Gutless!
Morning, all.
Well, that’s the treble gone for another season. And if we ever play as badly as that again, we can say goodbye to the other two trophies as well. To give you some flavour of how bad we were, it was our worst since the Covid season. Or, to put it another way, Dan Neil was MOTM. I have pointed out a few times that we’ve only played opponents from the bottom seven last season, and yet are still giving away chance after chance. Today’s opponents were not going to let us off with that type of slack play; instead, they went for the throat.
I started to go wrong for us from the minute most of us saw the team sheet. If there’s two players in our squad who we know will not show in a battle, it is Tounekti and Nygren. Sad but true. That left us without a threat from our left, and a two v five in midfield. There’s a big part of the problem right there. It gave them the chance to go three at the back, adding Penrice to their five. Baur and McGregor were up against it, though they didn’t help themselves.
Donovan got booked early again, which made life difficult for him when he was already in bother against their winger. And Johnstone, who has strangely become our first choice keeper, was flapping at every cross ball-though, granted, he did save a couple of times too. In fact, he would have got an assist for the opener if Kelsy had been sharp enough. That was the fourth minute, and he didn’t improve much.
Walsh made his intentions plain from the start by ignoring an assault on Duran. The first ten minutes were all one way, and not ours, before Donovan sprung a long ball to Høgh. Sadly, he tripped (summed up his day, really) and Duran could only scuff the unexpected loose ball. The next ten minutes went the way of those early ones, and it was no surprise when they scored. Nor that it was a free shot from the edge of the area, so often our downfall already this season.
By half time, we were grateful only to be one down. We couldn’t be that bad in the second half, so heads up! Hassan came on for Tounekti with Duran switching sides, and immediately took us fifty yards up the pitch. Seconds later, even Walsh couldn’t ignore the latest foul by Mkanya-though he ignored the ones after that. Vast improvement already!
Until Johnstone flapped at another cross, and put the pressure back on us. When he wasn’t flapping, he just played the ball short to ensure we couldn’t get up the pitch. Worse, nobody seemed capable of telling him to hit it long. Today wasn’t entirely the keeper’s fault, but his display went a long way to explaining why we couldn’t relieve the pressure. And just before the hour, unable to get clear, we conceded again. This time, a cross broke loose to Kelsey about ten yards out. Nobody near him. 2-0.
The tie was done by then, four substitutions weren’t gonna change that. In truth, most of us were at the stage where we just wanted put out of our misery. We kept the scoreline down to three, the third again as a result of prolonged pressure.
A disgraceful performance, but you have to wonder what MON thought that line-up was going to get us against an overloaded Ibrox midfield. I love the guy, he has achieved so much for us, but he got things dreadfully wrong this time. He doesn’t have the luxury of a free week to work on things in training, so he needs to use the time he has to find a shape and a formation that works with the players we have. And maybe have a wee chat with Høgh to find out why he hasn’t been performing as we know he can. I just hope he isn’t pining for the fjords!!!
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Above article by BMCUWP
We now have a new JustGiving page set up to enable donations to be made for our latest charity appeal.
We wanted to focus again on a local charity, and this time one which is dedicated to helping those suffering from homelessness, addiction or poverty.
The one we have gone for is
GLASGOW CITY MISSION
You can find our dedicated page at
https://www.justgiving.com/page/sentinelcelts67
It’s here, folks! The return of our football and racing competitions!
SATURDAY 12th September is when the betting aficionados amongst us have to get our thinking caps on again.
As usual, our site will run a NAPS COMPETITION with some healthy prize money, and once again it will start on St Leger Day in September and run through till the last day of Royal Ascot in June. There will be a short break from the end of November till the end of January.
https://sentinelcelts.com/2026/08/31/saturday-naps-competition-2/
And for those whose betting interests are mainly centred on the football, we will also run our MAGNIFICENT SEVEN accumulator, starting on the same day and finishing when we no longer have eight leagues to pick from. Usually the end of April. Let’s hope that it gives us a more magnificent return than the litany of near-misses and total failures we got last term!
https://sentinelcelts.com/2026/08/31/saturday-football-accumulator/
We will be looking for volunteers for this year’s ACCA , so please join up!
Both these initiatives are FREE TO ENTER, so please click on the links provided.
D R M has also very kindly volunteered to operate a competition over the three days of the AYR GOLD CUP meeting. September 17-19th.
