Johnny Baguette
Alert Team
It was the night records were to be broken, it was the night records were to be equalled. This balmy but rainy night in the east end of Glasgow was the night that Celtic was to be consigned, subject to future results, to the Europa League. The problem was someone forgot to include Brendan Rodgers in the dialogue and also forgot to tell his team.
Rodgers is not the best of managers. True back in 2014 he masterminded what should have been City`s last rites in the title race, before sliding off the rails in every sense, but since then he has been in managerial obscurity. Following a season where he was in the belief that it was his management skills that elevated Liverpool to valid title candidates, it was the Suarez-effect in reality, that brought the best out of hitherto, Gerrard excepted, average footballers.
Once Suarez left for pastures more profitable, Rodgers was not far behind. Unable to motivate his team, who went from playing some of the best football seen at Anfield since the glory days of Bob Paisley, to a team that looked significantly disinterested, Rodgers did not find himself any top flight suitors and didn`t really make any shortlists. So he rolled up at Celtic, a sort of reputation repair specialist club, a club, sorry Rangers fans, which is far and away better than any of its rivals north of Hadrian`s Wall and a team that the Pedmachine could manage to the title.
He is in a one-horse title race this winter, so the true test of his ability comes in the shape of the Champions League, where in his team`s first outing, they were panned 7-0 by Barcelona.
Round 2 saw him having to pit his wits against a glowing side managed by a former Barcelona manager, so it looked as though the curtains would be drawing, but as I said, nobody gave him the script.
When the teams were announced, Guardiola almost selected his best available eleven, perhaps inexplicably leaving out Stones in favour of the resurgent Kolarov. Rodgers included in his line-up Scott Sinclair, an ex-City man who did nothing during his three-season stint at the Etihad, but who has set the SPL alight this season. At the back was the evergreen-and-white Kolo Toure, still adored by the City fans. In among this was a list of comparative unknowns in terms of premier league supporters.
A lot more supporters of premier league football will know them now.
City only needed to get an early goal and they would leave Celtic needing snookers, but it was the hoops who found the net in the third minute to subject Guardiola`s men to their first catch-up of the season. The movement of Rodgers boys on the edge of the box left City`s defenders sufficiently confused to miss the wide run of Forrest who drilled it into the box. Sviatchenko`s goalward header hit Dembele on the chest and rebounded into the net. Dembele was later seen to be offside.
The Blues didn`t seem to be able to respond to this too quickly. They surrendered space and possession in midfield, usually a City stronghold, and all of the back four were experiencing an early nightmare as Celtic raided with Forrest down the right and Tierney down the left.
Without De Bruyne City`s midfield thrust was found wanting as neither Silva, Nolito nor Gundogan could impose themselves leaving Sterling and Aguero short of the ball.
That said City carved out an equaliser after 11 minutes which too had an element of fortune. With the attacking fluency missing, Kolarov decided to try his luck from outside the box. His blocked shot squirmed through to Fernandiho who pounced on it and fired beyond Gordon to make it 1-1.
Surely this was the signal now for City to get on with the demolition? Well no it wasn`t. With Celtic playing a better pressing game than City and winning most of the battles in the middle, the hoops came surging back. Rogic who looked an early powerhouse in midfield quickly moved the ball out wide to Tierney on the left having spotted that Zabaleta had for some reason followed another player into the middle vacating his right wing position.
Tierney got a sniff of the posts but his shot lacked accuracy until it took a deflection off Sterling and wrong-footed Bravo. With Celtic back ahead the stadium was literally bouncing as the Jocks took delight in beating the enemy from down South.
City once more had to turn up the heat and try to get back into the match a second time. Silva had been largely anonymous mainly because of poor passing out from the back and others in midfield but after 28 minutes managed to prize a small gap on the edge of the Celtic box and squeezed it through to Sterling who neatly deceived both Tierney and Gordon before coolly sliding the ball into the corner of the net. Such is the improvement of Raheem. He would definitely not have scored that goal last season nor in the last season he played for Rodgers.
There was an additional scare from a set piece when dear Kolo could have extended Celtic`s lead, but a smart save from Bravo denied him.
Having got his men in at half time level, one would have expected Guardiola to distribute the size nine`s in the direction of the appropriate bottoms but within a minute of the restart, City found themselves trailing for the third time when a punt into the box by Tierney wasn`t dealt with by Kolarov and Dembele`s overhead kick aimed to left of Bravo came of his shin and went right of Bravo leaving him rooted. Celtic Park once again went mental and City were once again having to search for a leveller. Once again it took less than 10 minutes and was probably City`s most incisive move of the match as Silva again carved out some space sending Aguero into one of his favourite goalscoring positions. The Mighty Atom made the correct decision in sliding the ball towards the far corner but it was too close to Gordon who could only parry it what he though was to safety. However it went straight to Nolito who immediately drilled it into the back of the net, no questions asked. No attempt to change feet, no trying to improve the angle, no trying to find someone in a better place, just straight into the net.
