I didn’t think a week ago yesterday it could get any worse with Celtic, but yesterday was just as bad, we looked like a team who had just met up for the first time, I don’t know what’s been going on up at Lennoxtown, but the last three games have been abysmal, after a great start to the season, the wheels seem to have fallen off the team bus, so what are we doing on the training pitches? There doesn’t seem to be a plan or tactics, I’ve been saying for months now, we don’t mark opposing players we mark zones, which certainly is not working, one shot on target in ninety minutes is scandalous, and that was a header from our right back.
I have said since last season that I didn’t believe Martin O’Neill was setting up the team’s tactics, and I’m not sure if he was even picking the team. We finished the game yesterday with three wingers on the park, the selection, or should I say the non-selection of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was astonishing to say the least, he has not been seen for about a month now, after starting two game, and being Man of the Match after playing for about an hour in both games, what has he done that merits his absence from the starting line-up? If we have a wee bit of pace up front, you need someone who can ping a pass 30/40 yards, that man is the Ox, a proven big game player, and he can’t get into our team that is struggling to create chances, and get attempts on target.
John Beaton has suffered a huge amount of abuse from non-Celtic supporting people since our penalty award at Motherwell last season, well he got a wee bit of his own back on us yesterday with his refusal to award a free kick to Celtic after Fernandez bulldozed Benji Nygren who had nutmegged him, if he had awarded the free kick it should have resulted in a second yellow for Fernandez, and so a red card. Beaton could have shown Fernandez a straight red for his early foul on Camilo Duran, the reason I say that is, Camilo was in a far better position to score that the Hearts forward was last year when Trusty was sent off at Tynecastle. I am in no way blaming Beaton for our defeat, but it would certainly have been a different game with the Mob down to ten men.
One thing you definitely need to play for Celtic is desire to give everything you have in every game, I don’t see that from a lot of our players, we look lightweight in every challenge, we are getting bullied all over the pitch, that is not acceptable. A young twenty-year-old bhoy is leaving everything he has out on the pitch, some of our more senior players could take a leaf out of young Colby’s book. And what has our new Set-Piece Coach brought to Celtic, I have not noticed a difference in attacking or defending set-piece plays, the Oldco scored from their first corner yesterday, we had nobody protecting the edge of the eighteen-yard box, a position we lost two goals from just a week ago, and without being over-critical, Sinisalo should be pushing the original shot behind the post, or at least out wide, not back into our own box, right into the area Nygren had just vacated.
Mc Innes (I have nothing but disdain for that balloon) has been moaning all week about Naderi’s leg being an “absolute mess” I wish some of our players legs were in such a mess, Naderi never stopped running all game, strange from a player awaiting amputation, we according to Mc Innes at least. We now have three weeks to turn things around, I know there has been a lot of talk of Martin leaving, I genuinely believe that will happen, I think the whole management team will leave, and that’s sad, I never like to see people lose their job. If that is the case, then we need to get someone in really quick, and no matter who that will be, they have to work with the same playing squad, so they will have their work cut out making thing better, there are good players at the club, maybe they need a different direction.
Glasgow’s still Green and White.