Celtic supporters question logic behind Owen Moffat snub vs Dundee Utd

Originally published at: Celtic supporters question logic behind Owen Moffat snub vs Dundee Utd

Many Celtic supporters have been left bemused by Ange Postecoglou’s decision not to give Owen Moffat an opportunity against Dundee Utd yesterday. There was excitement pre-match when the young winger was deservedly named in the senior squad for the 1-1 stalemate against the Arabs. He would be the only attacking alternative, meaning it looked likely…

2 Likes

I’m sick of hearing that we need to protect players ‘cos they’re only 19! It’s their talent that counts not their age and Ange has stated this himself! We’re a soft touch and Dundee Utd proved it on Sunday. Big Ange is struggling tactically and it shows only too clearly. God help us on Thursday! I fear a right hammering!

1 Like

I’ve yet to read one online comment that highlighted the fact Ajeti got himself into a great position to miss his sitter in the first place?
Perhaps Postecoglou simply thought Ajeti would likely get another chance to redeem himself given we were still creating chances up until the end.
We hit the woodwork 3 times and Ajeti had the ball in the net which was subsequently chalked off for a slight shove on a defender who went down like he had been sniped from the commentary position.
You may have noticed the United players were falling down continuously throughout at the slightest bit of pressure almost as if they knew that in doing so it would be a foul?
No foul on Starfelt of course on the build up to the penalty claim which of course was a foul worthy of a penalty.
Postecoglou was forced into 3 changes he hadn’t planned on.
Injuries happen you just hope to have adequate cover when they do.
Had Ajeti got injured no doubt Moffat would have replaced him like he did the 3 others.
Nothing to do with tactical naivety at all.
He simply stuck with the better option.

3 Likes

No, he stuck to the same option! He can’t change the way we’re playing or the role of players during a game to suit the situation, that’s tactically naive. I’m dreading Thursday, when I should be looking forward to it! I’ve got a big enough sofa to hide behind! :rofl: :four_leaf_clover::four_leaf_clover:

Moffat might have scored in one game ,but he was totally snuffed out of another ,against Bristol City. Somebody else put forward as a messiah ……when they’re not playing. There has been nothing but them for more than a season. Then they play and that’s the end of the messiah stuff.

2 Likes

Would Celtic have won in 67 without McNeill,Murdoch,Johnstone and a few others? No they wouldn’t. Why is Ange expected to win with the same problem?

3 Likes

‘cos the last 3 teams we’ve played are supposed to be inferior and their players earn on average £1,000 a week! …. that’s why!! ….and we are Celtic and had 60,000 fans behind us on Sunday!! Sunday’s team, with exception of Ajeti, should be winning at home comfortably.

I don’t t think you quite get the whole changing the approach under a new Manager thing do you?
He’s come in with a system and approach that has served him successfully elsewhere.
So much so in fact he was voted the Manager of the decade in his native Australia.
It like Deilas change of direction previously is going to take time for the players we have to be able to achieve the high end of what he is trying to achieve at Celtic.
We went from a slow building sideways side to a progressively more attacking side with an emphasis on the high press if you remember.
Players had to get fitter as a result and it some of them months to adjust.
Injuries to key players who had already adapted to this system have has a serious affect on it.
McGregor is pivotal being both the Captain and Deep Lying Playmaker.
Furuhashi is key in attack as he creates movement And mayhem for defenders trying to pick him up.
Forrest has been a key player at Celtic for a decade and his replacement although doing well is still only 19 amd therefore well behind in terms of ability and consistency.
Then we have had the issues in defence which have still not been resolved as he’s not even had the services of our £7m CB Jullien and has had to make do with what was our 3 rd choice RB (now being hailed as the new McGrain by some) and our LB from the development squad.
Giakoumakis the No9 we signed to replace Griffiths in leading the line hasn’t even started a game and with the injury to Furuhashi and the absence of Griffiths has resulted in our poacher Ajeti being asked to do a lead the line strikers job without the support of another striker which is something as a poacher he’s been reliant on in hos career to get the goals that he has?
If that was t bad enough he lost our best 2 strikers our best CB and one of our best No10’s in the window out of a side who had a shocker of a Season last Season.
If that wasn’t bad enough he came in last minute due to Eddie Howe stringing our Club along for 4 months thus putting our plans for the Summer in serious trouble.
His targets you see weren’t Postecoglou’s targets.
Two different Managers with two totally different approaches which ultimately require different talents in order to successfully deliver said approach.
There are so many variables that can affect a Managers plans from week to week but as Ange stated after the calf injury to Giakoumakis he’s evidently walked under a ladder.
You are suggesting he rips up the plan and go with what plan exactly?
Lenny’s plan ?
Because that’s the only plan left available to a group of players who are being undermined by injuries on what seems a game by game occurrence.
He ,like Deila needs time to implement his plan and hopefully without any further interruptions this Season.
We created enough to win the game v Utd that’s the bottom line and had Ajeti put that sitter we would have more than likely secured it.
Fine margins.

