Well, Thursday night was a bit of an unmitigated disaster.
Yep…..this just about sums it up.
On a night eerily similar to our capitulation against Cluj in the Champions League qualifiers way back in August Celtic showed once again that in European competition we still completely lack game management when ahead in a knockout tie.
Just like against Cluj we were ahead due to an away goal yet couldn’t see out the tie.
And also just like gainst Cluj we shot ourselves in the foot more than once.
After a pretty dominant first half where a patient Copenhagen refused to show their hand and where we passed up several good opportunities, you could only see one team progressing.
Six minutes into the second half though Jozo Simunovic had a ‘Jozo moment’ as he dithered on the ball and allowed Michael Santos to mug him before big Chris Jullien then panicked and ultimately Santos put the ball in the net.
A total gift.
Though how we ever allowed ourselves to be in a two on two situation in the first place at home in a tie where we were ahead is beyond me.
From then on we struggled and you just knew it wasn’t going to be our night but then out of nowhere we got a penalty thanks to VAR after Ragnar Sigurdsson had needlessly handled in the box.
The celebrations were short-lived.Â
That man Odsonne Edouard stepped up and executed the spot-kick with aplomb and suddenly we were back in this.
But in almost identical fashion to the game against the Romanian champions over six months ago, we then handed the advantage back to the visitors who scored through Pep Biel only two minutes later with Celtic’s defending completely shambolic.
Dame N’Doye then farcically sauntered through our meek backline minutes after that to make it 3-1 and complete the embarrassment.
So that’s that then.
A campaign that showed so much promise with a superb display in the group stages ultimately went the same way as the last three times we’ve gone into the Last 32 stage that being with us going out with a whimper.
To make matters worse the tournament has totally opened up too with big names like Benfica, Porto, Ajax, Arsenal, Sporting Lisbon and Red Bull Salzburg all exiting as well.
Indeed Copenhagen have been drawn against Ä°stanbul BaĹźakĹźehir in the Last 16 which looks at a totally winnable tie and could have been us but alas………..
Oh and of course Rangers quite comfortably navigated their way through earlier in the week against far tougher opposition. On the bright side, it means we have a week of rest leading up to the next Old Firm game whilst they don’t but that’s scant consolation.
So it’s back to domestic action and the pursuit of the ‘Quadruple-Treble’ as Celtic visit McDiarmid Park tomorrow afternoon.
Big Tommy is waiting.
We should be pretty confident considering we’ve won our last seven ties against St.Johnstone with an aggregate score of 26-0 which has included a 7-0 and 3-0 in our last two games against them.
They are actually in pretty good form at the moment with no losses in their last six games and only two losses in their last 15 domestic matches with seven wins and six draws.
Sixteen goals in their last eight games also shows their recent attacking prowess and Stevie May has refound his shooting boots during that period netting five times over that spell.
Their last game saw them battle to a 2-2 draw at home to Rangers too so they’ll go into this tie confident based on recent form and also hoping to take advantage of our European hangover.
I foresee us returning to a 3-5-2 with Griffiths starting upfront with Edouard and on reflection, we should maybe have gone with that on Thursday night from the start but everyone has a degree in hindsight of course.
Alas, a chance for our longest European cup run in sixteen years is gone.
When I’ve done international reviews in the past I’ve done it on a game by game basis. Not this time. I literally couldn’t bring myself to write anything in the wake of the Kazakhstan opener.
On the one hand, I try to look at it objectively.
Both Celtic and Aberdeen have both been over there in the past six years – three times in Celtic’s case, one in Aberdeen’s – and both failed to win. From four visits in total, there has been three defeats and one draw. Temper that with the artificial surface which the team clearly looked uncomfortable on and add it to the raft of players unavailable then there are some good reasons for it.
Scotland selection wise were effectively decimated with the loss of Andy Robertson, Ryan Fraser, Kieran Tierney, Charlie Mulgrew and Calum Paterson leading up to the game and the likes of Robert Snodgrass, Leigh Griffiths, Steven Naismith, Tom Cairney, Matt Ritchie, Matt Phillips and Steven Fletcher all unavailable too for a variety of reasons. Then there has been the retirements in the past year of the likes of Scott Brown, James McArthur and Allan McGregor. So effectively a full teams worth plus subs were absent.
The replacements were just not up to it.
