Celtic: Treble or Trouble Ahead?
Article by James Payne
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I last wrote for this site in the week after Celtic’s much heralded but anti-climactic match with ‘Rangers’ four weeks ago. It has been an interesting month since then and the coming month promises to be at least as exciting and with a cup final it could see Celtic complete the first part of a domestic ‘treble’.
Celtic took a huge step to securing another part of that treble when Aberdeen was beaten 4-0 at Celtic Park last Sunday. The Dons had come to Glasgow after a 13 match unbeaten league run with some impressive recent performances and must have fancied their chances as Celtic had played Internazionale of Milan less than 72 hours earlier – 55 minutes of that game with ten men.
Derek McInnes’ side started the match in decent fashion and in the first ten to fifteen minutes looked good for a repeat of last season’s surprise win in the Scottish Cup at Celtic Park. Celtic looked lethargic and stale in those opening minutes and could well have been a goal down. In the next twenty Aberdeen dominated territorially but with less panache than in that opening burst and then Celtic scored following Jason Denayer’s header following the Celts’ first corner of the day. The game was virtually over from that point and in the second half the Reds were lucky to avoid an even bigger hammering. Celtic’s lead is six points with a game in hand- at home to St Johnstone on Wednesday- and a victory in that rearranged fixture will leave Celtic with a lead I do not expect them to surrender- I think that they are probably more likely to increase that lead in truth.
Celtic exited the Europa League on Thursday night on a 4-3 aggregate score to the Nerazzurri. The two matches with Inter were exciting – the first leg was arguably the most exciting match played at Celtic Park since it became an all-seated stadium in 1995- but the manner in which Celtic exited left something of a bitter taste in the mouth though over the piece I did think the Italian team just about deserved to go through as they looked to have just that bit more poise than the Celts. But the second leg was a poorly refereed affair with Slovakian official Ivan Kruzliak making what looked to be a number of mistakes all of which favoured the homesters. The most discussed of these has been the decision to send of Virgil Van Dijk with less than 40 minutes on the clock for two bookable offences. I am not sure that either card was merited- I am far from convinced either was even a foul- and they made Celtic’s task almost impossible. But neither decision involving Van Dijk was as bad as his failure to award a penalty to Celtic early in the match when Stuart Armstrong was brought down or as bizarre as his decision to book Craig Gordon for time wasting when Celtic was heading out of the competition on away goals. But the worst was his failure to send Inter’s Guarin off after he elbowed Stefan Johansen in the face during the second half. Had the match become 10 versus 10 then we might have had an interesting last few minutes instead the Colombian scored an absolute screamer to totally finish things with two minutes to go.
The first leg of the tie was an exhilarating match that ended 3-3. The Milanese team scored twice in the opening quarter of an hour before Celtic played thrillingly to level before half an hour had passed. In the thirty minutes that passed after Inter’s second goal Celtic played as well as they have against a fairly decent European side as they have since Benfica was thrashed 3-0 in 2006 but undid much of the good work when goalkeeper Craig Gordon made an absolute hash off collecting a routine ball played into his area to let Palacio in for a third goal right on half time. Celtic left their deserved equaliser until injury time when John Guidetti scored his first goal in three months. It was a breathless, thrilling match.
Celtic did not look out of place against an Inter side which has generally saved its best form this season for the Europa League but I remain less convinced than some that Celtic are set to make an impression next season in European competition.
It is true that the team now looks totally comfortable with the ‘pressing game’ favoured by coach Ronny Deila and that the fitness of the team is appreciably higher than it was under Neil Lennon. This team looks good and is playing attractive football winning matches against domestic opposition with style and ease. The Scottish Cup Quarter final and League Cup final matches against Dundee United on consecutive Sundays will arguably be the most difficult matches Celtic plays before the ‘split’ in April but the treble looks really likely. The two transfer deadline day signings from Dundee United- Gary McKay-Steven and Stuart Armstrong- have both made superb starts to their Celtic careers whilst Israeli midfielder Nir Bitton looks like our most cultured player in several years. Ronny Deila has now settled and become popular with the support even if, personally, I wish there was a bit more tactical flexibility in his set up things do look promising. But…
Celtic seem unlikely to go into next season with either of its two central defenders Virgil Van Dijk or Jason Denayer. I am probably in the minority in preferring the latter as a player but both have been superb of late. Both have given their all- and the young Belgian looked euphoric when opening the scoring against Aberdeen – but if the rumours are true neither sees Celtic as being part of their future. Van Dijk probably feels he has done all he can at Celtic – he may be right- and Celtic are unlikely to resist any decent sum offered for him whilst Denayer- only a loan signing from Man City after all– is reportedly keen to step up a level and move on to a better league such as the Eredivisie before seeing if City are interested in bringing him into their first team squad. I would like to think that Celtic has new signing targets that have been ‘sounded out’ but going into the Champions League qualifiers in July with a new central defensive pairing or trying to get by with, say Efe Ambrose and Charlie Mulgrew, for matches against teams of the calibre we faced last summer (and presumably more competent with the bureaucratic bits of the game) presents a danger that could plunge the support into gloom once more. And that’s before we address the lack of a striker who can score goals and look ‘right’ for our style. The best, domestically, appears to be the effervescent Griffiths with Guidetti looking unlikely to stay – or anything like as good as he did at first – whilst the hugely disappointing Scepovic did not even make it on the ‘plane to Milan.
But at the moment such concerns are remote. This season has been very up and down for Celtic but it could well turn out to be one that is more fondly remembered than some of more recent vintage. But there is still a lot to be done. But I will concede one thing. It’s better now than I thought it was going to be 6 months ago.
