The league doesn’t lie.
It never does.
I wrote at the start of this campaign that only Celtic can topple Celtic.
I believe that statement remains essentially true.
Celtic’s next domestic fixture in at home on the 19th of this month to Ross County.
If the Parkhead club is to retain their title then it must be the start of a long winning run in the league.
The last time that the Hoops faced a similar question was in the aftermath of a defeat to Sevco on the 29th December last year.
This time the basket of assets is actually ahead of Celtic in the league table.
It is just a point, but it is psychologically significant.
Of course, it doesn’t take much encouragement for the Stenography Corps to go into gush mode about anything apropos Ibrox.
Even Graham Spiers, who I would never consider to be a member of that Churchillian formation, can come out with this stuff about Morelos.
I’m a good bit older than Graham so I can actually remember watching Der Bomber in his prime.
The German was born to lurk in the six-yard box.
He could get the better of world-class defenders in pressure situations.
Now, there are ridiculous comparisons and then there is comparing Alfredo Morelos to Gerd Müller.
What next?
Ryan Jack is the new Franz Beckenbauer?
Oh dear…
Of course, the current league positions going into the international break allows the Fitba Fourth estate to serve up these succulent portions of hope to the Ibrox klanbase.
If Celtic needed a wakeup call then they got one at Livingston.
When the January window opens the richest club in Scotland has the financial wherewithal to significantly strengthen the squad.
However, if it is seen by Celtic’s de facto director of football as another opportunity to play the McGinn Game then that would be hubris worthy of the Blue Room chaps.
Only Celtic can topple Celtic.
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First up…drop the ” strawman ” crap…nobody’s impressed.
Now go back and read your post at 2:53 PM…total negativity…from start to finish.
There is no joy in negativity …the Defence rests its case M’Lud.
Again your logic fails you and since you can’t respond to the points i made at ‘2;53’ let’s just drop it and look forward to our next game at home to Ross County…i mean nothing can go wrong there it’s not as if county could ever turn up in Glasgow against Lennon’s Celtic and get anything from the game…right!?!
Another European game and another probable fine heading our way, courtesy of The Green Brigade morons letting off fireworks. If individual criminals cannot be identified by the club-and if not, why not?-the club should ban the whole f*****g lot of these bastard animals. Sine Die. Do not darken our door again. F**k right off to Ibrox where Huns like youse belong. Hail Hail
I think the issue is for me anyway; we have had our current manager and previous returning to similar critiques after games like Sunday. We’re either too passive or no tempo to our play.
That is not panic just stating facts; hence Scott Brown needs to be game managed & CalMac rested at some point. We cannot afford 2 players content to play in front of teams and never attempt to get beyond them, perhaps why young Christie is getting so frustrated?
Nonsense.
McGregors role dictates where he plays.
As a deep lying playmaker his role is to link up the Midfield with the attack but unfortunately on a playing surfaces like Livi’s a clever through ball or pass is seldom on due to the fact the ball travels slower and is more likely to get cut out.
This then leaves the only other option which all teams end up doing is simply lumping it high in the hope that it sticks.
McGregor on a proper surface is critical to the way we play.
As are all Registas in sides who have them.
Browns role is less complicated.
He’s there to enforce and tidy up as a defensive Mid.
Two totally different roles operating in the same area of the Park.
I’m as disappointed as anyone else about the loss at Livingston…but.
3 days earlier we were ecstatic at our European performance and victory over Cluj….whilst the Sevco support were dejected after their loss in Berne…to a pretty average Young Boys side.
Roll forward to Sunday …and the roles are reversed…and that’s football.
If we were going to have a tough and dangerous match after the efforts of Thursday night…then it was Livingston away.
If they were going to have the easiest of games…then it was Hamilton at home.
If I’m correct …there’s a spate of fixtures coming up where we have home advantage in 4 games…whilst Sevco have 3 away games….with one postponed ?
Anyway…this spell will determine a few things…so let’s wait and see where we are in December.
Hail hail.
