In this week’s Huddle Breakdown Extra Time, Martin, James, and Alan dissect Celtic’s painful Champions League exit to Kairat, questioning Brendan Rodgers’ tactics, team selection, and lack of adjustments on a dreadful pitch.
Having reflected a wee while on the podcast, it's still the willful, criminal stupidity of the Board which has no idea how to run a football club and moves to finalise the signing of players after we have been dumped out of the competition we all to be part of that pisses me off more than anything else. Agree with everyone who has expressed frustration at the team's inability to adjust the playing style in order to beat a mediocre park-the-bus then hit it long team. (Hopefully I won't be coping and pasting that into a post on Sunday!) But it's the arrogant refusal of the Great Benefactor and his board to adapt our structure so we have a competent footballing operation that can identify players at reasonable cost who can fit into the club's playing style (in advance of qualifying for Europe) and who can be sold on for more money.
Have just seen the Europa draw and there are some cracking ties in that. But, feck me, we need to improve big time to have any chance of not getting majorly pasted.
Great episode gentlemen and thank you to Patrick for coming in and giving us his perspective. Very interesting indeed. Going back to Almaty, I think the club have also failed on a holistic and personal level in relation to fans. The club/players/manager should reimburse those 400 or so fans that made to the trip to Kazakhstan to watch such a dismal display. Not only would it be a good thing to do, it would, in my view, be the morally right thing to do given some of the fans likely used credit cards or spent money they didnt have to follow their team. In terms of Sunday's game - I would say I would rather have a poor attack (Celtic) as opposed to a poor defence (rangers) - because if you can keep the opposition out (and we have not to date conceded many goals this season) there always a chance, a chance, that something will fall for you. Rangers are giving up at this point something like, on average, 20 shots on their goal a game. From that I think we can score. Additionally, and possibly more importantly, we are not facing a Clement style which put us on the ropes last season against them. We are playing a team that appears to have a very different playing philosophy - some Rangers fans would say they don't know what that philosophy is. Lastly, I think although we have our problems - and we do - I think we have 'lesser' problems on the park. We dont have quality in some positions but do have the capability in others eg if Hatate puts in a good performance (rare but possible), McGregor (always been good for the odd goal against The Rangers), Nygren who is on a purple patch of scoring in the league, Maeda if he can miraculously find 10% of last seasons form - hopefully you get my point . Rangers are not gelling anywhere at all at the moment - at the back, midfield or up front. So for me, on balance, I believe we have a fairly good chance of winning. It wont be a classic but I think we have enough - just - to get through the game with a victory. Famous last words!!!!!!!
After reading Kieran Durkin's post I realised something I forgot to mention - is my memory playing tricks , or when BR was here the first time, was it not noticeable just how much as a top manager he could adjust course mid game?
It's weird he seems to have lost that.
I have a tentative theory: has coming back under a cloud cut the legs out from under him.
He had to play small to seem humble AND with the money situation he couldn't just wipe the slate clean and buy in BR players so he had to work with the materials a popular manager left so he adapted to Ange's style slowly migrating away to his own while having to not swagger to fans which impacts how the players see him AND you have to imagine giving away the bully pulpit must have hurt his ability to sway the higher ups during transfer windows.
Worked with a guy who inadvertently ended up spending a lot of time around Ashley. The guy I know has no skin in the game, doesnt like football. He told me Ashley was a Man U fan at witnessed him betting big against Newcastle and laughing when they lost.
Great podcast guys. Perfectly summed up my thoughts from this weeks debacle. Rodgers cannot be described as elite after this week. Yes the club and its recruitment non-process is a complete backet case but to put out that team in that shape was madness. We have no wingers & abundance of players in central areas /midfield. Not exactly rocket science to go 4-4-2 diamond or 4-2-3-1 (domestic) until the board decide to buy some wingers....still waiting by the sounds of it....Anyway onwards. Lets hope the smiles are back on Sunday...To lose to that mob is surely unthinkable....
Another fantastic podcast! Genuinely don’t know how I got by all these years without hearing from people who have genuine insights…
Great point from Alan re: the pitch and Rodgers’s failure to adjust relative to that. It really makes me wonder why he didn’t adjust and why he has been so reluctant to be more flexible with formation in general over the course of this tenure. Is it a case of overconfidence? That Celtic are positioned differently to Leicester taken relative to the sides they face and that Rodgers somewhat lazily assumes quality will see us through (do we really set up relative to the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition when playing smaller teams?). That added to a lack of trust in the depth he has? Either way, it is incredibly frustrating, and a point well taken that Rodgers also was considerably culpable.
I take James’ point that Kairat’s tactics inhibited us here, but I couldn’t help wondering if Dane Murray and Inamura would have made a difference: it seemed to me that Carter-Vickers and McGreggor were markedly conservative, formation and pitch excepting. The question I suppose would be, how well were set up to exploit more daring, pack-passing.
Embarrassing indeed.
As for transfers: such a mess! Compounded layers of stupidity. Think how fun it could be to support Celtic if we were run by modern-thinking competent individuals!