For some banal reason people have been calling for Graeme Shinnie’s involvement in the national team for some time and he got his start at left back only to look hopelessly out of his depth. The young centre back pairing of McKenna and Bates also looked lost without some experience at the back to guide them – okay that would have been Mulgrew’s role but surely common sense should have seen McLeish give Christophe Berra a call – and then there was the borderline insane decision to pitch in the little known Liam Palmer for his debut at left-back. Palmer looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights all night and this was particularly frustrating considering Kilmarnock’s Stephen O’Donnell was sitting on the bench a player who has not only been capped before and has been playing well all season but who also plays regularly on an artificial surface. You would have thought that one would have been a no brainer but then again when your coaching staff have no brain……….
From midfield to upfront the team looked capable enough on paper – I’m no fan of Oli McBurnie but in fairness, he does have 18 goals in 35 games for Cardiff this season – however, everyone was bang out of form with Celtic players Oli Burke and James Forrest particularly ineffective and disappointing.
Based on what we’ve seen so far there is little evidence to support a case to even attempt to make Burke’s transfer permanent, not that there would be much point in even trying considering the ludicrous transfer fee his parent club are likely to want. It is an indictment on the modern transfer market that Burke has so far collectively cost clubs ÂŁ28 million in fees considering that, to say the least, he’s a work in progress. Yes, he has pace to burn and has moments of real dynamism but his final product is generally non-existent with a poor first touch and little to no finishing ability. I hope he proves me wrong in the coming weeks but as it stands he can return to Albion with my warmest regards this summer.
To that first game itself and the Kazakhs were 2-0 up after only 10 mins which was truly incredible considering their 117th world ranking. Even more incredible was that after the match national coach Alex McLeish insisted that he thought his team had got off to a ‘bright start’.
Both goals were fine finishes – Yuriy Pertsukh’s opener, in particular, was pretty spectacular – but both were also born out of poor defending as the back line was posted MIA.
Shinnie was all at sea for the second and Scotland looked completely hobbled thereafter.
In the second half, Zainutdinov scored a magnificent header and that was that pretty much except for the fact that both Armstrong and Forrest both should have scored with the ex-Celtic midfielder failing to hit the target and the current Celtic winger’s effort a feeble attempt at close range.
I’m a huge fan of Callum McGregor but personally, I don’t think he’s captain material and so it proved to be. McGregor is a playmaker and talented midfielder but not a leader of men, not helped by his rather diminutive schoolboy-esque stature, and for me, the armband would have maybe been better with the likes of McGinn or Armstrong.
Though it didn’t really matter who had it when your team can’t string three passes together and their play is completely devoid of any conviction or fire.
Three days later Scotland rolled into Serravalle to face the lowest ranked nation in world football. Having watched Ireland’s rather woeful effort in eking past minnows Gibraltar 1-0 the day before I didn’t think international football could get much worse. Scotland did their best to prove me wrong.
A 5 or 6-0 thrashing was just what the doctor ordered in the wake of the Kazhak embarrassment but instead, Scotland laboured to a wholly disappointing 2-0 win over the minnows via goals from Kenny McLean and Johnny Russell. Up front, Marc McNulty made his first start for the national team and if he’s the answer then I’m not sure what the question is.
The old mantra of ‘a wins a win’ and ‘it’s three points’ etc will be rolled out in the coming days by the team but it was another crap performance and gives little evidence of any real cohesion and passion within this squad.
Old ‘Gammon face’ isn’t having the best time of it.
Elsewhere in the group Russia visited Kazhakstan and proved that it’s not so much a case of the Kazhaks actually being pretty good but instead of Scotland just being really bad as they plundered their hosts 4-0 to get their first points on the board. In their first game, they were pretty easily dispatched 3-1 by group favourites Belgium who just look a class apart. Belgium have since won 2-0 in Cyprus and look like they are going to romp this group at a canter.
Next up Scotland face Cyprus at Hampden in early June in a must-win match – though to be honest after that start they are all must win now – and then they head over the water to visit Belgium and their galaxy of stars which right now seems a somewhat terrifying prospect.
Anyway, let’s forget all that uninspiring and quite frankly depressing international nonsense as it’s back to club duty and the build-up to next Sunday’s Old Firm clash where Celtic could go 13 points clear and effectively seal the league.
Preview of that to come as we get on with the really important business at hand.
Celtic survived Hibs and their fans as we secured a 2-0 win at Easter Road to make it an incredible 25 consecutive domestic cup wins and as well as 11 straight domestic wins on the bounce as we progressed to the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup.
Not much to talk about in the first half as it was pretty stagnant stuff but we got our act together in the second half as the game opened up a little. Still, it was difficult to see where a goal was going to come from until James Forrest took matters into his own hands and fired a bullet in on 62 mins that nearly ripped the net out and sent us on our way.