Seems like our fan base doesn’t ever learn….. we do you panic? The majority paniced as weren’t signing anyone, then came the deadline and everyone is happy again. This was against the manger stating that him and board weren’t panicing and they were calmly working in the background.
We get knocked out by Cluj and our fan base than states that Lennon is not good enough to manage Celtic. Roll on Rangers and Lennon is the best thing since sliced bread. The celtic world then goes into orbit when we beat Clug in the Europa! A dip in form against Hibs and Livingstone and again Lennon is too blame….. lets get a grip and stop lurching from one exteme to another!!
The table is 8 games old and we’ve only played 3 games at home. 30 games to play so why panic. This team has played so many games….and for me play better with a bit of pressure. Edward if a great example (he needs to do more in the SPL) and the team is only as good as it’s focal point.
Last season we lost 5 games out of 38 and drew 6. Dropping 18% of the available points. So far we have dropped 20% of the availble points. No need to panic really. Last season we weren’t top until game 13 and it then took until game 17 when we truely got a grip of the league. Rangers we top once after game 15 and never regained it. Last season by this stage we had lost against Hearts and Kilmarnock and well as drawing with St Mirren all away from home…. 33% of points available lost!!!
Can you see what I’m doing here? We at Celtic win, lose and draw games…. but to descind into panic everytime is madness.
We have started the season very well…..and I belive that Celtic will win the league. Oh and the bookies believe it too… as we’re 1.66 odds on to win it. Rangers in the two horse race are 2.66. This means that every $10 put on Rangers gives you a return of $0 with no money back.
Lets not panic in October eh!
Good post…along the lines of what I posted…but with statistics to back it up.
Hail hail
Panic? I’m not panicking im already resigned to the fact that Lennon just isn’t good enough. A) Our performance at Ibrox was average so i agree with you that some fans went way over the top after that result. B) Again, i agree some fans were way over the top after the EL result against Cluj but Cluj, or rather our manager, already dumped us out in what was our biggest game of the season so far…at the cost of millions of pounds. C) Name the quality players we brought in during the transfer window at a cost of 15+ million pounds? D) You say we have lots of home games to come…tell me who was the manager last season who blew our 100% home league record with 2 boring 0-0 draws against Aberdeen and Livingston and why should we accept that it’s going to be different this season especially as we seem to be minus an out and out goalscorer? E) you say ‘this team has played so many games’ really! then why are the zombies playing as many games as us and getting more out of an inferior squad than Lennon is with our superior squad? and why is Gerrard able to rotate his squad so much better than Lennon even though Lennon has a better squad? F) We were already top this season after 1 game after 4 games we had a 3 points advantage and superior goal difference and now after 4 more games we find ourselves 2 points behind with an inferior goal difference.G) The zombies are a far stronger team this season than they were last season….are we?
Aye. In every department……other than left-back obviously.
But even there, KT missed a lot of games last season and was far from 100% in a lot of others.
Please furnish me with the names of these players that you say are in ‘every department’?
Yir talking though a hole in yir hied pal, panic merchant.
Ok you’re allowed to not like NL and slate the team, I was flabbergasted we put out virtually the same team Thursday as Sunday (Bauer for Elhamed) and we got dragged into a fight on a dreadful pitch.
To deny the stats posted above due to opinion is like I said earlier, 8 games to go yes please panic.
We were not average against the hun we were brilliant, we played them.off the park heart and soul.
I will not judge Celtic on that last game, crack on if that’s your bag, but I personally think nothing we ever do will be good enough for so called fans like you.
Cop for the 15 mill statement as my justification.
Strawman much? Whether i like or dislike Neil Lennon the man is irrevelant. Then you go on to prove my point that Lennon doesn’t rotate as well as Gerrard..Cheers! Then you point out stats that are meaningless. Then like a zombie after they beat us on penalties in the SC S/F you claim ‘we were brilliant’ when anyone who watched that game at bigotdome minus the blinkers would acknowledge it was an average performance…great result but an average performance none the less. lol so i’m a ‘so called fan’ just because i can the red flags…If you can’t see the red flags it’s because you’re deluding yourself into thinking everything in the gardens rosey.
