I play computer games to relax, and the best of them are the strategy games where defeat is a constant, and something you welcome because of what you learn from each one. I got into those games because I enjoy military history, and one of the things I found most fascinating when I first standing reading about that stuff was how many battles from the US Civil War and the War of Independence are considered textbook examples of great victories and shattering defeats. The battles of those wars have been studied by more historians than have looked in detail at any other conflicts; that might well be why.
I read a quote once from a US General in one of those wars where he said that defeat is the greatest teaching tool there is. Defeat teaches you lessons and the harder the lesson the more you learn. A hard lesson is, by the very definition, one that comes at a cost.
You can’t really learn unless you’ve lost something, unless you’ve paid some kind of price.
A defeat that burns just enough to teach you, but without doing lasting harm, is the greatest thing in the world, as long as you get it and learn. We had one of those last night, and the price we paid for it was in little more than pride. We got out alive. We progressed.
Now we have to learn what we can so we can move forward properly.
What makes a good defeat? A good general for a start, someone who doesn’t consider a close escape to be proof of providence, fate, and thus breeds complacency. A good general studies defeat even more closely than victory; he asks “what did we do wrong here?”
A good general adapts his tactics for next time.
We have a guy like that in charge right now, and he has that other mark of a good general, the ability to adapt in the heat of the battle itself. The decision to go five at the back last night was one of those moments, when he saw what had to be done and took action.
That’s why we’re in the draw for the Groups, because the man in the dugout stopped the bleeding.
Sometimes that’s all you can do.
So what are the lessons to be learned from last night’s defeat? What does objective study, in the cold light of day, actually tell you about where we are? Well, the manager knows what every good general has to learn, mostly through pain; he knows which of his men he can count on when the battle is at its most ferocious. That lesson was most harshly handed out to two players in particular; Saidy Janko and Callum McGregor.
Janko has a lot of improving to do. Aspects of his game are hugely impressive. Other parts are highly suspect. He was terrorised last night, and I thought the decision to leave him on was risky at best, inviting a calamity. The only reason I can think of for why he wasn’t hooked is that the manager thought we could still make use of his pace – and when we went five at the back he was converted to a wing back, which suggests that was Brendan’s reason for keeping him on the pitch. He didn’t improve much, but he wasn’t so exposed either. Against better opposition he’ll get horribly overwhelmed. He’s not ready for this. He can’t be relied on in the short term. That’s going to need addressing quick.
Neither can Callum McGregor, who with all the will in the world is never, ever, going to be Celtic class, or even able to do as much as deputise in the role of defensive midfielder. If we’re going to progress he’s going to have to be moved on.
There are better options out there, and we’re simply prolonging the inevitable keeping him around.
The manager will also have learned that his very real doubts about Craig Gordon are fully justified. The second goal was his fault entirely, no matter how much he might want to blame Janko. A good keeper ought never to have lost that ball, and what makes it worse is that his excuse of not seeing his own player was so lame. Besides, Janko, unfortunately, wasn’t the only person on the scene; the Hapoel player who nicked the goal wasn’t on Gordon’s radar either and that’s somehow worse.
That was a horrendous mistake which a penalty save doesn’t excuse.
Those who think the Brown-Bitton fulcrum slows down the midfield will have seen their own suspicions justified last night. It remains to be seen whether the manager agrees, but for a lot of us that one stands out a mile.
But I’m comforted by two facts; the first is that the manager has already learned a lot about this team and acted accordingly and the second is that there’s always a plan with this guy, always something going on. Watching Deila and his like-for-like changes you never really got that impression.
Last night, when Brendan subbed Leigh for Moussa I thought that was his most Deila-like substitution since he took over, but listening to him on the radio later, as he explained the thinking behind that move, I understood that it was more.
The onus now is on the board of directors to make sure he gets those additional players he needs and it seems pretty clear that one of them now has to be a right back, as a matter of urgency. Young Janko can’t have many more nights like that; it would wreck his confidence entirely and might even derail his career. We can’t afford either of those things, or the consequences of a heavier defeat, even though those are largely about pride too at this point.
Last night was searing at times. We suffered watching it. The players suffered experiencing it. We were given a lesson in how far we have to travel before we’re ready for this level, and certain areas and individual players were exposed in the most ruthless fashion. Yet sometimes the ruthless exploitation of your every fault and error is a positive experience in its own way. Because on those nights you do learn, you do grow, you do progress.
So yes, I do believe that defeat is a good teaching tool and I do believe that the best lessons are those which hurt like Hell but don’t come at too great a cost. Last night’s experience wasn’t easy to sit through, but the tie was won, the Promised Land has been reached, the millions in income which will let us get better have been secured and in the cold light of day there will be parts of last night’s game which inspire study and reflection and which will be useful further on down the road.
And because I trust that, because I trust the manager and his coaching team, there are no real negatives here, and no need for the rest of us to dwell on it as if there were.
Instead we can now look forward to the draw.
In Brendan We Trust.
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