Celtic were taught a painful lesson from Ajax in the final match of their continental tour with the Dutch champions running out 4-0 winners.
The visitors never got started in the match and found themselves 3-0 down after half an hour. After the break Celtic were reduced to ten men when Charlie Mulgrew was red carded with positives thin on the ground for Neil Lennon.
Adam Matthews and Emilio Izaguirre came in for their first appearances of the season and started the game as wing-backs around a midfield trio of Scott Brown, James Forrest and Joe Ledley.
Victor Wanyama, Thomas Rogne and Charlie Mulgrew started off in defence but as the goals started to flow Wanyama was pushed into midfield with Matthews and Izaguiire taking on more conventional full-back positions.
Ajax took the lead in the 13th minute when Siem de Jong found some space down the right flank then sent a dipping shot across Fraser Forster into the top corner of the net.
Nine minutes later the Celtic defence were cut open by some slick Ajax passing that left Kolbeinn Sigthorsson with the simple task of rolling the ball into the net from six yards out.
A slip from Thomas Rogne in the 27th minute was quickly pounced on with Thulani Serero dashing into the box to shoot under Forster.
Mikel Lustig, Filip Twardzik and Kelvin Wilson replaced Adam Matthews, Emilio Izaguirre and Thomas Rogne after 62 minutes but before the replacements had time to settle Celtic were four down when Daley Blind converted a penalty with Mulgrew sent off for handball.
Wanyama dropped back into defence to replace Mulgrew with Hooper going into midfield as Celtic attempted a damage limitation exercise.
Celtic: Forster; Rogne (Wilson 62), Wanyama, Mulgrew; Matthews (Lustig 62), Brown, Forrest (Commons 78), Ledley, Izaguirre (Twardzik 62); Hooper (Bangura 78), Stokes (Murphy 78)
Subs: Zaluska, McGeouch,
Well as usual let ourselves down in Europe…ok a “friendly” as no doubt will get pointed out by numerous fans but its really painful to watch. Rogne is soo bad it actually makes me laugh. Brown was completely “Scottish”. Forrest really needs to grow up. Hooper was doin his best impression of Murphy. Stokes at least tried but to no avail. The only real positive I can take out the match is bhig Victor AGAIN!! I really dont know how some of these bhoys can look themselves in the mirror…what do they actually do at training? C’mon Lennon get it sorted because its just not acceptable! 🙁 HH
Only a pre-season friendly, but still quite worrying. Either our players are so unfit or they couldn’t be bothered. Either way they need to get a grip. This could have been 10-0. Forster was the only player that can hold his head up. The qualifiers are in ten days time. Somehow I don’t see the Finns crapping themselves at the prospect of playing Celtic. Was this a worthwhile exercise? Or is this kind of humiliation actually counter-productive?
The Daily Record will be relishing printing the cracked crest and questioning the lack of transfer activity. This just heaps pressure on Lawwell and Lennon before the first round of qualifiers. Get knocked out and it is because no one was signed and again the board will be questioned bacause the Rangers situation will be blamed for their parsimony. Should maybe have stayed at home.
Some ok points but who cares what the daily record or any msm have to say?preseason is what it is for one reason getting back to sharpness,judge the team on the real stuff in 10 days or so.
Need 2 c defenders quickly how many Years do we have to keep sayin this . SORT this defence out please
Lets be honest, our defence is a total shambles. The thought of relying on rogne and wilson terrifies me. Why has Lennon not got something sorted yet?!
One international class centre half urgently required ..
Must be a leader and an organiser .
Charlatans need not apply !
Its only a friendly ffs, apart from that we were pathetic, crap, inept, sad, unfit, untalented, shocking, a dusgrace, CHAMPIONS LEAGUE YOUR HAVING A LAUGH,ARE YOU SEEING THIS LAWELL LENNON AND THE ABSENT LANDLORD…..
i wonder if the boards ambition is win the league and 1 or 2 games in europe artmedia braga utrecht sion and how long will neil hang around if they cant or wont match his ambition
Lennon has big Johan tryin to sort his defence out might need to take the googles off and get extra defence coaches in . We have known this is not workin for a long time now .maybe a another defender with good experience could do well
I don’t care what any newspaper says but you give them the excuse and put pressure on yourself. As some of the above comments suggest people will be screaming for a centre-half by Tuesday morning at the latest. And one that costs about 3-4 million.
Lawwell will not spend anything this close season if he can help it. The league is in the bag and anything else is a bonus. The supporters do not see it the same way. With no games against Rangers it becomes imperative that Celtic are involved in Europe for as long as possible.
To exit the European stage at the beginning of August will be a financial disaster of our own making. Season ticket sales are down and crowds are bound to suffer if the league quickly becomes irrelevant.
Celtic need to be prioritising European football as, barring a meltdown, there should be no problem with the league.
The point of today is lost on me. It will only result in panic amongst the supporters, even though it is far too arly for any of that.
A good lesson and a good workout – not great being on the end of 4-0 but at least we had 90 mins against quality opposition.
The most important games of our season are the European Qualifiers.
Todays result will be totally irrelevant but the 90 mins if taken on board and digested might just be beneficial.
I got slagged off yesterday and this morning for suggesting we’ll be out of Europe by the end of August.