Usual rules, with a selection from each race.
There is £100 of prize money, and as alway is FREE TO ENTER!
More details are available on the dedicated page, so click on the link.
https://sentinelcelts.com/2026/08/31/d-r-m-ayr-gold-cup-meeting-competition/
Goals so far…
Høgh……… 3
Nygren …….5
Durán…..….6
Yang………..2
McCowan …1
Baur………..1
Tounekti……1
Trusty………1
McGregor….1
Scales…….1
******
Assists so far…
Nygren …. 6
Tierney…. 3
Høgh……..1
Engels …..1
Duran ……3
Hassan…..1
Yang…..…1
Tounekti …1
Stats as given on BBC match report
POTY Competition.
sencelpoty@gmail.com
From last blog. I think I was typing simultaneously with BMCUWP. Several similar comments. We can all see them. Why can’t our coaching staff?
INIQUITOUS IV
September 13, 2026 5:18 pm
What on earth is happening at Celtic? MON, who has zero history of having an eye for a keeper, gives an utterly irrational justification for dropping Sinisalo, “Johnstone has never played an OF game.” 🤔 I mean, WTAF?
We have holes in the team you can see from space. Most posters on here see that. We repeatedly yield huge numbers of shots from the same position – outside the D. LASK had 40 shots, Dundee Utd had 19 and hit woodwork 5 times, St. Mirren had 15. WTF are MON and Maloney doing? If I saw that happening during ONE game, I would do something about it, yet they see it EVERY game and do diddly squat. MON stood befuddled like a confused, doddering old man on the sideline and did NOTHING to address the main problem – McInnes was clogging the center of the park, outnumbering us, fighting for second balls, and completely dominating. Out coached by McKlopp, FFS!
Fielding Tounekti and Nygren was a huge mistake. In a team full of gutless cowards, every man and his dog just knew they would disappear without trace. For these games, we need guys with the same attitude as Araujo and Saracchi last season.
McGregor’s day is done. But our inept coaching duo are accelerating that process by giving him zero support. At least get some numbers in there. Play 3 at the back, 5 in the middle and 2 up top. If we don’t address it, we will lose to Ferencvaros, the Hun again, and we will concede 6 or 7 in Lisbon.
Bobby
Think you were a bit too kind on the coaches there. They excepted the deficiency in the squad and said diddly squat. This is of our own making and don’t see any players we can bring in making much difference. We all knew the type of players we needed and we got heehaw. Really don’t know where we go from here.
Ernie,
From the last thread:
”So Celtic start to punch above their weight again, the CL group stage becomes a regular feature, success breeds success, ambitious players want to join and then generate further income when they get their big transfer, the cash rolls in, what happens to the domestic competition?”
————
Thanks for replying. I assume your concern is would such dominance by Celtic wipe out what is left of the SPL teams? If so, I draw your attention to the last roughly 15 years in Scottish football. Celtic have dominated and yet here we are most of the SPL teams have survived. The Scottish football industry survives on what Sevco and Celtic provide plus the occasional cup win. Prior to that we had a dominant Rangers who bought European super stars and cleaned up. Again the industry survived, although Rangers did not. So there is no evidence to support a catastrophic event in the industry if we have one dominant club.
In any case, Scottish football is an artificial creation kept alive by some investment and cost reduction through providing declining products. In addition, there are too many clubs chasing too few dollars…..a shakeout is long overdue. In another addition, the pyramid is all wrong. The relationships amongst clubs at different levels needs changed and formalised. The Celtic Academy should be run in tandem with clubs within the pyramid. I could go on, but the key point is that Celtic’s dominance is not responsible for the decline of the industry.
By the way, I missed your positive suggestions for “fixing” the club. What were they again?
Rebus
Although individual players failed today are we surprised.
We have often said we look uncoached.
We have enough good players to make a decent team but the lack of coaching lets us down.
in not one area of team are we cohesive.
We rely on our better players having good moments.
Today when Penric bolstered their midfield why did our coaches not recognise and attack defensive space he vacated?
IQ4
A perfect summing up of where we are.
That post should appear at the start of every article until it changes. Whenever that is.
IQ4 and Fan,
Perfectly summed up in every way . Why our coaching staff continue to commit the same mistakes is a serious worry.
Everything will be resolved once we get to Lennoxtown and lazily saunter around plastic cones all week.
