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.
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 İstanbul Başakşehir 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.
Celtic got their title defence off to a flyer with a seven nil massacre of St.Johnstone at Celtic Park yesterday afternoon – Saturday afternoon at the time of publication.
In my last article, I had predicted a romp for Celtic based on the Perth sides woeful League Cup group section campaign throughout July which had seen them lost to newly-promoted Ross County though more pertinently to League One sides Forfar Athletic and Montrose.
Before the game, I listened to their manager Tommy Wright passionately defend his record at the club on BBC Sportsound which is telling as no one had actually called it into question and is more of a reflection of the pressure Wright must himself feel under and his frustrations at the fact they have lost nine first-team squad players over the summer with only a couple coming in and a striker badly needed.
Joy for Christie and Johnstone but not so much for Tommy.
As much as I expected an inform Celtic, fresh from a 7-0 aggregate dismissal of Nomme Kalju in the Champions League qualifiers, to put them to the sword I could never have predicted a 7-0 skelping which is the men from Perth’s worst result in 21 years and even eclipses the 6-0 scudding we gave them at McDiarmid Park last term.
Ryan Christie kept up his sparkling recent form with a hattrick. His first a beauty from the edge of the box and his third an even more spectacular finish with the one in the middle being a tad fortunate with Saints keeper Zander Clark not exactly covering himself in glory.
Mikey Johnstone had opened the scoring with a nice finish of his own after only nine mins and Ntcham, Edouard and Griffiths also delivered the goods with each executing fine finishes in the second half.
Hatem Abd Elhamed also made his debut and looked pretty good – let’s be honest if you can’t look good when your team is winning 7-0 then you never will – but sadly limped off in the second half. Let’s hope it isn’t too serious.
Hatem in action.
A perfect way to start the title defence on a day in which our eighth consecutive title flag was fittingly unveiled by Liz McNeill and Sadie Chalmers, the wives of the legendary Billy McNeill and Stevie Chalmers, two immortal club legends who we lost earlier in the year.
Elsewhere over the weekend Livingston and Motherwell burst my coupon with a meandering 0-0 draw whilst Hibs stuttered before scoring late to beat struggling St.Mirren at Easter Road thanks to a Scott Allen goal. It’s early doors but from what I’ve seen thus far I’m not too impressed with Paul Heckingbottom’s English League One level purchases. Last seasons Championship winners Ross County re-entered the top flight in style as they easily dismissed perennial relegation candidates Hamilton Accies 3-0 up in Dingwall.
Earlier on today Aberdeen won a rabble-rousing encounter at home to Hearts 3-2 with the Edinburgh side literally grasping defeat from the jaws of victory after throwing away 2-1 lead and seeing young 17-year-old Aaron Hickey sent off before Clévid Dikamona needlessly gave away a penalty which was converted by goal machine Sam Cosgrove before new singing Ryan Hedges blasted home a late winner.
Rangers also continued to provide further evidence that we have little to worry about this term as they struggled to a 2-1 away win at a Kilmarnock team coming off the back of a shambolic Europea League exit. Killie look like a pale imitation of the well-oiled machine Stevie Clarke had moulded them into last season but still dominated large swaths of the game and were unlucky to concede late to a Connor Goldson header.
But now let’s get back to our next European opponents in the 3rd Qualifying round of the Champions League.
They are of course CFR Cluj of Romania who have won back to back national titles and are managed by former Chelsea star Dan Petrescu.
He’s had great success on these shores before both as a player with Chelsea and in a coaching capacity with the now-defunct Unirea Urziceni who he led to a 4-1 Champions league groups stage hammering of Walter Smith’s Rangers back in 2009 at Ibrox.
Cluj manager Dan Petrescu thinking about Celtic.
Cluj themselves are currently enjoying the most successful period in their history having been formed way back in 1907 they only won their first top-flight title back in 2008 and very first national cup that same year.
They’ve won four more titles and three more cups since and have established themselves as the second biggest club in the country beyond the famous Steaua Bucharest.