If you can’t take any joy out of the Sevco and Cluj results…what do you take joy out of ?
Yes we can all dissect things in the cold light of day…but these two victories were to be celebrated…not rubbished.
Gie’s a break.
Wow the strawman points are getting stronger. Where has anyone claimed that they never took any joy out of the Cluj and sevco results?
Don’t laugh, but I still believe we could have got Mourinho for a couple of seasons to get 10iar if Dermot had sanctioned it. We got Brendan after all when no one expected that!!
Brown should be used fortnightly.the legs are gone and he slows the game down too much..why doesn’t Neil give young dembele a chance. Stop saying he’s only 16 if he’s good enough he’ll show it we are no asking him to play against Barcelona every week plus where is Tom rogic now seems constantly injured like Siminovic(why didn’t we sell him his injury record over last 4 years is absolutely shocking).Sick of saying we’ll learn from this we had already dropped 2 points against Hibs and we knew we would get a tough game against Livingston we didn’t turn up. Still time to recover.
Whether the cause was the pitch, the complacency, the fatigue, the MIB, the Manager or any other excuse, we all have to agree we were rank rotten and poor displays like that shouldn’t be happening with the amount of players earning a wage at Celtic Park. HH
Didn’t Mr Spiers mean Muller Rice cause going by his waistline Alfie must each a lot of the stuff
So wee Coco at IN has had a severe dig at our fans and Christie as well about his challenge . Wee Coco said the Sevco fans would never hound a sevco player that much that the player would close down his social media account. Oh dear wee Coco always good for a laugh with his comedy stuff. He has forgotten already about the onloan Liverpool player from last season who cut his time short at Sevco because of the abuse he was getting . The player called time up in January when he should have been there till the end of the sesson . Oh and now Fatman Morelos is better than Gerd Muller oh dear . Remember they are getting 55 million dollars from LA Galaxy for him . Well so says wee Coco . So that’s Sevco won the league for the international break for 2 weeks . I wonder if they get a cup for that .
Couple of points; to compare Morelos to Mueller was something that made go WTF and also laugh. I am old enough to remember watching him play and the only thing they have in common is they are part of the human race.
2nd, if fans are not concerned about what is happening with the team then they aren’t paying enough attention. There are some clear warning signs flashing and we ignore them at our peril. Right now there appears to be only a standard style, plan of attack that we are using. There is no plan B when we run into a team that has set up to counter the standard plan and plays well enough to have it be working. It’s time for a change of tactics by Lenny and when needed for the “hairdryer” because some on the team appear to be coasting.
The only player we have to create anything from midfield is Christie and when he isn’t functioning (or gets red carded) there is no one else to do the job. All you have to do is look at last year to see that when he was out of the lineup the team struggled to score. Add to that, you have a midfield trio of Brown and McGregor who look like they badly need a bit of rest. But who do you play in their place? N’tcham has been erratic and Bitton and Rogic appear to me to be shadows of the players they once were. Anyone I missed?
But here is the biggest problem of all. There is NO replacement for Brown in the current team. Not one of the players mentioned to take over, Christie, McGregor or even putting Ajer back in midfield are not the same thing as having Broonie. Not that they aren’t skilled, but none of them have the temperament, steel or willingness to be the hard man when needed. Whoever is making decisions at the club better take a long hard look at this and bring in someone who can provide this. And I don’t mean an apprentice who will grow into it, we need someone who can step right in and do the job from get go!
The league is going to come down to who the matches between us and rangers*, because the MIB will make sure that they don’t have any more than an occasional slip up against the others. Of course, for those games to matter the team better stop losing more points to the other teams that rangers* are chewing up and spitting out. We have been given the wake up call, question is did everyone hear it!
Fair point about no replacement for Brown but the manager told us at the arse end of last season that he was going to build a team around him…Does our manager actually have a clue about what he’s doing?
