ© Hansen after a diagonal high ball to the edge of the box from Brown had been won superbly by the towering Boyata which placed it into the danger area and Leigh nipped in like only he can.

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LG stoops to conquer.

It had been a frustrating night for the home crowd as an air of expectation – understandable considering we battered Rosenborg here only two short months ago on a balmy summers evening – turned to frustration as much fuelled by the lethargic and monotonous passing game as opposed to the lack of finishing.

Indeed many had departed the scene or were in the process of doing so when Leigh scored leading to streams pouring back into celebrate. You’d think with Celtic’s history of late goals folk would have learned their lesson but alas.

Anyway, it was a vital three points if we are to maintain any serious ambitions to qualify. Especially considering our next two games are away against both of the Red Bull clubs because let’s be honest expectations will be pretty minimal for both of those trips, Salzburg in particular.

Tierney was the star of the show. I used to think the comparisons with Danny McGrain were somewhat unrealistic but he really does look an increasingly impressive talent.

Edouard needs to pull his socks up. The guy cost us over ÂŁ9 million – confirmed by the new financial results for any of the doubters – and one goal in six and looking generally ineffective just isn’t good enough.

One major plus is new singing Benkovic. He easily looks a far more composed, dominant and complete defender compared to Jack Hendry, Ĺ imunović and young Ajer. Admittedly there wasn’t much coming at him but there were no bomb scare moments.

Anyway, five clean sheets in a row. That’s good. We just need goals and to stop passing the ball to death endlessly as part of a cunning plan to bore our opposition to sleep.

 

 

Europa League Preview: Celtic vs Rosenborg.

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I don’t know about you but I’m struggling to contain my excitement about tonight’s game with Norwegian Champions Rosenborg.

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It’s always nice to experience something a little different on the European front.

And could anything be more different and exotic than Rosenborg…..from Trondheim……..who we’ve already played four times over the past 13 months?

We could have been running out in the Amsterdam Arena last night as part of the Champions League instead but this is much better.

Though sarcasm aside I am actually pretty happy that we’re in the Europa League this year. Yes, there is a cash benefit to the Champions League group stages that dwarfs anything on offer in the Europa League but outside of that we are literally bringing a blunt knife to a gunfight every year and I take no satisfaction is seeing us slaughtered by near cricket scorelines by the likes of PSG and Barcelona.

Rosenborg themselves are actually going through a bit of a purple patch at the moment.

They have gone 11 games unbeaten since losing to us 3-1 at Celtic Park back on July 25th at Celtic Park.

Six of these have been in the league and five in Europe including one against us – the 0-0 game on their patch – with the other four in Europea league qualifying. It’s also included nine wins from the eleven games with five wins and a draw domestically and four out four in the qualifiers.

They swatted aside Irish Champions Cork City 5-0 on aggregate and then dispatched Macedonian title holders Shkëndija 5-1 over the two legs. So pretty plain sailing there.

In the league, they are currently top of the pile with a two-point advantage over Brann after playing 22 games thus far. If they do retain their domestic crown this year it will be their fourth on the spin. Safe to say they are back to being the all-conquering domestic powerhouse of Norwegian football after a relatively lean patch from 2005 to 2014 where they only won three titles. Previous to that they had claimed 13 in a row.

They are coached by, on an interim basis, for now, Dutchman Rini Coolen. He took over on the eve of our last home game against them after his predecessor KĂĄre Ingebrigtsen, to whom he’d been an assistant, was pretty surprisingly sacked. Ingebrigtsen had led the Rosenborg revival since his appointment in 2014 winning the aforementioned trio of back to back league titles and capturing seven domestic trophies in total. Though in fairness Rosneborg’s pretty imperious form since then would indicate it has been the right call, albeit harsh.

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Interim boss Rini.

None of Rosenborg’s strikers’ are particularly prolific – indeed none of them are anywhere near the top goalscorers charts in the league so far – but there’s no doubt their star man is Danish internationalist and former Arsenal marksman Nicklas Bendtner. He has 109 career club goals with 30 of them coming in 72 games for his current employers. He was particularly profligate last year with 23 in 43 appearances, however, this season he’s only hit the net 9 times in 23 games. Three of those strikes have come in Europe.

Talk of Bendtner though in regards to tonight’s game could be academic as the word is he’s likely to miss the game through injury.

It should be a tough game what with the run they are on but considering we ran over the top of them the last time they came to Celtic Park with a 3-1 win that was going on 6-1 and now have more games and sharpness in our legs there really is no excuses. As he did in the last home encounter against them French Eddy really must shine and begin to justify his huge club record transfer fee which was just confirmed in the clubs latest accounts.

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More of this tonight, please.

We’ve not been particularly great this season and indeed since we spanked Rosenborg have had a pretty patchy record from 11 games with only five wins, four draws and two defeats across all competitions. There’s no point in analysing our from though. We’re all acutely aware of it.

A win tonight is vital if we are to retain any genuine hopes of advancement to the last 32. For a start, it’s at home and secondly, it’s against opposition we know we can beat.

Last word on Rosenborg their last match was in the last this past Sunday. They won 3-2 away at Vålerenga who are coached by the one and only Ronny Deila.

Ronny was unlucky. Wasn’t he always?!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zviC0upgXDs