3 Likes

Every club has issues! Every manager has injuries to deal with! They’ve all got to contend with missing key players. We are Celtic, we should be able to handle this better. We are not Livingston or Dundee Utd, yet both these teams look better balanced than us! … and now on to Leverkusen, Aberdeen away and Motherwell away!! What’s our chances of winning any of these games? From where I’m sitting … ZERO … I’m facing reality, why don’t you?

Not every Club have a fanbase who has an expectation to win regardless of form,injuries,transfers,rebuilds,Global pandemics and Managerial situations being dragged out for 4 months :man_shrugging:t2:
Then there is the “We are Celtic” mentality where such things shouldn’t come into it as we are the greatest team in the World.

Seriously lay of the X box and come back to reality.

3 Likes

Is there any other mentality? You are so dim you miss the point completely! If you’re happy about our worst start to a league campaign in 23 years, losing to Livingston, drawing at home with Dundee Utd and losing to newly promoted Hearts then maybe you should change your team! And reality? …… the boos ringing round Celtic Park on Sunday were real, unlike your argument.:four_leaf_clover::four_leaf_clover:

The only thing that is real are the levels of Entitlement in some built up over 9 years as we cantered to win after win in a one horse race.
Now we have a genuine challenge again ( regardless of how it’s been funded or come about we have one) the panic has set in for some.
Of course I’m not happy about it but I would unhappier still if we hadn’t had the issues coming into it that we have had and apparently still having.

3 Likes

If there were boos they were the loudest noise made by the fans during the entire game. Should be this,should be that,fine, but the reality you miss is that thing weren’t as they should be at the end of last season.nowhere near it. You expect us to go from that half a squad, after players left ,and to turn round an umpteen points deficit in only a few months ,while losing top players due to injury ? Gie’s peace you’re the one who hasn’t the guts to face reality.Take Klopp as an example,you think he is a good manager with a good squad? If you do ,remember ONE injury to VVD led to meltdown for his team last season. Talk about entitlement. Saying “ we are Celtic” doesn’t make us a great club ,we haven’t been a great club on the park for many years ,and,all this instant fix nonsense will make that situation less likely to change in the near future. Supposed to be inferior ? They weren’t last season….remember? Man up…come out from hiding behind the couch…….and stop moaning ffs.

3 Likes

My thoughts exactly . Ronny’s doing ok and coining it in with New York these days funnily enough. Couldn’t see why Desmond etc were going on about entitlement last season………but I see it now.

1 Like

There’s been a steady build up since Rodgers and winning a Quadruple Treble cemented it.
For many the 10 was a foregone conclusion despite a resurgent threat from Ibrox as they proved themselves on the European level.
Our buy to sell policy has finally caught up with us as did the ravages of Covid which certainly seemed to hit us worse that those round us.
Lenny’s old school approach to shouting at the snowflakes seemed to have an adverse effect on players now spoiled by the arm round them approach under Rodgers.
It all fell apart last Season.
We started this Season 4 months behind the start line thanks in no part to Howe messing us around waiting for a better offer from down South.
Him knocking us back just compounded the issues.
But the entitled among is won’t accept these major issues will have a cause and effect which as you know is absolutely crazy.
The Season we had and the Summer we had would have affected any Club with hopes of pushing for a title.
The financially doped huns of the 90’s were exactly same after their decade of domination.
Same at Man Utd anything less than wins every week and reactions get to hysteria levels only then you didn’t have up to the second platforms to vent frustration immediately.
It’s a 38 game Season ffs and we are 7 games into it.
We go on a run and other teams drop points then the pressure starts to mount on them.
They haven’t been anything special and yet they haven’t lost any of their key players in the window.
We have Jullien McGregor Forrest Furuhashi Giakoumakis Johnston and Taylor to come back in .
These are players who will strengthen the areas of the park that they now vacate.
At least 5 of those will be first choice picks when 100% fit this Season.
We are miles off the finished article.