I said we’d be out of the CL and EL soon, because there’s a big hole where the center of our defence should be. We are going to lose goals galore in Europe. Everybody knows we need quality center-halfs, but as usual…
Come on, Mr Lawell. There’s being cautious with money, and there’s just being inept and pathetic. We’ve got a golden opportunity for at least four or five seasons in the CL group stages. This is not the time for penny-pinching. Grab this opportunity.
There’s no point in spending money for the sake of it, Lenny has already said he will spend if we get into the group stages. Why spend 5-6 million if we don’t get to the group stages total waste of money the we’ve got will coast the league. Hail hail
If we don’t spend, we probably wont get into the group stages of the CL or the EL. Remember last year: three average teams tore us to pieces, and we’re not any better this year. We’re probably worse.
Plus, if we spent £5m or £6m (which seems steep) to get into the CL, we’d be in it for the next 5 or 6 years. How much is that worth? This is not the time for the usual board room dithering and lack of bottle. We need to go for it.
And if we do spend we might still not get to the group stages and now have players we don’t need, more debt bigger wages just to win a league were going to win anyway to me it’s not worth the gamble. That’s why the Huns are we’re they are because they continued to gamble and chased a dream that was never coming. I will take what we’ve got everyday of the week.
When did things get so bad at Celtic that buying decent defenders is now classed as “spending money for the sake of it”? And comparing buying a central defender, we needed last year, to what went on at Ibrokes is a ridiculous argument. There’s no comparison.
We’ve been given a golden opportunity to get back into Europe every season for the foreseeable future, but winning the league seems to be the limit of your ambition? Do you think it’s going to be easier to get into Europe next year, or should we just settle for the league again?
Unless the board show a bit of initiative for once, things will never get any better.
i will take the league every season, europe is a bonus, matthews,izzy,rogne and charlie would do for me as a defence.
We’ve not had a decent central defence since the MON years when we had Big Johann, Bobo and Joos, oh and Ramon Vega! What I would give for even one of those now! The gulf in class tonight was frightening: ok it’s a pre-season friendly, but all the old failings were there for all to see – suicidal defending, failing to keep possession, no width and no service to the strikers. Would things have been better if Kayal and Sammi had played? I would like to think so, but I’m not sure!
Still things can only get better, right?!
HH!!
Or big stan varga!
Thanks Kevin. How could I forget big Stan!
HH!!
champs league-get real- cant pass,tackle,defend no tactics,we would just be an embaressment.
We looked & played exactly what we are….a bunch of players still way short of match sharpness. Felt sorry for the likes of Matthews / Izzy being thrown in at the deep end. While the idea of playing 3 central defenders against quality opposition will only work IF we have control of midfield, which we never had. A further mistake in utilising Forrest in a central role, he looked lost which left Brown & Ledley completely over-run. Stokes & Hooper had no service worthy of the name.
However I’d be more than happy to meet Ajax again in the real competition. One of two exceptional talents as usual but within our capabilities when up & running. We have tried to get 25-28 players fit on one wee tour, instead we should concentrate on working a core of 18-20 at most. Guys such as Murphy should be left behind – 4 x games and still no-one at the level they should be. Lessons to be learned I hope.
Are the players we have capable of learning the lessons needed? It was not just match-fitness or tactics that team looked to be so far in front bridging the gap is practically impossible. New ideas needed.
Relax Bhoys. Maybe this was to lure the flying finns into a false sense of security…….nah, can’t even convince myself of that one!
Love how the faithfull ( paul c ) have a breakdown when we get beat in a FRIENDLY get a grip thease are the games that get us ready to play the ones that matter, Ajax are a top team so getting slap off them is how it is it might be better to learn of this than winning 4-0 against an unknown and thinking were world beaters so calm down and relax. Hail hail
we could not beat 2nd rate german teams,if you watched the games, stuggart (3rd div) should have scored 4or5.be honest we need massive overhaul.
A haven’t watched any pre season games because they mean nothing mate, just try and not get worked up its only for fitness and tactics granted it didn’t work last night so now Lenny knows it didn’t work he goes with something different or try’s to fix the problem that’s what it’s all about.
We’ve got a fine young team with a great youth team maybe try and be glad of what we’ve got and forget what we haven’t. Hail hail
I’d be more concerned if we were thrashing teams in pre-season, way too early to hit top form. It needs a gradual build up not a flying start then run out of steam long before the end. I recall us getting gubbed 1-5 at home to Arsenal some years back, sure we went on to win the double if memory serves.
Either way, pre-season is just that, training matches nothing more. We got another doing from Inter last season who fielded several very talented U 19s and looked a class above us…yet the season turned out not too bad.
Players were definitely atrocious but coaching needs to be questioned.
We have barely registered a shot on goal in all 4 preseason games.
Poorly implemented systems with zero strategy for going forward.
Talent aside why are other teams so fit and we are not. The season in Holland is the same as it is in SCotland. The team looks largely uncoached, undrilled and very very unfit. It all comes down to organization on the field. Inferior teams can stay organized. DO NOT SAY THE LEAGUE IS IN BAG – No Way can you say that with this outfit.
Also Helsinki have been in hard training since February and they are organized.