So far this season they’ve won three and drawn one in the league and currently sit top of the division after hammering AFC Chindia Târgoviște 4-1 away yesterday. They’ve scored ten goals conceding only three in the process.
In Europe, the success story has continued as they bounced back from a 1-0 loss in Kazakhstan to Astana to win 3-1 at home to progress 3-2 on aggregate before then eliminating Maccabi Tel Aviv of Israel 3-2 on aggregate also after gaining a 2-2 draw away following on from a tight 1-0 home win.
Their squad isn’t full of stars and indeed Petrescu has boasted that both Astana and Tel Aviv had superior budgets so they haven’t achieved what they have by simply splashing the cash.
Experience is heavy in the team.
Attacking winger Ciprian Deac is 33 and has 20 caps for Romania. Defensive midfielder Ovidiu Hoban is 36 and has 30 caps for Romania. Their Portuguese captain Camora has no caps for his country but at 32 has played 240 games for Cluj. Recently signed striker Mario Rondón is 33, has over 100 career goals at eight previous clubs and 13 caps for Venezuela.
Veteran Argentine midfielder Emmanuel Culio is in his second spell at the club, is 36 and has played for 15 clubs in total and has been described by Petrescu as ‘the best player in Cluj’s history.’ Though apparently, he’s struggling to makes Wednesday nights encounter with fitness issues. So that’s good.
Cluj’s ‘greatest ever player’ in action.
Up front, the ones to watch out for are big striker George Țucudean who was the leading striker in the Romanian top flight last season with 18 goals from 24 games and his strike partner, Frenchman Billel Omrani whose also a six-footer.
They haven’t made any big-name additions this summer but held onto the majority of their squad with no significant departures. It’s certainly an ageing squad but also a successful one and very consistent.
Last season despite their domestic success Malmo eliminated them from the Champions League qualifiers and in a big shock, Luxembourg’s F91 Dudelange put them out of Europe all together at the Europea League play-offs stage 5-2 on aggregate.
Currently, in the UEFA association coefficients, Romania sits at 29, nine places behind Scotland which gives you an idea of the sort of impact or lack of that their clubs have been making in Europe recently.
But their recent form has been good and this will be a definite step-up from what we came up against in the first two qualifying rounds.
They lost only one home game in the league last season but did lose two of their three home European ties and at home in the semi-finals of the national cup to former Celtic European opponents Astra Giurgiu so there is hope for optimism.
I think it’ll be tight but as much as I’d like to go with the ultra optimism of a comfortable win I’m going to go for a score draw at the Dr. Constantin Rădulescu Stadium on Wednesday night with us bringing them back to Celtic Park for a classic European home tie the following Tuesday.
It’s definitely doable and we’ll find out in the morning who we could potentially get in the Play-off round.
It’ll be the winner of Rosenborg vs Maribor, APOEL Nicosia, Young Boys or Slavia Prague.
The only one that makes me wary there is Young Boys. They won the league last season over Basel who’ve already eliminated PSV from the Champions League this season so safe to say that the Swiss champs will be pretty tasty.
On early Sunday afternoon, Celtic extended their perfect form since returning from the winter break to 5-0 and 14-0 on aggregate.
However, unlike the previous four games, which had all been played at Celtic Park and had all been pretty routinely one-sided domestic affairs we actually had a match to contend with on Sunday.
Early doors St.Johnstone showed some ambition and created a few chances, something which they had, by and large, failed to do in 90 minutes when visiting Celtic Park last Wednesday. But then after about 15 minutes, they resorted to previous tactics of shutting up shop and playing eleven men behind the ball after what could only have been a sudden mass flashback to the 6-0 hiding they had endured on their home patch against the men in hoops back in October. Strange as we wore the away strip that day.
Anyway thereafter Celtic struggled to break them down in what can only be described as a dull and turgid affair as we passed the ball about relentlessly in front of them. Pretty apt for a dreary early February Sunday afternoon.