Took a quick peek at how some of our pending Europa opponents are doing.
Ferencvaros. Not so great for them. Presently lying 5th, P6 W3 D2 L1 F10 A7 Pts11
Much more worrying are these 3:
Besiktas lying 1st, P5 W4 D0 L1 F12 A4 Pts12
USG lying 1st, P6 W5 D1 L0 F19 A3 Pts16
Benfica lying 2nd, O5 W4 D1 L0 F18 A3 Pts13
Playing like we did in Linz will see us get simply slaughtered in Portugal and Belgium.
These are seriously good teams.
Glad I don’t do these games anymore.
The good news is our early season collapse is exactly that, early, theres time to fix things.
It must be a 4231 from here on out, starting at home this week.
The Ox, Sorenson, Shim, Van Der Berg, Tolumbu,,,,they must all get involved now, not after the break. After the break we then bring in Yang, Emenalo, Jota and AJ.
The team needs fresh blood, legs, thinking, patterns of play.
That’s how you stop other managers having your number.
Baur and another not Callum in the two,,try whoever of that first list is training the best and go from there.
Try Shim as the left of the three, let Jota, Tonetki, Yang, try and get the position off him. Give Van Der Berg a run of domestic games, he can’t play Europe so one game a week to mentally prepare and study for should work out well.
Watch as many videos of Hogh as possible and try to figure out how we can bring him into play more.
Implement a lot more setplay sessions, we are gonna need em.
Happy day of the Sun.
Iniq
given how Celtic are playing (and not just today), I don’t think any European team is more or less worrying; they are all terrifying!🤣
Mahe
(Watch as many videos of Hogh as possible and try to figure out how we can bring him into play more.)
Shouldn’t our coaching staff and scouts have done such before we signed him?
Disjointed CFC would be an understatement!
MoN and the coaching team should be fired, but they won’t be for the very same reason they were hired in the first place – they don’t represent the best option for the Club/most ambitious hires, but they won’t complain about the squad quality, won’t harass the boards for signing or their lack of ambition and they have zero leverage.
BR could tell the Board to stuff it and head to Saudi to earn millions – he may get a PL gig again in the future.
If MoN didn’t take the job this summer, he would be retired and SM would be coaching our under 18s.
We’re rank amateurs that happen to have the good fortune of being the biggest club in the country (not achieved by, or brought about under, our incumbent Board), having inherited (Fergus being the driver) the largest stadium in the country and having the largest global support/brand (again, not achieved by, or brought about under, our incumbent Board) in turn, the largest commercial revenue.
MAHE
“Implement a lot more setplay sessions, we are gonna need em.”
———————————-
Hi Mahe:
MON did say we “took a few penalties after training”. Utterly misguided optimism, based on his team selection, and recklessly inadequate formation.
Pity we can’t start with coaching the players to NOT throw the ball directly to the opposition! Or guard the back post. Or have a man on the D for clearances. It is scarcely credible how poor we are at the basics,
Generally agree with the thrust of the rest of your points.
10 man Man City, albeit having some of their fans in the ground, and the benefit of a neutral ref, showing how you fight in a rivals stadium. ( Fernandez should have been sent off for kicking Foden in the back while Foden was on the ground ).
HH
INIQUITOUS IV😊
Evening all! I’ve deliberately taken a back seat from the blog over the last week while.
That was the worst performance that I’ve seen in years from a Celtic team at Ibrox! Everything that could go wrong, did. And everyone has a part to play from players to coaching staff.
But just consider for a second the circumstances in which we were forced to play the game – against a backdrop of the last game there and the Club punished for the actions of their support! How can you prepare a team to play in that atmosphere? Players making their Derby Debuts where decisions are deliberately weighted in favour of one team! And, probably most importantly, a visit from Police Scotland prior to the game to tell them not to get too exuberant, curtail your instincts to fight for your team just in case the home fans don’t like it and cause trouble! This is an unprecedented situation. MON knew what he was doing by mentioning it at his presser on Friday but I don’t think he fully understood the impact the visit would have on our team and performance!
Bring them on next Sunday, it’ll be a different performance from a different team…Wee Snidey McInnes knows as much which is why he was subbued in his comments after the game.
By the way, thanks to the guys who asked for me over the last few weeks. Back to lurking.
