Where are Celtic failing in Europe?

13 thoughts on “Where are Celtic failing in Europe?”

1. Add us as a preferred Google source

2. I think we have to stick at trying to play good quick passing football- and be resolute at the back.

   Passing the ball quickly will develop the players.

   We’ve had some great results but they’ve tended to be surprises, back to the wall stuff at times.

   Hopefully after game six in the Europa League we will have a much more experienced group of players aware of what is required to get competitive again in Europe.

3. I can’t see past the negative 4-5-1 formation to explain it. Yes we got some good results at home but – barring the odd suprise draw – our away form has always been garbage.

   You can’t take a team that’s used to attacking for 90 mins, and expect them to defend capably for 90 mins against the world’s best. I think Celtic’s best form of defence is attack – we know how to attack (usually) and we have nothing to lose.

   Maybe we would still be defeated but I’d be prouder if we took the game to our opponents. If the last 10 years has taught us anything about Celtic’s away record, it’s that 4-5-1 almost never works. Bin it.

4. ZONAL MARKING

   We can’t do it, but persist on doing it, is that not madness?

5. You say only Artur Boruc, Shunsuke Nakamura and Aiden McGeady would walk into the current team, but The difference is One of those players, Artur Boruc was the best goalkeeper i have seen in my lifetime at paradise, and how many times did he save us.

   Look at all the great results in his time, 1-0 V man U, 2-1 v AC, Benfica, and many more.

   Even the away defeat to Man U 3-2, that la how many times did he save us it could of been about Ten, but he kept us in it and that result and away goals put us into the last 16

6. I thought our discipline was poor last night. Defensively (especially from the midfielders) there was far too much ball watching and opposition players making untracked runs all night. Atletico exploited that for the second goal (there were 3 Celtic players in and around the right back position – two got sucked into the ball and none of them tracked the runner down the line and the eventual finisher was unmarked in the middle also) but I felt we were vulnerable to that the whole match. Thankfully the Spaniards generally shot from distance when they were around the box.

   Going forward we seemed to be panicking on the ball; there didn’t seem to be a great deal of composure or confidence. This will have to be rectified.

   I think what frustrated me the most though was the lack of application towards the end. Players were just jogging back when they had lost possession – there is no excuse for that. The best players play at the same level until the final whistle – you train all week to play for 90 minutes so you should do your best for that whole 90 minutes and besides which you never know what might happen.

   As pointed out in the article these players are more than good enough and I think Atletico were there for the taking. I think the signings made under Lennon have been excellent – they just look to me like they’ve lost their way a bit. Lennon has talked about the positives in the aftermath (which is the right thing to do in public) but I hope he’s given them a stern talking to in private about what it means to wear the Celtic jersey.

7. I think our failures are down to a mixture of lack of experience, which hopefully will develop, and not having “a plan B”.

   All good attacking teams have a plan B, and plan B is simply that everyone knows exactly what they are doing when they dont have the ball.

   Plan B works in basketball for teams like the Chicago Bulls, and it works in football for teams like Barcelona.

   Every player in these teams knows exactly what he has to do when they lose the ball. Their forwards dont spend ten minutes thinking, ‘Aw naw, I lost the ball’. Unlike with us, they immediately slot into their defensive role. They automatically cover for anyone who is out of position, and they defend in numbers until they get the ball back. Theres no mumping around scratching their backsides, like our forwards tend to do.

   And the good attacking teams train for plan B just as much as they train to attack, and they play this way against every team they play, no matter how good, no matter how bad. They train and play this way until it becomes second nature.

   Hopefully, our players will improve as they become more experienced, but I think we need to seriously work on what we do when we dont have the ball.

8. The biggest factor is losing an early goal away from home. Its hard enough to get results in europe without shooting ourselves in the foot. If you stay compact and keep it tight for first 20-30 mins you can frustrate teams and their fans but wen u concede in 1st 10 mins it lifts both their players and fans and gets them right up which makes the task all the harder.