Hibs didn’t have much in the way of a response and we pushed on eventually getting our rewards when Edouard set-up captain Scott Brown who glided into the box and past the Hibs defence before rifling a thunderbolt in at close range to put the tie beyond doubt on 75 mins.
Goal machine!
The victory means Neil Lennon has gone 2-0 since his unexpected return to the hot seat at the club on Tuesday with both wins coming in his old stomping ground of Edinburgh.
Off the field, the Hibs fans showed far more resistance than their players as they unsuccessfully tried to pelt Scott Sinclair with a Buckfast bottle and later on a coin as he attempted to take corner kicks in the second half.
In the aftermath, Hibs tried to deflect attention by claiming there had been a bottle thrown by a Celtic fan too. Strange no TV or press cameras picked that up.
Of course, all of this is just a west coast of Scotland problem apparently. That’s the narrative that has been put forward anyway in the last few weeks. The kids in Leith, Dundee and up in Grampian are holier than though we’re told. Mmmmmm…….I wonder how they’ll spin this latest incidence?!
Michael Stewart will no doubt be calling for strict liability which is a total non-starter and easily abused anyway but I wonder if anyone will point out the fact that the game kicked off with an early Saturday evening start time? I tend to find that in our society that that’s when people tend to consume the most alcohol. Just a thought. Others will use it as further evidence that we shouldn’t sell alcohol within football stadiums which is also absurd as the problem is being caused by people bringing in alcohol and the type of stuff you’d never be able to buy in a football ground anyway.
The draw for the semis isn’t until Monday night on BBC after the final match of the round which is Partick Thistle vs Hearts at Firhill and with Rangers playing Aberdeen at Pittodrie tomorrow, as well as Dundee Utd visiting Inverness Caley, whoever we get at Hampden it’s bound to be interesting, to say the least. Isn’t it always.
Tomorrow, of course, Brendan Rodgers begins his reign of broken promises and empty soundbites with Leicester City away at Watford. He says one day he’d like to come back and maybe manage us again once all the fury over his departure has calmed down of course in about ten or so years. What is he like?! I think I speak for all of us by saying I hope he and his new team get resoundingly pumped tomorrow.
C’mon Watford.
As for Celtic our players now get a much deserved week-long rest before being back in action at home to Aberdeen next Saturday at Celtic Park. This should give us a chance to try and get Callum McGregor and Ryan Christie back to fitness as they are definitely being missed. I’m not Nir Bitton’s biggest critic and admire his persistence and professionalism but he and Brown do not for a creative midfield make.
Anyway, that was a good win with two excellent goals that I’ll definitely put up when they become available. It had banana skin written all over what with Hibs three game-winning run under new boss Paul Heckinbottom coming in, the fact that we hadn’t won on our last three visits there and the irony of Neil Lennon being back at his old club so soon after his quietly acrimonious departure in late January.
Job done and we still have a historic Treble Treble within our grasp which seemed like it could be derailed after the past weeks pretty stunning and upsetting events in regards to our former leader.
I never got an opportunity to write an analysis of the Old Firm match which was a week ago on Saturday. To be honest there wasn’t much to say. I wrote in my preview that if we turned up then I believed we’d win. We didn’t and Rangers were clearly in fighting mood and contested vigorously every 50/50 and created far more and better chances. They deserved their victory.
We badly missed Tom Rogic and benching both Kieran Tierney and Odsonne Edouard was a strange call especially as it led to Callum McGregor playing at left-back which was quite frankly bizarre and young Mikey Johnstone was effectively thrown to the wolves being played up front on his own.
On the whole, Craig Gordon kept us in it with some excellent saves and he was one of our few players who deserved pass marks especially in the first 45 mins. In the second half, McGregor was pushed forward into his more natural position which helped greatly though at his side was Scott Brown and Olivier Ntcham both of whom struggled throughout.
First-half injuries to Mikel Lustig and Stefan Benkovic pretty much confirmed that sneaky feeling that it wasn’t to be our day.
That was reinforced by referee John Beaton’s anomalous decision to ignore three definite yellow and potential red card calls on Alfredo Morelos fouls as well as a Callum McGregor’s second-half goal being chopped off for being marginally offside.
The fallout since has been significant with Beaton unsurprisingly coming under intense scrutiny for his lack of action against the Colombian striker with his decision to go out boozing on the very night of the game in the Crown Bar in Bellshill where he happily posed for pictures with delighted local punters not helping his cause.
Good night John?
Just about everyone and their dog believed there would be some form of retrospective action against Morelos but apparently, it’s at the referee’s own discretion if he wants to reassess his original conclusion and low and behold Beaton still believes he was spot on.
Yeah, I’ll bet you do John.
