Ronny Deila faces the toughest test of his managerial career over the next six days.
By 5pm on Saturday his relationship with the dressing room will be clearer as the real fall out of failing to reach the Champions League emerges. Three days later the transfer window closes.
Footballers are fragile creatures, hearing your manager say that you looked frightened and scared doesn’t sit easily with their ego. Asked about that comment Kris Commons naturally denied those sentiments, confirming Deila’s views would be difficult for any player to handle, at every media conference players will be asked for their views on that quote.
Deila will be expected to provide more substance to his opinion, moving on and looking forward to the Europa League draw won’t wash at a club geared towards playing in the Champions League.
The 2015 Champions League may be brutal and unforgiving but Celtic fans expect their side to be there. We don’t want to be looking at how Malmo get on and try to second guess how Celtic would have fared.
On Tuesday night the vast bulk of the team was made up of players that Deila inherited, a couple of them will be aware of interest, and salary hikes, from England.
Losing the dressing room is a lazy explanation to cover various set-backs and defeats. The suspicions and insecurities of players will be irked by the frightened and scared comments.
Honesty should never be discouraged but that quote would have been best kept private or shared with the players involved.
Deila faces the task of turning to that same group of players, or those he judged not good enough for the biggest game of the season, to produce a winning run domestically and progress in the Europa League without the dramas that have accompanied the club in recent European ties.
At the same time he has two battles to tackle before the transfer window closes. Retaining Virgil van Dijk appears to a lost cause, the sale of any other first choice players would be damaging.
Without the attraction of the Champions League recruitment becomes much more difficult. No ‘treasure chest’ is available with the combination of SPFL and Europa League something that most players can resist.
Retaining the confidence of the players that he currently has and adding quality over the next couple of days looks like a tall order.
A year ago Deila was given the benefit of the doubt after losing out to Maribor for a Champions League place.
Twelve months on he is being assessed far more critically by supporters, the reaction of those deemed frightened and scared will decide his future.
if you open a steak resturant you serve steak !
if you play in the champion league you need a champion league team
all we do is keep a head of the rest in the spl and hope for a bonus ball in the champion league
as a club we are going backwards and time will tell if we have the backbone to go for 10 in a row ?
also look at the signing over the last 5 seasons what forward have we signed that would makes us money buy selling on
You are blaming Deila for splitting the dressing room, but he was only being honest. This team haven’t shown any mettle whatsoever in Europe for the past few seasons, and I am including the Qarabag game, that team were second rate at best, as well as Malmo. Celtic and every other team in Scotland need to change their short term outlooks from just winning the cups and SPL to aiming for Europe, use the SPL etc as a springboard to get your squads ready for a European campaign. Otherwise we would be as well giving up on Europe
When a was a kid (long time ago) my dad took me to a game, after we’d been knocked out of a European tie during the week. A group of fans where outside the main stand shouting ‘ STEIN MUST GO’.
Personally a thought RD team selection was good.
Players performances where poor and we’re out.
I’m pig sick to say the least, had a given an interview after the game, it would have been a lot worse than scared.
Players lead a privileged life and deserve criticism, if they don’t perform.
VVD is a great talent, but if he wants away then maybe it’s time he went, I’m fed up hearing he’s wanting out.
That’s my opinion on it, I’ll be at all the home games in the EL.
HH
Well said Wulz totally agree
mike no excuses twelve months on no improvements where is the motovation poor tactics poor defensively and weak midfield same guff wake up celtic or lose your wonderfull support,
No way will Celtic lose their support.
May lose some who don’t go to Celtic Park unless it is for Champions League.
I for one don’t care what these fickle fans go on about, have seen far worse than Tuesday’s performance but still support RD and the Bhoys
He suggested this as a possibility, the players have to repay their ineptness, as they came up short as a unit that should have all been single mindedly determined to overcome Malmo when the opposite was true. Malmo wanted it more, and they are poor in defence also.
Mulgrew’s inclusion as some sort of a solution was Ronnie’s main bloomer. Unfortunately opponents suss Charlie quickly and have him making the wrong decisions which lead to errors and discord in our system where we need everyone on their game. SPL back up only please.
We realistically need improvement in both full back positions. And for me Armstrong should have stayed on unless injured.
Davie Moyes said in a recent interview,” It would be a dream to manage Celtic,one day”
Desmond has spoke to Davie before,he has his number,now is the time to make Davie’s dream come true !! HH
As a foreigner whose first language is not English perhaps Ronny could have chosen different adjectives rather than frightened and scared. If he’d said incompetent who could argue, the team looked overawed, though I don’t know why. Saturday’s response will need to be up with the best and maintained throughout the season.
Agree with everything written in the article. The biggest issue for me though is that we are a very long way away from competing in the champions league even if getting there. We are struggling against so called smaller teams, If the big teams came calling it would be embarrassing. Big nights like Barcelona seem so far away. My personal opinion is that Ronny is not up to it. Maybe getting ahead of myself But if a new manager was required Michael Laudrop who had Swansea playing great football would fit the bill for me.
When the ball becomes a hot potato and no one especially in midfield try’s to be creative then you are frightened and scared. Ronnie is spot on there.
When you lead a tie at 2-0 and lose 4-3 mainly down to losing goals at corners then something is wrong in that department and has been for some time at celtic.
My gripe has been we are far too open and not defensive minded during matches. The system although ok in Scotland does not work in Europe. If we go back to last season we had to depend on other results to get through.
