I didn’t see yesterday’s game (or the win in midweek) but agree completely on the tactical limitations of the team we have assembled. The versatility of Ledley has disguised some serious weaknesses throughout the team and means we sometimes get away with plugging gaps instead of working on a system that will get results.
I don’t have a particular issue with 4-4-2 but over a long domestic season we need to be able to vary it and we have been completely incapable of doing so. As I said here before we played a decent 4-5-1 in Ibrox last January but Lennon seemed to believe afterwards that it was Samaras alone up front which caused all the problems - what about Forrest’s roving role from the right wing and Paddy in support?
And there are problems with the players too but it’s Lennon’s job to get consistent performances from them. How have Kayal and Commons regressed so much in such a short space of time? Why do we allow centre backs to put in so many repeat abject displays? Why is Mark Wilson allowed punt the ball away every time he gets it? Why is Hooper limping through every game and looking like he’s doing us a favour by staying on?
Looking at the team this weekend versus the same stage last season:
Matthews looks a decent player and Mulgrew has come on a bit but Forster and Majstorovic are worse than they were at this point last year, Loovens is as bad as he ever was, Rogne has still done nothing in over a year now and Mark Wilson and Cha are as limited as ever.
In midfield Kayal has regressed alarmingly. Commons is a shadow of the player he was. Ledley and Ki have probably improved a little. Brown is as frustrating as ever. Forrest is the big improver there probably with Wanyama looking promising. McCourt remains on the fringes.
Up front Hooper isn’t playing anywhere near as well as last season, Stokes is probably marginally improved but still struggles for games and consistency. Samaras offers nothing. Bangura has been far from convincing.
That’s not a team that’s growing and improving together.
Neil’s public chastising and criticism of players is happening all too often. The latest quotes smack of rank desperation. It’s almost as if he’s trying to shame them into finding acceptable effort and application levels. He should be able to infuse the necessary desire and work rate into them every single day on the training ground along with the rest of the coaching staff rather than running to the press.
It’s a grim situation at Celtic from top to bottom. We’re all well on record as being raging with the board for the lack of investment in the first team squad but the management and players are horribly underperforming this season - we’re wallowing behind Motherwell despite having a wage bill multiple times greater than theirs. Central defence was a priority for me but it hasn’t been sorted out and continues to hurt us. We’ve been struck by injuries but Neil’s team selection has been very questionable at times. For example, leaving Ledley and Forrest out at Ibrox.
Then there’s been the incredible drop off in performance level of some of last season’s key players such as Kayal, Commons and Hooper. It’s been absolutely shocking to see the difference in the quality of their play and their work rate too. Again, we all pinned Kayal for consistently displaying a shit attitude earlier this season but his effort has remained unacceptable since signing his contract. Neil seems to have fallen out with Commons completely and I don’t know if Hooper’s sulking because Commons is his best pal or what. Either way, there seems to have been an absolute breakdown between maangement and the squad and it’s looking increasingly likely that the situation is irretrievable.
gas how quick ye have turned on lennon. from fenian hero to “cunt” in the space of a few months. fucking hell some supporters.
mind you, it isnt looking good when a manager resorts to stunts like threatening to name and shame players. players he has bought in many cases.
with regard to successors oh how I will laugh if MONOBE goes back.
He has had a lot of time on his hands lately it seems - http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/mar/01/aston-villa-randy-lerner-accounts. Time spent realising his net worth no doubt. Only job he has been linked with was West Ham last Xmas and Forest and Leicester. Would be some fall from grace to head back to the SPL to a club he tried to walk out on before to Leeds.
Unless Desmond is going stumping up serious cash for new players though he wont be heading back to Parkhead.
It is likely a former player will be selected, the man who stopped the 10 in a row Harold Brattpack might be interested.
The Celtic fans have placed a lot of faith in Neil Lennon and he keeps letting us down.
He should do the honourable thing, take responsibility for the current situation and let someone else come in and take over.
His spat with McGeady at Dunfermline all those years ago told us a lot about his leadership qualities, it seems his attitude hasn’t changed much since then.
While the individual performances haven’t been good enough Lennon has let himself down in the last transfer window and by failing to develop a system to get the best out of the moderate resources available. It was his decision to address the defensive situation by signing Kelvin Wilson, Matthews and Wanyama - the former has looked shaky at best, the latter two are good prospects but neither will solve the main defensive problems.
And the more I look at Bangura the more I think it was a panic buy.