Nope, I’m being vindicated on this one, the job is too big for Lenny i’m afraid.
Our best midfield (by a Country mile btw) last Season was with McGregor-Christie,Rogic in the middle with McGregor deployed as the Regista.
Our Football was on a different level when these three combined.
As soon as Ntcham and Brown were paired play was so slow it stagnated into the sideway shuffle we seen for the past 12-14 months under Rodgers.
My suggestion would be to go with these 3 on these pitches and move the ball on the deck quicker.
I would also suggest playing one or two of the development Bhoys who play on these pitches regularly without it affecting their game to such an extent
I would agree, but there is no way that Lenny will do it.
Lennon is more inclined to try something different than Rodgers.
He after all stuck with the same system (and players) regardless of opponent’s or competition.
Point is we can’t keep tipping up at these grounds trying to boss the game with quality alone.
The pitch is a leveller and all it takes is for the officiating to be less stringent on the late ,heavy tackling for sides like Livi to get a home advantage.
Which is exactly what happened on Sunday.
Christie did our chances of a positive result no favours either.
He needs to calm down and use his head more.
In both these away games the midfield failed as an offensive unit. We can criticize/defend Brown and McGregor, but our wide midfield players were non-existent in the past 2 league games, and they are charged with creating. We have lost the art of give and go through the center very quickly away from home. It is now punt or cross. Sometimes circumstances dictate that these can be used, but we need to pressure teams through the middle and into conceding free kicks in central areas. The fact they have not in either game shows that their lines are not being broken. Ajer needs to regain his concentration as well, rather than complaining about injustices.
Celtic always struggle when teams attack them and stop them from playing their usual passing game like Sevco did the times they beat them and why Gerrard blew it by having his team sit back in the last game. Rodgers failed to deal with it and now Lennon. Bayo and Hayes should have been on at the start and anyone else up for it. Forrest, for example, should only be brought on for the last ten/twenty minutes of any game we are winning.
Bayo is way too raw at this point and therefore not yet good enough we all knew we needed a striker during the window but the manager decided a winger had more priority and now we’re paying the price for that…
Fair point but at least Bayo knows where to be as a centre forward i.e. in front of the opposition’s goal. He can also upset their defence allowing the other “better” players to benefit. Always felt Ralston was made to look bad, consistently bombing up the right wing and crossing to no-one in the box. It might be a bit out there but I would play Ajer alongside Edouard. He is tall, fearless with nimble feet. Would be a great target man.
Some so-called ‘Celtic Supporters need to get a grip on reality. You can hear them in the pub or at games-and this is by no means a new thing…
We lose 2 points…boooooooo.
We get well beaten at Livi…boooooooo
Manager brings on a sub they don’t like…boooooooo
A pass goes astray…boooooooo
A ref makes an ‘honest’ mistake…boooooooo. Ok, so I’ll give ’em that one. Those Masonic bastards deserve to be booed.
My point is:what the f**k do these people get out of supporting the Celts? They seem to be permanently angry about something or other. Sure we can all feel let down by our team at some point and your heart can be broken more than once, but it is, is it not, always more than worthwhile supporting the cause. I have never booed the team or an individual player…with one exception. When that little bastard Mo Johnston admitted in 1986 that he wanted a move to Man Utd I gave him pelters at the next game and never forgave him for That betrayal…so you can just imagine the joy and admiration I had for him when he signed for The Huns in 1989.
The time to worry is if the Huns are 2 points ahead going into the final game of the season…and that position did not do Hearts any favours in 1986.
This is the season for us all to act as one and see the Bhoys over the finishing line…and complete the job at hand next year. Hail Hail
Well said Mister Magua…
And you can add in those tossers who abused Ryan Christie on Twitter or wherever it was…
What kind of mind-set do these morons have…?