Anyway since then some moronic Celtic fan put Beaton’s number out on social media and he has been subsequently inundated with friendly requests from other Celtic fans wishing to meet and greet him in person or words to that effect.
In no way can this be condoned and whoever it is who has threatened him should be publicly outed and banned from any involvement with the club for life as they are clearly not of sound mind nevermind intent.
Though it has been amusing seeing some elements of the Rangers support expressing their moral outrage online with the irony of the fact their own fanbase launched an online petition against the SFA back in August 2017 in the wake of what they felt was inherent anti-Rangers bias after John Beaton himself had sent off Ryan Jack during their 3-2 home defeat by Hibernian.
There was also the small issue a few years back of some of their fans sending parcel bombs to the then Celtic manager Neil Lennon as well as players Niall McGinn and Paddy McCourt and even a few known Celtic supporting MSPs but hey………….short memories.
All that aside both Celtic and Rangers are now neck and neck at the summit of the Premiership table on 42 points with Celtic leading due to a superior goal difference and we also have a game in hand.
Both clubs return to domestic action the weekend after next in the Scottish Cup but the league action starts up again two weeks on Wednesday and we’re at home against lowly St. Mirren with Rangers visiting third-placed Kilmarnock. The weekend after that we entertain third bottom Hamilton Accies whilst Rangers visit Livingston at a ground where they have already lost this season against a team with the third-best home record in the division. We then play our game in hand at home against St.Johnstone the following Wednesday.
So there’s a pretty strong chance that come early February we could have a decent points advantage over them all things going well.
Until then we must content ourselves with non-stop transfer innuendo as every club in the Scottish top flight and indeed many in the lower divisions try to rebuild, reassemble or reinforce in preparation for the second half of the season.
Thus far we’ve added Scotland internationalist winger Oliver Burke or ‘Super Olly’ as I’m hoping we come to know him by. However, the signing has been met with lashings of pessimism in some quarters amongst our own support and whilst it’s true the kid failed to make much impact down at West Bromwich Albion it wasn’t so long ago he was tearing it up in the Championship with Nottingham Forest which led to Red Bull Leipzig parting with ÂŁ13 million for his services. After a year and 25 appearances in the Bundesliga, he returned to the UK via a ÂŁ15 million move to WBA. He’s 21, 6’2 with 80 first team appearances under his belt – 40 of which have been in either the Bundesliga or English Premiership, eight goals and five Scotland caps. That’s pedigree.
Olly Burke in the thick of it in Dubai.
I expect his pace and power will do well up here and I’m actually pretty excited about the signing. He can play on both sides with the right wing being his preferred domain and at the very least it should see both James Forrest and Scott Sinclair upping their games.
Also on the cards are precocious 18-year-old PSG striker Timothy Weah on an apparent 18 months loan as well as 23-year-old Ivorian striker Vakoun Issouf Bayo in a ÂŁ2million move from Slovakian side Dunajska Streda where he has hit 18 goals in 23 games and provided seven assists going by my always on-point online research.
Bayo scores. Hopefully, he’s doing this for us very soon.
Both will hopefully be wrapped up in the next few days barring any last minute shenanigans ie: the sort of nonsense that harpooned our apparently inevitable move to sign John McGinn back in the summer.
Weah is, of course, the son of the legendary George who’s skill and talent I could rave about all night having been lucky enough to see him star on ITV in UEFA Cup matches for PSG and in Serie A for AC Milan on Channel 4 back in the ’90s.
He has little to no first team experience but has just signed a new contract with the Parisian aristocrats so is clearly highly rated and a similar move for Edouard last season worked out pretty well so fingers crossed he can make the same impact.
“If he’s even half the player his father was……………”
Bayo is also an unknown quantity having plied his trade in his native Ivory Coast and now in Slovakia and even with such impressive stats you always wonder if he’ll be the next Moussa Dembele or the ghost of Mohammed Bangura come back to haunt us again. Whos’ to say but hopefully, on this occasion, the scouting network have found a gem on par with Wanyama or Van Dijk as opposed to duds like Teemu Pukki or Derk Boerrigter.
Meanwhile over at Castle Greyskull Rangers have also pushed the boat out by bringing in the pairing of Southampton’s Steven Davis and Bournemouth’s Jermain Defoe both on loans. Neither has had much game time this season and they have a collective age of 70 and I can’t help but remember how we were lampooned back in the day when we brought in the likes of Ian Wright, Carlton Cole and Freddie Ljungberg at the midway points of our seasons with all three faded veterans failing to make any kind of impact but hey-ho. Stevie G knows best.
