The Ronny Deila Thread

Where is this better football you speak of? The football hasn't gotten any sexier to watch since Ronny Deila took over. Some of the stuff we played under Neil Lennon was more attractive to watch than anything we've produced under Ronny Deila so far. Not that I'm saying the football under Ronny Deila has been bad to watch.

He believes in bringing through youth? Are you suggesting Neil Lennon wouldn't have played a youth player if there was one at Lennoxtown he thought was good enough for the first team?? It was Lennon who gave James Forrest his chance to make it in the first team. The fact is, in the last few years, we haven't produced any youth players(Forrest aside and even he's not great) who are good enough to hold down a regular place in the first team. That's why Neil Lennon didn't pick any.

Not scared to drop anyone? Ok. Was Neil Lennon? Nope.

Ronny Deila may yet prove to be capable of taking us to the next level but I firmly believe Neil Lennon would have taken us to the next level with a bit more backing from the board. But they chose not to and tried to force an assistant manager he didn't want on to him. If a manager doesn't even have the freedom to choose his own right hand man then it's no wonder he walks away from that club, even if he loves said club.

 

Strachan had a lot more experience when he came in as well, that's also a key thing with Ronny, he's still learning as we are going along. Could argue that it might of been better to try and get him in as an assistant for a few seasons first but our hand was pushed once Lennon left.

 

But the similarities with Lennon (at this point in both their Celtic careers) are startling, both failed there first two attempts at getting to the CL, both got back into Europe via the back door and both had mixed results in the EL.

 

Mulgrew and Armstrong were 100% not fully match fit last night.

Janko has only payed a couple of game so there is no way he would be at optimal levels ether.

 

Better football isn't just about looking sexier, much higher pressing in our game and play with high tempo, under Lennon we saw glimpses of it but usually we would drop the tempo after 30 mins then hold on.
Lennon stuck to his favourites, never really rotated.

There is an issue with youngsters at the club looking good then not making the grade but Deila has said he is changing it from bottom up including the academy which will take years to reap the rewards from it.

We are moving in the right direction, Ronny hasn't just changed the formation we play he's changed everything. Ronny is a step up from Lennon there is no doubt about it.

 

You not think so? I find us infinitely more appealing to watch than I did when Lennon was in charge.

That's not a knock on Lennon, by the way. He got the results more often than not.

 

It's a personal preference but I much preferred Lenny's, by a large margin.

 

It was noticeable against DundeeUtd last week when some of our second string were outstanding.

 

The biggest thing for me is one took over the worst team in our history and the other took over a succesful team that had qualified two years running for the CL.

 

Deila's major test was to qualify for the Champions League and he failed at that. It's no use saying we were close because that doesn't mean a thing. I genuinely thought we were a better quality team than Malmo and it appears that something meant we underperformed last night. Whether that was Ronny's tactics, our players being complacent or Malmo wanting it more, I don't know.

It's hard to feel sympathetic for Ronny at the moment and I feel indifferent to the point where I wouldn't be disappointed if he left his post. I saw Andy Walker talking on SSN where he pointed out that we have heard a lot about improved fitness and progress in the team, with Deila at the helm, but last night seems to shatter those claims.

All I can hope is that our players use the experience of going out at this stage, to their advantage. I hope they learn the lessons from defeat and that we go on to perform well in the Europa League.

 

Just seem that Lennon has come out and said the players need to take a good look at themselves after last night and that he wouldn't be pointing the finger at Deila. I would agree with that.

 

No. I dont accept that at all. Lenny had to rebuild Mowbrays team. Ronny inherited Lennys team. There was very little that he actually had to do. He made a poor judgment call by gutting Neils team and methods. His job is to do the business in Europe. Thats it. Everything else about fitness and tippy tappy football is all nonsense. Winning is everything. He deserves to be held accountable. I even said I wouldnt sack him because he is in the middle of a (unnecessary) rebuilding job. Lawwell will just hire another spineless jellyfish yes man anyway.

 

Anyone who claims Lennon's football is better than Deila's is kidding themselves.

 

As did I. The inverted 442 thing from his first full season was glorious.

 

Love Ronny to bits, but these are the mistakes I thought he made during the away-match against Malmö (and the build-up to it):

1) He deviated from his usual 4-2-3-1 system into a 4-3-3- system in a match that should have been about keeping a clean sheet. The 4-2-3-1 would have been more defensively solid. Can't criticize the man for not changing the team shape around though, cause that's exactly what he did - and it was a mistake.

2) Took Forrest of, despite him being the only Celtic player who looked like he could create something. He was right in taking off Armstrong though, who I thought had an absolute shocker (despite some people claiming otherwise). Picking Mulgrew was an understandable choice on the night too, but it did backfire as Celtic went behind.

3) He was too cocky in the build-up to the match, saying Celtic is the "better team", and "we don't deserve CL if we don't win" bla bla bla. If players looked scared on the night, then this is the reason why. There was enough pressure beforehand going into this match, so no need for the manager to add extra pressure. Any neutral fan would tell you that Celtic and Malmö are at about the same level, that this match could go both ways and that it would probably be decided on a healthy dose of luck and coincidence. Although it would be a tad ridiculous to play down Celtic's favorite-stamp in the SPL, he really should play it down whenever facing European competition. That's what most managers do when their teams are considered favorites; play it down, relieve the pressure.

Other than that, I don't see a need for knee-* reactions. It was a *, * game, but that happens from time to time. It's just that this was a high-profile game, but it still doesn't take away the fact that cup-games are always gonna be unpredictable. I think Ronny will deliver the Scottish treble this year, and that anyone who expects any form of European glory under the current financial structure needs a proper reality-check. If Celtic wants to do things the Ajax-way, and play "moneyball", then that's gonna take way longer than 1-2 seasons. It will take at least 5-6 seasons to get something decent out of the youth academy just for starters. But given the time and peace, I still think he can do it.

 

Hard to argue with that, could tell how * off Brown was last night in his interview last night, something will be done about it.

 

And one got a lot of money to rectify the Mowbray disaster and the other hasn't had a lot of money to do his thing.

Bit simplistic but it sort of evens it out a bit.

 

There is an element of truth in that, I have even said that earlier on. Still though it is up to Ronny to motivate his players

 

Well the results so far certainly don't back up that assertion. Until Ronny Deila gets us into the group stages and has his 'Barcelona moment' I don't think it's credible to say he's a step up from Neil Lennon.

One thing I will say in Ronny Deila's defence is, I believe if Neil Lennon was still here and in charge of the current squad he would have struggled to get us through the qualifiers as well. I just don't think the quality is there throughout the squad. The only players we have who I would rate as 'proper' players are Craig Gordon, Virgil van Dijk, Mikael Lustig, Scott Brown, Nir Bitton and Stefan Johansen. That's it. The rest of the squad is ordinary.

 

I agree 100% that the players need to take a good look at themselves, but there is a few on here who think it was down to Deila not being able to motivate the players. So it's interesting to hear a previous manager say he would blame the players also.