Last night was a significantly chastening one for our national team.
It was not just the loss but the ease with which the England team beat us that will leave a mark. What’s good to see is that there is no sense of recrimination or self-flagellation over it; the usual gallery of goons might be crowing their heads off but most people grasp the main message and don’t care about all the surrounding noise.
We were simply beaten by a better team.
That’s all the warning going into the Champions League that we are ever going to get. Not about being beaten by better teams, but about the nagging desire to beat ourselves up over it. I know that there are sections of our support which will give the club a kicking if we lose in Rotterdam and then at home to Lazio, but if we’re simply over-matched what is the point?
I want to see us try. I want to see us attempt to shock Europe by marrying a top manager with the right sort of backing from behind the scenes. I cannot but conclude that our club has failed lamentably to give Brendan Rodgers the sort of tools he needs to do that job.
I’ll leave it to other people to praise “the strategy”; project players will never take us past quality European sides. Never. No matter who we have in the dugout, and the pro-board stooges can say all they like about us not being able to “compete” in the transfer market but it’s not that we can’t, it’s that we don’t want to and have ceased even trying.
Remember what I said; this is not something forced on us.
This is a choice. This is a choice that those at the top of Celtic have made.
This is the path they have decided to pursue. All the rest of it is white noise. We bought ten players in the window when, realistically, we should have been aiming for four. Four to improve the first team. As it is, we go into this Champions League Group next week with a weaker starting eleven than we ended the last one.
And there will be consequences for that. Of course there will. This is not travelling to Ibrox to play a team that was overhyped and overblown and managed by a complete fool who I was entirely confident Rodgers could get the better of. These are the Dutch champions and they deserve our total respect. The thing about the Champions League is that it is the ultimate forum for exposing delusional thinking, and I simply will not indulge in it.
It is good to be at the top table. The financial benefits of it will be enormous. I harbour no illusions about what we can achieve in that competition. We will have to be excellent to finish third in the group.
Not just good, excellent.
Scotland fans going to the game last night were entitled to be in good spirits, but the unshakable confidence some of them had in being able to rock England to its foundations was entirely misplaced.
So is all the Anglo-centric arrogance which has poured out of the mouths of some of the stupidest people in the commentariat.
All I’m going to say for the moment is that if their own national team is as good as they think it is then they are the greatest underachievers in all of world football. If it isn’t then they are its greatest fantasists who no matter the lessons make the same arrogant, stupid assumptions over and over and over again and don’t ever learn.
Either way, their sneering at Scotland is contemptible. Come back to us when you win your second major international honour, ever, and can justify the egotism. These people are very good at punching down. Every pub hardman is. That they are perennial losers in their own weight class should keep them awake at night.
And the point of that is to remind us of where we are.
There are people here at home who are sharpening their pencils in eager anticipation of writing about how we’ve let Scotland down. But these are the same people who refuse to credit us with a single one of our mammoth achievements in this country because we can outspend all of our domestic opposition.
That we are the Ross County’s of this Champions League Group is something they will never acknowledge, and it’s precisely what we must keep in mind. We will be judged harshly, no matter the level of the competition we face, and that is why I will treasure anything we do achieve and try not to lose my mind if we’re simply outclassed.
Because we are the underdogs here, and it’s not defeatist thinking to recognise that.
In fact, saying it out loud and acting accordingly might be the smartest thing we do. There is no way the manager will view it any other way … and he has to if he’s going to get the tactics right, and doing that is the only way we’re going to get the right results.
I am looking forward to this group, to testing ourselves against these teams.
I am trying not to look at it through the prism of our domestic status.
These players will give it their all. If that proves not to be good enough it’ll be in part because most of these guys are still young and aren’t at that level yet but that’s what happens when you fill your side with inexperience … the best we can hope for is a disciplined performance which produces a result. In short, we’re hoping for a minor miracle.
And because I acknoweldge that, I’ll be prepared for whatever outcome we get.
A truly rigged competition – However glad Celtic are in it as Scotland’s sole representatives of course…
Looking at the groups, most Pot 4 teams will likely be whipping boys –
But as I say – Glad we are there and Sevco are not !
I understand what you are claiming James, but wouldn’t totally agree either.
Actually watched the match last night which was unusual as never watch England as such, just can’t handle listening to them.
What was on show was just how wrong Scotland got there tactical approach totally wrong, and got totally undone in doing so.
Could the same thing happen to ourselves within the CL?
Course it could, but also a massive difference between playing a meaningful competitive match, against a nonsense of a friendly that players could well do without?
Don’t believe our overall CL squad can be claimed to be weaker than last season, when we are yet to see what hopefully 3 additions added,without seeing them play for us yet? Yet big expectations from all 3 and hopefully they deliver.