Surely now the platform was launched. City typically find most teams out in the last half hour and at last it looked as though Celtic were heading that way. But they held their back line together superbly marshalled and prompted by Kolo and the Blues just could not find the lead. The chances came and went. Gordon made two or three good saves, woodwork was hit, defenders were hit, everything was hit except the back of the Celtic net.
Rodgers tried to liven things up by introducing Griffiths a regular top scorer in the SPL and City loanee Roberts. They did cause one or two "moments" for City, but it was at the other end where things weren`t going quite right. Sergio didn`t really get another sniff and when, having already sent on Stones for a sorry Clichy, the right move might have been to introduce Iheanacho. Guardiola sent on Fernando in what was seen as a "we mustn`t lose" routine.
Sure, City didn`t lose, but they didn`t win either and the records which at 1945hrs were all set to tumble, all stayed where they were.
Was this the first sign of cracks in the Guardiola wall? Have Celtic signalled to the hapless Barclays Premier League how to deal with City? Was it just "one of those nights"?
Well it was a night when City`s back four all had a collective bad night. None of them excelled and all of them, Stones excepted when he came on, scared us out of our wits. They heaped pressure on City`s goal and did likewise in the midfield as too many passes did not find those new orange shirts. Time and again the ball came right back. Talking of right back, Zabaleta, a long time favourite of the Pedmachine had probably his worst game for City, hardly finding a colleague all night.
It was a night when the football almost reverted to the days of Pellegrini, underestimating the opposition and the team deciding it would be easy. Gentlemen this is the Champions League, not the EFL Cup.
Rodgers for his part seems to be getting a lot of praise today. The spine of his team performed well especially Scott Brown in midfield and of course, Kolo at the back, but all of his failings as a manager were there for all to see once again. One-for-me, one-for-you. Brendan, you can attack all you like in your own league, there is no one to catch you, but when you play a quality side your team has to learn how to defend. The side you created at Liverpool didn`t know how to defend and when the "one-for-yous" disappeared to the Camp Nou in the shape of Suarez, there were insufficient goodies in the sweet shop. She might have had her photo taken with you in the San Carlo in Liverpool, but believe me Sue has spent more time hiding from the TV once her dear Luis had departed rather than watching her team go ahead then suffer from kami-kaze defending.
The Blues roadshow rocks up in London next for a top of the table clash against the Spuds. They can`t catch us this weekend but I would expect them to press and counter press the way Celtic did. It should create an interesting 90 minutes.
http://www.manchestercity.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=571887
Rodgers is not the best of managers. True back in 2014 he masterminded what should have been City`s last rites in the title race, before sliding off the rails in every sense, but since then he has been in managerial obscurity. Following a season where he was in the belief that it was his management skills that elevated Liverpool to valid title candidates, it was the Suarez-effect in reality, that brought the best out of hitherto, Gerrard excepted, average footballers.
Once Suarez left for pastures more profitable, Rodgers was not far behind. Unable to motivate his team, who went from playing some of the best football seen at Anfield since the glory days of Bob Paisley, to a team that looked significantly disinterested, Rodgers did not find himself any top flight suitors and didn`t really make any shortlists. So he rolled up at Celtic, a sort of reputation repair specialist club, a club, sorry Rangers fans, which is far and away better than any of its rivals north of Hadrian`s Wall and a team that the Pedmachine could manage to the title.
He is in a one-horse title race this winter, so the true test of his ability comes in the shape of the Champions League, where in his team`s first outing, they were panned 7-0 by Barcelona.
Round 2 saw him having to pit his wits against a glowing side managed by a former Barcelona manager, so it looked as though the curtains would be drawing, but as I said, nobody gave him the script.
When the teams were announced, Guardiola almost selected his best available eleven, perhaps inexplicably leaving out Stones in favour of the resurgent Kolarov. Rodgers included in his line-up Scott Sinclair, an ex-City man who did nothing during his three-season stint at the Etihad, but who has set the SPL alight this season. At the back was the evergreen-and-white Kolo Toure, still adored by the City fans. In among this was a list of comparative unknowns in terms of premier league supporters.
A lot more supporters of premier league football will know them now.
City only needed to get an early goal and they would leave Celtic needing snookers, but it was the hoops who found the net in the third minute to subject Guardiola`s men to their first catch-up of the season. The movement of Rodgers boys on the edge of the box left City`s defenders sufficiently confused to miss the wide run of Forrest who drilled it into the box. Sviatchenko`s goalward header hit Dembele on the chest and rebounded into the net. Dembele was later seen to be offside.
The Blues didn`t seem to be able to respond to this too quickly. They surrendered space and possession in midfield, usually a City stronghold, and all of the back four were experiencing an early nightmare as Celtic raided with Forrest down the right and Tierney down the left.
