Celtic Women’s Team

Neasrly all of them.

This season Celtic have:
A win and drew v City
A win and a loss v Hearts
A draw and a loss v Hibs
A draw and a loss v Sevco
Two wins v Motherwell

So against the teams in the split, Celtic have P10 W4 D3 L3. There does have to be some context in that, such as the games played while they were in the Champions League etc, but on the other side of that, since Sadiku took over from Alonso, Celtic have really struggled in the crunch. In Cup games and those since the CL campaign ended, the Ghirls have continued to struggle for consistency and especially against rivals.

Just 1 win in 7 attempts against Sevco. And that win was a year ago in March 2024. Overall P7 W1 D2 L4.

Last season in the title run in, Celtic just had to avoid defeat, and that the Ghirls managed to do, but that is the best that they've managed. Losing in last season's Scottish Cup SF and League Cup Final, as well as this season's League Cup SF.

City knocked them out of this season's Scottish Cup. The only Cup game against a top team that has ended in success was a 0-0 draw v City in this season's League Cup, which Celtic progressed on penalties - only to be knocked out by Sevco in the next round.

Taking Motherwell out of that equation though, and so just against the 4 teams actually in contention, its W2 D3 L3.

That is the story right there. A win & a loss v Hearts. A win & draw v City, a draw & loss v Sevco and the same v Hibs.

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Regarding @celtic20 & @Morcombe comments about regressing against the Edinburgh sides, that is not entirely fair and it should be acknowledged that both are better now than they had been in the past couple of years.

Hibs were for a long time pretty much the only team that were capable of challenging City, and they are now back on track with a good infrastructure there to support their women's team. Going into the split this season, Hibs have the best record of any of the contenders in the top 6 when it comes to games against each other. Hibs have taken 20 points from the 10 'regular' season games against the other top 6 sides. City is next best with 18, Sevco 16 and Celtic 15.

In fact, Hibs are the only team to have recorded at least 1 win against all of the other top 6 sides. So give them some respect.

As for the performances against Hearts, January's 4-0 win was comfortable, but the 1-0 loss back in October was 4 days after playing Twente in a first ever Champions League Group Stage game and with 8 players starting both games. So there is mitigating circumstance there and put into context. Celtic should've done better, no doubt, but Hearts have been getting better and are closing the gap over the past couple of seasons and deserve credit for this also.

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Sadiku's overall record as a manager is what it is atm, and we can only hope that it can be improved upon over the next couple of months.

TBH, think it is quite evident to most it's never been quite the same since Fran Alonso's departure. In some ways it feels like Celtic have been standing still while others have been improving, but there is some truth in that, because of the growth within the women's game the standards have improved overall, because of the wider implementation of professional football.

Apart from Chloe Craig (who has been out nearly all season with ACL), Sadiku has a squad that is relatively fit and healthy (beyond the typical niggles normal at this point in the season), the loss of Caitlin Hayes in January was a blow but Sadiku had been recruiting her own players so cant complain about that... the thing is though, over the 3 transfer windows with her recruiting, of the strongest starting XI (which essentially is a pool of 14-15 players), they are nearly all players that were inherited from Alonso. Emma Lawton (who was brought in to fill the gap left by Craig) is the only out and out success (remains to be seen what happens when Craig returns, likely Lawton will be shifted as she is more versatile, but she deserves to be included amongst the mainstays of the team).

Mathilde Carstens are probably the next most notable of her signings - and even that is with the proviso that both she and her twin sister, Signe, joined last summer, and yet Signe has moved on, so what exactly was the point of signing them both in the first place, only to move one on 6 months later?

Unlike the men, the women have had the benefit of a winter break, (between 23 Dec - 12 Jan), and no Champions League complications to contend with. Neither do the Hoops have any Cup games as a distraction (although I dare say that they would want to still be alive in these), whereas literally every other team still have Cup games to come, so there will be times when Celtic can freshen up and work on the training pitch.

Obviously, there may be other concerns involved in the idiocyncrasies and nuances in the reality of managing women's football, but that is the job that Sadiku has to deal with and prove that she is capable of doing, and being just 3 points off the pace with 10 games to go is not the worst place to be in. Will be a different story if at the end of the season and still finish 4th or 5th in the race though with a significant point differential and not GD, considering started as champions.

 

And if matters couldn't get more depressing, the Ghirls are trailing, 1-0 v Hearts.

Hibs beat City earlier with a 97th minute winner, so they are clear at the top now. Sevco leading v M'well, so they now move a point ahead of City if results stay that way, while Hearts (as things stand) are currently level with Celtic in joint 4th, 6 points off Hibs' pace.

 

Team is *, recruitment been poor,tactics poor. We are relying on City or Hibs to stop the huns which is embarrassing.

 

Bye bye sadiku, dont let the door hit you on the way out.
Defo finishing 5th under her

 

It's not about relying on City or Hibs though. They have their own well established set ups in the women's game, and until recently have been the dominant teams in Scotland, so it's not surprising that they are back and being highly competitive, and as it stands, leading the race.

Sadiku really has been underwhelming appointment, to say the least. Fran Alonso has been gone since Dec 2023, so she has had 3 transfer windows, and despite the loss of some of Celtic's best over the past few seasons (Jacynta, Hayes, Menglu, Craig etc), of the players she has brought in only Emma Lawton is in the strongest XI.

Hearts now 2-0 up.

 

She needs punted asap. Awful manager.

 

She has to go, she won the league last year but she's somehow turned a free flowing team into a team that can barely score. Seems like she just slightly adjusted the tactics to win the league, installed her own in the summer. What happened to Gallacher?

 

Celtic pull one back... and immediately concede again, 3-1.

 

She barely won the League last year. It was down to GD in the end. Sadiku was able to go into games against the likes of City & Sevco with purely 'so long as we don't lose' safety net in place and even the last day went to the last minute before Amy Gallacher's bit of individual magic v Hibs secured the title. I really hope that Alonso got sent a winner's medal wherever he is now, because he undoubtedly deserves his share of the credit for last season's success.

 

I really like Sadiku but this is going nowhere.

She’s got some credit in the bank for the league title but we have regressed too much.

If we sack her I’ll wish her the best in her future.

 

I think the credit has all gone tbh. Players don't seem to care.

 

Felt as though I was watching the woman's team today...

 

The thing is, a few months ago Sadiku was one of the Final 8 Nominees for the FIFA Women's Manager of the Year... and even at the time I was wondering, 'how?' Someone must really rate her, but I'm at a bit of a loss as to why. Made me wonder even then, that perhaps the nominating committee saw the results of last season without putting the context of Fran Alonso's work in the first half of the campaign.

 

FT Hearts 3-1 Celtic

Title race? 2 weeks ago, 4 teams were level. Celtic have lost both games since then. All of the other teams were in Cup action last week, except for Celtic, so even with an extra week off, still can't beat Hearts, who are now hot on the Ghirls heels in the race for 4th!!!

57 - Hibs
55 - Sevco
54 - City
51 - Celtic
49 - Hearts

 

The manager is poor I have said from near the start of the season that her tactics are poor too defensive at times , most times . She will be got rid of at end of season.

 

She is out of her depth. Going nowhere with her in charge.