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At least Richie got the after-match comments spot on this time.

"Outclassed, simple as that. Six-nil is a tough one. "We went and had a go at the start and that's all I could ask from the lads. "This is one of the best Celtic teams assembled in a good few years. They've got confidence running through their veins. There was no stopping them."

As I said before I had no aspersions about this whatsoever. Cellic are heading for the treble. Nobody is going to beat them at Parkdread. And Rogers was actually fired up and wanted to prove that the draw at the Dump was just bad luck.

Worries for me. Fon Williams has lost all his confidence and Esson has not had sufficient match time. Considering the next three scheduled games that is a massive concern. Gary Warren has lost that yard of space and his drifting back is playing opposition onside on a regular basis (e.g. - the first goal). Considering the next three scheduled games that is a massive concern. I like Vigurs but he is a lazy **** and a luxury nowadays. And I simply do not understand the Tansey factor !! Considering the next three scheduled games that is a massive concern. What has happened to our passing game and the development of the "hoof". Considering the next three scheduled games that is a massive concern.

The next three scheduled games are a massive concern and we do not have time to correct the wrongs. Actually nobody could.

 

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Having just returned having been to Celtic Park yesterday, Celtic were actually outstanding. We have caused them significant trouble over the years but no one really expected any repeat performances. We come back at least £100k richer as a club, Aberdeen used to get battered worse than us,and we can now focus on one competition. Apart from recent history with our poor run in the league, there is no reason why we cannot squeeze points out of the next three very difficult games despite the adversity starting this Saturday with a lot of injuries and key suspensions. In addition Billy King was injured against Celtic but is unavailable against his parent club. Hearts will have a certain focus on the Scottish Cup replay and possibly on the next round if they get a good draw. Problems started yesterday with the second goal (its nature and timing) just before half time. We worked very hard in the first half despite playing a team who are completely undefeated on the domestic front this season.  Had we come out at 1-0 for the second half the game might have been much tighter. We have now got that game out of our system and if we refer to Hamilton's far worse trouncing at Celtic Park last season (19 Jan 2016 and 8-1) , they dusted themselves down and reacted very positively to the result. We can rest assurred that everyone connected with the club will do everything this week to do the same. 

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Haven't read all previous posts but can guess at what has been said. For sure, yesterday was a sore one and especially as it was live on TV. Better teams than us have had similar hammerings at Parkhead this season so let's have some perspective on this. What was clear yesterday was that wee have problems in central defence and possibly with our keeper although, apart from his one mistake, Fon Williams did not have an awful lot to do (apart from pick the ball out of the net) but did what he had to do. No Warren or McKay against Hearts as both suspended so it will be McCart and someone. It will be interesting to see what RF does as Hearts are not invincible and were not very good today. Need to start Doran if he is fit as he was badly missed on Saturday.

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yes, perspective required:

motherwell - 5-0

hapoel beer sheeva - 5-2

aberdeen - 4-1

rangers - 5-1

kilmarnock - 6-1

man city 3-3

ross cunty - 4-0

man city - 1-1

partick - 4-1

hearts - 4-0

st Johnstone - 5-2

losing 1-0 or 6-0, its a cup game, it disnae really matter, and better teams than us, on any given day, will be on the end of a whipping from the rampant Bhoys.

Would it have been nice to keep it respectable, yes, does it change anything, no.  I wonder if this humping might in fact galvanise the team as opposed to sending it into the meltdown that everyone fears.

The rest of the bottom 7 all face Sellic again in the league, with 4 of them having to go to parkhead. i expect to see some scorelines akin to this one during that time.

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There have been some very critical remarks on a number of threads on this forum in the last day or two, so for what it's worth, here are a few thoughts in the context of the game on Saturday.  

Firstly, let's acknowledge that it was a superb performance by Celtic.  For my money, that was the best performance I have seen against us by any team, ever,  Their movement on and off the ball, the accuracy of their passing, the tight control on the first touch, the speed with which they closed us down, and their ruthlessness.  They were also hugely disciplined at the back with Boyata and Sviatchenko not giving Mckay or Anier a sniff. And the fact that they can afford to put a player of Christie's ability out on loan to their nearest challenger illustrates just how far ahead of everyone else they are.

