Celtic has a big couple of days in front of it. The result on Tuesday was profoundly shocking and brought the whole club back down to Earth. What we cannot do – what we cannot afford to do – is let this continue to haunt us into the weekend. When you suffer a defeat the key thing is to bounce back. The bigger the defeat the more important it is to respond in the right way. An emphatic win is all that will suffice.
I suspect that this particular hangover is going to linger a while, and if we had two or three games in a row to come I think we’d be just about putting it behind us by the time that run came to an end. The thing is, we have Ross County and then nothing for a fortnight. I hate international breaks with a passion; you might have noticed. But I’ll tell you this much, I think this one might actually be of some benefit.
Because I have to be honest, I will regard a win, no matter how good, as somehow unsatisfying after the immense let down that was Tuesday. The thought of trying to get excited over beating some SPFL battler doesn’t carry any great thrill for me just now, because the euphoria over recent results has been about how well prepared we seemed to be for going into Tuesday’s game … and we weren’t prepared at all.
Two weeks from now I might feel more ready to be happy. Two weeks from now, after I’ve missed watching Celtic for a spell, I might be coming out of this … but right now I just feel utterly underwhelmed by the whole thing. I know I’ll feel better at some point, but it’s not right now, just not this minute, not about this coming game. But after two weeks … yeah, maybe.
And for that, the international break may have some utility for us this time. It will allow us all to heal a little and come to terms with the disaster of the other night, and then, slowly but surely, those of us who feel like this might have found our way back to our enthusiasm again.
This one just feels dreadful, and sickening, in a way defeats in this tournament, at other times, never did before. Because I think we really are as prepared as we’ve been in a long time, even if certain areas of the team are still suffering from shocking historic neglect. To be so thoroughly, colossally, undone makes me wonder what the Hell we’re doing and whether our issues are ones that can ever be fixed. I am not, at this moment, terribly optimsitic … but maybe that too shall pass. All I know is that right now I’m pretty gutted.
The thing is, I know too that some of the players feel the same way and they too will benefit from the international break in terms of sorting themselves out and getting their heads right again. I can go away and lick their wounds; they have to be up for it this weekend, they have to be zeroed in and focused on the game. After that they can process it how they like. For now everyone at the club has to be focused on the coming game and on getting the three points … as flat as it might feel to folk who feel like me.
I can’t speak for any other fan but your article is an excellent summation of how our fanbase must be feeling.
I also appreciate we had fans that genuinely believed we would go over to Dortmund and win well, whilst us pragmatists looked for, a positive performance, and continuation of our excellent start to this season.
That the game unravelled as it did, was probably the biggest collective surprise.
A defeat would never have been a disaster, but the scale and manner of it was shocking. We all feel pretty let down, and the reality of our team and subsequent standing in this tournament, has certainly changed.
However, whether you are a glass half empty or half full, ( I’m always the latter,) the game and result has to now be consigned to history.
It’s gone and it cannot derail our team and club from the upward trajectory that we want it to continue on. Our next game is always the most important one and that is against Ross County.
I was pleased with AJ’s post match positive comments, and regardless of the hurt & humiliation that would have been evident throughout, those are the words you want to hear.
Football throws up so many freak results at times, and it is no fun when your beloved team is on the end of a skelping, and in the manner in which it was delivered.
Nevertheless, we have a highly paid manager & players and it is their job to recover quickly and deliver a professional performance on Sunday.
Europe is the dessert, and of course we want to see real and tangible progress on this stage, after so many years of failure.
Dortmund was a huge setback and a massive reality check. Important that our club, as a collective, learns from it, and quickly.
The SPL is our bread and butter, and our success in that, allows us to have a taste of the European dessert. Important that the sour aftertaste of Dortmund, doesn’t linger! HH
Go into this one with the wrong attitude and mindset and it will blow up in our faces and blow up big time…
Ross County will need to be respected and surely will be respected by Brendan and the players –
Otherwise it’ll be Sevco breathing down our necks come Sunday night…
Because ya know fine well that the cheats with whistles, flags and monitors will bail them out v St.Johnstone for sure !
