Unacceptable. The only word that comes to mind. There are people who will apply other adjectives to it such as “meaningless” or “irrelevant” but if you are thinking that way then you aren’t thinking straight. That performance is scandalous and wrong and inexcusable no matter the venue, no matter the circumstances, no matter the opposition.
There are factors beyond that it makes no difference to the outcome this season. We now have to endure weeks – nee, months – of utter media inspired nonsense from now until the start of the next campaign because of one result. Every one of Ibrox’s supremacist delusions will resurface and we’ll be subjected to so many rewrites of history you’ll wonder if our recollections are faulty.
It does not matter that they aren’t, or that they weren’t or that we’re champions and on the way to a treble. That performance, even in isolation, was shocking and there is no excuse for it that can be made. If you’re even trying you’re pretending not to notice how lacking in quality and urgency and competence it was. Even when the league has been won, that simply cannot be excused.
I have little doubt that there will be a major internal inquest into that by the manager and his coaching team. They will be deeply concerned by how off the pace we were. The weird thing, of course, is that we dominated possession and created more chances than we have in the games we’ve beaten them this season … there is nothing that makes that look one bit better.
Some will point to how many players we had out. So did they, and to be frank, if our players who came in weren’t good enough then they ought not to be at the club. Putting the blame on them doesn’t cut it anyway. This was a collective failure on every level.
Do I think it matters? Hell, yes, it matters. There are considerations other than just what impact it makes on the league table (none) or the impact on the campaign as a whole (none) or how it looks for us heading for a treble (which it does not impact at all.)
And yes, I accept that for some of these players they’ve put everything into the games that have really mattered. But they are kidding themselves to think that the job is done, and if they take this kind of stinking attitude into the cup final then we really might have a big problem … players cannot simply decide not turn up. They cannot just chuck it on the presumption that these games don’t really count for much. There was an element of that today too.
Listen, this has an impact on their club too today and I think it will not be the positive one that they think at the moment, as they bask in their glory. We’ve been here before, and I’ve seen what a result like this does to a club which is playing for nothing but pride. Nothing good, let me put it that way. It allows a lot of people to kid themselves on that things are far, far better than they actually are … I don’t think anything in football is more dangerous than false hope.
But let’s not kid ourselves either; we showed some weaknesses today which have to be corrected. The worst thing we can do is write this off as something that doesn’t matter. On the other hand, lets not pretend that this is the stuff that provokes a crisis either.
We stuttered last season towards the end too … but this has been by far the team’s worst domestic performance since Ange became boss and we cannot simply ignore that.
We must ask what we can do to make sure that it isn’t repeated.
I think their club is in more danger than ours is over this today.
I will discuss later on why I think this is the case and my good friend Matt Marr will be doing a piece on a similar theme.
But this isn’t a good day, it is not a good performance and it is not a good result. In fact, it’s a shocker. It’s been an appalling display and one that demands a response … but as a club we’re well placed to deliver one, and the right one.
That will test more than just the players and the manager.
Armies lose battles. Even elite armies, even great armies, suffer defeats. But wars are not won in single engagements and it’s clear that over the course of the campaign we’ve grown in stature and our club has moved further ahead of theirs … one result does not change that unless you want to argue that St Mirren showed there’s not much of a gap when they won 2-0 earlier in the season.
This is not that. We all know it’s not.
But the truth is that it might as well be that. Because the manager was right today in a sense to talk about what these results mean; in the grand scheme of things they don’t mean a damned thing. Just as a Celtic victory would not have resulted in the next campaign beginning with us in front of them so we don’t finish behind them on the back of that.
So today stings. It will have provided food for thought for the manager. It might slap a lot of people out of any lingering complacency. These are potential silver linings ,although none of us care that much about that at the present time. But over the course, they are going to matter, I think, more than we can properly analyse in the here and now. They might even define the next campaign in a way that the Ibrox club does not presently expect.
So at the end of the day the outcome is a shocker. The performance, taken in isolation, is an unacceptable one and a disgrace. But I can already anticipate Ibrox’s reaction, and I comfort myself in knowing it will be completely wrong. I can also anticipate ours and I have no such fears about that because I think that in general terms we’ll get the response right.
But today is a bad one, and one that cannot go without a response. The team didn’t produce anything today that is in any way acceptable. We never stop is the mantra, not we never start, and today we were second best so often that a lot of heads need banged against the wall.
At a time like this, a good leader stands aloof from the sound and fury and tries to learn what he can. There are definitely lessons here and I have no doubt that Ange recognises that fact and will drum it into these players. The difference between us and them is that when we lose like this we don’t kid ourselves that w e were cheated or robbed or just unlucky … there are things we can learn from here and the great managers go away and study this stuff and learn.
That’s the task in front of Ange and these players today. I have little doubt that we will do what has to be done. In the meantime, we put this one in the rearview, as painful as that might be, and we move on. If we had spent weeks after St Mirren licking our wounds and feeling bad for ourselves we would not be a handful of matches from the treble right now.
Our worst display of the season James.
