Celtic 0-1 St Johnstone 21/08/11
"I heartily recommend this very sane report from Shipmate Sunblest live from the stormy seas" AnonymosCSC
It’s all over folks, rip up your season tickets, burn your tops, sack the board, sack Lennon, blame Samaras!!!!
We, yes we Glasgow Celtic Football Club Est 1888 lost a game of football today!!!!
Hmmm doesn’t seem as dramatic when you type it out, compared to when you experience the feeling when witnessing it either at the game or on Channel 67.
We need to take a step back and look at it calmly, yes we lost, yes we were wasteful in front of goal, yes we need to practise penalties more but performance wise we created almost the same amount of opportunities as we did when we put five past Dundee Utd our passing before we conceded was crisp, our movement off the ball was exemplary, for this old reporter it boils down to some days you score eight, some days you miss a penalty, hit the post twice and make the keeper pull of a string of great saves then suffer the humiliation of the Scottish press falling over themselves to question Neil Lennon, which in turn leads to the support questioning each other on who should go, who should stay, who should play, who shouldn’t and who is the more committed supporter, all because we lost 1-0 at home to St Johnstone.
So let’s quickly run through the team then see what we can learn from the defeat!
GK: Fraser Forster Largely untroubled throughout the match, pulled off a great save prior to the winning strike, effective and seems to have improved his kicking.
Defence: Young Matthews was in at RB and in the opening 45mins really was a standout with his willingness to get down the right hand side, faded a little in the second half as he experienced for the 1st time the loneliest place on planet earth for any footballer, Celtic Park with the fans voicing their opinions at an disappointing performance.
Chico started at LB, proving again how versatile a player he is, he didn’t have one of his best games and either by injury or by performance was benched at half time. His replacement was Mark Wilson who unfortunately didn’t fare much better as St Johnstone adopted the tactic of pinning back both full backs with diagonal balls into the channel thus ensuring Mark couldn’t affect the play as I presume Lennon had intended.
Dan and Victor the unrepentant Kenyan b*****d, in fairness did little wrong. It seems only after the goal went in did the crowd voice their unhappiness at their display, primarily at Dan, this affected him and he began to make silly mistakes which seemed to only incense the support more.
Midfield: Broony was back starting on the right and with Matthews tearing down on the overlap in the first half this allowed Broony room to cut inside and roam into space effectively, again in the second half he seemed to lose focus after the goal but still tried to drive the team forward at every opportunity.
Ledley and Ki were in the middle again and retained possession very well though it is more than fair to state that we miss Kayal as neither of them really marshalled the troops after we conceded which led to Ledley being subbed in the later stages.
Commons was back on the left and unfortunately failed to convert his penalty. After this it was clearly evident that his confidence took an almighty knock, however suggestions that he is not the same player are well wide of the mark as his almost technically perfect FK rebounded back off the St Johnstone post, a superb effort, I hope Kris overcomes this little blip in confidence as he is a pivotal cog in Lennon’s green and white machine.
Forwards: Maloney and Stokes both at times today looked excellent their link up play especially! Unfortunately today for both front men they were very wasteful in front of goal.
Subs: Young James Forrest made a good impact when coming on as he stretched the game by staying out wide and committing the fullback though was guilty of snatching at a glorious opportunity when the ball rebounded back into his path after McCourt’s dribble.
Paddy came on to a chorus of cheers, with the hopes and expectations of millions on his shoulders and bhoy did he give it a try, he almost tried too much some might say! For this reporter I believe it’s too much pressure to put on one man’s shoulders, granted he is a eye catching, truly gifted dribbler but to assume he will come on and walk the ball into the net is naive as in reality the efforts Paddy puts in, disrupts the fluidity of the teams tactics which was clear to see today. To make matters worse is that when he doesn’t score that goal of the season and saves the day, the man gets criticised. Paddy deserves credit for his efforts today but should also himself realise sometimes making the goal is better than scoring the goal!
So overall what can we learn from today?
For me three things are blindingly obvious!
1) We are too complacent against so called lesser opponents! (Ross County, ICT,FC Sion, St Johnstone) Why? Is it arrogance, over confidence, ego? Quick answer is NO to all three! We have a very motivated coaching team who would never ever allow that to creep in and a squad of players with a good work ethic about them. The reason we are complacent is because we lack patience, the patience to stick to the game plan when things aren’t going our way, the patience exhibited by all the great teams like Barcelona, Man Utd, the players are too quick to take it upon themselves to be the ‘hero’ but this will rectify itself in time as the team evolve together and learn that when in times of trouble don’t go gung-ho, just trust the man beside you!
2) Secondary Phase Play! Our reaction to any situation in the second phase of play today was poor and in truth it has been our Achilles heel as a unit since the Lennon era began, we are not anticipating what will happen next in the way a Neil Lennon, Paul Lambert, Johann Mjallby used to under O’Neil, this is crucial for any team who desire to dominate a domestic league competition and make inroads in Europe, if you don’t anticipate a follow up clearance or a follow up chance to score, it will inevitably lead to trouble.
3) You can’t take £50 Million Pound worth of talent out a team and expect the same quality to come in! Not an excuse being formulated but rather facts! Gary Hooper is a predatory finisher who makes incisive runs that Stokes and others thrive off, he also is a proven top level goal scorer purchased for 2.5Million even though he outscored the most expensive English forward today whilst in the championship Andy Carroll at £35million. Value now £12-£15million......Emilio Izziguire Scottish player of the year and in truth, the most exciting left back in Europe Est Value £15-£20 Million...... Beram Kayal, The most coveted player in the squad, interest from Man Utd, Liverpool, Valencia and rumblings of interest from AC Milan why? He bosses a game, rarely wastes possession and has an eye for a defence splitting pass! Est Value £15-£25Million!
The good news is they are all injured and likely to be at Celtic until next summer and hopefully beyond, the point being when you list what we have against what we don’t have it paints a very different picture.
I urge all Celtic fans to look at this result as what it is! A chance early on in the season to look at our shortcomings and fix any problems, better it come now than in the run in as experienced last season. So let’s put it into perspective and rally round like only Celtic Supporters can and get 110% behind Neil Lennon and the bhoys as we head out to Switzerland to face FC Sion in the biggest game of the season!
I’m Angus Sunblest reporting for Total Celtic onboard the good ship @sixtysevenlive
Until next time me mateys
Hail Hail
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