Champions League Qualifier, 26 August 2020. Celtic 1-2 Ferencvaros -Having seen off Icelandic side KR Reykjavik Celtic had a home tie against Hungarian Champions Ferencvaros. We watched their game in the previous round and noted that their biggest threat came from their left winger who was pacy and had an eye for goal. We suggested that Frimpong was ideally suited to play at right-back but instead Elhamed got the nod. The inevitable happened.
Afterwards Neil Lennon had this to say:
“There are some players who may want to leave. They have made inroads into that in the last six months or so. So if they don’t want to be here, we have to do something about it. If they are making waves to leave the club they are obviously not committed.
“We want players committed to the club. I am not going to go into it but I am putting it out there because it has been bugging me for a long long time. I’ll have to carry the can, and take the responsibility for it. I don’t know if it’s attitude, mentality but we seem to have made the same mistakes as we did last year.
“Just poor, poor goals defensively and not a cutting edge in the final third when we’re in control. I’m not saying Ferencvaros are a bad team, they’re not, but looking at the game in the cold light of day, we had so much control of the game that we should’ve won. But we haven’t.
“That doesn’t make us weak, it doesn’t make me weak but people will cast aspersions that we’re not good enough. They are good enough, they haven’t performed anywhere near what they can tonight and let the game get away from them.”
The writing was already on the wall for Neil Lennon.
David Potter’s View…
Celtic 1 Ferencvaros 2 …So we are out of the Champions League again! It is totally heartbreaking and all the more difficult to take because of some good play which, frankly, deserved more. The midfield is above criticism, the defence was possibly good enough apart from that one horrible moment, but the forwards really must do better.
And yet it was so predictable. The lack of incisiveness so characteristic of the games against Kilmarnock and Dundee United was apparent tonight as well. I blamed Edouard on Saturday but I cannot blame him tonight.
Perhaps it was a mistake not to have a recognised striker on the field from the start. It was certainly strange to see a team taking the field without a striker, and yet there were two strikers among the substitutes! Ajeti and Klimala, we are told, are not yet match-fit. Why on earth not? Could they have not played at least one half each?
Elyounoussi and Ntcham started well, but by the end of the game, they had slowed down and become so predictable. With Christie, there was always some sort of a hope for a goal but once again, the shooting has to be better. The first goal of Ferencvaros was a good goal. Why can’t we do that? The second goal was a punishment for awful defending with Elhamed caught out of possession and then reluctant to make a tackle while our goalkeeper was not all that impressive either.
It was a devastating experience of the sort that we have had far too often. It was a night that we all needed a good Celtic performance. The annoying thing was that we got a good performance from SOME of the team – but not all. We need Celtic to be brilliant at all levels and in every game. That is what the Champions League is all about.
Whether we are even good enough for the Europa League is a matter of some doubt, and that will become obvious in September. In the meantime unless we get a good result against Motherwell on Sunday with possibly Ajeti or Kilmala on from the start, if Edouard is unavailable, Celtic are in real trouble.
The interview of Lennon at the end was revealing. He talked about “mentality” not being right, and clearly implied that in some cases, there were players whose “attitude” was not right. We can possibly guess who he was talking about, so maybe there will be traffic through the exit door as well as the entrance door.
There is no place for those who think that they are above Celtic. It remains the greatest club on earth… even at a wet, empty, desolate Celtic Park.
David Potter
Issues – Tactical ineptitude, unfit players, news of Wantaways
