Neil Lennon has said last night’s Champions League exit at the hand of Ferencvaros is on him and so it should be. Yet there are issues clearly arising here with coaching, the performance of individual players, attitude and history repeating when it comes to recruitment being planned for in advance.
Celtic have now qualified for the group stages twice in the last seven seasons. For the third year in a row Celtic will be absent from the top table and there is a clear regression in performance and results at that elite level – if you can even use that word to describe the qualifying rounds.
In the last three seasons Celtic have exited at the third qualifying round twice and now the ignominy of dropping out at the second round qualifying stage. For a club built and indeed sold on a proud European history this is a step too far.
The game last night could have been a re-run of Cluj or Copenhagen. Questionable and frankly unfathomable team selections, coupled with individual errors both defensively and in front of goal leading to a defeat to an opposition with less of a budget and with a poorer standard of player.
The game itself was a hard watch. The starting line-up was a head scratcher. Playing without a striker when two were deemed fit enough to make the bench, was akin to Callum McGregor at left back against Cluj. The individual defensive errors had Copenhagen and Cluj repeating in all our minds.
And the sad thing is if my phone was similar to yours – buzzing with pre-match concerns at playing without a recognised striker – then it should have been obvious to those paid to challenge the manager and Lennon himself. Clearly that wasn’t the case.
In the concession of the first goal it would be too easy to blame Scott Brown, when Greg Taylor goes to the ball Brown is left with the player on the ball and a man ready take a pass on his inside. Kris Ajer needed to come across and take the first man and let the captain engage the man on the ready to receive a pass. This is basic positioning for a centre half if the full back is drawn out. The most active Ajer got in that passage of play was to show his indignation as the ball hit the net.
A blame game rather that accepting responsibility.
After that Celtic played well in parts. The formation adopted by Ferencvaros appeared to have caught us out – why I don’t know when they only really play two versions of a similar tactical style – Yet eventually after 20 mins we were back in control and almost started pressing in unison.
The goal was the eventual culmination of a lot of good play. It was a fine equaliser and I thought Moi’s ‘goal’ looked onside. The last man on the top left appeared late getting out and played Elyounoussi onside but it was a tight decision. Had that gone in we’d perhaps have kicked on.
The second goal conceded was so poor it beggared belief. It took one hopeful punt and Elhamed felt he could usher Tokmac wide. The Celtic defender had two, maybe three bites at the player and tried to get a toe on the ball and to put him off his stride.
While I do understand what Elhamed was trying to achieve and he was somewhat unlucky, he had a chance to clear the ball into the stand or tangle, fall in a heap with his man and take a booking with a ‘c’mon ref that was just a coming together’. He did neither and Ferencvaros danger man strode on to score.
The lack of a recognised striker issue didn’t bother me too much as the game progressed. I thought Ryan Christie did okay and we created chances but he wasn’t natural in the role. Our decision making and determination to execute chances did become a problem. Where was the urgency, accuracy and determination to add the finishing touch to chances created?
Where I did have one issue was Christie’s attempted back heel finish. It was an example of arrogance over professionalism. It should have been a simple tap in.
What worries me is Lenny has a chance to decide Klimala could play last night which be it by accident or design was opportunity knocking for the player. The stars aligned, Lennon could have thrown him in. He could have given him 55/60 mins to shine and then introduced Ajeti. On such opportunities career defining moments can occur and we decided to deny the player.
Klimala has been lauded for his physical shape and fitness – yet Lennon stated there were fitness concerns for benching the player. I’m not sure I’m buying that at all.
There are two strikers unable to play and one not fit enough to last 90 minutes just yet. Klimala isn’t given that opportunity, instead we now send him bereft of confidence back to wondering why he ever bothered working his backside off in the first place. I must say I don’t understand the logic from Lennon on this one, this from a manager who doesn’t play those he thinks don’t out the effort in, to then not play a guy who has put nothing BUT effort in- that’s a big call.
Post-match Lennon appeared angry and frustrated and although stating he took the blame for the defeat he has also questioned if some players wish to be at the club. It’s hard to see where we go from here if the players don’t react to Lennon’s anger. We’ll know if it’s had the desired effect when we take the field against Motherwell on Sunday. What is clear as day is if Lennon had concerns of some player’s application, he knew this prior to last night so why play them?
There have been strong rumours coming out of Celtic that some players are unhappy with the one on one coaching and that two players have employed their own personal coaches to address this. Gavin Strachan was apparently employed for his reputation to improve players by working individually on their weaknesses. It is far too early to judge his impact but if there is player discontent at the standard of developing their game it should be something we can address, it shouldn’t get to the stage where it causes such levels of discontent that impacts on such games of such importance and in a season so vital in the history of the club.
Legia
Malmo
Maribor
AEK
Cluj
Copenhagen
FerencvarosWe can't compete with the money of the elite but we should be beating those teams. Its year after year. We may be better off out of Europe to focus on 10 for this season
— Liam Kelly (@cfcliamk96) August 27, 2020
Players have also questioned the tactics and a shoot on sight policy at odds with the analysis being supplied to the coaching staff, where more patient and probing football allows more opportunities for expected goals. The amount of shots peppering the goal and the lack of accuracy would back this up, yet again it’s something that can easily be addressed at a coaching level and by the tactics employed on a match day by Neil Lennon. It seems communication channels could be improved and it can still happen before this season really starts to unravel. The coaching staff can play a big part here and challenge the manager.
And to aid the Lennon going forward it’s clear the recruitment at this stage of the season also needs addressed. We are making basic defensive errors and while it could come down to coaching there is nothing like a little genuine competition for places to focus minds and limit mistakes. In defence Lennon has asked for reinforcements and like so many summers past the recruitment has been too slow and impacted on European results.
We touched on Nick Hammond’s role yesterday and the lack of transparency and profile of Celtic’s Head of Football Operations. If players are being targeted, they are not being completed on time. Is this down to Hammond identifying the players or the signing of the cheques at a higher paygrade to Hammond?
Now we’ll be in a position where another sale will no doubt be made to appease shareholders. Who will now be this season’s Tierney or Dembele, sold to make up for a lack of Champions League income, income lost in part due to ponderous recruitment? Season after season the same gamble is made.
Remember when it was Celtic’s stated aim to be in the CL group stages 60% of the time – 3 years out of every 5? Whatever plan there is to make that happen is failing miserably and to do the same thing over and over again expecting a different result is insanity. Now we will sell
— Brogan Rogan Trevino (@BroganRoganTrev) August 27, 2020
Celtic will now drop into The Europa League qualifiers and if we expect to make an impact it is clear there has to be a clearing of the air between the players and the coaching staff and a backing of the manager when it comes to giving him the tools he needs in a timely manner. If not, this won’t just impact on Celtic’ reputation abroad it could well jeopardise Celtic’s ability to reach the Ten-in-Row we all know we should be capable of achieving.
Two from seven successful qualifying campaigns is nowhere near good enough for a club the size of Celtic, especially when we are losing to the likes of Malmo, AEK Athens, Cluj and Ferencvaros. At £30m in lost revenue for five seasons the total cost to the club is an astonishing £150m.
Niall J
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