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
September 13, 2026 6:17 pm
MoN and the coaching team should be fired, but they won’t be for the very same reason they were hired in the first place – they don’t represent the best option for the Club/most ambitious hires, but they won’t complain about the squad quality, won’t harass the boards for signing or their lack of ambition and they have zero leverage.
———————————
Hi JLTTB:
Valencia, after a poor start, just fired their entire coaching staff, AND their CEO. Firm, decisive action – I will be watching how they fare this season.
10 man Man City go to Old Trafford, fight like tigers, and win. But then again, they are well coached.😊
HH
INIQUITOUS IV😊
MCCAFF
Welcome back! Oh! Wait! You’re off again?🤣
HH
INIQUITOUS IV😊
MCCAFF
“How can you prepare a team to play in that atmosphere?”
————————-
Me again, McCaff.
You could start with playing your goalie who has played there before and won a penalty shootout.
You could leave on the bench limp spaghetti Tounekti and Nygren.
You could field a much more defensive formation and try to hit them on the break.
You could avoid giving McKlopp a huge gift by playing the same old tired 4-3-3 formation with exactly the same weaknesses displayed against LASK. Did we think that McKlopp would not notice these, or the same inept performances against St. Mirren and St. Johnstone?
He must have thought it was Christmas!
HH
INIQUITOUS IV😊
McCaff
Spot on mhate ,was thinking the same ..but you put it better than my auld napper. HH
Fan,
I won’t be writing off anyone so early.
As for prior scouting, it’s well known that just like Guinness the Bodo players don’t travel well, ie need the system.
I think he’s good and will get better, but it’s a real juxtaposition playing better by just getting the ball to Duran in a dangerous area or crossing/laying it on for Hogh.
Even though they are quality in their own way, a good team would be playing to the strengths of that type of striker and letting battle it out.
Do I think they could make a partnership, maybe, but our midfield won’t be ready to support that switch. There’s a chance Martin goes nuclear with a two up top IF he goes behind and feels things are slipping away so goals, goals, goals is the cry.
I loved the quality of the 10, unlocking that quality is their job and unlike myself they are well paid to expand the trophy cabinet and the reputation.
Hail Hail
IQ4… the main thrust was how are the new players expected to perform to their instincts when a police visit a couple of days before the game presumably states any exuberant or overly aggressive actions could result in serious crowd disorder.
Im not excusing the tactics or the failures of the day but I do believe we were stymied, inadvertently or otherwise, by the message delivered on Friday.
MCCAFF
Less lurking and more posting would be nice.
Okay, we were terrible today. No redeeming factors at all. However, I’m not going to lose my sh1t over a game where every player played well below an acceptable level. I’ve seen it before, where we’ve been hammered 3-0 at the bigotdome when we would have expected to win.
BMCUWP and CCB were at that game in 1985, and had to suffer a horrendous performance from behind the goal in the Copland Stand, after a monumental cock up with tickets. We just had to sit there and suck it up, much like the team. We went on to win the league that season, famously pipping Hertz on the last day.
What matters now is the reaction. Will we allow ourselves to feel sorry for ourselves, or will we use today’s performance to galvanise the team? I’m prepared to wait and see, and save misplacing my excrement until I see how it pans out.
@ Sol Kitts – September 13, 2026 6:49 pm
I believe the stats show that we’ve conceded an average of 14 shots per game in our first 10 games this year.
We’re far enough into the season to be able to draw some inferences from MON’s coaching and it is found wanting.
The performance today is in line with most other performances this year. The difference between the results has been on account of both LASK and Rangers having a modicum of quality to exploit our lack of structure and discernible tactics.
You better buckle up for the European campaign, as we’re about to see this movie on repeat in the months to come.
To me the real weakness in the team today was Donovan who got an absolute runaround. Coupled with a stupid early booking he should have been hooked at half-time at the latest. Did nobody notice this?
Unfair to judge a guy making his first appearance, but Lotomba didn’t look like a solution to any of our problems. The big lad Mheuka looks like he may be useful.
Goalkeeper – wtf? You can see why he was playing reserves.
To anybody who makes comments about us going 4-3-2-1 or 4-5-1 etc. Martin only ever plays 4-3-3. The guy he learned from only ever played 4-3-3. The formation will never change.
I don’t know if this will work but here is Hassan v Tounetki on Wednesday night. Picking Tounetki looks like you don’t know what you are doing.
