[Matchday] Motherwell v Celtic - Sun 8th November 12:00 KO (Live on Sky)

Done all that can be asked for today. Imperative we follow it up with a win against Hibs and hopefully drum up some confidence momentum and hunger. Rogic is playing well, we look a lot more potent with him on the pitch I just hope he can stay fit.. Christie and elyounassi also looking better recently

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Anyone got the goals?

Stuck in work all day

 

Absolutely. Massive 3 points for Neil. Hopefully we can crack on now and get a bit of consistency going

 

We are far from even being close to being out of the woods, we have the international break now to take stock. I'd like to see us really rest players and try players in the remaining European games. It's all about the league

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Still not great at defending set pieces at times and you have to feel huns would have taken those chances ,but 3 points and something to build on and take some pressure off , lenny was here before and wee forrest rescued the day many years ago, he done not too badly after ,so I hope he can enjoy tonight and push the team on .

 

I didn’t think the defence was too bad tbh. Had loads to deal with but that was because the amount of fouls or Dallas ‘fouls’ our midfield give away and also a few slack passes in he midfield.

 

Agree mate. We had to deal with a lot of corners and free kicks going into our box and thought we dealt with most of them quite well.

Actually can't mind motherwell creating that much, possibly a couple in the 2nd half, but still this was a good performance under a bit of pressure.

 

I think today set a standard.

We played well, more than good enough. But if we want to win the 10 we need to find that next gear and play even better.

The massive positive about today was we didn’t crumble when they scored like has been happening. We made a good Motherwell side look average for around 60 minutes of that match. I’d like to see us do that for 80-85 minutes but hopefully that will come with the ‘culture change’. I’ve accepted Lennon will be here till Christmas so we have to give him full backing and hope he can turn this round.

People sticking pishy bedsheets Slating them up a Celtic Park doesn’t help anyone though.

 

I know he is not scoring week in week out just now but I have been very impressed with ajeti. Good link up play and love his attitude, really looks like he cares and fights for every ball. Even when he gets subbed you can see how much he cares.

 

Aye Ajeti did well, but by fk he's a right many *, lol.

Thought Brown was good but was extremely sloppy at times, most times he actually. Won the ball back, but needs to stop getting complacent.

 

Was that the perfect hat trick?
Left right head?

Doesnt matter anyway. Took them well.
Their goal but.......why cant we defend set pieces. Been a problem for years now.

 

There were still far too many mistakes today and they had a few chances to score.

That was basic defending as well, Bitton on the wrong side and is weak, if he’s the right side or at least backs into the lad when he jumps, it’s not a goal.

 

Saw him moaning the face aff ely at half time. I like that though, shows he cares. Wonder what is about.

 

Ajeti hasn't scored since Hibs at home (September), that will be playing on his mind and he will be riled up at times.

Contributing well with his play though

 

Aye I think his movement and link up play has been excellent mate..

Unlucky with some of his attempts as well..

Scored when just offside in Lille. Hit the post today..

I've zero concerns about him..

Would like to see him just channel the attitude in the right way though. Looks fiery which is fine as long as it doesn't spill over with the manager everytime he's subbed or because he hasn't been fed a pass..

 

A sign of promise from todays performance. Signs that the players and coaching staff have noticed and altered our way of playing. It may also have been down to personnel, but we finally ditched our two midfielders dropping deeper too play forward. They did rotate between dropping deep, but for the majority it was Brown who dropped and McGregor played between the Motherwell pressing forwards and their midfield. We had two players in Ajer and Bitton who are capable of playing the tight passes and comfortable on the ball. It opened up the wide areas and the players in general picked the right passes. And Motherwell never really got to grips with it.

We still had the odd moment in the 1st half where Laxalt and Frimpong left the defence exposed. Laxalt at one point in the 1st half chased the ball all the way to the goalkeeper, when it wasn't really required or needed of him. Thought they were far more cautious with their runs, more supporting Mo El and Christie on the ball. Rather than being the primary point of attack. The pressing was a bit more cohesive and those behind we better positioned, limiting the passing options. Laxalt on a few occasions in the 2nd half dropped in narrow, a sort of inverted full back, which allowed the flying Mo El some freedom down the left. El Hamed came on for Frimpong ( more on how in a bit) and delivered a fine cross for Mo El to complete the hat-trick. It was to the best of my knowledge the first time we got to the by-line and delivered a cross. Wee Jeremie does a lot of good work, for me he needs to do more of this. A lot of his deliveries come from around the 18 yard box and 6 yard outwide. Our winning goal against Riga and a few other opportunities prior came from him getting to the by line and cutting the ball back. Defenders aren't comfortable trying to deal when facing their own goal and struggle at picking up the late runners into the area. For me we don't do enough of this on either wing and with those playing in these areas.

Midfield was better than it has been. Tom Rogic gives us so much, draws players to him and uses the ball really well. Brown with his best performance of the season. Mixed up his play with McGregor, put himself in positions to intercept Motherwell passes and offered a bit more protection to the defence. Christie, I thought anyway was a bit off the play. I understand, its not his position and that but some of his passing was off. Delivery from set pieces wasn't the best. And I think he continues to struggle with some of the defensive work we need from him. Its being over critical, but we need to be as clean and limit the mistakes to a minimum.

Onto the negatives, we still haven't grasped the set pieces thing. We had a couple of instances in the 1st half where we had we warnings. Although I reckon on the goal and on a fair few of these would have been blown for fouls if the situation was reversed. My biggest criticism of the goal was the starting line for the free kick. We had spent a lot of time having to deal with these free kicks. We had long throws and corners kicks. And the now standard diagonal ball to the big guy on Frimpong. Our starting position was a couple of yards outside the area. We then dropped onto the penalty spot, where Gallagher won the header (Eddie went to sleep and played them on). And its in an area which is too far for Bain to become involved. For me the starting position should have been a good 5 yards higher and take away the direct header option, which we have had trouble with. For me its something which the staff should be doing but also the players themselves need to take a bit of responsibility and recognise these things.

Andrew * Dallas. An absolute liability. In what way was the Cole challenge only a yellow card?? He was Mr Billy Bigbaws in telling Ajeti to Shut up in the 1st half and then he was the little * snake when it came to what could have been a serious injury. A *, just like his old man. And Pat Bonner, it was accidental but it was reckless and endangered an opponent. So it matters not a *. I also thought Tony Watt was fortunate that his booking was only a yellow. You can guarantee that if it was reversed, then it wouldn't be a yellow.

Whilst it wasn't a complete performance, we saw some adjustments and also we saw a response to conceding the goal. Something which wasn't there on Thursday night.

 

I too couldn't believe Bonners comments on that.