Celtic v Bayer Leverkusen - Thursday 30 September, kick-off 8pm - all comments here

[Gary67]

Had Ange replaced Brendan Rodgers as manage it would have been seamless. The system was there, the players to play it were there, the infrastructure was there.
Unfortunately he has followed on from the Lennon/Lawwell clusterfuck and the team needs to be rebuilt with no infrastructure to support this rebuild.

 

[Smelltheg-love]

I doubt we will see top this season. How long since that happened.
We will still have the die hard optimists saying just one more transfer window an Ange will get the team and players he wants.
Dream fucking on. It ain't happening, it never will till he gets Pep sized transfer budget. He came to the right club though, half the support are hopeless romantics.

i think your remarks are letting you down mate, we're Celtic fans, we love our Club, faithful through and through, but don't paint us as clueless.

we're all disappointed but some of us can see it for what it is
the board stacked the odds against being organised this pre-season, they dithered getting Ange and then signings for the team. With the Euros and the turnover of players it was a mess like we've never seen in pre-season.
They also decided to make 20 million on player trading after the disaster that was last season.

For a short spell, we got going for a wee bit, then the injuries hit. Not just 1 or 2 but half a squad.
We're in October and some of the signings have hardly played a game yet.

If anyone think that Ange has had a fair crack at the whip this season then they are deluded.
As i said last night, he's not had a training session consisting of his first 11 never mind a game.
So while i am not happy, i'm no hopless romantic either. But i'm objective.
If we're still losing games in 6-8 weeks then i think he is fair game but before then i think is unfair.

We've taken on Betis and Leverkusen and to be honest on another day could have scored 4 or 5 against them but for some good goalkeeping and some woeful finishing.

I go back to the defending, 90% of our goals are coming from defending you shouldn't see in a 5 a side game. It's not a system thats failing it's professional footballers making catastrophic decisions. I'd be worried if we were getting gubbed 4-0 and hadn't created a chance.
There are fine lines in football and on a different night last night it could have been so different had we taken a chance and defended better. Instead our 2nd half consisted of more missed chances before they get an unlucky penalty. Game over.

Hart looks good, the defence needs read the riot act and we need a settled back 4.
McGregor has come on leaps, rogic has played superb going forward at times but he's no box to box midfielder or battler. The wingers look like they will improve and the wee man up front will score for fun. Hopefully McCarthy/Forrest/Johnston/Georgi get up to speed soon and we get a settled team for a run.

The results are bad but IMO the direction of the anger is in the wrong place, but there has to be a quick turnaround starting Saturday

 

[CelticRose]

Had Ange replaced Brendan Rodgers as manage it would have been seamless. The system was there, the players to play it were there, the infrastructure was there.
Unfortunately he has followed on from the Lennon/Lawwell clusterfuck and the team needs to be rebuilt with no infrastructure to support this rebuild.

thank you Gary

 

[Brimcbhoy]

Bit harsh brim, what would you like to see happening at the club to turn around where we are at today?

This is the problem. Kennedy and Strachan are too scared to say anything and are just happy to be in a job. What's WgS job? Can he as an exmanager and CL qualifier not have a quiet word and tell Ange you can't go all gung ho, especially in Europe?
The players we have, or at least half of the, aren't up to his idealistic way if playing.

 

[CelticRose]

This is the problem. Kennedy and Strachan are too scared to say anything and are just happy to be in a job. What's WgS job? Can he as an exmanager and CL qualifier not have a quiet word and tell Ange you can't go all gung ho, especially in Europe?
The players we have, or at least half of the, aren't up to his idealistic way if playing.

WGS is on consultancy work so it will be defined to exactly what has been requested and as far as I know he’s there to do work on the Women’s team as well as the B team players pathway. obviously I don’t know what the scope is

 

[Brimcbhoy]

We've taken on Betis and Leverkusen and to be honest on another day could have scored 4 or 5 against them but for some good goalkeeping and some woeful finishing.

