Ya, the scotch will do well to take anything from this now
Dybala is a great little player
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That was a cracking finish by Alves but weâve really stood off to let them play this half. No effort at closing them down at the edge of the box, presumably because weâre afraid of them just chipping it in behind.
Forrest has had a miserable 15 minutes or so.
Celtic seem to have run out of ideas here.
2-0 now. Gameiro finishes from an acute angle after rounding the keeper. Roma have Qarabag at home in the last game though so itâs surely academic.
Basle lead
Theyâll have a chance to bounce back against Stenhousemuir or whoever they play after PSG
Showed our hand too early.
That was embarrassing. Ragged and panicked defending from 2-1 onwards and some inexplicably bad decision making and errors.
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What happened to Celtic tonight would never have happened under Martin OâNeill.
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No it would only have been 5-1 in fairness.
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Yeah. Awful stuff. Lots of individual errors. A collective lack of effort and desire. Poor organization. They are awesome but we can and should be more disciplined defensively. We canât leave such big areas to attack (so ridiculously narrow for the first goal for example) and we need to work very hard on a better defensive system for post Christmas.
Richard Dunne hasnât aged a day in the last 16 years.
Rodgers wonât alter his approach to playing football and his teams will always look to build up and pass out from the back. I donât have an issue with this but thereâll always be a risk against elite teams that theyâll intercept a ball or pounce on an error in your own half and punish you when youâre trying to play out. That happened for the first goal. The second goal was sheer class and thatâs very difficult to stop.
But most, if not all, of the other goals should have been defended better. You can still look to be positive in possession while retaining a solid defensive shape. Thereâs no excuse for the two set piece concessions before half time. I hate using rugby football terminology re actual sports but they were both second phases after the initial corner or freekick and Celtic werenât alive to it - runs not tracked and danger men not marked. There was complete indecision and a lack of leadership and organisation back there.
The clutch of goals in the second half consisted of two great finishes and then a fantastic long range strike but Brown and/or Boyata should have cleared the cross for the 5th and Tierney missed an attempted headed clearance for the 6th.
Celtic played some good football at various stages, especially in the first 20 minutes, but we shouldnât be giving up so many goals and losing 12-1 to anyone over 2 games. Weâve taken a few European hidings now under Rodgers and he always talks in the aftermath about the lessons to be learnt and developing through experience. While we usually respond after each hammering (win in Brussels after first thumping by PSG, great display in defeat at home to Bayern after meek defeat in Germany), Iâd prefer if the development didnât necessarily have to be accompanied by hidings.
I think we need to sign a goalkeeper and a centre back. If we sign a good centre back in January then I think we could progress through a few rounds of the Europa League.
As an aside, I wonder if the results against PSG and Bayern Munich would make Rodgers waver. Does there come a point when he thinks âfuck this - weâre way too strong in our league but weâre cannon fodder for the top teams at this level.â Could that kind of purgatory make him walk sooner than we think or hope? He might be thinking that, irrespective of the financial disparity between the clubs, beatings like tonight wonât do his reputation any good when it comes to his next job after Celtic. Winning the Europa League would be a tremendous way to put this issue to bed though.
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PSG would have put ten past Liverpool
Weâd have scored 11, though.
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Refreshing to see a fan focusing on the positives of his team, even in losing 7-1.
