[Matchday] Celtic v FC Midtjylland Tuesday 20th July 7:45 Premier sports

Not with Barkas and Bain in goal together

 

* me. That was genuinely the worst performance from a Celtic team I can recall. The result was 1-1 but it didn’t reflect the picture.

from the opening couple of minutes you could see there was no or little game plan. Balls back to Barkas>defense>Punt it up park and hope to break the lines.

It was so unorganised and embarrassing that I’m struggling to pick any positive from it at all.

it may not be a sign of things to come, * me though we need an injection of actual Celtic quality fitbawers.

 

We need CB and GK, as fast as we can..

 

Did ye not watch any of our games last season? Least we tried to score this game

 

Was it? Bitton was a real failure but other than that defence was actually fine. It was the attack let us down today (other than Abada).

 

From what I saw, we looked a completely different team and that’s promising since it’s not been much time. Even with 10 we looked good.

That * that got sent off for them man. Winking at HT. So glad the * got found out. Bitton is a fud too.

Good to see Christie running himself into the ground. Soro and Abada are so good.

 

hardly a scorcher. Ball fell to him and he put it away in the position an attacking winger should a been. Taking * all away from him. He took it well. It was embarrassing to watch though, so far from a creative and exciting team I’ve saw.

 

A lot of the attacks broke down as soon as Taylor or Ralston got passed the ball. Eduard was poor but generally our play through midfield was good, wide areas we lacked any quality at all bar Abada as you say.

I thought Welsh had a good game but as a unit the defence looked shaky from set pieces and the goalie has zero confidence, as expected imo.

 

The fact is that for yet another season we've started a Champions League qualifier where 3 out of the 4 at the back should not be anywhere near it (Ralston, Bitton, Taylor) and a GK who is just *. Absolute scandalous mismanagement from the club.

 

Christie was also quality outwide. Going down to 10 was the main disrusption.

 

Yeah, * Bitton man.

 

Can’t get over that, who even reacts like that when they’re * off.

 

Diving * made him look a right mug.

 

It’s time the guys who get chance after change after chance are finally binned, also need two much better fullbacks so we can benefit from them acting as centre mids during the build up play

 

Had a wee bit of time to calm down and think a bit more about that.

Overall, main feeling is one of frustration. And it stems from beyond what happened tonight.

From my early days of coach education, for every negative, you should have 5 positives. I'll try my best to deliver on that ratio.

There were some positives despite the outcome. The necessity (address this later)of having to field Dane Murray and he stood up to the challenge with a very commendable performance. Stephen Welsh stepped up to the plate. I thought Soro played well in the middle. Taking the ball in and moving it well, and mostly trying to play forward. Callum McGregor is back to a level closer to his potential ability. Best midfielder on the park. Abada for his 35min cameo, avec goal. Someone direct with their intent. Someone willing to attack the box at every opportunity. Someone willing to force the opposition into a decision which can lead to opportunities for others. Admirable display for someone just in the door with little time to adjust to the requirements of his role within the team and with the obvious lack of understanding with the individuals around him.

Good to see a clear strategy/ style of play again. Which was absolutely non-existent for much, if not all of last season. When we are playing forward or out from the defence, we have more players advanced and up against the opposition. Compared to last season, where we were dropping McGregor and Brown to take the ball off the defender or certain defenders who couldn't make the passes.

The frustration or negatives.

Midtjylland weren't really up to much. They appear to be having issues with some players and missing a few bodies that have been sold on. Eddie had a very good chance to put us 2-1 ahead but failed to convert. We hit the bar and also the post in the first half.

Frailities we know and others are aware of were exposed to enough pressure in order for them to fail.

4th season on the trot in Champions League qualifiers, where we haven't had a settled defence and had to facilitate it with a lesser solution. O'Connell, Moyokolo and so on. Bitton wasn't the answer before and still isn't the answer. Yet again we have hamstrung ourselves before the games have started by the lack of preparation and proper recruitment over the last few years. We know that any player with an ounce of quality and a sell-on fee, will be out the door at the time our valuation is met. Yet we aren't prepared. For a club that tells you the importance and value of being in the Champions League. We are so far from in terms of planning and preparation, in terms of recruitment and the processes. The old saying "Don't listen to what they say, watch what they do", is never more apparent with the running of this club. Rodgers had a lot more ability and coached above the level of incompetence from those in charge of this club. Hopefully, Ange will be able to do likewise. But he won't have a chance if they don't give him more than he has at this moment in time.

We knew the problems and it wouldn't take a genius to work out that the weaknesses were exposed. Bitton may play at centre at International level, but he's not good enough. Easily exposed. His first booking from a lack of defensive discipline and his 2nd, a lack of personal discipline. And let's be honest it isn't the first time. First booking, no need to try and win the ball, but come when he's dragged into wide areas with space for the opposition to attack. He can't deal with it. Second, whilst rightly aggrieved about the diving. He lacked the discipline and got himself into a situation he didn't need to get involved in and left himself open to the inevitable.

Barkas. I want and we need him to be successful. In his position, any mistake is costly. And we had another tonight. I can only assume he thought it was going wide and would explain his decision. But he got it badly wrong. Seems capable enough in the other aspects he's been asked to do. But that's of absolutely no value to us if he's going to make such mistakes.

I see Ange turned up the heat and reinforced the message about needing more bodies in again post-match.

He is of course, correct.

Yet again, instead of giving him (and previous managers) the best chance to succeed. The club continues to hamstring itself through an inability to function in the manner of what they tell you we are.

Different season, same old story. Club continues to harm itself, through its failure to address the inadequacies.

 

That's the spirit!

 

Second half they broke down, first half was different I'd say.

Not saying you are wrong but hard to remember many shaky moments. Certainly stats show there were few actual shots or corners lost. Thought that was decent given the 2 periods we were down to 10 and for one of them with only 3 at the back.

Barkas had a howler. Other than that thought set pieces actually looked more organised than last season (low bar). We even won some headers.

 

in regards to Barkas... maybe Celtic should take a look at Either Oliver Christensen U21 national goalie (Odense Boldklub / OB) or one of the 3 goalies at FC Copenhagen, the Swedish national sub, the Norweigian national Sub or the polish national sub... one of the 3, are destined to go, and everyone of them are miles better then Barkas.

CB: Sviatchenko would like to come back to Celtic... and in Brøndby, Andreas Maxø is also looking for a foreign adventure... either one of them would have improved the central defense immensely for tonights game...
And seriously.. disturping that Celtic can't beat FCM, when they are in the midst of player revolt, injuries and general chaos in the squad.

 

Yeah if we're comparing to last season we were night and day. If we're being critical, still plenty improvement to be made.

 

its great to see * getting sent off for diving ,winky getting the red was wonderful