Bottlers...

I agree with you about maybe lack of ability from 1 or 2 in the team.we have also had some horrendous decisions go against us which makes a huge difference in the tight games as we found out against the likes of killie and today.

But to say that we are losing the big games is to do with ability rather than bottle is wrong when you consider our results against the teams we have been beaten by.
Lost league cup final to killie at Hampden yet destroyed them 3 weeks later on their patch 6-0.
Lost semi today yet destroyed hearts 4-0 at tynecastle not too long ago
Lost to the huns,although it was 3-2 we were embarrassed by them considering their recent results against the other spl dross.

 

....but plenty they can do about missing nailed on headers from 5 yards out like Ki did TWICE today!

 

This.

No top class strikers - we need at least one.

And we're lacking a good attacking midfielder.

 

Totally agree with this.

 

Need a player or 2 with experience to bolster the team in the summer before we have a crack at Europe, this team has done well this season despite the criticism on this thread but not showing up at some of the biggest games IS a concern to me.

For the record I do think today we were the victims of poor refereeing but like many other games people focus on that rather than our own deficiencies which were plain for all to see for large parts of today and more so at Ibrox and the Killie Final.

 

Agreed on both points.

The fact I was begging Lenny to put on young Dylan is testament to our lack of creativity in the middle of the park.

He will be a star but I shouldn't be relying on him.

We have a really good midfield, just too many of the same player.

 

Aye, that's a clearer point and good examples, we have been shockingly inconsistent over the last few years, but I still wouldn't say they were bottlers, really wouldn't.

I remember pumping Aberdeen 9-0, then within about a week or 2 scraped a 1-0 win or something close to this scoreline.

That's a consistency issue, not a bottling one, though because it wasn't in a final, semi final or a league decider, that's why it's not known as such.

(I took out the ipox game, as although I'm not for a minute blaming the ref, being down to 10 men * that game, and then we lose another 2 goals once down to 9).

 

Agree with all that Sean, sometimes a game is crying out for something a bit different and we dont seem to have that bar Paddy who seems to be surplus to requirement now, but thats a whole different thread in itself

 

Our full pub cheered when this happened. There is nobody else of this mould in our squad. Commons is closest but is really a wide man coming in off the wing.

 

bottom line for me is

1. We are just not that great a side. On a day where they play well and we are a bit below par teams like Dundee United, Hearts, Killie etc can beat us.

2. The side lacks experience.

3. The manager lacks experience

4. Kevin Wilson is dire

 

1. The same can be said for any side when not at their best, Man U and Man City have been beat recently by teams they were expected to roll over.

2. The side is young and inexperienced.

3. The manager is young an inexperienced.

4. I have no idea who Kevin Wilson is (some Aussie comedian I think) but Kelvin Wilson gives me the * fear :icon_mrgreen:

 

Lenny should tell the players,before the game starts that we're 1-0 down, as in
the games mentioned we've started too casually,making slack passes etc., but when we go for the throat with 10 mins to go we create mega chances and have teams penned in, but invariably run out of time.

 

I can totally see where folk are coming from with the bottlers stuff, it's a valid opinion.

Me personally though, I'm loathe to label a team who came from 15 points behind to win the league as bottlers.

 

To come from 15 points behind I don't think we're bottlers.

 

I know but it doesn't matter if we missed our chances it happens. But it isn't to much to ask for a level playing field.

 

I wouldn't say we bottled it. We were desperately unlucky and cheated today.

 

As the T-Shirts say ,Its only the beginning ,Young team who have needed to grow up very fast and take in what its about to play for Celtic ,This team is just starting out and a lot of these players have come from obscurity to playing for a massive club and all the pressures that come with it .

The've done well after a real shaky start and they are allowed to lose games as well ,There learning all the time and also learning what it means to the support ,Its not all doom and gloom .

 

I endured the early 90s and not only are this team bottlers but the manager is inept & immature, he got it wrong yet again in a big game yet still the usual suspects are out en masse to defend him..

 

We wont be the first team to suffer a hangover from winning the league.

It was really unfortunate that our next game was so important though.

 

You are a strange fellow.

I've read a few posts from you saying you lived through the dark days. I thought someone like you of all people would savour years like this and understand the peaks and troughs that come with following the hoops.