Without De Bruyne City`s midfield thrust was found wanting as neither Silva, Nolito nor Gundogan could impose themselves leaving Sterling and Aguero short of the ball.
That said City carved out an equaliser after 11 minutes which too had an element of fortune. With the attacking fluency missing, Kolarov decided to try his luck from outside the box. His blocked shot squirmed through to Fernandiho who pounced on it and fired beyond Gordon to make it 1-1.
Surely this was the signal now for City to get on with the demolition? Well no it wasn`t. With Celtic playing a better pressing game than City and winning most of the battles in the middle, the hoops came surging back. Rogic who looked an early powerhouse in midfield quickly moved the ball out wide to Tierney on the left having spotted that Zabaleta had for some reason followed another player into the middle vacating his right wing position.
Tierney got a sniff of the posts but his shot lacked accuracy until it took a deflection off Sterling and wrong-footed Bravo. With Celtic back ahead the stadium was literally bouncing as the Jocks took delight in beating the enemy from down South.
City once more had to turn up the heat and try to get back into the match a second time. Silva had been largely anonymous mainly because of poor passing out from the back and others in midfield but after 28 minutes managed to prize a small gap on the edge of the Celtic box and squeezed it through to Sterling who neatly deceived both Tierney and Gordon before coolly sliding the ball into the corner of the net. Such is the improvement of Raheem. He would definitely not have scored that goal last season nor in the last season he played for Rodgers.
There was an additional scare from a set piece when dear Kolo could have extended Celtic`s lead, but a smart save from Bravo denied him.
Having got his men in at half time level, one would have expected Guardiola to distribute the size nine`s in the direction of the appropriate bottoms but within a minute of the restart, City found themselves trailing for the third time when a punt into the box by Tierney wasn`t dealt with by Kolarov and Dembele`s overhead kick aimed to left of Bravo came of his shin and went right of Bravo leaving him rooted. Celtic Park once again went mental and City were once again having to search for a leveller. Once again it took less than 10 minutes and was probably City`s most incisive move of the match as Silva again carved out some space sending Aguero into one of his favourite goalscoring positions. The Mighty Atom made the correct decision in sliding the ball towards the far corner but it was too close to Gordon who could only parry it what he though was to safety. However it went straight to Nolito who immediately drilled it into the back of the net, no questions asked. No attempt to change feet, no trying to improve the angle, no trying to find someone in a better place, just straight into the net.
Surely now the platform was launched. City typically find most teams out in the last half hour and at last it looked as though Celtic were heading that way. But they held their back line together superbly marshalled and prompted by Kolo and the Blues just could not find the lead. The chances came and went. Gordon made two or three good saves, woodwork was hit, defenders were hit, everything was hit except the back of the Celtic net.
Rodgers tried to liven things up by introducing Griffiths a regular top scorer in the SPL and City loanee Roberts. They did cause one or two "moments" for City, but it was at the other end where things weren`t going quite right. Sergio didn`t really get another sniff and when, having already sent on Stones for a sorry Clichy, the right move might have been to introduce Iheanacho. Guardiola sent on Fernando in what was seen as a "we mustn`t lose" routine.
Sure, City didn`t lose, but they didn`t win either and the records which at 1945hrs were all set to tumble, all stayed where they were.
Was this the first sign of cracks in the Guardiola wall? Have Celtic signalled to the hapless Barclays Premier League how to deal with City? Was it just "one of those nights"?
Well it was a night when City`s back four all had a collective bad night. None of them excelled and all of them, Stones excepted when he came on, scared us out of our wits. They heaped pressure on City`s goal and did likewise in the midfield as too many passes did not find those new orange shirts. Time and again the ball came right back. Talking of right back, Zabaleta, a long time favourite of the Pedmachine had probably his worst game for City, hardly finding a colleague all night.
It was a night when the football almost reverted to the days of Pellegrini, underestimating the opposition and the team deciding it would be easy. Gentlemen this is the Champions League, not the EFL Cup.
Rodgers for his part seems to be getting a lot of praise today. The spine of his team performed well especially Scott Brown in midfield and of course, Kolo at the back, but all of his failings as a manager were there for all to see once again. One-for-me, one-for-you. Brendan, you can attack all you like in your own league, there is no one to catch you, but when you play a quality side your team has to learn how to defend. The side you created at Liverpool didn`t know how to defend and when the "one-for-yous" disappeared to the Camp Nou in the shape of Suarez, there were insufficient goodies in the sweet shop. She might have had her photo taken with you in the San Carlo in Liverpool, but believe me Sue has spent more time hiding from the TV once her dear Luis had departed rather than watching her team go ahead then suffer from kami-kaze defending.
The Blues roadshow rocks up in London next for a top of the table clash against the Spuds. They can`t catch us this weekend but I would expect them to press and counter press the way Celtic did. It should create an interesting 90 minutes.
http://www.manchestercity.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=571887