And Livingston and Dundee Utd, and failed to beat either.
Look, I didn't expect much against Betis or Leverkusen. It's clear they are quite more forward than us ATM.
But Livingston and Dundee Utd. Give me a break, we've players on 20k plus and they just aren't any better than what we had last season. The stats don't lie. We are worse than last year.

 

[Brimcbhoy]

Had Ange replaced Brendan Rodgers as manage it would have been seamless. The system was there, the players to play it were there, the infrastructure was there.
Unfortunately he has followed on from the Lennon/Lawwell clusterfuck and the team needs to be rebuilt with no infrastructure to support this rebuild.

Sorry but that's bollox. BRs played a completely different way to Ange. It was a more possession based style.

 

[Gary67]

Sorry but that's bollox. BRs played a completely different way to Ange. It was a more possession based style.

Funnily enough Ange with disagree with you
“Every manager brings their own personality to a team. But I think there will definitely be elements of how I want my team to play that are similar to Brendan’s. Watching his team, there are a lot of similarities with the kind of football teams I’ve produced."

 

[Brimcbhoy]

Funnily enough Ange with disagree with you
“Every manager brings their own personality to a team. But I think there will definitely be elements of how I want my team to play that are similar to Brendan’s. Watching his team, there are a lot of similarities with the kind of football teams I’ve produced."

Apart from results. Invincibles ring any bells.

 

[Smelltheg-love]

And Livingston and Dundee Utd, and failed to beat either.
Look, I didn't expect much against Betis or Leverkusen. It's clear they are quite more forward than us ATM.
But Livingston and Dundee Utd. Give me a break, we've players on 20k plus and they just aren't any better than what we had last season. The stats don't lie. We are worse than last year.

if you didnt expect much then why the rhetoric today ?

i agree we should beat everyone on paper, but footballs not played on paper

inconsistent selection due to injuries married to a complete overhaul of how a team plays throws these results up

i can see where we are going and i can see where it's going wrong, it's not the system, the system is giving us chances against teams that are at the moment miles ahead of us
by default it gives other teams chances against us, but it's the players on the park making an effin c@nt of it thats costing us goal after goal

we'll get much better mate over the next few weeks, hang in

yes the stats dont lie, but neither do my eyes

 

[Gary67]

Apart from results. Invincibles ring any bells.

You've lost me, no clue what you're on about.
The point I was trying to make was Ange following Rodgers would have had a far greater chance of working than Ange following Lennon. The point being the club is a shambles from the top down just now, it wasn't in February 2019 when Rodgers walked.

 

[Brimcbhoy]

if you didnt expect much then why the rhetoric today ?

i agree we should beat everyone on paper, but footballs not played on paper

inconsistent selection due to injuries married to a complete overhaul of how a team plays throws these results up

i can see where we are going and i can see where it's going wrong, it's not the system, the system is giving us chances against teams that are at the moment miles ahead of us
by default it gives other teams chances against us, but it's the players on the park making an effin c@nt of it thats costing us goal after goal

we'll get much better mate over the next few weeks, hang in

yes the stats dont lie, but neither do my eyes

It's simple. Ange wants to play champagne football with lemonade players.
I think we have the makings of a good team. We are more than capable of winning the spfl. But for whatever reason the main thing that leaps out at me when I watch this Celtic team is confusion, especially when asked to defend. If you were an opposing manager all you need to say to your players is, press them at every opportunity, they will make a mistake.

 

[Smelltheg-love]

You've lost me, no clue what you're on about.
The point I was trying to make was Ange following Rodgers would have had a far greater chance of working than Ange following Lennon. The point being the club is a shambles from the top down just now, it wasn't in February 2019 when Rodgers walked.

i'd go as far as the club being a shambles for over a decade, possibly more
the football department became a shambles pre season last year when we kept the wantaways and signed a lot of shite for big money

 

[Brimcbhoy]

You've lost me, no clue what you're on about.
The point I was trying to make was Ange following Rodgers would have had a far greater chance of working than Ange following Lennon. The point being the club is a shambles from the top down just now, it wasn't in February 2019 when Rodgers walked.