We lost by 6 to an excellent team at the top of their game, but it wasn't as if Fon Williams had a lot to do except pick the ball out of the net - unlike Fox for County against Aberdeen!  And what made the score so high was specific instances of poor defending.  Fon Williams should certainly have done better for the 2nd goal and we clearly have a problem with that position.  Whether he is carrying an injury or is just short of confidence, I don't know.  But he did a great job for us last year and has not suddenly become a poor keeper.  Injured or not, we need better cover for him than Esson can provide.

But whilst OFW can be blamed for the 2nd goal, so can the defenders - and for Dembele's other two goals.  He's the top striker in Scotland at the moment (and by some distance) but nobody was marking him for any of his 3 goals.  With the sheer numbers Celtic attack with, including the quality of their 2 full backs, it is nigh on impossible to pick everyone up all the time - but you must pick up their main man.  Dembele is clever how he drops back or wide and then just seems to drift into the right space at the right time, but everyone was watching the ball and nobody was watching him.  That really needs to be addressed.  There are some basic errors being made and just as defenders need to have confidence in their keeper, the keeper needs to have confidence in the defenders. Currently we are lacking the cohesion and confidence as a defensive unit as a whole.

Having said that, there was a lot that was relatively positive about the performance.  Folk have criticised some in the team for a lack of effort.  Vigurs seems to have taken the brunt of this.  I din't see any lack of effort from any of the players against Dundee and I saw none against Celtic.  I think the message is perhaps getting through that unless players give 100% every game, then we will be going down.  Richie needs to continue to impress this on his players, but unlike Celtic, he has little option in some positions if players slacken off.

Meanwhile, we show real promise at the other end where competition is greater for places.  We have scored more goals than all the 6 teams directly above us and whilst we managed very few efforts at goal on Saturday, that was testament to their defence rather than a reflection of our weakness.  We did manage to get behind their defence and won no less than 7 corners.  Not many teams have done that at Celtic this season.

There's lessons to be learnt from Saturday.  We are nearly a pretty good team but we absolutely must address our defensive frailties.  Do that and we have the potential to go on a decent run.  Fail to do that or fail to continue with the desire and commitment, and we will go down.  The cup's gone and Foran's not going to be sacked.  It's time to focus on the league.  We rightly demand commitment from the players but it's also time for the fans to commit their support to the players.

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I was not at the game and couldn't watch it, so won't comment on how we did.

However, just went on the club's site to check last week's Centenary Club results and spotted a news story about the Cup replay against Celtic with ticket information.  How nice it would have been to be going to a replay tonight....

Presumably this was drafted in advance and should never have been uploaded to the site!

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:laugh:  Kick off 5 minutes from now, apparently - prepare for the Valentines Day massacre!

Looks like someone somehow managed to erase the last 70 minutes of the game from their mind and thought it ended 0-0.

 

PS I see this is my 10,000th post on this site. Talk about misspent youth!

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9 hours ago, IBM said:

Some people just can't see any positives DD :sad:

Maybe its just when the team you follow are playing the worst and most disorganised football you can remember and are lacking any sort of improvement over the course of a season grasping to inconsequential statistics such seven corners and zero shots on target seem not just optomistic but blindly ignoring the truth and reality of the situation.

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...at least we're not the only pants team in this league. Motherwell getting pumped 4-0 by Aberdeen at half time. 3 more and we'll no longer have the worst defence in the league! That, together with a rudderless Killie has to give us hope....at least until Saturday.

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41 minutes ago, PerfICT said:

...at least we're not the only pants team in this league. Motherwell getting pumped 4-0 by Aberdeen at half time. 3 more and we'll no longer have the worst defence in the league! That, together with a rudderless Killie has to give us hope....at least until Saturday.

currently 6-1

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