Celtic fell to a disappointing 4-0 defeat last night, but the result didn’t tell the entire story of the game. Lukáš Hrádecký was man of the match for his performance between the Bayer Leverkusen sticks, whilst each side notched up 18 attempts on goal.
Buoyed by the return of McGregor and Kyogo, Celtic started the game on the front foot and created some clear cut opportunities in the opening 25 minutes. The latter found himself one-on-one with the keeper on two occasions and Carl Starfelt forced Hrádecký into a stunning save with a sharp effort on the volley. Neither of those three chances found the net, an outcome which Celtic would pay for at the other end, when a moment of indecisive madness allowed the visitors to take the lead.
Undoubtedly, Celtic were wobbled after going behind. It wasn’t long before Leverkusen grabbed a second, and admittedly the inverted full backs tactic potentially meant that the visitors were able to create an overload on that occasion. However, Postecoglou rallied the troops during the interval and the Bhoys flew out of the traps in the second half.
Kyogo almost pegged a goal back, 30 seconds after the restart, when Hrádecký managed to tip his curling shot round the post. The Finnish goalkeeper once again denied Celtic with an extraordinary stop from Jota’s powerful drive, which looked destined for the bottom corner. Liel Abada appeared set to score on the rebound, but fluffed his lines from close range.
The game was put beyond the Hoops when Carter-Vickers became the victim of a very unlucky penalty decision, yet the hosts continued to carve out opportunities. On the hour mark, Jota directed a terrific header towards the top corner, only for the keeper to incredibly deny him again, whilst Kyogo missed an open goal on the follow up. Even as late as the 86th minute, Celtic were incredibly unlucky not to find the net. No surprise that Jota would have been the goalscorer once more, had Ajeti not inadvertently blocked his effort at the last moment.
It is never nice to see Celtic lose 4-0, but I’m not sure it’s fair to question the manager yet. As mentioned, Postecoglou’s team had enough chances to score three or foul goals. The combination of poor finishing and exquisite goalkeeping is not the gaffer’s fault. Meanwhile, Celtic were knocked off their stride by an individual mistake rather than a fault of the defensive system. Therefore, the main issues rested on errors in both boxes rather than the management or style of play; and those errors were made by very good players, who more than merited their place in the starting XI.
In the bigger picture, the 4-0 defeat worries some supporters because of the poor run of results in recent weeks. But it should be noted that Postecoglou inherited a team which finished 25 points behind the champions last season. On top of that, he has lost the likes of Scott Brown, Kris Ajer, Odsonne Edouard and Ryan Christie, whilst having to bring in over a dozen new players.
Ange was tasked with a huge rebuild, the like of which Chris Sutton said should allow him to be given a rare year of grace this season. He began that reconstruction excellently, implementing his unique style of play and getting the team to a point whereby it could eliminate strong sides such as AZ Alkmaar from the Europa League qualifiers. Defeat at Ibrox followed, but whilst Postecoglou admitted that he made an error of judgement with his line-up, Celtic did still have two golden opportunities to score (Edouard and Kyogo) and thus did not deserve to lose the game (1-0).
Upon entering the most recent international break, fans were confident of where we were headed. The manager had very quickly rebuilt the team. We then suffered an injury crisis. Kyogo, McGregor, Forrest, Taylor, Juranovic, Giakoumakis were all out. Effectively, Postecoglou then had to restart the rebuild. He had to try to implement his style of play all over again with a new set of players. That doesn’t happen instantly, just as it took a few weeks to achieve the first time around.
In addition to ‘rebuilding the rebuild’, Ange was forced to play certain players in certain positions, simply due to who was available. Some of those players may not have been up to full fitness or may not be suited to the fast attacking style that Celtic want to play. Perhaps with another transfer window or two, the boss can improve squad depth to completely fulfil his requirements.
With the return of arguably our best two players, McGregor and Kyogo, Celtic appear ready to rediscover their mojo – at a domestic level at least. I have no doubt that if the pair stay fit, then Ange can lead a strong title challenge.
There are improvements required. The defence can be tightened. We can be more clinical. And we can cope better when using the wider squad. But Ange has only been here for three months. In that period he has endured an injury crisis and seen major, unexpected, change in the boardroom. It is far too early for fans to cast any doubts on him yet.
The league is our priority this season and Postecoglou cannot be judged until he is both able to select something close to his best team for an extended run, and given the time to undertake a title challenge. Let’s reserve any judgements until May. Many pundits said as much at the start of the season, but three months in to the manager’s tenure, with 31 SPFL matches to recover a six point deficit, it seems that some have forgotten their own words. I hope that supporters don’t follow suit.
Liam Kelly
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You can gloss it up as much as you want but basically we were thrashed. Not clinical up front and as usual hopeless at the back. My blind one legged granny could find a place in our defence. We are not good enough for Europe and our league position cements the fact we are not very good in Scotland either. If we cannot do basic defending we will win nothing. Last season and so far this season are testament to that fact
No she couldn’t. We knew everything you’ve just said before a ball was kicked and everyone said “ we understand what has to be done” .Now we hit a rocky spell ,not of the managers doing ,everyone jumps up and down like demented monkeys complaining ,demonstrating that they don’t have the savvy about what needs to be done or they were telling lies in the first place.