COMO, ITALY - JULY 24: Celtic Captain Callum McGregor, Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda and Liam Scales after conceding during a Como Cup Semi-Final match between Ajax and Celtic at the Stadio Giuseppe Singaglia, on July 24, 2025, in Como, Italy. (Photo by Mairo Cinquetti/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Less than four weeks before their Champions League Play Off tie Celtic were turned over 5-1 by Ajax in the Como Cup.
Victories over Sporting Lisbon and Newcastle United had installed a degree of confidence but the Dutch side burst that bubble tonight with three goals in the first 25 minutes of the second half showing up a variety of weaknesses.
Pre-season friendlies aren’t the greatest of guides to what us about to unfold but Brendan Rodgers was given evidence tonight that his side and squad are in need of serious investment.
Towards the end of last season the Celtic boss said that he was ideally looking for three new signings, so far Kieran Tierney and Ben Nygren have been signed up with Greg Taylor and Nicolas Kuhn departing.
With the SPFL Premiership season starting a week on Sunday at home to St Mirren time is running out to get new arrivals integrated into Celtic’s way of play.
After going behind in the 16th minute to a shot from Steven Berghuis Celtic quickly levelled through Yang Hyun-jun then enjoyed a decent spell of control without getting in front.
Ajax finished the first half in control then took the lead in the 47th minute through Davy Klaassen, exposing the weaknesses down Celtic’s right hand side.
Further goals in the 59th (Berghuis again) and 71st (Aaron Bouwman) minutes killed the game as a contest with Ajax going 5-1 in front in the 82nd minute through Rayane Bounida.
Rodgers made changes throughout the second half but Celtic were left trailing Ajax in every department.
The only consolation to be taken from the night was the second half appearance of Cameron Carter-Vickers but Rodgers will know that his side needs more players of that calibre to return to the Champions League and build on last season’s progress in that competition.
After losing tonight Celtic have a day of rest on Friday then face Al Ahli on Saturday to complete their pre-season preparations.
CELTIC: Schmeichel, Ralston, Murray, Scales, Tierney, McGregor, Hatate, Nygren, Yang, Idah, Maeda.
Subs: Sinisalo, Doohan, Rice, Trusty, McCowan, Osmand, Carter-Vickers, Tilio, Kenny, Inamura, Engels, Bernardo, Summers, Forrest, Donovan
Could start with dropping McGregor, he was fkn awful, passed back to everyone that fed him the ball while pointing to God knows what, an absolute empty jersey, he cost us two of the goals tonight, he almost looked like he was breaking up the play to benefit Ajax , he was truly dreadful, time to sub him captain or not , never seen such a dismal display by him , it’s been happening for months now, he’s to cautious, time to remove him if that’s his strategy.
The rest of the team / subs did okay , his backpassing killed any break , everyone else tried to play football and attacked forward.
He cost us big time tonight.
You must’ve been watchin through the keyhole ffs.
Really ! , are you seriously telling me he played a blinder, FFS get real , he was awful , did he even play a forward ball , maybe you’ve picked up someone else’s glasses by mistake Stevie.
Jim, keep the faith, you are bang on. I have been saying this for years and why no other club has shown any interest in him.
MacGregor sucks the life out of any game.
That makes three of us so far me, you and the Maister.
.
Make that 6, myself, my late brother and my son in law have been saying it for years as well, he’s a world class pointer though I’ll give him that
Your welcome, Tam. As they say “In the land of the foolish it is foolish to be wise”
Engels complete waste of a jersey.. yet again
Bernardo looked much better !
Ccv error was rustiness
Could have been 2 up at half time
Good wake up call for everyone especially with Ibrox new super galacticos on the scene !!!
It’s all right bhoys, our bank balance has never been healthier.
Who needs European victories anyway?
Celtic received a huge ‘wake up call ‘ after the defeat in the Scottish cup final back in May never mind last night … and have done very little to fix the problems ..since ! How come the average paying supporter can see that the team is crying out for fresh players , yet the board can’t …..hundreds of thousands, if not millions of us , can’t all be wrong !
To me calmac was rusty , Hatate should have been subbed at half time and in my opinion Sinasalo should start against St Mirren because kasper is now to old to get up and down quick enough
Is it just me?
We do not have the personnel to play out from our own box like that, but more obviously we don’t have the coaching to do it either.
How many times do we have to get embarrassed in our own box with keystone cops play and defending like that?
Not every back line player we have had in the last 10 years has been shite, but still we have to watch this week in week out.
Its the coaching ffs…..end this jobs for the bhoys pish and get too class technical coaches in.
Nothing will change till we do, and the CL in particular will be a complete car crash when the big boys get us.
I don’t mind losing but jeezo….the same mistakes over and over??
Didn’t watch the game so cannot comment on that but not surprised at the scoreline. If we persist with our current midfield especially waiting for the ‘young ‘Engels to ‘come good’ we’ll never progress. A big, physical technically better side like the Dutch will always run over us, imv. The victory against a careless, mistake-prone Newcastle side was flattering in truth.
Imagine that had been our euro qualifier,we would have lost out badly,and we will because no matter who we we bring in it might just be too late,I’m so glad Rodgers and the board got a wake up call,if we don’t improve our squad even if we squeeze by our or qualifiers,there is still the spectre of Euro hammerings again,over to you Rodgers with your 3 million per year and liewell and desmond and your money grabbing,who should be ashamed of our Euro thrashings we get most seasons,this tonight was a warning who we could be up against,I hate sevco with a pathological hatred but Ajax wouldn’t have done them over like they did us ,how is that ,ie kennedy,strachan,the whole coaching staff and Rodgers because he’s always kept them,or maybe he’s been told by his bosses,who he dares not to disagree with or his 3 million is lost.
Here is prediction. I think SS Rodgers is holed below the water line and will be gone by Christmas if not before.
The board may be angling for him to leave, simply as they would see the return of Ange giving us a chance of European success and a sop to the fans.
Personally I would see it as a disaster but there you go, you heard it here first.
Our board are charlatans and we urgently need players, and I want to stick my neck out and say that I have never rated Carter Vickers, He is too heavy so lacks pace, cannot jump, so not commanding in the air and his positioning against good sides can be woeful. I know this was his first minutes of pre season but when he came on we lost our defensive shape. Listen, the guy isn’t exactly agile, looks more like a rugby union build. Never on his toes, always stuck on his heels. Taylor and Scales got all the flack last season but it seemed to me that it was against the law to question CV. He certainly is not athletic or good enough to be in a Celtic team