I was just after reading about the Ryan Christie situation on another site Terrancenova. I stand with you on this one. To say that these morons have a mind-set would be to recognise that they may have brains…I think we both know that this is not the case. The problem with the younger generation is that they have never received ANY form of discipline in their lives, either from their parents or at school. They KNOW that hey can get away with any sort of behaviour, no matter how disgraceful their actions may be. The point is though, that these little bastards like to boast of their exploits on social media, as it makes them feel like tough guys. Oh really…if anyone on this site knows of any little bastard that has abused Ryan Christie, please feel free to take appropriate action. Hail Hail
Ive never booed the team at any time and never will but the fact remains that Lennon is just not good enough to manage this team.
Utter nonsense.
That why he made a good Cluj side and a team of world beaters at Ibrox look like Div2 players?
Meant to say…Graham Spiers is also a J Arthur Rank….always has been.
Terencenova I can take a informed guess at what a J Arthur Rank is, but who the devil was he?
For those of us calling for Lenny’s head on a platter, here’s a VERY scary thought. So we bin Lenny at this stage of the season…who would we bring in? Would the tactical genius that is Peter Lawell not take the cheap option and appoint John Kennedy. Mama Mia, heaven help us under those circumstances. Hail Hail
I watched he game in the pub with my son and his mate.
We don’t always agree …but we did yesterday.
We all thought Christie deserved a red card for the tackle…but so did Jacobs…and once again the referee has a major influence on the game …and not in our favour.
Collum is a J Arthur Rank…and should be added to the list of referees our Club should officially complain about.
It always works for the manky mob…so why not ?
As far as the game went…
The pitch is piss poor….and teams like Livvi have a distinct advantage…They should be scrapped.
Livi were very well organised and it was never backs to the wall from them….I thought they handled us well.
We just had a bad day and need to put it behind us and get on with it.
If the team with the best players wins the trophies…then we’ll do the Treble again.
Hail hail.
I’m glad you are understanding Celtic is a sum of many parts and as a whole succeed or fail. I would suggest that Cluj & Livi can be lain at the door of manager. Cluj was Lenny overthinking and not trusting HIS signings who have improved admirably as SleveryCo & recent Cluj game proved. Sunday was more worrying for me and the elephant in the room for me is Broony. Again we watched a Celtic midfield content to dawdle about and play in front of a team with nothing like the tempo or energy required, hoping I suppose we bore them to death…not for the first time. A succession plan should have been in place (Ajer) and our captain game managed now, with Cal Mac getting a well earned rest. Christie is putting them both in the shade with his movement, energy. Finally the 6ft 7 colossus or lean to as the Spanish press named him, his inadequacies were again highlighted, hopeless in air, punching dreadful and cannot read a game or spot danger. The team at top deserve to be at the top. I remember the auld Rangers team that flopped going for 10..a mixture of players looking for moves, players who had stayed on too long, let’s call it sentimentality and some complacency. Against this was a Celtic team invigorated by really good transfer dealings and system of play and a desire to halt 10. I’m concerned complacency & sentimentality will hinder us because I think we have had one of our best transfer windows in years. HH
I reckon the weekend result against Livi was a “blip”. It will serve as a wake-up call to celtic, who will analyse this game, and focus on where and what they got wrong, then train intensively to work those errors out of their game. What will worry me more is if somebody is daft enough to spend money on ManChild! Currently, all the chatter is on his improvement in discipline. However, nobody has yanked his chain, or poked him with a stick. It’s only a matter of time before the Colombian Colossus sees the red mist descend – mark my words on that!
Mr Rowan I reckon that Phil should bar you from this site for a short spell…if only for the good of my health. My ribs are f*****g well killing me laughing at your anti-Morelos remark. FFS mate gies a brek. Hail Hail
Is it my fault he’s a rat-faced little shite? Have a go at his parents, not me! 😉
McGinn was only ever going to sign for Celtic if no other club, of his interest, didn’t come in for him. Celtic were at the bottom of the pecking order, almost a last resort.