Our players are good enough to match Malmo Maribor etc but the system is wrong. This is where Ronnie falls down.
2-0 up against Malmo we had a corner we took it like it was still 0-0 sending all the big men forward leaving broony as a centre back. What happens they counter and score bloody stupidity by The coaching staff. The same has happened over and over.
But again luck plays it’s part. The Lustig injury was massive in this tie he is for me the only real defender we have and I include Virgil in this.
The handball incident again is a game changer just before half time at 1-1 and with them down to 10 all changes.
Small margins but we got defeated by set plays and although Craig had to make some great saves which you would expect being away from home the tie was lost due to corners.
Hail Hail
Players should be made to watch re-runs of Malmo (H&A) Maribor(H) and then come our and say they weren’t intimidated by the occasion. Anyone who is happy with his performance in these games should be sent to the stand to watch / punted.
If players aren’t responding to the manager’s wishes…get them out, before they try to get the manager out. Some have had too many chances already…we SHOULD be doing back to back trebles domestically. Players have been getting away with under par performances and still getting a jersey.
Stand up and be counted Ronny – show them who is the BOSS….No-one v Malmo can have any complaints if they get dropped.
I cannot believe the nonsense spouted by Celtic supporters. Deila was leading the team to 10 in a row, the best young manager in the game and now people are saying they always thought no progress was being made. Get a grip. He got it spot on. Too many players looked scared. they were terrified. His team selection was right, however his substitutions were wrong. Johannson should have been hooked at half time, not Armstrong unless, he was injured. Big name players, who are strolling through League games, looked out of their depth. This includes Virgil. He ws a fault for at least one of the goals. The height Celtic possess should have meant set pieces were easy to deal with. Every time they had a set piece the defence were terrified. The manager picks the team, he motivates them but he cannot play for them. If they are not up to it, sell them!
The Team did not want to win the game as much as Malmo wanted to win .
As a Team they were flat and afraid to make mistakes.
There were no acceptable performances.That has to be discussed internally,analysed and resolved .Deila has to and will do that.
All the media articles as usual and some Celtic blogs today are a bit over the top .
That is to be expected.
However for Celtic fans to talk about a manager change is unrealistic and frankly not wise.
When everybody has finished having their rants , i hope we realise that we have a young, hungry, ambitious, humble manager who is holding HIS hands up for his part in it and willing to give his all to help us improve. We’re lucky to have found a guy who I think also has a semblance of decency, bravery and loyalty about him. Hard to find even for us in this modern game, polluted with the crazy money over the border.
Secondly imagine private school boy Andy Wa*ker acuusing RD of under achieving……hehehe……Ronnie has coached and won something ANDREW! Best you keep to talking about Strikers mate. Oh and do enjoy the lamb and crumpets….
RD has spent virtually nothing….what is it 4M on GMS, Armstrong, Cifti, SA plus he’s developed a few already where there is considerable improvement in performance and value. NL said “not for me anymore” and fair enough, and RD stepped up. He will get better and so will the team. Do we honestly think Moyes would think of Celtic job? Championship managers have bigger salaries, and better player budgets. QPR TV money bigger than our turnover. Even if we had the Old Firm, would that seriously help us bridge that gap?
I’m bitterly disappointed that we went out but lets all see if we can swallow a reality pill here and come back to earth!
Dust yourself off Ronnie and get ready to go again. He won’t be worried about “losing a dressing room”. He leads by example and is working his arse off, and keen to learn and improve as a coach. I wonder what the news will be next week…..?
HH and into the EL we go, we will emerge richer as a club, a team, and coaching unit.
Ronny got it completely right.
The truth hurts but it’s still the truth.
Ronny is no soft touch.
The players who let him down must improve or they will be gone.
Amen.
Ronny Deila was bang on with his comments, frightened and scared summed that performance up perfectly. Anyone in that dressing room who takes issue with that assessment are only doing so because their over-inflated ego has been bruised and they want to try and absolve themselves of any responsibility.
They couldn’t handle the pressure and they wilted, they deserve a bollocking from the manager and if they can’t handle being told it like it is then they should find another club.
“The Celtic jersey does not shrink to fit inferior players.”
When Big Jock said that you can be sure he wasn’t just talking about ability, he was also talking about the character of a player. So if a player can’t handle pressure and criticism he has no business pulling on that jersey.
as a celtic supporter i have to say watching celtic play a european game away from home is one of the most boring things to do in life why cant the manager just let them play ther natural game and go straight for the jugular rather than sittin in all the time and trying to hit them on the break when we cant defend to save ourself, so if you are gonna go out at least you will go out fighting for your lives.
Yes Ronny gave them all what they deserved they were lazy heartless goals they gave away school boy stuff he had the players out to do the job they never turned up time and time again they think they can just take the foot off the pedal and get that draw does not work like that if they ain’t going to work drop them Ronny does one thing I will blame him for is that he plays 1stricker up there put 2 in there let other teams fear us if the front players get the ball the team will put that little extra into the game that nite
Virgil van dijk is a liability.
Take the money and run.
Johansen has an attitude problem.
Take the money and run.
Griffith’s will go off the rails again.
Take the money and run.
Scott Brown is a Terry Hurlock.
Take the money and run.
Efe ambrose is efe ambrose.
Take the money and run.
Now that’s better.
Amen