© e-Football 2014 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football
Subscribe to the e-Football Podcast!
I last wrote for this site in the week after Celtic’s much heralded but anti-climactic match with ‘Rangers’ four weeks ago. It has been an interesting month since then and the coming month promises to be at least as exciting and with a cup final it could see Celtic complete the first part of a domestic ‘treble’.
Celtic took a huge step to securing another part of that treble when Aberdeen was beaten 4-0 at Celtic Park last Sunday. The Dons had come to Glasgow after a 13 match unbeaten league run with some impressive recent performances and must have fancied their chances as Celtic had played Internazionale of Milan less than 72 hours earlier – 55 minutes of that game with ten men.
Derek McInnes’ side started the match in decent fashion and in the first ten to fifteen minutes looked good for a repeat of last season’s surprise win in the Scottish Cup at Celtic Park. Celtic looked lethargic and stale in those opening minutes and could well have been a goal down. In the next twenty Aberdeen dominated territorially but with less panache than in that opening burst and then Celtic scored following Jason Denayer’s header following the Celts’ first corner of the day. The game was virtually over from that point and in the second half the Reds were lucky to avoid an even bigger hammering. Celtic’s lead is six points with a game in hand- at home to St Johnstone on Wednesday- and a victory in that rearranged fixture will leave Celtic with a lead I do not expect them to surrender- I think that they are probably more likely to increase that lead in truth.
Celtic exited the Europa League on Thursday night on a 4-3 aggregate score to the Nerazzurri. The two matches with Inter were exciting – the first leg was arguably the most exciting match played at Celtic Park since it became an all-seated stadium in 1995- but the manner in which Celtic exited left something of a bitter taste in the mouth though over the piece I did think the Italian team just about deserved to go through as they looked to have just that bit more poise than the Celts. But the second leg was a poorly refereed affair with Slovakian official Ivan Kruzliak making what looked to be a number of mistakes all of which favoured the homesters. The most discussed of these has been the decision to send of Virgil Van Dijk with less than 40 minutes on the clock for two bookable offences. I am not sure that either card was merited- I am far from convinced either was even a foul- and they made Celtic’s task almost impossible. But neither decision involving Van Dijk was as bad as his failure to award a penalty to Celtic early in the match when Stuart Armstrong was brought down or as bizarre as his decision to book Craig Gordon for time wasting when Celtic was heading out of the competition on away goals. But the worst was his failure to send Inter’s Guarin off after he elbowed Stefan Johansen in the face during the second half. Had the match become 10 versus 10 then we might have had an interesting last few minutes instead the Colombian scored an absolute screamer to totally finish things with two minutes to go.
The first leg of the tie was an exhilarating match that ended 3-3. The Milanese team scored twice in the opening quarter of an hour before Celtic played thrillingly to level before half an hour had passed. In the thirty minutes that passed after Inter’s second goal Celtic played as well as they have against a fairly decent European side as they have since Benfica was thrashed 3-0 in 2006 but undid much of the good work when goalkeeper Craig Gordon made an absolute hash off collecting a routine ball played into his area to let Palacio in for a third goal right on half time. Celtic left their deserved equaliser until injury time when John Guidetti scored his first goal in three months. It was a breathless, thrilling match.
Celtic did not look out of place against an Inter side which has generally saved its best form this season for the Europa League but I remain less convinced than some that Celtic are set to make an impression next season in European competition.
It is true that the team now looks totally comfortable with the ‘pressing game’ favoured by coach Ronny Deila and that the fitness of the team is appreciably higher than it was under Neil Lennon. This team looks good and is playing attractive football winning matches against domestic opposition with style and ease. The Scottish Cup Quarter final and League Cup final matches against Dundee United on consecutive Sundays will arguably be the most difficult matches Celtic plays before the ‘split’ in April but the treble looks really likely. The two transfer deadline day signings from Dundee United- Gary McKay-Steven and Stuart Armstrong- have both made superb starts to their Celtic careers whilst Israeli midfielder Nir Bitton looks like our most cultured player in several years. Ronny Deila has now settled and become popular with the support even if, personally, I wish there was a bit more tactical flexibility in his set up things do look promising. But…
Celtic seem unlikely to go into next season with either of its two central defenders Virgil Van Dijk or Jason Denayer. I am probably in the minority in preferring the latter as a player but both have been superb of late. Both have given their all- and the young Belgian looked euphoric when opening the scoring against Aberdeen – but if the rumours are true neither sees Celtic as being part of their future. Van Dijk probably feels he has done all he can at Celtic – he may be right- and Celtic are unlikely to resist any decent sum offered for him whilst Denayer- only a loan signing from Man City after all– is reportedly keen to step up a level and move on to a better league such as the Eredivisie before seeing if City are interested in bringing him into their first team squad. I would like to think that Celtic has new signing targets that have been ‘sounded out’ but going into the Champions League qualifiers in July with a new central defensive pairing or trying to get by with, say Efe Ambrose and Charlie Mulgrew, for matches against teams of the calibre we faced last summer (and presumably more competent with the bureaucratic bits of the game) presents a danger that could plunge the support into gloom once more. And that’s before we address the lack of a striker who can score goals and look ‘right’ for our style. The best, domestically, appears to be the effervescent Griffiths with Guidetti looking unlikely to stay – or anything like as good as he did at first – whilst the hugely disappointing Scepovic did not even make it on the ‘plane to Milan.
But at the moment such concerns are remote. This season has been very up and down for Celtic but it could well turn out to be one that is more fondly remembered than some of more recent vintage. But there is still a lot to be done. But I will concede one thing. It’s better now than I thought it was going to be 6 months ago.
© e-Football 2014 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football
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