SENTINELCELTS

The Bhoys scored four goals to progress in the League Cup, kept a clean sheet, handed out two debuts, and got minutes into the legs of the maximum 16 on Saturday evening.
A good day at the office you would imagine?
Well, its complicated.

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I didn’t like the teamsheet but I could rationale the decisions made. On a pristine surface on a sunny evening the ref blew his whistle and it was underway.
Celtic then produced as poor a start as I can recall. I was asking when are we going to get into this match after 5 minutes, by ten minutes I was concerned, by 20 I was genuinely worried and by 25 I just wanted to hold on until the gaffer makes halftime subs and tweaks.

To me, the problem was obvious, the energy or legs was missing from the team. Calmac and the OX are the opposite of legs, throw in the energy and legs of KT and AJ being missing and there was virtually no thrust in the team, no quick options on the ball to avoid their press, and no tactical tweak to address our clearly getting overrun.

But around the half-hour mark what’d yah know. The words “Celtic score from a setpiece” are rarely seen on these pages. On our first corner I said to myself Aha, we clearly saw the biggest four bunch together then peel off into different zones, almost a staple move in the NFL. Benji therefore has four zones to target, he opts for the front post and big Trusty who has earned my trust flicks it in and he made it look easy. The corner itself was top notch and the finish was excellent. Ross Grant makes his mark three competitive games in, chapeau. Good luck fixing our throw-ins, shockingly bad.

Twas only a few minutes and we went two ahead. They tried to keep turning the screw, but got caught and we burst upfield with intent. There was a bit of a stramash in the box as the defender marking Nygren created a loose ball in the 6 yard box. Duran doesn’t need a second invitation and gets it in the back of the net from close range.

Despite this I actually thought they galvanized and edged the rest of the half. They had hit the bar twice, we had scored twice. Their press was crushing us and the starters weren’t cutting it. Even still I expect Midas to wield his touch but no. They started the second better just like the first, one of the oldest tricks in the book, get ’em from kickoff.

Yet low and behold it happens again, two goals against the run of play. They had nothing to lose and we were not playing well, but they overcommitted and our attack had them backtracking towards goal. Tonekti saw an opening between a defenders legs and even though he didnt really get his foot through the ball it trundled in beyond the ‘keepers reach and we were 3 goals to the good which sparked the changes to keep certain players more fresh for the big game on Wednesday. Completely understandable and I’m in full agreement.

One of those players was Mika Baur. While he almost re-enacted a Henke/Chic Charnley moment it was Baur who won the ball then fed it to Tonetki to assemble the 4th goal, another Benji special.
I was keeping my eye on Baur and like everything I saw, good position, good tackling, good passing apart from one oopsie, I thought the midfield was better when he came on and formed a double pivot but one who would look to pass forward.

It ultimately came down to levels, our multi million men finished better and thats why they are in the big leagues, but if we produced that performance in the big leagues those big league players would heavily punish us. We had 20m up front, I doubt they had 5m on the park yet were forced into counter attacks to win the game.
Conclusion,,,never play that midfield 3 again. At one point I saw Nygren in our box, CCV was forced to carry the ball into their half in order to create something, anything.
If I was the LASK manager I would feel a bit better BUT,,,

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If I know todays midfield was unacceptable then Martin and Shaun know. My point is, after watching us get outplayed but outscoring them, buy that box to box Arne replacement and choose the one with the biggest cajones because he needs to play on Wednesday. I would choose the one who has made it through the cut that can play right here, right now, and get him straight into that team.

Hogh got zero service, I pitied him today because there were no overlapping fullbacks fling in passes or crosses.
Tonetki walks away with a standing ovation and a goal plus an assist to his name. As I watched him I was thinking to myself he cannot cross a ball for shit, he doesn’t beat a man, his shots are usually poor, he doesn’t score,,,,we need better. I do believe we could do much better but I’m grateful he made a big contribution today and in fairness he doesn’t hide.

Hassan didn’t do much, ah well, but Ill be judging over seasons not hours. Baur had the better debut.
I like the fact we spread the minutes around the squad but “that” needs backup. Like yesterday. Ox to kill games off, Baur will replace him on Wednesday but have a DM on the bench if not in the team.

By Mahe
sentinelcelts@gmail.com