Stop, just stop blaming Lennon. I agree he stayed too long, but isn't his shitshow. We brought in 12 players in the window. Half are nowhere near the 1st team, why buy them?

 

[Gary67]

Stop, just stop blaming Lennon. I agree he stayed too long, but isn't his shitshow. We brought in 12 players in the window. Half are nowhere near the 1st team, why buy them?

Until Lennon actually takes responsibility for last season and stops blaming everything and everyone for his incompetence then he will, rightly, be blamed. I actually blame Lawwell and the board more than Lennon, it was their arrogance and complacency over many years that has led us to where we now are.

 

[Gary67]

We brought in 12 players in the window. Half are nowhere near the 1st team, why buy them?

Who's buying them is a more pertinent question

 

[Smelltheg-love]

It's simple. Ange wants to play champagne football with lemonade players.
I think we have the makings of a good team. We are more than capable of winning the spfl. But for whatever reason the main thing that leaps out at me when I watch this Celtic team is confusion, especially when asked to defend. If you were an opposing manager all you need to say to your players is, press them at every opportunity, they will make a mistake.

that confusion is borne of a new system which players are trying to learn in real time
quote calum mcgregor last night

McGregor admitted: “It’s a very demanding style of football and you need everyone to buy into it and everyone to move and be connected all the time.

“That takes time for the players to understand where to move, when to move and when to make safe-side passes.

“And, in the transition moments, we have to defend better. That’s where the issues have been as a team.

“We’ve had loads of the ball in a lot of our games, but it’s been in the defensive transition where we have struggled.

“It’s going to take a bit of time to nail down the specifics of it, but everyone is together and everyone believes in what the manager is trying to do.

“In spells of the game, we more than held our own against big opposition and that’s got to give us confidence moving forward.”

“It was a difficult game against a really high-level opponent. We had some good moments, but at this level, the game is decided in moments and when you don’t take your chances you are always going to struggle if they put one away on the counter-attack and it changes the complexion of the game.

“That was a theme throughout the game. We dominated the ball pretty well. We held our own, but in the moments that really matter that’s where we have to be better.”

 

[Brimcbhoy]

that confusion is borne of a new system which players are trying to learn in real time
quote calum mcgregor last night

McGregor admitted: “It’s a very demanding style of football and you need everyone to buy into it and everyone to move and be connected all the time.

“That takes time for the players to understand where to move, when to move and when to make safe-side passes.

“And, in the transition moments, we have to defend better. That’s where the issues have been as a team.

“We’ve had loads of the ball in a lot of our games, but it’s been in the defensive transition where we have struggled.

“It’s going to take a bit of time to nail down the specifics of it, but everyone is together and everyone believes in what the manager is trying to do.

“In spells of the game, we more than held our own against big opposition and that’s got to give us confidence moving forward.”

“It was a difficult game against a really high-level opponent. We had some good moments, but at this level, the game is decided in moments and when you don’t take your chances you are always going to struggle if they put one away on the counter-attack and it changes the complexion of the game.

“That was a theme throughout the game. We dominated the ball pretty well. We held our own, but in the moments that really matter that’s where we have to be better.”

Who wrote that for him? Soundbyte bollox. " We dominated the ball pretty well" aye let's take some positives out if a 4--0 drubbing. Modern pc correct absolutely shite.
Going forward.

 

[Smelltheg-love]

Who wrote that for him? Soundbyte bollox. " We dominated the ball pretty well" aye let's take some positives out if a 4--0 drubbing. Modern pc correct absolutely shite.
Going forward.

You must think McGregors as daft as the rest of us hopeless romantics then

 

[Brimcbhoy]

You must think McGregors as daft as the rest of us hopeless romantics then

Id change that to Hopefull. And not daft at all. At the end of the day out out of our hands, we all want the same thing.