Calumn trying to run midfield on his own
as Hatate and Oreilly were really poor.
Ange will surely see we need more real steel in the team and I don’t think he will
be going in to the Japanese market any time soon…..
McLean not booking Cantwell for numerous fouls says a lot too
HH
It’s the hope that kills them. Let them hope. Chill James.
Too right Duncan-slight overreaction from some…double sorted with a treble on the cards!
Let them soil their panties with the excitement of a pointless win- as the Champions give a run out for some reserves!
Yep, can from here till next season expect the hysterical hype and delusion, even over this deed rubber and we’ve brought it on ourselves.That performance today was fuckin shockin and the defence barrin CCV needs badly overhauled. Kobayashi & bernabei naewhere near good enough and starfelt bombscare. Ffs even keevens is already callin cantwell a ‘superstar’ and whit does it say when a dud like him gets motm. Tbh tho, ah think we’ve had that comin for weeks. Needs seriously addressed.
Who gives a dalm .. we going for world record 8 trebles. I will give them this Raskin and Cantwell look decent.. I’ll give them that. To finish on a good not though.. the game was for absolute nothing. Like watching Celtic in the 90’s having fun .. when playing for nothing. Treble is coming so who cares.
If it’s a kick up the arse that Celic needed then fair enough. I am not overly perturbed about it but if Ange is and sticks a rocket up those who decided today was the day to stop then its a plus.
We were absolutely dreadful James, watched this with my son and as you said, we never got started. Today has shown that we have too many filler players in our squad that, when thrown in to the lime light, are unreliable. Two injuries and three key alterations (Johnston, carter Vickers and the Kyogo to oh switch) shouldn’t cause this sort of shock result. Ange needs to look at the squad as a whole.
Why play a weakened team. No need to rest players. Only my opinion but never ever try fringe players against them. Best players each time because we need to keep to keep our foot on their throats. Having to listen to their songs of hate only because we gave them hope. Very frustrating and it didn’t need to happen.
Very good article,today was shocker what today proved most of our bck up nowhere as good as we thought,Oh unlucky early on but got very little ball , think we need some fringe players to go n replace with better , a good kick up the rear end n if heads were getting big reality will dawn over nxt 2 days or so, still a grt season like u said Ange will use this to as a positive ,the result today could not have happened at a better time
Bit of a harsh assessment there James, I would say.
I have never taken any pleasure nor never will about losing any game against that shower of scum, yet I’ve also learned that the to look at a far bigger picture, and no doubt Ange will do also.
These games will be decided by the big moments and when you give 3 poor goals away with 2 in the extreme, and can’t convert your 3 massive chances when playing poorly, there’s always the chance you get punished in the scoreline, like we did today.
Seen nothing to change what I’ve suspected for a few weeks now.
We always stood to lose the intensity battle, yet our passing was so bad we made it far to easy for the scum to dominate us in that regards.
Also had my doubts about yuki, Oh and Bernie and such games as today still remains far to big for them and raises the question about are they really ready to be included within a CL squad next season?
Still claim all 3 aren’t ready yet, so that challenge remains for themselves to do so and all young enough to make it happen for them still with time imo.
Again our formation and how we play has become far to predictable and hope Ange actually addresses it during the summer also.
Plenty for Ange to think about after today, which I still regard as a good thing, as such performances within a CL campaign will only result in embarrassment and still don’t believe Ange or his team will allow that to happen, but changes will need to be made to avoid that still imo.
I didn’t see the game so I can’t or won’t comment on the performance but the result it totally unacceptable.
Yes people will say it doesn’t matter and in the long run they are right and we are still champions, but true champions don’t lose 3-0 to poor teams regardless of the circumstances.
This result is regressive and we are supposed to be progressing year on year. I don’t want to be too negative but if we are to be the progressive club we all hope for results like this must stop. Defeats will happen but 3-0 is a pumping and that can’t happen again.
It was a dreadful lacklustre performance and a stark reminder that we are not as good as we think we are, I will not name anyone in our defence, but collectively they were red rotten and we cannot go into Europe depending on some of them as they are clearly not good enough, In midfield we were also lacking and Matt O’Riley is a shadow of the player he was when he joined us, why Ange didn’t hook him earlier I will never know,. The only positive I can take from this is that we have been forcefully reminded that we certainly need to strengthen the squad and that the huns might think they don’t have to spend as much as they first intended. There are lessons to be learned from that dead rubber and let’s hope we pay attention and react accordingly.
We were poor today…but congrats to sevco on winning the used johnny bag cup. I’m sure they’ll drink well from it.
This has been coming, we did not get over the line for the league with Angeball, it has been very average for quite a while now and possibly lucky Rangers have not been getting anything out of Morelos or Kent and others. Seems to be a big spark missing. It is slower and more predictable and far too much responsibility is put on Kyogo to kill games off. It may be fatigue and there is a treble on but would have been a bonus to do things, not perfectly but perhaps with a wee bit more style
Did we really learn anything new today? Defences that have 75% changed for one game crumble…. Not new.