The game had 0-0 written all over it but fortune favours the brave and Odsonne Edouard came on for his first appearance since a substitute display at Ibrox back in December and his presence seemed to almost immediately spark us into life with Saints keeper Zander Clark saving well as French Eddy blasted a fine effort towards goal from twenty yards out. James Forrest then burst into the box and dinked one to the back post where Ryan Christie was cut in half by Jason Kerr before Clark saved again this time from Scott Sinclair and then finally Joe Shaughnessy booted the ball clear off the line, taking Edouard’s foot in the process resulting the Frenchman having to be subbed off only eight minutes after coming on.
That made you think it really wasn’ going to be our day but enter Timothy Weah as Odsonne’s replacement and he immediately set about terrorising the Perth sides defence This culminated in him taking down a speculative long ball to the edge of the box from Scott Brown rather masterfully before executing a lovely ball to the far post where James Forrest nipped in ahead of the unaware Scott Tanser to prod home the opener. A minute later Forrest was booked for celebrating with the crowd and a minute after that he walked off with a hamstring injury reducing us to ten men as all three substitutes had already been used at this point.
Kiss the badge.
With ten minutes left this emboldened the hosts to venture forward and after committing everyone upfield for a corner on the 89th minute they were made to pay the price as Celtic broke through Scott Sinclair who released Weah and the 18-year-old played a one-two with Callum McGregor with the return ball seeing Weah bury it to wrap up the points.
Minutes later that Kristofer Ajer got a straight red after losing the ball to Callum Hendry who he then subsequently pulled back and as the last man a straight red was the inevitable conclusion.
So we finished with only nine men but the three points were what was most important and with that mission accomplished as we return to the top of the league and maintain a six points gap over second-placed Rangers.
That being said the bill from the match was pretty steep. Edouard only just back from injury and stretchered off, along with Forrest departing with a sudden hamstring pull and a straight red and automatic ban for Ajer. Even Christie was struggling with a rib injury near the end after the aformnetioned incident where he was scythed down by Kerr in a what should have been a blatant penalty that went completely unnoticed by the officials.
The positives were the continuing impressive showings by Weah who really has breathed new enthusiasm and life into the side with his effervescent displays. I also thought Olly Burke was doing a good job, indeed he nearly scored twice the first from a lung-busting run down the flanks in the first half and I thought him unfortunate to be subbed for Edouard when Scott Sinclair had done absolutely nothing all afternoon. He was also involved in another dismissed penalty incident in the first half which looked pretty clearcut to me and no doubt he would have got it if his jersey had a lot less green and a helluva lot more blue on it. Jeremy Toljan also made his debut after his transfer deadline day loan from Borussia Dortmund with Mikel Lustig going off at halftime with yet another injury. Toljan looked pretty accomplished and surprisingly sharp considering he has hardly featured this season for his parent club.
The new bhoy.
Elsewhere Rangers got three dodgy penalties as Andrew Dallas made daddy proud via a virtuoso display of breathtaking ineptitude at Ibrox with the home side winning out 4-0 in the end and Aberdeen won 2-1 at Easter Road as the reality of the post-Lennon era starts to hit home and the Dons keep up their unlikely title challenge. Hearts gained a surprise 2-1 win at high flying Kilmarnock whilst Motherwell hammered Livingston 3-0 as the men from the Tony Macaroni faltered to their fifth straight defeat. Dundee also drew 1-1 at Hamilton in a result that doesn’t do much for either side but does signal the beginning of perennial right-hand man Brian Rice’s long-awaited assault on Scottish football management.
I take it you’ve all seen that What’s App video by now?
On Wednesday we play managerless Hibs who are currently under the temporary guidance of ‘Mr Reluctant’ Eddie May. It’s at home and it’s pretty much a game in which anything other than a resounding win considering our opposition’s predicament would be seen as three points thrown away. Add in the real possibility that Rangers could drop points that very night as they face a resurgent Aberdeen side up at Pittodrie and a win is vital. The Dons have only lost one in their last eleven domestic games, nine of which have been in the league and that was against us on Boxing Day in an end to end affair. They themselves sit only two points behind the men from Govan.
