LASK capitulation a major factor in Celtic’s current woes
Despite starting the campaign well enough, Celtic’s form has taken a massive nosedive over the last week or so and the reason behind that is the topic of much debate…
For me the obvious reason is that our current crisis situation can be traced back to the trauma of our Champions League capitulation against LASK in Linz after throwing away a 4-0 aggregate advantage.
Before heading into that second leg play off in Austria, Celtic were on a run of terrific form, scoring goals, and looking very much like a solid side.
Four wins out of four. Thirteen goals scored, and one conceded. We were on the ultimate high.
But what unfolded that night has fractured our side so badly, that’s it’s threatening to derail our campaign at a very early stage.
We headed to Linz this time last month in the full knowledge that we had a three goal lead and all that was required to qualify for the Champions league group stages was a professional performance on the night, ie keep it tight and seeing out the game.
After going a goal up on the night we opened up a 4-0 aggregate lead, with only an hour of the tie to play. A cushion that should have been more than enough to see us reach our goal of qualifying for the Champions League proper.
Despite the home side levelling on the night, we still went in at the interval with a three goal advantage, and all that was required was 45 minutes of seeing the game play out without any minimum of fuss.
What happened next was an absolute disaster. We conceded three goals, which levelled the tie on aggregate, taking the game to extra time, which we sequentially lost to see our Champions League dream go up in flames.
Worst result in Celtic’s history
The 5-1 defeat on the night can arguably be described as the worst ever result in Celtic’s unbroken history and certainly the most costly.
Blowing such a substantial lead hurt us badly, so much so that we’ve failed to recover.
In our following fixtures, we narrowly beat Falkirk at home, before easily disposing of a poor Aberdeen side, then registered two narrow away wins at St Mirren and St Johnstone, winning by a solitary goal in unconvincing fashion in both Paisley and Perth.
Then came the damaging 3-0 hammering in the Premier Sports Cup quarter final defeat at Ibrox, before being beaten at home by Ferencvaros in the Europa League opener last Thursday night and of course yesterday’s Glasgow Derby defeat at Celtic Park in the Scottish Premiership which completed an unwanted treble for Martin O’Neill’s side.
So for me, it’s totally obvious that our recent poor run of form can easily be traced back to that calamitous night in Linz.
Not only did it deny us entry into the financially rewarding Champions League group stages, it also knocked the proverbial stuffing out of our management and playing squad, and they simply haven’t recovered.
It’s likely to result in Martin O’Neill stepping aside by either leaving or being moved upstairs, which would be the preferred option. For Shaun Maloney, Mark Fotheringham and Stephen McManus that could see question marks over their own future.
And a new manager would have plenty of pieces to pick up and problems to solve. Celtic’s most influential player in recent times has been our captain Callum McGregor but his form and perhaps his legs have gone.
Calmac being overplayed for so many years seems to have taken its toll in recent times and he is clearly in need of having his time on the park managed much better than it currently is. He cannot play every minute of every game and that is something that whoever is going to be in charge has to deal with.
The squad is a shambles, as are the tactics. Yesterday the 4-3-3 was thrown in the dustbin quickly followed by yesterday’s shambles of a gameplan.
Whatever is next we will have to wait and see but the core of the problem goes back to what happened in Linz and why it was allowed to happen with Arne Engels being sold before a replacement was signed.
And that replacement has STILL to be signed but the £22m cheque from West Ham has been banked.