Having reflected a wee while on the podcast, it's still the willful, criminal stupidity of the Board which has no idea how to run a football club and moves to finalise the signing of players after we have been dumped out of the competition we all to be part of that pisses me off more than anything else. Agree with everyone who has expressed frustration at the team's inability to adjust the playing style in order to beat a mediocre park-the-bus then hit it long team. (Hopefully I won't be coping and pasting that into a post on Sunday!) But it's the arrogant refusal of the Great Benefactor and his board to adapt our structure so we have a competent footballing operation that can identify players at reasonable cost who can fit into the club's playing style (in advance of qualifying for Europe) and who can be sold on for more money.
Have just seen the Europa draw and there are some cracking ties in that. But, feck me, we need to improve big time to have any chance of not getting majorly pasted.
Great episode gentlemen and thank you to Patrick for coming in and giving us his perspective. Very interesting indeed. Going back to Almaty, I think the club have also failed on a holistic and personal level in relation to fans. The club/players/manager should reimburse those 400 or so fans that made to the trip to Kazakhstan to watch such a dismal display. Not only would it be a good thing to do, it would, in my view, be the morally right thing to do given some of the fans likely used credit cards or spent money they didnt have to follow their team. In terms of Sunday's game - I would say I would rather have a poor attack (Celtic) as opposed to a poor defence (rangers) - because if you can keep the opposition out (and we have not to date conceded many goals this season) there always a chance, a chance, that something will fall for you. Rangers are giving up at this point something like, on average, 20 shots on their goal a game. From that I think we can score. Additionally, and possibly more importantly, we are not facing a Clement style which put us on the ropes last season against them. We are playing a team that appears to have a very different playing philosophy - some Rangers fans would say they don't know what that philosophy is. Lastly, I think although we have our problems - and we do - I think we have 'lesser' problems on the park. We dont have quality in some positions but do have the capability in others eg if Hatate puts in a good performance (rare but possible), McGregor (always been good for the odd goal against The Rangers), Nygren who is on a purple patch of scoring in the league, Maeda if he can miraculously find 10% of last seasons form - hopefully you get my point . Rangers are not gelling anywhere at all at the moment - at the back, midfield or up front. So for me, on balance, I believe we have a fairly good chance of winning. It wont be a classic but I think we have enough - just - to get through the game with a victory. Famous last words!!!!!!!
After reading Kieran Durkin's post I realised something I forgot to mention - is my memory playing tricks , or when BR was here the first time, was it not noticeable just how much as a top manager he could adjust course mid game?
It's weird he seems to have lost that.
I have a tentative theory: has coming back under a cloud cut the legs out from under him.
He had to play small to seem humble AND with the money situation he couldn't just wipe the slate clean and buy in BR players so he had to work with the materials a popular manager left so he adapted to Ange's style slowly migrating away to his own while having to not swagger to fans which impacts how the players see him AND you have to imagine giving away the bully pulpit must have hurt his ability to sway the higher ups during transfer windows.
Thoughs? HH
Mark - i think we cannot underestimate the input Chris Davies had on in game management. he was a very active presence during games.
Wooft! Watching this and progressively sinking behind cracks in my fingers. This is brutal. Not arguing, wish I could, but it is tough to hear.
Cannot believe Balikwisha has non-functional speed for a winger AND is not good enough defensively to be effective centrally.
At least it looks like Idah is leaving (for a £2m bath).
Congrats on completing the degree Patrick! Good luck on the job search.
... hearing Sevco 2012 are even worse helped a wee bit though.
The stoppable force v the moveable object, a wet sponge thru hot butter...lol HH
Worked with a guy who inadvertently ended up spending a lot of time around Ashley. The guy I know has no skin in the game, doesnt like football. He told me Ashley was a Man U fan at witnessed him betting big against Newcastle and laughing when they lost.
It was always reported he was a Spurs "fan" but is suspect, like Desmond, he could not care less about football, and worships only money.
Great podcast guys. Perfectly summed up my thoughts from this weeks debacle. Rodgers cannot be described as elite after this week. Yes the club and its recruitment non-process is a complete backet case but to put out that team in that shape was madness. We have no wingers & abundance of players in central areas /midfield. Not exactly rocket science to go 4-4-2 diamond or 4-2-3-1 (domestic) until the board decide to buy some wingers....still waiting by the sounds of it....Anyway onwards. Lets hope the smiles are back on Sunday...To lose to that mob is surely unthinkable....
Another fantastic podcast! Genuinely don’t know how I got by all these years without hearing from people who have genuine insights…
Great point from Alan re: the pitch and Rodgers’s failure to adjust relative to that. It really makes me wonder why he didn’t adjust and why he has been so reluctant to be more flexible with formation in general over the course of this tenure. Is it a case of overconfidence? That Celtic are positioned differently to Leicester taken relative to the sides they face and that Rodgers somewhat lazily assumes quality will see us through (do we really set up relative to the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition when playing smaller teams?). That added to a lack of trust in the depth he has? Either way, it is incredibly frustrating, and a point well taken that Rodgers also was considerably culpable.
I take James’ point that Kairat’s tactics inhibited us here, but I couldn’t help wondering if Dane Murray and Inamura would have made a difference: it seemed to me that Carter-Vickers and McGreggor were markedly conservative, formation and pitch excepting. The question I suppose would be, how well were set up to exploit more daring, pack-passing.
Embarrassing indeed.
As for transfers: such a mess! Compounded layers of stupidity. Think how fun it could be to support Celtic if we were run by modern-thinking competent individuals!