But what the hell kind of team are we going to put out is the main question? Kieron Tierney has only just returned to light training so is still way off, both Benkovic and Rogic are facing 4-6 weeks on the sidelines, Ajer is of course suspended and then add in the three casualties from the weekend then you have a bonafide injury crisis. It could mean that forgotten men such as Bitton, Jonny Hayes and even Jack Hendry are called back into action some of whom I figured it would seem unlikely we’d ever see in a Celtic jersey again. Encouragingly though Boyata is apparently back into full training with Ntcham, not far behind him and Leigh Griffiths has been included in the just announced Europa League squad so may not be too far off it either.
For tomorrow night, followed by the cup game against St.Johnstone……..again……. at the weekend and then Valencia next Thursday it really is all hands to the pump.
In the last update on the blog, I wrote that it was three wins on the spin since the return from the winter break. Well, I guess we can make that four now as Celtic coasted home to a 2-0 win over St.Johnstone which makes it 12 goals scored and four clean sheets too.
At the top of the table we remain and now we’re six points clear with a superior goal difference as well. Not a bad eleven days if you ask me. Incredible to think we’ve already played four games in that time.
Celtic dominated the first half with Saints keeper Zander Clark making a wonderful save from a point-blank Scott Sinclair header. Later on, in the half, Olly Burke produced a curling effort from the left-hand side of the box which zipped just past the far post. But that aside the visiting side kept it tight and remained encamped around their box for the whole 45 mins with only Rangers legend Michael O’Halloran looking any kind of a threat on the break.
At halftime, you started to wonder if it just might not be our night but five minutes after the restart any such fears were allayed when Callum McGregor had acres of space to advance towards the opposition box after being fed in from the right by Mikel Lustig and he unleashed a storming drive that gave Clark no chance and ended up in the bottom right corner to give the men in Hoops the lead.
A mere two mins later it got even better and the points were pretty much signed, sealed and delivered when the advancing Lustig again fed a ball in from the right, this time to the edge of the box where Ryan Christie left Saints captain Joe Shaughnessy for dead and proceeded to curl the ball spectacularly past Clark high into the far corner to make it 2-0 and more or less game over.
It’s a beauty from Christie.
Odsonne Edouard made his long-awaited comeback from the bench and almost scored before Clark made a wonderful save from McGregor minutes later. Then right at the end, Ricky Foster produced a blatant handball whilst sliding in the box to prevent a cross from James Forrest after the Celtic winger had played a cute one-two with Lustig but the referee and the linesman had already decided Celtic had scored enough for the evening so chose to pretend they didn’t see it.
So that was that. As comfortable as you like with the Celt’s keeper Scott Bain a virtual spectator.
That’s our 13th win in our last 17 league games now, 16th win in 20 domestic games and our 12th win in 12 home league games this season.
We now visit McDiarmid Park on Sunday to face the same opposition again and let’s hope for more of the same or better still a repeat of the 6-0 hammering we dished out to them back in early October. Hard to believe that’s four months ago already. I remember it well. It was pretty much the performance that kick-started our season after a, to say the least, tepid start.
Tomorrow is, of course, the final day of the transfer window. By Celtic’s standards, it’s been a pretty active January with most of our business done uncharacteristically early via the signing of striker Vakoun Issouf Bayo and the loan deals for attackers Timothy Weah and Olly Burke. There were of course hopes of a right back arriving though rumoured interest in Atalanta’s Belgium internationalist Timothy Castagne was kiboshed by a price tag of somewhere in the region of £10 million.
Scott McKenna was also linked with some social media sources even going as far as to proclaim that a £6.5 million fee with Aberdeen had been agreed and that the big centre back was en route via a taxi all the way from Dubai. It was of course baseless. Aberdeen have got the player tied up until 2023 and have already said they think they can get an eight-figure fee from a club down south this summer. Being that they are in rude financial health these days they are under no pressure to sell and can name their price. That price is likely to be too rich for our blood especially when you consider that McKenna is far from the finished article.
Perhaps the closest Scott McKenna will ever get to wearing a Celtic jersey.
