John Hartson's Column? WTF

SCARED, weak and out of their depth. ​

Not the words I want to use to describe Celtic's team at Ibrox on Sunday.
But Neil Lennon picked players incapable of dealing with Rangers.
And it's time he came out and explained why.
I take no pleasure from laying the boot into my old club.
And this isn't a character assassination of my mate Lenny.
There isn't a Celtic supporter out there hurting more than the wee man.
But the harsh truth is the buck stops with him.
And he made some decisions on Sunday only he can explain.
The Celtic fans are the people who went a long way towards Lennon getting the job in the first place.
So for me he has to come out and say why he went with the players he did. His team let him down and badly. They are the ones who deserve all the criticism flying around.
But Lennon is the man who named the line-up and I can't understand some of the choices he made.
The vibes I'm getting from Celtic fans I know is that most of the blame lies with Georgios Samaras and Glenn Loovens. ​

They are the players the fans hold most responsible.​

The whole team never played well and were crap in the second half. ​

If so, Lenny has to tell them why they were in the side. I certainly can't work it out.
Loovens isn't tough enough to play in these games. Everyone knows that from his previous performances against Rangers. While Samaras is a player Celtic tried hard to flog just a few weeks ago.
I can't begin to imagine what's going on inside that boy's head at the minute.
He must be all over the place — he certainly played like it at Ibrox.
Why didn't Anthony Stokes start? He missed the European game in Madrid with a groin injury, but the fact he made the bench on Sunday shows he must have declared himself available.
He's widely regarded as the best striker at the club so why not give him his chance against Rangers? ​

Are you being serious John? ​

Throwing him on for the last ten minutes was tough on the lad because it was the guys around him who let the side down.
I could go right through the line-up and it prompts one question after the other. Badr El Kaddouri might be an experienced left-back but he just wasn't up to the task.
He was out-fought, out-run, out-jumped and outclassed by Stevie Naismith from start to finish.
Did Lenny have complete faith throwing him in?
Loovens had Kelvin Wilson beside him and he was totally fazed by the atmosphere at Ibrox.
We're talking about the most important part of any team, central defence, but those two were a joke. Nikica Jelavic bullied them.
It made me think of our defence when we played. ​

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Can you imagine Bobo Balde, Johan Mjallby or Jos Valgaeren being rag-dolled like those two centre-halves were? No, neither can I. They would have left that pitch aching all over with blood spilled for the cause.
Loovens and Kelvin Wilson looked like they had been out for a Sunday stroll at time up. ​

Balde and Mjallby were on wage packets that dwarf the afore-mentioned players, different times. You get what you buy i suppose.​

Why did Lennon go with them? Does he really think they are up to it?
At set-pieces they couldn't deal with the zonal marking system yet again so is that something that has to change?
And where were Daniel Majstorovic and Kris Commons? ​

Majstrojovic??????? He's the worst CB at our club. Anybody who actually goes to the games would admit this. Kris Commons hasn't played well since May.​

He signed Adam Matthews in the summer and gave him a bumper five-year contract, yet Mark Wilson played at right-back. ​

Mark Wilson is regarded as our first choice RB, Matthews is only young was signed for the future FFS, this is well known.​

In midfield Joe Ledley was dropped from the side after doing well in Madrid.
Ledley's not exactly set the heather on fire here, but he's still one of Celtic's most consistent performers. Yet he was axed. What was that all about?
Ki Sung-Yueng looked like a player still smarting from a poor performance against Sion a few weeks back.
Why isn't be delivering a lot more for the team? ​

Ki has been one of our best and most improved players this season, Ledley hasn't. ​

I've gone right through the side and I'm sorry, no one gets pass marks for me.
Charlie Mulgrew was sent off for a second bookable offence, but he spent the match running around like a mad man. ​

Yet Loovens and Samaras are widely held most responsible for the defeat on Sunday? Despite Mulgrew being a sending off waiting to happen, and being warned about it.​

