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the week gone; some thoughts
Topic Started: Oct 26 2008, 03:34 PM (77 Views)
desachi
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walking barefoot
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I think this week speaks volumes about where we are as a club, a team and a support.

There is, I feel, a realism that has dawned on us that we aren't capable of sitting at the top table and our level is very much the SPL. I find this readjustment very difficult to take myself as I am of the firm belief that we should hope for and get much much more in terms of our ability to sit with the Man Utds of the world.

It has sort of saddened me to hear comments from our team and manager regarding how much better Man Utd were on Wednesday, as I think there was more than a bit of defeatism in them. I understand the players being humble about defeat but I hope sincerely there is a part of all parties concerned that wants to ensure (through new signings, better tactics and more effort) that it never happens again. That said, I thought we actually played well in Manchester for a while, and were unlucky. On another day, without those decisions, there was a real chance of us getting something from that game. All European away teams get a stern examination of their defensive capabilities and Man Utd will do that to most teams at Old Trafford.

Contrast that to the attitude shown on Saturday and it was night and day. When we concede goals in the SPL (something we have done a lot of this season) the team believes that it has goals in it and plays accordingly. It is this confidence that is missing when we play in Europe. To me it is the nightmare scenario, we have "found our level" a state of affairs that is not healthy at all in the grand scheme of things.

For me this stems from the problems at the top. The players who come in do their best, and while I have never been a fan of Caldwell or Naylor the players, I certainly cannot fault them for their efforts. That they are regulars in a Celtic jersey is not, after all, their fault. Whether they should be for much longer is down to the manager and, equally how much resource is thrown his way. To me, it is clear, from looking back to Old Trafford, that WGS actually got it tactically right away in Europe as he scarcely has before. The shape was correct for the personnel at hand though it is questionable about some of the selection issues, but then it takes a brave man to drop last season's top goalscorer when he is the only "known" striker left.

It was interesting as well to see the reaction of the fans to the two games. Both atmospheres were terrific thanks to the support, one from defiance, and the second from confidence in the team. There were no heads gone down when Hibs came back from being two down, everyone knew we had it in us to win the game.

We need to get the ambition questioned answered at the very top though. If we are going to simply accept that we are an SPL club and Europe is just there to pick up some extra cash then, to me, those at the top must take a step down to someone with ambition. The financial planning has been excellent, but now it is time to start some football planning, focusing on getting the right players for the right positions having the confidence to sell players who might be good, in order to bring in better for the right positions. Takes a ruthless manager, and one who is willing to look beyond the favourites game and do things for the betterment of the team.

What does everything think?
In the nation of the blind the one eyed man is king.

All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing

HWEUCSC & Chicago CSC

Buena Vista Celtic Club, Keeping the Green Flag Flying High
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Jinty
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Elite Member
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firstly, excellent post des :clap:

as you say, it all comes down to expectations

as fans, we pretty much expected to lose mid-week, nothing wrong with that imo, especially against the quality of players that man ure has at it's disposal

a big problem for me was that the team seemed to expect defeat too - granted, up until the first offside goal, they played well and managed to carve out a few chances, but once the goal stood we seemed to drop our shoulders and our game accordingly......realistic? perhaps. the celtic way? certainly not :(

there is most definitely a lack of ambition from the top....not signing a half decent left back in the summer window proved this to me beyond doubt...they appear to be content in raking in money with CL merchandise etc etc without actually using these funds to improve the team and our chances of actively competing, and that for me is unforgivable :(
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tigergerry
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tigergerry
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SEE AT THE GAME YESTERDAY pishing down wi rain all day windie as fuck
half expecting a poorish turnout with everything taken into consideration what didf we get
1)a great turnout from the support who also were in great voice
2)a great game of football with everything in it that you wouldnt expect for the conditions
3)seeing a great confident game from young sheridan,a good imput from 10 out of the 11 starters
4)over the 90minutes a great attitude from the team when we went from 2 in front to 2-2
now 5) :( robson is never a full back and never will be he shipped the two goa;s that we concede the first one he was caught in the no-mans -land between being a midfeilder an d afull back the second one same again but wher the fuck was hinkel posted missing again
illl let barry of with these two goals but hinkel no way
where i was sitting behin the goal it was a disgrace how many times he was ball?game watching whilst the ball/game was on the left hand side and the player he was supposd to be marking was always 10 yatds away from him thats how they got their second goal(an unmarked tap in
all through the game i was just saying again
A BLOODY LEFT BACK , WE NEED A BLOODY LEFT BACK :banghead:
but its dawned on me that hinkel is not the right back either that this defence needs
tigers gonna get ya
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