Celtic Vs Molde 5th of November 6PM BT Sport 2 Streams In The OP

Like many before you I think you are making the mistake of thinking that what is said on a thread like this is totally representative of our support as a whole, I'm sad to say there are so many folk out there that will and do clap *.

Don't know how it came over on the telly but enough clapped Biton off and at the end you are quite right to say the main lot of clapping was for the Molde fans and team but in the Main Stand enough were clapping the team as they trudged off, that got quite a heated reaction from some who clearly view things like you and me.

 

What he did in the Norwegian League clearly wasn't good grounding for leading Celtic into Europe is all I can say to that, to suggest we should give him a 3rd season purely on his Norwegian record is an odd statement indeed.

Everyone knows why Lennon left and I'm assuming you clearly must, a reduced budget from Peter Lawell after investment was needed after a poor CL group earlier that season, he has said as much on national radio on more than one occasion.

 

Iv calmed down. We are still in europe against 2 teams that do not park the bus and are equally as pish as us at the moment. Going through is in our hands. Ronny can stay unless we loose those games. If we loose to fernabachie from some peice of magic and not mistakes then fair enough. He can stay. If we loose to either of them due to, mistakes, * tactics or the like he will and should be sacked.

 

He left from reduced budget, yes. Is that lawells fault celtic are no longer pulling in enough cash now a certain team is dead, that like it or not made us alot of money. He will work the budgets out to keep us from going bust. He will not risk the safety of the club. Fact is he is doing a decent job in challenging times. Hopefully now the * newco are back that will increase our revenue back up to his £10m+ missing a year, better players and more money to attract better managers.

Aye lets all pretend if he pushed the boat out to get champions league... what if it never worked? £10m+ in debt and no chance to even add young promising players without putting us in danger of non existence.
Aye sure you can buy a £10 scratch card because the chances are your prize will be better. Then again you win nothing and you cant get your dinner. Thats what some people are asking us to do.

 

The 1st game against molde was unacceptable, tonight was nothing short of a disgrace. A must win game and to play like that is really galling. Ive lost all faith in ronny I must admit and I really like the guy its really disappointing. Its the same mistakes over and over, its not good enough and it has to change.

 

OK mate....you seem to be reinforcing some the points I'm making rather than disagreeing with them but we're all welcome to our own opinion.

 

What if the players just can't do the things they're being asked to do?....also to compare this Celtic team with any Man Utd team that Ferguson managed is a bit of a stretch for me.....but thanks for your opinion all the same.

 

I get what you are trying to say and totally agree it's not Lawells fault we have less domestic income coming in but to play it safe until Sevco return and settle for trying to get into the CL on the cheap was never going to work and the last 2 seasons are the evidence of that.

By that reasoning we had better hope Hibs don't overtake them in the league otherwise that will be another season we will have to wait for decent investment in the team!

I also agree that punting out 10 million or so would have been a gamble but in life to not have a real crack at something means you just never know what would have happened, ultimately we had to settle for half hearted cracks at the CL.

I also concede however that it's not just about bringing in players to strengthen the team but to keep the ones we had at that point who got us so far, the likes of Wanyama, Ledley, Big Fraser, it would have been tough holding onto them if impossible with the EPL and its salaries as a distraction.

Ultimately the CL is a far bigger trough than the SPL with or without Sevco and we all know we are well capable of feeding from that trough with a bit of ambition rather than depressingly hang about waiting for a corrupt organisation to turn up again in a new guise in our domestic league, I simply believe more effort could have been made to get to said trough.

 

He needs to go and he needs to go right * now!...my *, how can you change your mind so quickly and easily?.. I really do despair!

 

This.

We're either gonna get jammy as * and go through somehow, or actually turn this round and show we're not a team of * heartless embarrassments.

Either way, some serious changes need to be made to the attitude and performance of these players. If I was Ronny watching that, I'd be sending Blackett back to United now, dropping several of the midfielders, and telling John Kennedy (or whoever organises our defence) to * off and sort them out.

Kieran Tierney the only one who deserves applause tonight. 10/10 performance the rest didn't even turn up.

 

So similar to the previous Molde game and let ourselves down with similar problems. Sloppy with ball when in possession and open to the counter because of it.

We started off pretty well and should have been a couple in front. Griffiths got caught ball watching on two occasions and cost us 2 goals. Once is forgivable but it was 2 opportunities which passed us by. We then lost Simunovic to injury. Over the last few games we’ve looked much more complete at the back with his presence. From then on it went downhill. We had a choice between Ambrose and Blackett,neither have shown enough to assist a vulnerable Boyata. Ronny plumped for Blackett, which many would have chosen.Blackett has featured in a handful of games and once as partner to Boyata. Not near enough time develop an understanding of each other.

Molde are set defensively, much like other teams we face week in week out. The difference is they are light years ahead of these teams in (A) constructing a counter and (B) being able to apply the finishing touch. As soon as they win possession the transition from defence to attack is superb. Players know where to go in relation to the ball and trust their team-mates enough to find the right pass at the right time. Selfless work and extremely effective. Indeed, Molde have found a way and shown it in places which have intimidated better. After the Biton sending off, they expanded the field, move the ball about and interchanged positions. We got a chasing from then on. A chasing from a group of players who believe in they way they play and willing to work hard for each other. It wasn't just when things were going well. Elyounoussi was happy to fill in behind the ball when it was required early on, Linnes and Rindaroy were willing runners all night from deep.

They wanted it more and were prepared to work harder than we were for it.

