SPFL Celtic V The Huns Thursday January 2nd kick off 3PM Sky Sports football

Brugge nullified us in an attacking sense but created very little against us. This is the second loss of the season in all competitions, so it's statistically an outlier rather than an indicator.

It's also their first competitive win against us in 15 matches (the 3-0 at the end of Ange's season was a dead rubber). Any loss, especially to them is a cause for concern and offers lessons to be learned, but perspective on the bigger picture is entirely relevant.

 

Very difficult to disagree with any of that.

A grim, but accurate read.

 

Schmeichel pulled off a world class save round the post to deny Brugge, and their winger missed an unopposed sitter from the six yard box. They also had the ball in the net which was called marginally offside which no one in our team had the faintest idea about.

I don’t think it’s fair or accurate to say that they created very little.

They were far and away the better side on the night and we couldn’t get in behind them. We didn’t create a chance. The Maeda wonder goal is a half chance at best.

Same with injury stricken Zagreb. We had every bit of the ball yet they created the only chance of the game.

We have a clear issue with progressing the ball effectively up the pitch against any team who dares press us slightly. Rather worrying considering that we insist on playing out from the back no matter what.

Fair enough I can’t argue with the statistics regarding the history of the fixture, but our performances have been well below par since the last international break, and with all due respect to Rangers, I don’t really measure the progression of Celtic against our success in this fixture. This is a team that’s won one title since their reincarnation in front of no spectators.

It’s not the defeat that concerns me, it’s the manner in which we lost and the same mistakes being repeated game after game, against any half competent opponent.

It’s only natural to be hugely concerned watching that performance. It’s less about the three points dropped and more about how we progress from this point.

 

Their only goal came from a rare CCV howler. The offside was the correct call so it's irrelevant. They didn't look like scoring outwith that and the small number of chances you highlight reinforce that point. Other than Maeda's goal, we had a chance with Engels on the 14th minute and in the 37th minute and 49th minute with Hatate. We had another chance late on with Bernardo. A draw was a fair result and many shared the view that we deserve credit for getting back into it.

Yeah our chance creation has suffered, it's a valid criticism in recent weeks. Hatate and Kühn are our main creators in the starting XI and one is way off form which is creating an over reliance on Nicolas.

Playing out from the back is how pretty much any team at a decent level operates these days. Shelling balls up to Kyogo is pointless.

I actually think yesterday highlighted how much of a loss O'Riley is in these games.

Well like I said the result yesterday is an outlier and I think any rational football fan accepts that flawless seasons are incredibly rare. There will always be some bad performances over the course of a season. That's the worst domestic performance we've had since Rodgers returned in my opinion and if it repeats, then I'll be very concerned.

Our results have remained pretty good and our performances haven't been as bad as some folk have made out. Even in the cup final our performance is better than it was initially given credit for. A long way off perfect given the mistakes that gifted them goals, but we were comfortably the better team over the 120 odd minutes of football and we deserved the win. I've rewatched the game twice without the same emotions you get watching it live and it was a world apart from yesterday's pathetic excuse for a performance.

Progression will take more investment in the team and to be frank, maybe freshening up the squad a bit in the summer as it could be the case that some players are coming to the end of their cycle with us and we need fresh faces.

 

Hate the feeling when U wake up after a loss - more so to that mob...

Poor performance and we go what we deserved.

Rodgers needs to take a lot of the blame for this as he knew from the final how they would set up yet he did nothing to combat it - tactics stayed the same throughout the game, as did the personnel until the 65th minute...

Worryingly, the players looked disinterested - every second ball we lost, in fact we hardly even competed for it in the first place.

No fight, no dig. We needed our captain to step up and grab this game by the balls when it was obvious to us all that we were getting outfought but he didn't. Raskin totally bossed him, embarrassingly so. Would captains such as Roy Aitken or Scott Brown have allowed that performance, I think not.

Scales and Hatate should both have been subbed at HT, that's not even a debate unless you are Brendan Rodgers. They were both abysmal as keeping them on didn't help them or the team. Everyone of us called it as wanted those changes at HT, says it all.

I hope Rodgers and the players learn from this and quick. It also illustrates that we need more quality players in (starters) this window - I think we need more steel in the midfield, a winger each side, a striker and a left back.

Looking for a convincing win and performance on Sunday to get us going again.

 

Btw that Hagi is a diving wee * and the Amish * raskin should've been shown a second yellow for dissent after his * with McGregor crying to the ref.

That * Robertson and his assistants bottled every big call under the pressure of the Hun mob.

 

If anything it's a good kick up the * to everyone at the club that we can't take our eye of the ball. They had a siege mentality and all that. These results can happen, too many players off it. It's fairly obvious however that O'Riley hasn't been replaced, need to get something sorted this window and get another winger in.

 

I’m actually glad none of our fans were in that cesspit of bigotry and hatred. Imagine being there and seeing the team put in a performance like that.

 

Very likely we would've performed better if our fans were there.

 

We don't lose many, and when we do lose it is normally a kick up the * that we need to go on another unbeaten run.

As I've said in a couple of threads now, it's a sore one, but has all the feel of when Beales team beat us 3-0, or when we get unexpectedly beaten by the likes of Killie or Motherwell etc, it's going to happen once or twice.

 

Thank * I'm still blocked because I cannot even consider thinking about what a disgrace that was to a man

 

"We're still 11 points clear" is exactly the kind of mentality Rodgers doesn't want.

That was * embarrassing. Pumped, outplayed, outfought.

No excuses.

 

Was strange because in the opening 5 mins it was all us, pressing forward and attacking. We started the match like we all thought the huns would. Then it went to *.

 

Huns got the early goal from a * pass and pressed our defence into more * passes.

 

Should finally teach a lot of fans to stop with the we will pump them * because we are points clear and they drop points to * teams all the time. Does my head im seeing it every time unless we are at home. Away or at Hampden we never pump them, more often they are the better team.

 

I actually blame myself for yesterday. Went against my mantra of never betting in this fixture and done bet builder which included Kühn and Kyogo to score and us to win 3-0 amongst others.

Apologies lads.

 

Maeda trying to knock down a header and hitting his own foot just summed it up. Not seen it mentioned either, but Maeda totally losing that we hobbit Raskin to allow a free header which lead to the second goal also summed our whole team up. Second to * everything.

 

Absolutely spot on with every point.

We will rollover Ross County and St Mirren every week but Rodgers has a lot of work to do on the training ground to get this team performing at the levels required to win in Europe and to start dominating derbies again.

The first thing he should do is sign a LB and an athletic CDM who can take the ball under pressure, get us up the pitch and protect the defence when needed. Both positions should be a priority in January.

 

Fantastic post. And one that really does highlight why a number of fans, myself included, are getting quite concerned about our form and style of play.

There’s some real fundamental issues in our team. Wasn’t there a stat against Killie a few weeks ago that it’s the most shots we’ve conceded in a home league match since the league changed to the Scottish Premiership?

Then yesterday it was the most we’ve conceded in christ knows how long.

The whole “11 points clear though” patter is just not seeing the big picture. We are lacking quality and depth in attack, have zero protection in midfield for our defence, and defenders who regularly gift opposition chances.

 

It was away against Killie