They’ve also tied up Jordan Jones and Glen Kamara on pre-contracts apparently being unselfish enough not to prize them from their respective clubs with transfer fees right now and preferring to allow them to see out their current commitments. Aye. Right.
Motherwell have also been able to secure the services of Ross McCormack which could prove the move of the window or might make no difference at all to their struggling season.
Oran Keaney is also attempting to undo the work done by his predecessor Alan Stubbs in the summer at St.Mirren by more or less releasing a whole team’s worth of players pretty much all of whom were brought in by Stubbs.
It’s only the 7th of January and there’s a long way to go in the window. And let’s not forget it’s also a time when players can be sold or released too. Personally, I’m hoping we part company with the likes of Cristian Gamboa, Nir Bitton, Scott Allen and the ultimate wage thief Marvin Compper who has done precisely nothing since his arrival at the club exactly a year ago outside of collecting the empty water bottles at the end of training.
We don’t have to sell though so don’t expect to see any of our assets leaving. Elsewhere though it might be a different story. So watch this space.
A wee preview of Bayo below and I’m hoping we actually see him the Hoops now or it’ll be more transfer window egg on our faces and calls for perennial panto villain Peter Lawwell’s head. Apologies about the music in advance.
Oh, and I hope you had a Happy New Year. I know I did. Though not as good as John Beaton’s.
James Forrest, sorry Scotland picked up from where he/they left off on Saturday night and captured a vital win that propels them into Group B of the Nations League as well as securing a play-off place – and at home none the less – for the Euros against Finland in March 2020.
Ex-Celtic Beram Kayal buried a wonder strike from about 25 yards that gave Allan McGregor no chance on the 9 mins mark. The keeper’s namesake Callum McGregor could have shut the Israel midfielder down earlier but there’s no way anyone could genuinely have expected that.
Kayal isn’t messing around.Â
The goal aside Israel dominated the opening stages and it looked like Scotland’s destruction of Albania three nights previous had perhaps been more down to the Eastern European sides ineptitude as opposed to a resurgence from the Scots.
However, the men in navy blue gradually got back into it with McGregor almost scoring with a fantastic drilled volley from distance that was well saved by Ariel Harush and had begun to pin the visitors inside their own box by the time James Forrest lashed home the equaliser not long after the half-hour mark.
From there on the hosts dominated and a wonderful passage of play saw Steven Fletcher nod onto Ryan Christie who raced down the left flank before lobbing over to that man Forrest again who took a steadying touch before side-footing home the second.
Going into the second half it felt like there was going to be only one winner and Forrest collected from Ryan Fraser in the box before a deft chip left Ben Harush on his arse and set him up to place it in for number three and his hattrick. Similar in execution to his second on Saturday though not quite as spectacular.
Simply put Forrest is on fire right now. So hot indeed you might be able to genuinely light a fag off him.
They don’t like it up em’.
Of course, Scotland always has a tendency to push the self-destruct button and duly obliged as Eran Zahavi was given acres of space to steady himself and blast home a possible reprieve for the Israelis with a quarter of an hour left.
Much fingernail biting ensued and I thought it only right to put a fiver on Israel to draw as it was sitting at 12/1 – hey if we’re going to blow it then I may as well make a couple of quid – and it almost paid off with McGregor having to produce a fabulous reflex save in the dying embers but Scotland held out and secured three more precious points to top the group on nine.
For Alex McLeish, it was a reprieve. His hand was forced somewhat by injuries into playing a 4-5-1 with Forrest and Fraser on the wing, a recognised left-back playing in position and in-form players getting starts as opposed to the old ‘going for experience’ chestnut. That and James Forrest effectively saved his bacon.
Christie and Armstrong’s energies were boundless and Callum McGregor continues to look very comfortable in a holding role and considering this was a squad with players such as Mulgrew, Griffiths, McGinn, Naismith and Tierney absent it’s difficult not to get excited about possible future prospects. For a start, the football over the past two games has been unusually dynamic and free-scoring for a Scotland team.
The draw for the Euro 2020 qualifiers takes place a week on Sunday – December 2nd – in Dublin and Scotland now know they will be in Pot 3 and that if one of the two tops spots in the group is not secured then they have the play-off match with Finland to fall back on in 16 months time due to their Nations League success.
That’s a long time away and a lot of water can go under the bridge between now and then. But Scotland now have both something to build on and no matter what happens in the qualifiers something to look forward too and a genuine chance of a first major tournament qualification since 1998.
Scotland actually won something last night. It might not have been much but they won something. That doesn’t happen much. So you know, let’s enjoy it as it’s inevitable calamity and disappointment is coming in the post somewhere in the not too distant future.
....Always A Tim! 