The 1st Molde goal came after we had 2 goals disallowed(as a result of laziness/lack of awareness by Griffiths). Commons dropped his runner, which forced Johansen out of his central area to shut down the left back. A relatively defendable cross was only headed towards the edge of the area. Even then the goal was avoidable. However unlike Molde, no player covered where Johansen had vacated and no-one applied any pressure to Elyanoussi to at least hinder his shot at goal. Plenty of opportunities to prevent but none taken. Credit to Elyounoussi for taking advantage with a fine finish.

The 2nd Molde goal came after we equalised. Our goal while it appeared to be fortunate, was actually a smart redirection from Commons. Back in the game.

Within 5-10 minutes Molde were back in front. They had a series of corners, after Hoiland made a mess of a 1v1. The initial threat was cleared before the ball was delivered to the back post area. Elyounoussi held off Tierney, who probably should have been tighter to his man(although it's harsh on the young lad) and delivered across the 6 yard box. Similar to Lustig in the away game for the 3rd goal, Helstad shown more desire than Blackett to score.

Our mistakes resulted in two goals. Molde’s mistakes went unpunished. No more evident than the mistake from Horvath, which presented us with a great opportunity inside the 18 yard box. Rogic delayed(who started off well and was finding space between the Molde defence and midfield), while the Molde defence hustled to help atone for Horvaths error. Squaring in Griffiths would probably have been the better option. These opportunities should be finished off at domestic level and but are a must at European.

Having arguably done enough to be level,we went in behind. Leaving Molde comfortable with what they had to achieve in the 2nd half. Solskjaer smartly chose to introduce Ola Kamara, knowing that the onus was on us to chase the game. We introduced Forrest for Commons. Hopefully Forrest would provide us with width on the right, however Molde simply sat deeper and got bodies behind the ball. Forrest contributed nothing.Even the one opportunity Forrest had late on to run the full-back and get behind, came to nothing. They continued to counter and do it well.

Rogic gave the ball away trying to force a pass through a congested midfield, one direct pass later, Boyata was beaten and Biton brought down Kamara. Again, we lost possession and got countered. From then on, it appeared everyone at the ground accepted the result. Molde took full advantage. They went from playing narrow and deep, too expanding wide and offering depth to the player in possession. The players passed and moved, interchanging positions and offering movement. We sat back and went into our shell. Molde saw out the game on their terms and saw themselves through to the latter stages of the competition.

We go into the next two games requiring two wins. Made harder by having Johansen and Biton missing through suspension. Probably Scott Brown as well.

I’m not one who believes we should sack Ronny, however he carries a certain amount of responsibility(as do the players). I mentioned in the earlier pages of the match thread, I felt we should be providing our width from the further advanced 3 behind the striker. Rather than our fullbacks. It leaves us open to the counter,especially at a time when we don't have a settled central defence(same issue early with Van Dijk and Denayer). Having the likes of Forrest and Armstrong providing width, rather than being the main support for the Griffths. Would stretch teams (who wish to defend narrow) wider. In turn, if we move the ball well enough. It should create gaps in the central areas for runners from deep(Johansen,Commons etc).Finally as an additional source of attacking threat, the fullbacks offer support from deep. Gives a different angle of delivery for attackers and also restricts the recovery distance should we lose possession.

Tonight Ronny made the same errors and again our players reproduced inadequate ball retention and an inability to take chances(6 shots on target to Molde’s 2 on target), which enhanced the Molde threat.

Positives from tonight, Tierney has carried on from his previous positive starts. Leaving a bigger impression with every passing game.

 

As well to sack him now.The Sword of Damocles hanging over him is too much for any man to bear.
He should go now, pick up his career and make everyone look a * 5 years down the line.

He could win 10-0 at the weekend and people will still be looking for flaws.

Molde are a lot better than their country's football reputation or their league position would have you believe.
They beat the team 2nd in the Turkish league 3-1 away and are currently undefeated in the group.We have absolutely no right to presume we should beat them because we can hump Aberdeen.You reap what you sow, and we have been shopping around in Aldi's basement and expecting to play at the big table.
The defence is weak, but how many of our defenders are Ronnys buys?Efe? Izzy? Lustig?
He bought Boyata who is pretty steady if unspectacular......he brought in an England U21 player who is probably pretty good, but having only made 2 appearances since the start of the season, it was kind of unfair to expect him to shore up an already weakened defence tonight.Craig Gordon....this time last year people were fretting English clubs might nick him back.Is it Ronnys fault he has lost his air of invincibility?
Tierney was sensational......is he getting any credit for playing him?Of course not.

 

Would we win the league in norway, after getting schooled by the team sitting 6th I would say........no * chance.

 

we have had the same flaws for way to long for this train wreck to be anything other than 100% RD fault.

 

Great post, forgive me for quoting just a little bit of it. I was wondering if you thought 4 3 3 might be better when you said we need our attacking midfielders to run the wings instead of using our full backs which creates space for the counter attack?

Do you think it was a good idea to sub Commons? Why does he keep getting subbed anyway when he's probably our most creative player. Was it a tactical move to spread width with Forrest?

You're right most people would have chosen Blackett but blasphemy I think Efe would have done a better job. He's a huge risk but he can defend well like he did when subbed on against Ajax.

Think you might be being harsh on Griffiths, he was hardly a mile offside for the goals that were disallowed and he was distracting defenders doing it. Was just a bit of bad luck. Other than that he didn't get much service at all. Will be interesting to see how Cole handles crosses into the box, hoping he can be Suttonesque and either score or knock them down for Griffiths.

Was horrible at the end when Molde became confident like you describe, they really did relax and get into hit but that's a load to do with them being underdogs. They know how to play favourites that's for sure, stay compact and counter, simple and effective.

 

The only player fit to wear the hoops tonight. Kieran Tierney.

 

Anyone got a replay of griffiths' miss? Looked like an absolute sitter but I was right at the other end

 

https://streamable.com/fvrs

 

Thank you