Its 3 points, feels more but its not . We move on, there is a treble to be won and points to be collected in the CL if lessons are learned. They who laugh last laugh longest.
I know how you feel, James. I was concerned we would concede double figures as we were wide open and shell shocked. It shows once again that playing in the SPL is detrimental to playing anywhere outside Scotland. Attacking with ten players is fine in the SPL but outwith Scotland you need to defend as well. When you see the goals we lose in the SPL it’s usually a ball over the defence and we scramble back. In Europe we invite the opposition to run past us and score as though we’re going to score more than them. Shocking tactics by a Manager who tried this the last time with the same result. We not only need defenders but also an elite Defence Coach.
Yes, it was brutal and sickening to watch. I actually felt ill during that game.
BUT, from a points perspective we’re not any worse off than a 3-2 loss and very few of us expected to get anything from Dortmund in any case.
Against top opposition, the chargeing forward en masse and leaving, say, 2 defenders and the ‘keeper to ‘hold the fort’ has to go. A blind monkey could tell you that just by the sound of our supporters as they go into panic mode, AGAIN as we’re cut open by our own sword! IMHO the playing out from the back in these circumstances is almost worse and completely nerve-shredding for team and supporters alike. Our ‘keeper has to get the ball up the pitch and let us fight for possession and if our opponents win the ball at least ouur defence should be in better shape.
Remember they got TWO soft penalties, the 1st was their forward going down with little contact (as far as I could see) and the 2nd was never a pen. Engels and the opponent both went in a bit high trying to win the ball. It’s a contact sport FFS!
Anyway it’s history and best left there. Come On You Bhoys In Green, go to Dingwall and get 3 pts then rest and recover before taking another 3 pts from the 2nd best team in Scotland.
HH
So let’s beat Ross county by a 7-1 , whilst a good result on the domestic front will right some wrongs James.
I think that with the current squad we can win enough points to secure a play off in the CL and the money generated will allow us to strengthen more in January.
A new left back with European experience whether it be CL or the lower comps will need to be brought in the spaces down our left flank on Tuesday were so open and killed us , nuri sahin did his homework and punished us accordingly
BTW even if CCV had been fit, we still would have been resoundly spanked .
I finally ventured up to the golf club today to be met by hun supporters with bouts of laughter and a flagging. I took it on the chin .
Then I reminded them that sevco Scotland still hold the record of being the worst team in champions league history with 0 points from a CL campaign.
Soon shut them up . Also reminded them that they were 5 points behind us as we sit top of the SPL
TWATS
A win and 3 points on Sunday is a must, BR has got to get the belief back into this group, a loss or a draw on Sunday on top of Tuesday night’s result will turn a sickener in Europe into a real crisis.
There is everything still to play for this season, including in Europe, these players have time and the games to regain their pride, but a win on Sunday is so important..
An avid reader of your blog James, and I massively appreciate the tireless work you put into research behind so many of your posts. This is the first ever I have to comment on. Two games in, we have 3 points on the board and a GD of -2. I have to ask are we being greedy or maybe even a bit like a spoiled child at Christmas who didn’t want to be seen dead in his second-hand chopper, while his wee pal across the street was scratching for a ball to kick or a pair of gutties to kick it with. I too was embarrassed at the score and more than a bit angry with BR tactics…this is not a “new lesson” for him as you pointed out yesterday. But I do wonder where any “expectation” came from that we were “ready” it surely wasn’t domestic dominance in a small pond ? I can understand Bratislave might have kindled HOPE that we were ready…. but is that, like our cross-city fans the thing that is killing us? …back to the kids at Christmas…Chopper boy probably expected a brand new Chopper, and hoped it was Red. His pal probably hoped for a ball. Who woke up more disappointed? And was it the fault of Santa, or the expectations? I for one would embrace a 1-0 victory this week and celebrate it …that the abysmal result had not put us off-course. And I will not loose the pain of Dortmund until I see BR change his shape with 5 at back or 5 in the middle away fro. Home in Europe. Until then, Europe will be watched from behind the couch!