[Matchday] Celtic V Livingston Saturday September 19th 3PM kick off

Ajeti also looked really good, was worried about him before as although he's hardly played tbf but he never got on the ball a lot. Today he was holding it up, drifting to the wings, linking up and that. Got well involved and looked good doing it.

Worst part was the subs were too late, at 2-0 up we should have made all the subs and seen it out with fresh legs.

 

If we played the huns right now we'd lose despite having better players, we struggle under any kind off pressure defensively and despite still scoring goals I feel were still lacking a cutting edge although playing McGregor further up did help abit.

 

My takeaways from that game,

Ajeti, top class, great signing, spent significant portions of the game getting cuddled by livi defence but scored again and did well with the ball.

The handball, * all against ajer on that one that was harsh, if the handball had been awarded at the other end that woukd not have happened, but we should not be allowing so many attacks at us like that.

Greg Taylor, played about the best I've seen him, still a few too many times he went back Instead of forward.

Subs, badly used again, no subs before the 73rd minute when we get 5 a game and we were stale after the 3rd goal. Significant failing in Lennys management is his use of subs and needs sorting out.

The goal from serrano, great strike can't fault barkas, if he had saved we would be singing it as a wonder save, should not have allowed that kind of space though.

Mcgregor, played great in a more advanced role created so much for us.

The PA guy needs sacked.

Refereeing is still *, inconsistent in the match and that's nae gid.

We should have put more shots in, we didn't get many corners or that today and we have so much threat from them.

The same issues cropping up as we have seen in other matches, we need to get this sorted out or we will have issues down the line.


But, we got 3 points which is what matters at the end of the day, should we have been better, yes,

 

Hour and half of my life I won’t get back. Our lot seem coached in how to retain the ball, but are now waiting to be coached on what to do with it after that. Just looks to me they have no natural instincts left in them,it’s all been,well ......coached out. Think half the problem with the defence at times, is they just get hypnotised watching the * ball go left and right for five minutes, then somebody runs at them with it and they are not really switched on.

 

Looking at that 2nd Livi goal, Brown was caught completely nowhere by a simple 1-2.

 

Another ugly win but at least when we're playing ugly we're still winning.

 

Nervy ending, but I didn't really think we were that bad today.

Not much we can do about their second, and thought we would have cruised to the end.

That said....we need more.

 

Yep, took his goal brilliantly and won back possession and played in Ntcham at the edge, only for his poor touch to break down the attack.

He's still not upto full speed or playing in a settled team yet as well. Much more to come...

 

We are nowhere near good enough at the moment and Livi could have snatched a draw at the end. Something needs to change pronto. Otherwise this season will be a real struggle

 

It's been the opposite for me actually, we have coped with pressure quite well defensively. In tight games we've seen them out without much fuss at 1 up and when teams are attacking us and we are back we are defending well.

We just keep conceding goals out of the blue in matches, it can't be bad luck as it's happening every game but something isn't right. We seem to open at the back but you can't put your finger on it as it's happened from all kinds of scenarions. It's not like we are being put under pressure and the crumbling and letting goals in, we are not being troubled at all then out of nowhere the balls in our net from about 5 touches from the opposition.

 

Shuggy Keevins just categorically said on the tranny there that if Celtic played the huns tomorrow, they would win. Not that I always agree with the pundits on that show, but Shuggy is about the most articulate and intelligent out of them (i.e. the best of a bad bunch). Worse still, I a actually agree with him here (which I * hate to admit).

 

Positives: some nice moves for the goals; Ajeti deadly again; McGregor and Christie looking sharp.

Negatives: didn't push on after the third goal, we need to be ruthless; no subs until 75th minute; Brown playing another 90 minutes despite looking like he needs a rest.

 

Too often now we are saying well we got the three points we are struggling to win convincingly or comfortably against teams that are in the bottom half of the table who don't defend well, wait till we play Hibs or the Huns if it's not sorted we won't stay at the top of the table

 

Oh * now it looks like I copied you

 

Posted after the County game last week that i think we're gonna need to score heavy in most games to be comfy beacuse of how many we're leaking them at the moment. Today just confirms that albeit a harsh pen and a cracking strike!!! There could be a few squeaky bums moments this year even with 3 goals scored and the way that defence is the now

 

It was a bit of a nervous finish, but, if the up coming game against Rangers is a square go.......we'd do them !!!

 

Midfield done really poorly for their 2nd I thought.

Firstly Ntcham going up with little conviction, turning his back and taking himself out of the equation when he was never likely to win it.

Then secondly the other CMs being too slow to press the dig.

If the opposition winning a speculative bobble 10-20 yards into our half is enough to grant them a free hit into our keeper then there's big issues. For a 5 man midfield we should have a lot more control over that area than we do.

 

I heard Efe might be available for a small fee..

 

Look at Bayern last night, relentless pursuit of goals. We need some of that attitude at times instead of going through the motions.

 

In Turnbull’s brief appearances so far he has impressed me. He deserves to get some starts. It’s not like we are flying at the moment and we can’t afford to change the team.

Very good corner from him that Duffy got on the end of as you mentioned and we are desperately needing a consistent set piece taker in the side as the majority of Christie’s are pish tbh. Especially with players like Jullien and Duffy in the side we have to make the most of the number of set pieces we get.

Want to see Soro get a run in the Brown role. Just interested to see if his energy and pace might be able to help with how easy we are to break through in the midfield. I would sit him in front of the back three and just tell him to stay there to protect the defence.

The midfield is the biggest issue currently not the defence. They are inviting far too much pressure onto the defence and Barkas with how easy we are to break through. Once we get the midfield sorted we will stop conceding these silly goals.