Lennon already has the best squad in Scotland and seems incapable of getting the best out of them and we have already spent big during the summer plus we have gotten a couple of loan deals and you think we should spend more come January…let me rephrase that…Do you think we should give Lennon more of our money during January’s transfer window when he has already cost us any chance of CL football and the huge cash windfall that goes with it and who now is killing any chance of 9 ina row? Here’s as better idea, we should get rid of Lennon and bring in a manager who will get the best out of the best squad of players in Scotland…and preferaby before it’s too late!
Phil, can you offer any info up on the LG situation?
Christie’s tackle on Robinson was mistimed rather than deliberate but gave Collum the opportunity to wave his red card.
Jacobs’s assault on Hayes at the end was identical to that of Christie’s but the same referee considered it worthy only as a yellow. If Collum had given the same consideration to Christie then Celtic would have had their full compliment and most likely would have won the match. I think therefore that’s it’s fair to say that Celtic’s 10 men played against Livingston’s 12.
Is Barisic the new Messi?
Aye.
It’s all part of Lennon’s master plan…
to let TRFC go top and take the pressure that goes with it, until CFC puts together a title winning run.
It’s just to make 9IAR a bit more exciting for the fans. 🙂
Seriously though, whilst I’m not a huge fan of Lennon and his – apparently – limited tactical range, there is sufficient quality across the squad to win the title over a long season, regardless of what TRFC does.
As long as there are no issues with team / squad harmony, the title will be heading to Parkhead, again.
You started by saying that `The league doesn`t lie.`
.Well, it does this time. It has a team which no longer exists at the top of said League.
I posted a couple of weeks ago that it seems every player sevco sign is the “new someone else”.
To compare More-or-Less to one of the most devastating finishers ever to kick a ball is beyond absurdity.
Lenny’s post match comments were spot on. This is NOT a time to get over emotional. Things can change very quickly in football and player for player Celtic DO HAVE a better squad. I can’t think of a single sevco player I’d pick ahead of ours.
I didn’t see the game yesterday but was told Broony didn’t have a great game. I pointed something out a few weeks ago. Something that worries me. Broony IS in the twilight of his career, but STILL if he has an even slightly below par performance, Celtic overall as a team don’t perform. Why does 1/14th of the team have such a disproportionate effect on the team as a whole? Why are we so heavily reliant on one man performing at the top of his game EVERY week? NO ONE else has such an influence on the team’s performance but he CAN’T go on for ever.
They need to start planning urgently for a Brown successor. Or has that planning already started by trying to further extend Calmac’s contract. He had a very successful spell in that position a couple of years ago when Broony was injured. The long-term answer may be under our noses.
CalMac IS that player,he will master the Captaincy and will thrive in that role.IMHO It has to be him.
Q.Who else within ‘The Squad’ fits the role more perfectly than McGregor?
A.Answers on the back of a stamp please…
HH🍀💚✅
Yesterday was a blip,it may happen again,but,I feel,it will not matter at all come May ‘20
Brown and McGregor are being used too much. Celtic have easily the biggest and most talented pool of players in the league, but Lennon insists on playing the same players week in week out. Also, Ajer at right back was a revelation. Put him to right back with Hatem Abd Elhamed or Biton at centre half. Give players a rest after European games!
I agree we should give these guys a rest but i would rest them for EL games and play them in domestic games.
The big fix is on and it all started with the Hibs game last week and has continued this weekend . A suppose we can all hope admin 2 kicks in with Sevco as we may need that now . They are steamrolling teams at ibrox with their 5 and 6 goals accumulation . We had an 8 goal advantage as well as 3 points over them and it’s all been wyoed out in 3 games. The pressure is on us now let’s not kid ourselves on .
The game was not a footballing affair on Sunday it was a bruising encounter and we allowed ourselves to be dragged into the ring.
We have a squad that will cope with the rigours of a seasons campaign the team formerly known as Rangers do not.
I’m not worried yet, may if this was 6-8 games to go but not just yet.
Far too early to start worrying. I’m not being complacent, I’m being realistic. Your last paragraph sums it up.