Celtic FC: Were they really fit?

Article by Celtic Correspondent Rory Higgins

So it’s another game down in the Champions League and another game lost away from home. Celtic have always struggled away from home in the Champions League but I found this one to be one of the most disappointing away performances I have seen from Celtic in the group stages.

The back four and Fraser Forster had a great game but it’s no good playing well at only one end of the field. Fans hopes were up when the news came through that Georgios Samaras who has been instrumental for Celtic in Europe in the past couple of seasons and Kris Commons were both fit to play. However, both of them seemed to be lagging on a night when Celtic needed them most.

Is this the fault of the players that they were fit but they did not have a great game or does the fault lie with the manager who probably hoped and prayed that they were fully fit. Commons touch let him down on numerous occasions and we didn’t see the marauding runs that we see so often from Samaras.

I’m not saying that this is the only reason for the defeat in the Amsterdam Arena as there were other factors in the defeat. For one Celtic in general seemed tired and allowed Ajax to play the ball out far too easily from the back. Also, James Forrest was not in the game at all until the 2nd half when things seemed to open up a bit.

As much as I love Neil Lennon I do often question his substitutions when things aren’t going our way and the timing of them. I think he left it far too late to bring on Boerrigter who never really had a chance to get into the game and to replace Kayal who in my opinion was our best player apart from the back 5. I think in 90 minutes we only had one clear chance and that was a Stokes effort that the keeper saved easily. I think this statistic really shows our need for a new striker and I think we should take a risk on a player from lower divisions with a good scoring record like we did with Hooper.

Let me know in the comments below what you thought of the game in midweek and what you think wre the key factors in defeat.

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