27 Oct 2014 07:25:08
Folks just reading through some of the comments from yesterday, weekend and let out springs to mind.

Nearly 2 years ago - CL V Barcelona 2-1 (This is not about this one game though)

I'm reading we've made progress - where?

Since season 2012/13 where we won the League and Scottish Cup double and reached the last 16 of the CL, we have been in steady decline.

This is not about the Managers and I cannot see how any Manager will make a difference without decent players. Our transfers recently have been shocking - loans and £2m very obviously does not get a decent striker now unless you are lucky. I would rather we buy up players like Johnny Russell, Stevie May than spend £2m on a Pukki.

Neil Lennon did make an absolute backside of the Cup competitions but for us to think we are in still in all the Cup competitions and EL is progress - this is nowhere near the bigger picture here, not even close.

I fully expect to qualify now for the last 32 but unless we strengthen in January, we are going to need to favourable draw or an embarrassment is on the cards.

VVD and Denayer and not a strong partnership hence why other teams are getting shots at goal, without Guidetti we are misfiring all over the place, the midfield is lightweight, often loses its shape and making sloppy passes that a better team will punish - hopefully Ronny can sort this out though.

Kev - the home crowd make the players nervous, well deal with it. Seems to be happening at Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund and Manchester United to.

1.) 27 Oct 2014
27 Oct 2014 09:12:51
Ed did Mrs e really send this in or did you just cut and paste it from last Monday or the Monday before that or the Monday before that.

2.) 27 Oct 2014
Well now you know how I feel Fab when I’m reading something but watching a team that tells an entirely different story

Welcome to my gang!

3.) 27 Oct 2014
I agree there has been a worrying downward trend in quality/standards and it has left us expecting more and unfortunately settling for less.
The CL exit was a huge blow, but there is no way this team - in it's current form - would have avoided embarrassment even though the club will miss the lucrative cash benefits.
This has compounded the problems for RD by cutting his funds and limiting his acquisitions to mostly loan signings which is not ideal for moral or long term, team building.

Our performances had been patchy and unpredictable, but with 6 wins in seven games we are at least finding some sort of consistency and the two strikers are winning us games.
The football is not vintage Celtic but if we could convert more of the chances we are creating, confidence will keep building momentum.
The team selection has settled and I think Lustig was sadly missed and Ambrose is well out of it and we have been crying out for a Guidetti type Celtic centre forward for ages.

We are still carrying too many injury prone players and there are others like Griffiths, Henderson, Berget and Tonev who don't seem to be in the frame - as indeed is Commons from one week to another?
I am pleased we are making some sort of progress and beating the Jags on Wednesday will be a 'Cup' test for RD in a tournament we have slipped up in, in recent seasons.

I still have my concerns, but we are returning to winning-ways and long may it continue (touch wood).

{Ed007's Note - This caught my eye earlier on, over our last 7 matches our record has been: WWWLWWW, 15 goals scored with 3 conceded. Compare that to the previous 7 matches: DDWDLLD, 7 goals scored and 8 conceded. Yet some people are saying there's been no progress under Delia, it seems that some people out there just don't want to see it.
If things go as expected and we win our game in hand to go top of the league, beat Partick and we are in the semi-final of the League Cup and qualify from the EL and have European football after Christmas, that's already a more successful season than last year.}

4.) 27 Oct 2014
27 Oct 2014 15:49:29
Mrs E once again I find myself agreeing with your post, I said last week that although Denayer is very promising he is prone to being either caught in no mans land as ball sails over his head and out of position and also guilty of ball watching at times, but I posted I hoped Delia would also see this and try and work on the young lad's deficiencies. Denayer needs coaching and a friendly voice to encourage him.
As for Van Dijk sadly I can see Celtic accepting an offer for him in January (and he has already issued a "come and get me" to Arsenal) If we get £8m+ for him most of it should be ploughed back into team.
Hopefully Delia will talk Lawwell into also signing Guidetti on a permanent deal with perhaps Wakaso also, but NOT Berget or Tonev.
Your point about the midfield is also well made, I thought playing Mulgrew beside Brown would work, but Charlie's careless passing has caused us problems, surely Kayal deserves more game time in midfield.
If Virgil goes in January, we can either sign another centre half, or more likely knowing Lawwell, we will have to make do with Ambrose or Mulgrew as a centre back beside young Denayer.
Also the sloppy passing and lack of tempo in games must surely be addressed by Delia, but I am glad to see Scepovic now looking much more like the centre forward we hoped he was, along with Guidetti we now have a potent partnership up front.

5.) 27 Oct 2014
27 Oct 2014 18:44:22
Junglejim/ed , although it's been slow in coming there is progress there if people choose to see it. I'll take 3 league points after a euro tie in whatever form they come. Look at the list of teams who didn't win this weekend after playing midweek. When the team plays at the tempo RD wants them to its effective and decent to watch. It's hard to keep up for 90 mins and twice in 3 1/2 days is even harder. I've sat next to the same guy in the north stand since it was built. Yesterday he revealed he had made is mind up about RD after the legia away game? I reminded him he also made his mind up about WGS after artmedia game. Now that RD has seen the benefit of playing two strikers , especially at home, I think the improvement will continue . I also think the next two transfer windows will be busy. The product I watched yesterday was better in many ways than some of the garbage I saw us play under NL.

6.) 27 Oct 2014
In what ways is the 'product' better Andy?

I've said in my post we need better players and you think the next couple of transfer windows will be busy? Is this an agreement?

'Choose' being the word - my post is about the decline since the CL exit v Juve TWO seasons ag but I get domestic fugures from the start of last season? No mention of the lucrative CL we were in last season (disaster or not) or the reason we have been papped out the qualifiers twice this season.

As I said, this is NOT a comparison of Managers.

7.) 27 Oct 2014
Mrs E, players will have to deal with it. Sooner the better for all concerned.

8.) 27 Oct 2014
27 Oct 2014 22:00:49
@mrs E , I agree with most things you post. I don't disagree with anything in your post. My point was when the tempo is kept high we are decent to watch. Something we haven't been for much of the last two seasons. We have a very long way to go but for me there are signs of progress and the last few results show that. That we have declined isn't in doubt. We always need better players but seem powerless to keep the ones we do get. Not being in the CL is without doubt damaging but we didn't turn up for the qualifiers.

9.) 28 Oct 2014
Mrs E, I think one of the reasons that the opposition get so many shots at our goals is that we usually play 2 midfielders and everyone seems to have their attack button pressed .
If we haven't scored at least two goals our hearts are in our mouths for the last 20 minutes

10.) 28 Oct 2014
Chris - we are definitley vulnerable when teams are on the attack and agree, its uncomfortable watching if we don't have a 2 goal cushion.

Andy - the CL qualifiers were horrible viewing and hopefully Ronny learns from his EL experience.