Here is Hassan
Our upcoming fixtures:
Ferencvaros (H)
Rangers (H)
Motherwell (A)
Benfica (A)
Hearts (H)
Celta Vigo (H)
I think we have all heard the stories doing the rounds that MON was not happy with the Board not getting in a proper midfielder during the window. Gineitas’s agent said as much.
that suggests that the coaching staff recognized the midfield arent fit for purpose. If that is the case, why stick with what you know isnt good enough?
This conversation was held with BR, and the suggestion that he was playing certain players to make a point to the Board, but I cant imagine that is the case with MON. Unlike BR, MON knows he isnt getting another job anywhere else, so I dont see him doing something to show up the Board.
so, why not try something different? As suggested, a formation change is necessary, but unlikely. So why not try new personnel? May not be better, but cannot be any worse than what people saw today or against LASK.
SOLKITTS
You are right to say we were expected to win at Ibrox in 85, but it was also the third game in a row we had lost three goals. Bloody awful run of performances.
Inside The SPFL
@AgentScotland
Celtic have faced 130 shots in their 8 games so far this season, 34 of which have been on target, that’s the one glaring weakness in their game, it cost them in Austria and if they don’t address it soon, it’ll catch up with them in Scotland, too.
10:04 am · 6 Sep 2026
·
CRAIG76
He als points out that “Celtic are the only club in Scotland who haven’t laid a glove on Rangers this season, if that doesn’t tell you all you need to know about the level of coaching this squad has nothing will, it’s as chronically basic as you’ll ever see, constantly relying on individual brilliance.”
Not wishing to contradict but….
Martin O’Neill is most famous for deploying a pragmatic 3-5-2 formation, though he has also frequently used a 4-4-2 and more recently a 4-3-3 depending on his squad. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Key Formations Used
O’Neill played 3-5-2 in his first spell at Celtic and always 4-4-2 at Aston Villa. The 4-3-3 nonsense is coming from within the team. Nancy tried to change the system and the players shat the bed and got him sacked.
BTTB
4-3-3 hasn’t worked for us for a long time, particularly against sides who flood the midfield. But after today, I’m f….d if I can think of a formation that those players can use successfully.
My biggest question of today and other occasions this season is why do we so often seem unprepared?
What do coaches do to prepare against opponents?
Is running half arsed around plastic cones the total amount of our preparation?
It seems likely with the tepid and slow approach we employ in games.
Today was shocking as Huns did exactly as many predicted yet we seemed caught off guard.
BMCUWP
Maybe adjusting the cones we leisurely run around at Lennoxtown would help?
As the guys in tracksuits seem incapable of implementing any system.
Just checked the old Inbox there and humbled to see that dozens of you have kindly voted. Even I would be embarrassed to issue reminders for that performance but hopefully many more emails flood in regardless before 9pm tomorrow night. As I always say, even after a bad performance, some player is going to walk away with the 25 points for MOTM! Some folk have only nominated 2 rather than the usual 3, but that’s absolutely fine too. sencelpoty@gmail.com
Reading back
First
Calton
No idea
Second
imbibed too much last night and got up for the second half. Saw the score. Switched it off at the Huns second went back to sleep.
Tactical geniuses my arse in parsley
One shot on target the whole game?
60 thousand season tickets with a gap to sell
As I said before
Nothing to do with the manager or players. Planned obsolescence in all its green and white glory
In last season’s title decider, MON made a few changes to the formation, depending on what was required at any particular moment in the game. The players responded, and carried out instructions well. So why stick with a rigid 433? As for the decision to play Johnstone in goal? WTAF? Ian Andrews springs to mind.
Hail Hail.
dubaibhoy
September 13, 2026 6:58 pm
To me the real weakness in the team today was Donovan who got an absolute runaround. Coupled with a stupid early booking he should have been hooked at half-time at the latest. Did nobody notice this?
=========
It will be interesting to see from Jobos MoM votes how many noticed it.
Aye lets blame Donovan
dubaibhoy
Can you name 3 players who performed better than Donovan?
Actually, can you name even one?
I can’t!
How is this for a theory?
Americans being the absolute insider trading and corrupt whores of all time have invested in Glasgow Rangers FC (historical fact) carefully as their AI analysis of Celtic shows an ever decreasing circle of shite which they will exploit.
Personally not a fan of Donovan as he is a poor defender but today although his defense was of his usual poor standard at least he attempted going forward.