Saturday 20 November 2004

Has O'Neill lost the plot?

I thought that Celtic were shocking today. A totally indisciplined performance. I hope Sutton is fined for his ridiculous second card which effectively ended the game for Celtic. It looked like he wanted to get sent off since he lunged into a tackle five minutes previously. We should have finished the match with seven players.

But apart from the indiscipline, we were rubbish. We looked like amateurs. Why bring on Pearson when we're 2-0 down when we had Juninho and McGeady on the bench? And WTF was that nonsense at the end with Lennon? O'Neill reminded me of Archie Knox or Graeme Souness.

I think MON expected to get beat. Last night he said that he would be happy to be "pretty close to Rangers in January". A pretty amazing thing to say going into the game four points ahead of Rangers and hardly a vote of confidence in the current team. Maybe the penny has just dropped that the current squad isn't good enough?

4 comments:

  1. I thought today highlighted pretty much what was said in earlier posts about Balde and the defence. I actually thought Celtic were in control until that shocking header by Balde (is he still suffering from malaria) and equally bad lunge by JV. After the second goal we were never going to get back into it, we just didn't look a threat. A lot of energy and power seems to have gone from the midfield and Camara is disappointing in the big games. It is obvious JV doesn't know how to go forward as a full back. But the pool is surely better than the huns. We need to buy in January for definite though as they may improve their team. I still don't rate them but Namouchi is looking good.

    The main point about today for me is that they have sunk lower as a disgraceful load of F..in cheats. Right from the start with Novo's kick on JmcN and Rae's elbow on Sutton. But the worst is the play acting they actually now roll around on the ground as if they've been shot at practically every tackle. Yes HC should have been sent off but look at that again and see rubbish Vignal kick HC up the arse with his right foot and prompting the retaliation. Novo's stamp on Pearson was a red card but P just got up and got on with it. That little piece of crap would have been holding his throat as if he had been stabbed. The S sending off was stupid, I agree he did look like he wanted off.

    I never heard those very disappointing MON comments and I didn't like that scene at the end. I have always had doubts about MON's commitment but his gesture with NL made me think that he is more passionate about staying. (I have thought Moyes would be a good replacement but he has signed with Everton until 2008)

    My only worry is that maybe Petrov needs a rest and Celtic with MON has been built around power and energy. Is he really good enough tactically to build flair players into the team? Also Smith for Scotland - his unbiased view today on TV was that it was a welcome result. I would only want him so that he could go the same way as Vogts. But then again the system would support him just like it does the huns. They will now get everything until the end of the season. When Celtic win the league it shouldn't be "smell the glove" but a load of dives and rolls around the pitch.

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  2. That seems a pretty fair and impartial summary of the match. ;-)

    Agree with most of what you write. The problem is that football is partly psychological - Rangers were never as bad as we used to make them look and they're not as good as we now making them look. But results like yesterday will boost their confidence (not just the score but the manner of the victory - it was a stroll) and that will improve their actual performance.

    What really annoys me about yesterday is that we made fools of ourselves. Let's face it, if it was the other way around we would be pissing ourselves.

    Something positive may come out if it though. Even MON must now realise that we can't labour on with this squad. MON talks a good game about "having to sign new players" but repeatedly fails to deliver. I now expect a few decent signings in January. Pity it has taken this state of affairs for it to happen.

    Now onto the Nou Camp...

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  3. Agree with what you both say. Too many poor players in the team at the moment (JV, BB, HC) and no-one to replace them.

    Too much cheating by the huns (PL, NN, AR).

    Too much naivity by Celtic (JMcN, SP)

    Too much unfocused agression (AT)

    Too desparate to get sent off (CS)

    We need to do something fast to stop the rot or we will not win the league.

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  4. Coming fourth in our CL section will be a good thing. It will allow us to concentrate on the league. Hopefully we'll sign a couple of decent players in January (not squad men - we need quality) and a couple more next summer. That might start to turn things around.

    It's also good that so many contracts are up next summer. I wouldn't renew most of them (I don't even like Hartson who is having his best spell since signing).

    But what's happened to MON? He used to be a great motivator and get the very best out of limited players (like Balde, Petrov and Thompson).

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