Hart is a good keeper coming to the end of his career and capable of making errors…. Not new.
Hatate isn’t up to speed yet post injury…. Not new.
Oh isn’t Kyogo and we can’t play, as a team, the same way we do with Kyogo…. Not new, same happened with GG initially.
Maeda contributes a hell of a lot to how we play and without him we’re on the back foot more…. Not new (to me, anyway)
They mainly benefited from not playing grandpa Beast and el Gruffalo.
This summer we need a starting GK, and starting LCB and either a rapid improvement fro3Oh and Bernabei or replacements for them (until they’re up to it, I have no issues with prospects… I see Kobayashi in that camp too).
Our squad is not currently CL standard and today’s showing against a slightly fitter and more mobile version of crap sevco showed that. Today they basically did what hearts did to us 1st half, but better and for the whole game. It worries me that man marking Calmac so severely dents our style.
Would anyone agree Hart is not the best we could have between the sticks
I think he’s a good keeper. But the pattern for decline of keepers is pretty consistent. The age it happens differs, but once the signs start coming (slow to react pre shot, positioning off, parrying things they normally catch, not going for things they previously would) it’s a fairly rapid decline (see the beast across the river). To me, Hart is at the start of a 12-14 month decline slope. No shame in it, it happens. He’s a great guy and should be helped to the next career stage (coach?) by the club but we need to bed in a replacement before the inevitable decline starts costing us important points.
We had good chances, take them and it’s a different game. But that was very poor today. A great season yes but a poor one today. In an earlier article the discussion was we so are strong its not clear where we need to strengthen . To me its very clear where we need to strengthen. 1. Another CD: We need four we have three…and especially with Kobayashi looking weak today as well. 2. LB : Benarbei has looked weak all season. He’s young and learning but in my view we need more physicality and we need it now. He may be one for future but we need a strong tall LB now. 3. CF. Again Oh is good and young but today he was woeful. Again possibly one for future but we need a back up now a la Giakoumakis. 4. We need a strong defensive midfielder. It may be Iwata, not sure. 5. GK. Long term we need a high quality keeper as Joe is 36. Seigrist may be the answer not sure. So this summer if i had 20m I would spend 5m on a CH, 5m on a CF, 3-4 m on a big LB and 3-4 m on a DM . Then next year a GK. Look we are going to win the treble most likely but we are not as strong as we think we are. Also as for Abada. I have said all year I know exactly why Ange doesnt play him. It was clear why today. Thats his 2nd poor start at Ibrox. He is wasteful and not strong enough. I would take 10m tomorrow if we get the offer. , so will Ange.
Did it mean anything? Of course it did every game does. Simply put that effort today was abysmal the final pass and third play going astray far too often and I am of course stating the bloody obvious.
It’s been coming the only game we appear to have been comfortable against this second rate mob was at Parkhead where we trounced them.
Since then Beal has them up and at us almost like the Gerrard days giving proof to rumour of who the architect really was in those days.
So what’s gone wrong over the last 6-8 weeks? For my money I strongly suggest we are overtraining certain as I am since Harry Kewell came on board this guy is training mad and runs U into the ground with ball drills the results are there to see, abada, orielly, Bernabeu hatate even now caught in two minds of what to do with a ball at the feet, gone are the days of tic tac toe and these guys orielly in particular were blowing like whales in 30mins , not good enough.
Don’t tell me this is a dead rubber I won’t hear of it nor thank fuck will Ange, the training into the ground needs to back off now in order to get the cardio up and just trust the tic tac toe again.
So much for a total rebuild and throwing his team under the bus now that this lot have won one game and ” closed the gap” to ten ffs!! They are now world beaters with no rebuild needed?!!. You can’t mark this guy with a blowtorch.
Sevco on a treble! Who gives a feck cup, won feck all cup and now defending the close season cup. FFS relax. We’ve been off the boil for a few weeks now and continued to win when it mattered. Just felt today wasn’t going to be our day. As for the media. They will spin no matter what. Nothing new there. Coming up 5th treble in 6 years. No spin required
Completely agree, this defeat was coming if you look at other performances against them. How do you expect Celtic to compete in Europe when they display this kind of football? They dominant the SPL, but anything else they are no where. Celtic played against street footballers today, granted getting kicked and punched and in one case a half Nelson but can they not show a bit of bravery against thugs. The were certainly in a cauldron of HATE and BILE but if this works for these animals they will continue in this fashion. No protection from the Mason society, but we expected that. Celtic players need to stand up to these thugs next season because the Scumbrox have their number.
BTW Celtic board need to show some leadership against and seek legation against the men in black and their association, they have the video evidence of decades of cheating
A disgraceful performance. No excuse for that performance. Maybe only Jota getting passmarks. Midfield pathetic but in fairness to Hatate and O’Riley their captain was posted missing (apart from setting up their third goal), and not for the first time in big games.
At last, recognition about McGregor, have always believed he is a good player, but not as great as thehype would suggest. How he is up for POTS and Carter Vickers is not, is hard to believe. MOR and him together makes our midfield very easy to play through as neither can tackle.