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Celtic Surrendered Their Unbeaten Run Today In A Way That Was Utterly Inexcusable.

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From “we never stop” to “we never get started.”

So this is how the unbeaten domestic run ends. Not with a bang but a whimper.

Not with a team that simply defeated us with quality but in a performance that was characterised by stunning, almost incomprehensible ineptitude. What in God’s name happened?

I have seen bad Celtic performances over the years and this might not be the worst one but it is certainly one of the most shocking, and definitely amongst the most inexcusable.

We have started this season like an express train, but right from the moment of kick-off today there was none of the pace or the relentless football we’ve witnessed all these months.

Instead it was slow and dreadful. Too many sideways passes, allowing St Mirren to keep their shape. Too many backwards passes, as if we were being pressed high up the pitch.

(Which we weren’t, which makes it all the more ridiculous.)

The speed with which we usually play was nowhere to be seen. Instead it was a lazy, slovenly display that looked as if some of the players were operating under the colossal misapprehension that we were involved in a friendly.

Stats don’t offer the full picture of a game, but they don’t lie either.

This team which has been getting the ball in the net with a regularity that has had our opponents and rivals scared to death went through the first sixty some minutes without getting a shot on target. Not one.

That is beyond belief. For this team, that is atrocious.

I’ll go even further, some of the individual displays today were shocking.

The goalkeeper has to take responsibility for the two goals; the first one is headed with power but it’s straight at him.

The second was comic cuts stuff, and an utter embarrassment from him and the defenders.

What a state they got themselves into. It’s as bad as I’ve seen us in an age.

Too many players were off it today.

The system itself seemed fundamentally, and puzzlingly, altered to be much more cautious and much less aggressive.

I have no idea why we came out to do that, but it was obvious from the kick-off that there was something lacking in the way we were approaching the game. You could see it in everything we did.

We have a squad here which allows rotation. We have a team here where each player knows what he has to do on any given day. We have a squad here which is used to blowing teams away and where some players seem to have an almost supernatural understanding of their team-mates … and today we saw none of that at all.

That’s why it’s incredibly difficult to simply put this down to a bad day at the office; that happens when three or four players aren’t with it, but today it was like nobody did anything like what they were supposed to. Nobody turned up to perform as expected. This wasn’t just a few players but a complete failure right across the boards.

That was just unacceptable.

We all knew that there would be days when we’d drop points, and days when, in fact, we’d lose games … but to lose in that fashion?  To lose whilst barely functioning as a unit? Appalling.

That was like a weird flash-back to Neil Lennon style football, with all the faults and failings we came to recognise from that time. Not one part of the machine did what it was supposed to do.

Not one of the players had what you would call a good game.

There were some reasonable performances and some howlers, but most of all there was an almost casual indifference, as if some of these guys think they are way, way better than they are.

But this team – any team – is only as good as its results and a relentless focus should drive everything that they do.

Today that team played as if the season was as good as over, as if the league was won, with complacency and a lack of urgency which invited consequences and boy did we get them.

St Mirren deserved that today for doing everything we failed to do.

The unbeaten run ends then, with this.

A total surrender of three points after which every player should be hanging his head in shame. It is inexcusable to lose with so little heart, so little determination, so little fight, like a bottom-half battler caught in the headlights.

Whatever went wrong today, Ange needs to fix it over the course of the next fortnight which before today was like a rude interruption but now is a welcome salve from having to look at some of these players for a while.

That’s how pissed off I am having watched that.

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  • Darren says:

    Turnbull and Mooy were terrible, slow minded, cowardice on the ball and it set the tone. Cal Mac should have been raging at them both within the first 10 mins and this is where Ange has to speak up at pitchside to get the tempo up. It was allowed to unfold like this. Inexcusable and you could feel what was going to happen. The players I mention are not good enough to start games they are mop up players once we have a healthy lead. Kyogo has to move away from his markers to keep them guessing he is to predictable as a lone striker. Inexcusable performance.

  • jrm63 says:

    You cannot trust Abada and Maeda away from home. The manager’s team selection was abysmal. The midfield just never got going. Hart should certainly have saved the first one. He is falling backwards just like the goal in midweek.

  • David Tolmie says:

    CCV huge miss would have handled Main like our Centre Backs today couldnt, told my Son Maeda isnt a starter.And dont get me started on Robertson 4 minutes added min 10 time wasted at every turn but our fault. HH

  • Bob (original) says:

    Yes, that was a strange one today – but won’t panic just yet!

    If we are going to have a shock result, I’d rather have it now than after Christmas.

    A wake up call which should ensure we don’t get complacent in the league.

    Just have to bounce back for next game and put today behind us.

  • John Muldoon says:

    Aaron was weak link
    Too slow
    It was like watching neil Lennon
    Not good enough

  • S Thomas says:

    Everybody has a bad at the office, sometimes that’s just it, and not about tactics etc. Celtic have been great on our unbeaten record, we go back to the training ground this week, and we go again. Every team gets beat, no team in world football has a divine right to win a game. We will still coast the league, just a down day in the process. HH

  • Johnny Green says:

    It was a lacklustre effort from the team right from the start and even the substitutions didn’t waken them up from their lethargy. From poetry in motion in recent weeks, we went to going through the motions today. Do all those fans who thought we are the most exciting team they have seen this Century still feel the same? That was always a piece of nonsense anyway and my own defensive fears surfaced today, for when we were put under pressure we could not cope. We are weak in the left of our defence and anyone having a go at us will always go this route. Today was a big disappointment but I hope we learn something from it.