The latest name to be linked is Borussia Dortmund’s Jeremy Toljan, a right back who made 27 appearances for the current Bundesliga league leaders last season but so far none this term. Brendan was quick to dampen any hopes though prematch saying that there’s nothing in it.
Who knows what will materialise over the next 24 hrs. But with Filipe Benkovic out until at least March suddenly central defence is a concern again.
That aside defender Jack Hendry and midfielder Lewis Morgan continue to be linked with loan moves away for the rest of the season. Considering the improvement we’ve seen in Ryan Christie since his return from a loan stint at Aberdeen I’d say such moves would be good for both young players. It would also trim a very bloated squad that at his way too much dead wood with Gamboa, Hayes, Eboue and Mulumbu other worthy candidates for the dispatch box. As for Marvin Compper, well, they’ll need to carry him out.
All of this and more will be answered in the coming hours. Of course, it could be that nothing happens at all.
As is always the case with a Celtic transfer deadline day………….expect the worst…..hope for the best.
Finally Celtic produced a performance worth raving about after a pretty tepid opening few months to the season as they found not only their shooting boots but some actual form in Perth.
It’s been a bit of a slog so far this season with elimination from the Champions League qualifiers, no wins away domestically in the league and generally pretty monotonous and uninspiring play week in, week out.
That all changed though at a wind and rain swept McDiarmid Park on Sunday.
After a ropey start where the Saints clearly fancied their chances and decided to take it to us, no doubt believing we would be drained both physically and mentally after a second-half roasting by RB Salzburg on Thursday evening, and created a few decent chances with a Danny Swanson volley from close range stinging the palms of Craig Gordon.
For the first 10 mins, Celtic were struggling and you couldn’t help but think ‘here we go again.’
Thereafter though it was a slaughter.
Celtic rained down attack after attack on the Perth sides goal and eventually took the lead after 15 mins when an Edouard shot was saved by Zander Clark only to rebound back to James Forrest whose shot made it into the back of the net after an unsuccessful attempt by Clark to claw it away.
Edouard, who had been unlucky not score only minutes previously, then did get on the score sheet only seven mins after the opener, finishing from outside the box with a neatly drilled finish into the far lower corner.
French Eddy and Ross Callahan compare dance moves.
In the final 15 mins of the half, the floodgates truly did open as Forrest added another three to his previous effort, combining well with the majestic Rogic for each one and showing some wonderful finishing ability with both feet.
All of those three goals were special with the first seeing him finish off a 1-2 with the aforementioned Rogic which cut the Saints defence apart and then the Aussie playmaker feed him through to finish with his right foot and seal his hat-trick. Forrest’s final goal was probably the pick of the litter though as he played another 1-2 with that man Rogic again and raced through on goal from his own half before finishing low past Clark also again.
A liquid finish from the impressive Forrest.
In amongst all of that, a Leigh Griffiths free-kick effort from 30 yards produced a wonderful save from Zander Clark who was actually having the game of his life in between picking the ball out of the net.
Nobody could have predicted 5-0 at halftime in their wildest dreams and a shellshocked looking Tommy Wright was clearly regretting his decision to play expansive football and attack an apparently bedraggled Celtic.
A beleaguered Tommy Wright demands the ref blows the final whistle.
As is often the case after that kind of first half the goals dried up in the second period with Callum McGregor tapping in a sixth after some neat build-up play on the 84th-minute mark.
Previous to that Danny Swanson got a straight red card for hacking down Forrest who was on the charge again. Swanson had clearly seen enough of that in the first half and refused to stick around for more.
It was quite a day, easily Celtic’s best domestically so far this season, notwithstanding the Rangers game, and before we unilaterally dismiss the level fo opposition let’s not forget that St.Johnstone had been unbeaten at home since late February.
So Celtic now climb to the third spot in the league, only three points off the top and with a vastly improved goal difference. Not a bad way to go into the international break and let’s just hope this is a return to the dynamic free-flowing football we had previously associated with Brendan’s reign at the club.
....Always A Tim! 