Jessica Elliott reflects on yesterday’s Glasgow City v Celtic FC Women SWPL1 match which ended in a 1-0 victory for the home side…
It’s safe to say, that was utterly shocking. In 90 minutes, we recorded one shot on target, and that clearly isn’t good enough.Simply put, this doesn’t look like a team that can compete for the SWPL title.
Of course, as fans, we all want to hope that we can get our hands on the league trophy, but we were already fighting a losing battle with the third-highest budget in the league. It doesn’t help that we can hardly attack or defend.
Is this simply a case of the players taking some time to get used to the new system? Natalie Ross spoke before the game about getting used to the new formation, saying that “it’s going to take a bit of time” to get used to how Elena wants things to work. That’s fine and completely understandable, but just a few weeks ago, we were in a great position to win our first ever league title.
Now, we look like a team that can hardly compete with the title contenders.When we are put under pressure, which City did a lot during this game, we now crumble. We don’t look like we know what to do. It’s like we can barely string two passes together.
So how can we stop losing our heads? These are the questions that need to be asked behind-the-scenes, because myself and other fans aren’t qualified coaches, yet even we can see the glaring issues. Thankfully, we have an easier tie up next against Hamilton in the fourth round of the Women’s Scottish Cup.
I’d say that this is a must-win for this Celtic side and also our new manager who has had to endure what was effectively an accident waiting to happen. At least Elena will have a much better idea of the extent of the job and what needs sorting.
Yes, the game is away from home, but there’s no excuse if we lose to rock-bottom-of-the-table Hamilton, especially in a knockout competition. Many Celtic supporters now think the league is gone, so the Scottish Cup may be our only hope at silverware this season.
It would certainly get the fans buzzing if we were to retain it, so let’s try our best to achieve that.I don’t want to be too harsh on the Ghirls as they’ve done us proud these past few years. At the same time though, when mistakes are being made up and down the pitch, we can’t just sit back in silence.
In a little bit of good news, Kit Loferski returned today! A welcome return and let’s hope we’ll see her return to make an impact as she did in the first half of the campaign. That though already feels like a long time ago.
The ghirls team is too lightweight and gets bullied against the better teams . My personal opinion is that there’s need for a clear out as there’s about 5 passengers. Even Caitlin looks a totally different player now. Something definitely wrong at the club.