  • Saulgoodman says:

    Management error 100% , you’d get away with that team at home , without ccv to hold players hands that defence is capable dropping points anywhere, as for going forward we’ve only got 2 strikers yeah 2 , huns have got 5 !

    • Finbar muldoon says:

      Turnbull, Taylor, Welsh and Ralston should never play together. Bog standard scottish players. None of them take responsibility on the park. HH

      • Johnny Green says:

        Was it just a coincidence that all 4 of the Scottish squad were playing with Steve Clark watching on?

  • Mick says:

    Absolute abysmal and the away strip made CELTIC invisible

  • Finbar muldoon says:

    Give them a game now and again. But NEVER them all in same game. Too many pass it back or away to someone else in the team. HH

  • Finbar muldoon says:

    Give one or two a game now and again. But NEVER all at the same time. HH

  • Roonsa says:

    Let’s not dwell on it, lads. Rather we should take it on the chin, and we move on. Lesson learned. It’s not a season defining moment. Let’s stop blabbing about it and wait for the next game. We could sit here all day and break the match down and talk till the cows come home. But, at the end of the day, the best thing to do is just shut up, put our best foot forward and say no more about it. I suppose there could be some benefit to droning on and on and on about it. But, for me, I prefer to keep my powder dry and just focus on the next game.

    I do have to say though, bravo to the Celtic fans anti monarchist stance today. No swearing. No booing (from what I could hear, just 100% get it right up yez with a hilarious disregard for the minute’s applause.

    It’s a pity the team they were there to cheer on couldn’t match their imagination.

    • Kevan McKeown says:

      Tbh ah wouldve preferred just silence, ah must admit, pretty shrewd and clever from the support wi the choice of song. Comical the way they turned the clappin in their favor.

  • Geoff says:

    Team selection left us without the deft touches and passes needed to get through such a packed defence.
    McGregor is a far better player facing the game and Mooy and Turnbull don’t have the same awareness of O’Riley and Hatate being pressed by defenders.
    Surprised to be saying it but Forrest might have been more successful running at them and getting into the box.
    Actually couldn’t believe what I was watching.
    Was like watching a rerun of the last defeat against Livvy.
    Side to side
    Pass across the back four
    Repeat
    Exceptionally bad day at the office
    No pass marks including Ange.

  • Jim says:

    Could not agree more …..

    Brought back to earth with a bang!!!

    What I don’t get with Ange is he rests 6 players
    who did not get a result against Shaktar when it
    was on a plate …..

    Then he puts most of them back on again when
    2-0 down ….

    Why not secure the result then rest some at half time…

    Big Cam sorely missed …..

    We never stop ……?? HH

    • Roonsa says:

      It was a bad day at the office for all. Don’t think about it too much mate. Ange will learn. He is not the Pope of football. He’s allowed to make mistakes. Today he made a mistake. I think he’s entitled to some breathing room.

  • Joe Monaghan says:

    Couldn’t agree more right from K.O.. we were walking about passing across the back going forward then back can’t blame CL game’s as hopefully we’ll have a few of these, one bad game doesn’t make us a bad team need to get back to it. H.H.

  • Kevan McKeown says:

    Ffs would some of ye’s just listen tae yerself. Can expect the incomin assumptions, over-reactions and hysterics from the pro ibrox media and their support. But we’ve just had a bad day. First defeat in what 38-39 games. Can see Ange obviously had leipzig in mind and practically admits himself it was ‘possibly’ down tae team selection. If we had near our strongest side out today from the off ah don’t think this would’ve happened. Think without CCV there definitely helped St. M imo. It’s how we react tae this now that’s important. Gie them a fuckin break.

    • Johnny Green says:

      A bad day as you put it, has to be addressed. we need constructive criticism and we have to find out why it was bad day and how to improve it in order to avoid another bad day, There is nothing wrong with that reaction.

      • Kevan McKeown says:

        Of course we need constructive criticism and its the manner in which we lost it that’s worryin, but some of the reactions are over the top. Fact is, although we want them tae win every game, we cannae EXPECT them tae win every game.

    • Geoff says:

      Don’t play Leipzig till 5th October

      • Kevan McKeown says:

        Aye thats right enough, obviously that wisnae his reason then. Whatever the reason, it didnae work. But quite confident he’ll live and learn.

  • Up the Republic says:

    Very poor day. Joe Hart hasn’t looked himself in the past few weeks. Other guys like Mooy and Turnbull just didn’t show up and failed their auditions to be 1st picks. Lessons learned for Ange, now regroup and go again. Great response from the fans during the applause for wee Queenie. Genius!

  • Paul Brown says:

    They say that if something is not broken why fix it.The 3 Changes today Turnbull Maedaand Mooy wee piss.Why oh why can’t we defend set pieces or high balls with the size of defenders we have.Keeper was poor as well but that’s not like him. Seriously need to look at midfield including captain.Too many players hiding today.I’m sure we will bounce back but today Must Never be repeated.HH??

  • Trishamatt says:

    Callum McGregor has lost all his creative ability. Away to Shaktar and today he thinks 3 yard back passes are acceptable when chasing a game. We have not replaced Rogic. We need a number 9 striker for ugly spfl, games Kyogo too one touch. Turnbull and Mooy so slow

  • Finbar muldoon says:

    Ange WILL have learned today. Too many scottish players in the team doesn’t work. They don’t have the nous. Sideways and backward passes is not good enough. HH

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