9. I think we need a stronger defence. I think if we had Izzy back in the team last night it would have made a difference. Plus Loovens is totally rubish, and the younger lads at the back looked a bit out of their depth…

   I also have a problem with Samaras. I dont know why he gets his game on the Euro nights… especially playing him on the wing! We should have had McCourt on the wing or even Commons out there on that side. But Lenny seems to always want to play Samaras on the big games….

   Sort out the defence and get rid of sammy and we’ll be sorted!!

10. It’s down to one thing

    Money

11. Apart from the obvious reason, which is money, I think we have to admit that we no longer actually even belong in these tournaments.

    Celtic were absolutely terrified last night. I fail to see how anyone could take anything positive from it. Only one Celtic player has the talent to play at this level and that is Ki. The look on Kayal’s face as the game passed him by said it all. He knew he was out of his depth.

    The same goes for Lennon and the management. They simply don’t know what to do when faced with any talent at all. Why was Matthews on the bench when he is a far better player than Mark Wilson? Simply because Wilson played above himself last season and is older? I don’t know.

    Atletico Madrid are about the 6th or 7th best team in Spain, and Spain is on a different planet to Scotland. They never even needed to reach first gear. They seemed to treat the game as another pre-season friendly. And there is nothing we can do about it. We must revel in Sunday because that is as good as it will ever get for us.

    In days gone by team-spirit, gritty determination, belief in the impossible and other traits associated with Celtic, the mythology surrounding the history of the club, could bridge the gulf in talent. But no more. The gulf is too big and no one believes any longer. Today I just feel sad, not surprised or even disappointed, sad. Last night was a terrified, fearful performance. Celtic were beaten as they walked on to the park. At that point I still believed but I don’t think I ever will again when we are playing a team which is at the level of Atletico, who according to their management struggle to keep up in Spain (God help them!). As for the top teams…I will definitely need more than a few drinks before considering watching.

12. Well said JohnD……we are simply miles & miles short of the standard to play even in the 2nd tier or Europe’s best. We can make all the excuses in the world, rant about money but ignore the fact we spend more than Braga, Utrecht etc.

    In terms of ability we are clearly lagging, scour the world for talent then ask them to change style to suit “Scottish / British” thinking…WHY ??? When European teams come to Scotland and easily beat ANY Scottish opposition.

    Look more closely at the top teams in England…
    Man Utd relied upon Queroz from Portugal to teach them, Chelsea, Arsenal have foreign management…yet we cling to this rubbish about being a Celtic man. Jansen came in times of even greater need and changed history. Dr. Jo brought us Lubo (Would any British manager ?)

    Time we searched for top managerial talent abroad, coaches included.

    Young inexperienced players don’t generally show fear mainly through lack of appreciation so it must come from those involved. I’m sure the Lisbon lions side cost a lot less than Inter in terms of transfer fees / wages but it certainly didn’t show – a good manager makes the most of his resources, it’s abundantly clear we are NOT.

    Artmedia, Sion, Braga, Utrecht, Ross County, Inverness, Basel, Copenhagen, Rosenberg, Villareal didn’t just happen as a result of mistakes on the park….we made even more OFF the park.

13. I have to agree about the fear factor. Before the kick off, when both teams lined up, the Celtic players looked petrified. I dont think I’ve ever seen a whole team look so scared. They were like wee boys that had lost their mothers. Worst of all, there was not one single Celtic player who could take control, gee up the others, or even get them to calm down.
    At that point I thought we were going to be slaughtered. So the players can take some credit for getting some composure back, at least.

14. Stephen, I disagree. It’s not about money. Belief is more important. What money tends to do in the modern game is buy that belief but at the end of the day, faith is more important. This is how Jock Stein and Martin O’Neill were able to inspire their teams.

    We need to focus on feeling at home where ever we go and with perhaps as many fans as any team throughout the world, we can consider ourselves a world team. We need to forget about the away record because dwelling on it only brings in the fear that causes players to freeze and make the mistakes that cause these results.

    Relax, enjoy the games and trust that the results will come. There were a lot of positives to take from last night’s game. Let’s dwell on these instead.

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