The extra experience gained from last season, should also prove valuable.
I don’t get this whatsoever, we headed into a CL last season without a clue what to expect at this level, yet we couldn’t field our strongest 11 in any of the games, and if our finishing had been more clinical, then a totally different outcome could quite easily have been achieved imo, as the margins were a lot closer that was on show last night.
The biggest reason for Rodgers returning was for these CL campaigns, and will call upon him showing his true worth for ourselves.
These games can be won and lost upon a tactical approach, where the manager has to trust the players following and delivering the plans that have been instructed into them.
A little bit to robotic these days in general, where I was more bought up on the winning the individual battle approach in days gone by.
Still fail to see why an impact can’t be made this season, and the other team’s will be under more pressure to get results against ourselves with being a pot 4 team.
Still say the other 3 team’s were more disappointed at drawing ourselves, than we were at getting them.
Really looking forward to these 6 games, especially as I class them far higher than a Glasgow Derby match these days, especially in the first half of a season.
We will possibly never get a 25 man squad that we will be entirely happy with due to the 8 Scottish homegrown rule.
Yet still believe we will have a strong enough 20 match day squad available, with options available to get the right results.
Remains Rodgers job to get the best options and plan’s available right, to get the best from the team, and for the team to follow suit.
We might not have seen to much of that in practice yet, but 2 weeks have now been given to many for the improvements to be made.
Don’t know what we will get from the CL campaign, but certainly won’t be looking for excuses before a ball has been even kicked either
Wow, you are in for a rude awakening. That is the biggest load of happy clapping I’ve ever seen. We’ll see whose right or wrong Johno. We have been given a really kind draw yet are going to suffer because of our strict non adaptable policy. I’m remembering your name and we can have a chat after the six games. Comments like this that allow our board to vastly nit reach our potential.
“All I’m going to say for the moment is that if their own national team is as good as they think it is then they are the greatest underachievers in all of world football. If it isn’t then they are its greatest fantasists who no matter the lessons make the same arrogant, stupid assumptions over and over and over again and don’t ever learn.
Either way, their sneering at Scotland is contemptible. Come back to us when you win your second major international honour, ever, and can justify the egotism. These people are very good at punching down. Every pub hardman is. That they are perennial losers in their own weight class should keep them awake at night.”
That is bloody brilliant – mind if I borrow it?
Well said. Nothing wrong in stating the truth.
We’re a Europa league team and thats our limit ! And the board aren’t even preparin for that properly now imo. They’ll pick up the money every year, qualifyin for the CL and then let us play out the openin games, until the reality kicks in and we inevitably and usually quickly, drop down. They don’t see the point in investin big in the team, when realistically we wouldna win it. Any ‘ambition’ of tryin tae get us up there, tae say ‘at least’, the last 16, or even 8, in the CL and hugely improvin our status as a European club, is non-existent. Can forget that ! Thing is tho, the crazy money involved and invested in clubs now, means they probably have a point where the CL’s concerned. Tho there’s absolutely nae excuse for this pattern of us bein constantly under-strengthed and un-prepared, for havin a real crack at the Europa. Their real ‘ambition’ stretches tae the domestic and thats fkn criminal.
The problem doing what the board are doing is that CL money will be out of our reach because Our and Scotlands coefficient is nose diving.
agree they’re probably looking at McGREGOR and Hart as being the elders that will hold the younger players together or less experienced players along with wee james so here’s hoping HH
Sensible!
Exactly right James, the problem is that by filling our team with projects its inevitable.
Nicholson,who I think has done a good job, except this summer should be asked the question from the support.
Question, Michael you stated in the summer you wanted to improve in Europe, did you really believe you could do I with young inexperienced projects?
Either admit that the club have no ambition in Europe or tweak the policy, because thus squad will get lessons in the Europa never mind CL.
The biggest problem with our policy is the coefficient is nose diving and that guaranteed spot will gone very soon costing us millions, these people should lose their jobs if that’s the case.
I watched the match last night offcourse.. and I have to say England are a very good side, with some outstanding footballers, and if there’s any purists out there, watching there players, like bellingham, Kane, young Foden, and Kyle Walker who was also terrifc, he like a thoroughbred up and down that right wing back role. Scotland have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of, England are one of the favourites for the title next year, and some of ther play was Man Cityesque. Celtic have a good draw in the champions league, and I think we can take a few scalps along the way, and we should be looking forward to it, not dreading it. We are the sole representatives that’s something to be proud of.
James. On another subject, I have never and never will support England, but with the abundance of talent they have, I can see them ruling the world for the next 5 to 7 years , if the manager would just take the shackles off them . It could well turn out to be a good thing as 66 would well and truly be put to bed