2 Likes

…. and Celtic should still be able to beat both Livingston and Dundee Utd. I don’t care what level of transition we’re in! Were no different from any other club in that respect. So you’re now blaming the fans for not making enough noise! Wow, you must have a long list of excuses on tap! Get real or go watch Livingston, sounds like your ideal club! :rofl::rofl:

We’ve struggled on plastic under the past 3 Managers be it Hamilton ,Kilmarnock or Livingston that :poop: is a leveller no matter who you play.
Even an experienced player with proven ability in McCarthy was reduced to Sunday League level passing on it.
It shouldn’t be anywhere near top flight Football in a Country with as warm a climate as ours.
As for Dundee United we should have beaten them and would have done so had we not hit the woodwork 3 times and missed a sitter.
They have already beaten the 2angers this Season so have shown they can up their game against the better sides.
Again we narrowly lost away to the 2angers in a game we could have won once again a sitter was missed by Edouard this time.
3 grounds where we have struggled on and off at Celtic for different reasons but all valid reasons all the same.
We lost away to what has proven to be a decent Hearts team on the opening day at a ground we seem to struggle at regardless of how well we are playing but moreso with a side patched together last minute no thanks in part to the Eddie Howe debacle dragging on and Lawwell allowing contracts with key men running down to their final year resulting players leaving and having to bed new ones in.
We knew 18 months ago Édouard wanted away and we knew Ajer and Christie felt the same so they should have been punted then.
Bringing in Ange with weeks to go ( to the start of a new Season and CL qualifiers ) was as has been the case for years severely poor planning but for supporters like yersel to expect him to get an already depleted,deflated and ultimately demoralised squad coming off the worst Season in a decade to hit the ground running is quite frankly ridiculous.
Change as we all know takes time,implementing a new approach takes time and injuries whether you care to acknowledge them or not are currently hampering that transition.
We have seen glimpses of how well this new approach can work and yes we have also seen how it can work against us but the simple fact remains no system is perfect amd no approach is without its drawbacks.
Attack minded teams like ours tend to be more vulnerable at the back than say teams who come to defend a point and hope to hit you on the counter for a win (or teams who build off of being tough to break down and are organised),
We will be susceptible to this tactic under Postecoglou so you best get your head round that concept and get used to it.
Our defensive woes have been around for quite some time have been compounded by losing out on our best CB-Jullien ,trouble with Keepers-Barkas (though it’s looking like Hart has resolved that at least) deploying 3rd choice back up in both fullback positions -Ralston and Montgomery and having to bed in 2 new CB’s at the same time.
We haven’t had a settled back line so far this Season and are unlikely to do so until the likes of Jullien and Taylor are fit ,Juranovic ,Starfelt,CCV and Scales are properly bedded in.
We’ve lost our most important player in McGregor in recent games and it has impacted the whole dynamic,not had Forrest for the bulk of games and went without Furuhashi who had an immediate impact go out too.
Leaving two wingers of limited experience and a poacher up front with zero support due to the No9 we bought (to replace Griffiths) and lead the line pulling up in the warm up!
Hardly the preparation or continuity Postecoglou would have been hoping for when he started the Season.
Yet still Supporters like you are not prepared to cut him the slack and time he requires in order to get it right :man_shrugging:t2:
Can you not see how all of these factors have restricted his freedom to get us playing the way he wants us to play?
One last thing he’s been forced into taking both Kennedy and Strachan as his coaches which if you look at is last Season tells you something obviously isn’t working on the coaching side but particularly in defence where supposedly Kennedy is involved?
We’ve had defensive issues since Rodgers and there’s only one man that’s been a constant in that at the Club.
Kennedy.
So there are plenty things that can and will alter as time goes on but getting the likes of Jullien,McGregor,Forrest,Furuhashi and Giakoumakis in the side will be an immediate positive and instant game changer for us.

2 Likes

Laugh at yourself pal ,it’s you that’s making a fool of yourself . The atmosphere at the tail end of the game was absolutely toxic towards the team .I believe Montgomery was even arguing with someone in the main stand ffs,Soro likewise . Was he arguing with you by any chance ? You don’t have the guts for the fight that lies ahead of us . Maybe go and support the ladies team…they’re winning at the moment?

1 Like