His first yellow card could easily have been a red.
I've heard it said that Lenny should have subbed him, but there's only one man responsible for Mulgrew's red card and that's the player himself. There were just too many Celtic players who let themselves, their manager and the fans down.
Gary Hooper scored a magnificent goal and might feel he did his job by getting on the scoresheet. But he didn't.
He needs to do a * of a lot more when he's wearing that jersey and playing up front for Celtic. They all do. ​

Hooper has done decent for us this year, but isn't a lone striker, a position he's been played in too many times despite it being evident he isn't suited too this.​

The season has hardly got going so let's not be stupid here​

hmm? .​

— this defeat isn't the end of the world for Celtic.
But alarm bells will be ringing in the manager's head, trust me.
This is his team we're talking about here, players HE signed.
Celtic had questions asked of them at Ibrox and couldn't come up with the answers. But Lenny has to, and quick. ​

Hartson usually talks crap in his columns and i know he just wants to be controversial and Lenny has got some things wrong but i just feel this particular column was just complete and utter tosh.​

Asking Lenny where were Maj, Matthews, Commons and Ledley on Sunday when none have set the fire alight since being here is absolute bull.

 

Ledley should have played, Matthews should have played. Stokes deffinetly should have started. The defence was horrible, neil lennon made horrible desicisions.

Whats the problem here?

 

He's bang on the money.

 

+1.

Some excellent points from BBJ.

 

pretty accurate.

 

I agree with alot that BBJ said in that column some of it was over the top but cmon we'd all agree that Sammy and Glenda were a *' disgrace and BBJ see's this as a Celtic fan himself.....

 

Matthews should have played? Why, whats he done to deserve a start. Wilson hadn't done anything to be dropped. He's a 19 year old whos clearly a working progress FFS, criticise Lenny but be sensible about it.

Ledley - im a fan of - but he has to start justifiying his big wage packet. And hasn't played nearly as well as has been expected since he came up here.

Stokes polarises opinion and im in the camp that games pass him by when they go up a level.

Lenny has made mistakes i just feel the points Hartson makes are off-base and pish TBH.

 

i don't see a problem with the article, he's a journalist/critic, and he got everything spot on apart from the things about matthews etc

 

Looovens did have his concentration lapses on Sunday (he's prone to this now and then) but he kept a £35million man in Falcao rather quiet so its easy to say now he shouldn't have played,etc.

To ask were was Maj is laughable and rather silly.

 

When has Stokes been given a chance in the big games?

When has ledley ever had a poor game for us really? He works hard in the background, isnt always on the ball but if you keep your eye on him during games hes always fighting from the start to finish. ALOT more than what i can say about Ki on saturday #ShatIt

 

I like BBJ but his columns grate me to be honest. He likes to put himself out there which is fair enough but lets hope the players he slates and dis-regards after one performance come back to prove him wrong.

Hartson has ended up with egg on his face a good few times for being to quick to criticize players and dismissing them after just one game.

Davie Weir springs to mind.

 

Ledley is capable of more. He is better than he has showed up here so far and doesn't effect games as much as he should. He doesn't warrant guaranteed selection. Im sure there wasn't many people before the game moaning that Ledley wasn't in.

Ki did play bad the game on Sunday but has improved immensly.

Its up to Lenny and the team to earn their money over the next few weeks.

Im not a Lenny apologist - far from it - he asked for a better contract and has to start earning it.

He's a rookie and has to learn fast - or else.

 

Aye he kept Falcao quiet, watch the game.

 

I don't see anything wrong with his article, he's gave his opinion on the game, an opinion that matches that of a * of a lot of supporters I know.

 

We lost the game on Sunday because Neil Lennon tried to be cute, he thought he could pitch a team that would squeeze a result. Theres not a CHANCE he sat down and said ..Right this is our strongest squad..not a CHANCE!!

Hes a rookie manager, he will learn, i just hope he learns quickly.

 

My opinion exactly.

 

I'd rather have Maj at CB than Loovens, Loovens is a big jessie. Maj as clumsy as he can be, doesnt get bullied. Loovens only lookd "decent" vs Madrid because he had the midfield sat infront of him!

Cant disagree with John here.

 

Most fans i know weren't asking where Matthews, Ledley, Maj and Commons were on Sunday to be honest.

I accept criticism just if it's not just for the sake of it.