did we lose tonight?

5 wins in the last 6. Top of our EL group. That's progression from 2 months ago in anybodies language.

 

I have seen Larsson miss sitters and on his debut for Celtic he set up the winner for the opposition but he has been the best striker we have had over the last forty years . Scepovic has played about a game and a half for us so far , so don't write him off he could still do a decent job for Celtic , he wont be a Larsson but sure there was only one Larsson .

 

I agree, but tonight's performance showed we have major problems.

It's not like it was a result we had to "grind out" against an opposition that had a good percentage of the play (for this, see: Zagreb, last round), we actually had most of the ball but we created next to nothing besides the two goals and for me this extremely worrying. At the same time, Astra could've easily scored 2 or 3 without ever really having a massive grip on the game because we were so shocking at playing the ball out from the back (although I don't blame either of the CBs, it was mainly midfielders playing deep at the time).

There was no real pattern or flow to our game, the link-up play in the final third was awful, we failed to test the goalkeeper, and it's not like we squandered numerous clear-cut chances. We seemed to rely on just getting it out wide and punting it into the box and our set pieces were utterly woeful (Stokes and Johansen STILL taking corners) and resulted in * all besides the one free kick where we nabbed the opener. The midfield at times looked all over the place.

Glad we won the game, but the performance was a horror show.

 

Hit the ball out wide, cross it to far post, rinse repeat.

 

it was not bad,we won 2-1.

 

These are decent teams and this is our level with the players we can afford. I watched the first half of Liverpool versus Real Madrid last night and it was frightening. Liverpool got their arses handed to them at home and yet they have players we could not dream of bringing to CP in current circumstances. In terms of quality they (Liverpool) are a million miles ahead of anything we could realistically achieve in the short term, even if we appointed Mourinho or Klopp to replace Deila. Our only hope of getting back to that kind of level is a long term project over 4 or 5 years.

Meanwhile, the Europa League group stages are a very good level for us. we got a tough draw away to a team that is considerably better than us, a win at CP against a team that IMO is slightly better than us and another against a team that proved last night to be on a similar level to us. Qualification is still very much possible.

So getting a doing away to the team comfortably top of the 3rd best league in the world and with some of the best players in the world shows they´re no good? Do you not remember the Nou Camp last season? These elite teams have absolutely frightening quality and are capable of doing that to good teams.

Seriously, we (as a fanbase) need a serious reality check.

 

I couldn't disagree more.

Celtic have put in three dire performances so far in the Europa League this season, and we have 7 points probably because the other teams aren't very good. A half-decent side would have battered Celtic based on the performances from the first three games.

As for this being our level, and for us to somehow just accept that. It wold be interesting to see how many season ticket holders pay Champions League prices at the beginning of the season in places like Malmo, Ludogorets, Apoel Nicosia, Olympiacos, Basel, Anderlecht, Maribor and Bate Borisov etc. It would be interesting to see what the wage bill at places like Dinamo Zagreb, FC Astra, Legia Warsaw, Maribor etc is like. I wonder what the CEO's of clubs who are apparently at 'our level' receiving- the likes of Karagandy, Helsinki, Helsingborgs and Elfsborg.

I'll take a stab in the dark and say the majority of the supporters of those clubs mentioned aren't coughing up prices anywhere near the likes of that paid by Celtic season book holders; the majority of their players aren't getting paid wages anywhere near that of the likes of Charlie Mulgrew or Scott Brown etc; and I doubt very much any of those CEO's are raking in as much money as our Peter. And if they were, I bet those supporters wouldn't just roll over and accept that mediocrity as their level.

Even with that all said, we're Celtic supporters, we should demand a lot more than the dross we're currently being served, and to be never content with anything second-rate.

 

Stop being so * positive Sean.we don't do positive anymore

 

We need to demand more, of course; but we have to be realistic about the timeframe required and about the level possible under current (very disadvantageous) circumstances.

It´s worth repeating that we have to pay above the odds in wages for a given quality because players do not want to play in Scotland. Our league sucks, it´s hard to overestimate just how much.

 

I think I'm right in saying that Maribor are the only fully professional club in the Slovenian league. I can't be certain, but I don't think the Kazakhstani, Finnish or even the Polish and Swedish leagues are all that great either.

But as I said before, we shouldn't accept or come to terms that this mediocrity as our level. As long as we (the supporters) are paying top dollar; our players and CEO on salaries that 'our competition' couldn't even dream of, then we can most certainly not accept the current dross.

 

we are the luckiest side in that competition , deserved to lose all three games , salsburg we were hanging on but was probably an acceptable performance , zagreb should have scored 3 or 4 and so should this mob last night . Utterly disgraceful performance from us .

 

People need to support the team rather than ripping it to bits all the time. We all like a moan from time to time, but too many people are relentless.

Strangely I'm beginning to see it is he same ones who are requesting a TV stream to watch every match and sit posting more in the active game thread than watching it.

This forum is moaning there is no money on Scottish football and Celtic are going backwards.

No * wonder when the stadium is half empty and TV companies don't pay us much either as everyone prefers a free illegal stream.

People will even watch a stream of Celtic TV before they would put a few quid towards the club.

 

And yet players in the current climate players consistently prefer to go to these leagues than here. When Strachan took over, we tempted two of Poland´s best in Boruc and Zurawski away from the Extraklasa; try that now and see how long it takes them to stop laughing.

The world has changed and not in our favour.

 

I'm still behind Ronny, but the performance last night was so inept it was a real worry..
It almost feels like a loss the display was so poor!

We all just want to see improvement.. if we played Legia again would you be confident of a different performance and outcome?

I wouldn't on last nights showing so where is the improvement?

Last night was the first time I doubted whether Ronny is the man to take us forward..
I was happy with the team selection but he changed the way our pivotal midfield set up allowing a poor team to push us right back..with Mulgrew too deep and Johansen not pushing on enough..

Still early in his tenure but not naive to blindly defend such a characterless display..

 

* off ya * ..

 

I am happy we won, but I think its stupid to pretend everything is rosy in the garden, The performance last night was poor and should never be acceptable for a celtic team.

 

3 points is great but was undeserved we got lucky and this team keep turning in bad performances, we are fortunate not to be in the C.L. this season as on these displays we could have been on to a hiding or 3.

 

Undeserved? What rubbish do you speaketh of?

 

3 points was deserved. Not overly, but deserved.

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