Celtic have crashed out of another European competition this season after a 5-1 aggregate defeat to Norwegian champions Bodo/Glimt in the UEFA Europa Conference League.
Tonight’s match away to Bodo/Glimt was a tough watch for any Celtic fan. Even if you weren’t expecting much after last week’s 3-1 defeat in the first leg and the team announcement this evening, it still wasn’t a fun 90 minutes.
In truth, the tie was over within ten minutes in Norway. Not even constructive substitutions at half-time could change that reality.
So what can we take from tonight? Here are our three big talking points…
Players with a point to prove don’t live up to Ange’s mission
Before the match, Postecoglou told BT Sport that the players coming into the team tonight had the “the energy, the enthusiasm and determination to do well” and they didn’t show a single bit of it.
This should have been an evening for the likes of Liam Scales, Nir Bitton, Stephen Welsh and James Forrest to step up and show they can be more than fringe members of the squad. None of them did that.
The decision of Postecoglou to heavily rotate his team tonight will be scrutinised. The fact is the players that have been waiting for a big chance didn’t do anything to show they were deserving of it.
It’s disappointing when you consider this entire group should be united, focused and effectively interchangeable in the closing stages of the season.
Ange’s team aren’t good enough for European dreams yet
As much as we’ve enjoyed the progress of Celtic over the last 12 months, it’s clear this group aren’t good enough to compete at a European level we have to expect.
Bodo/Glimt are a decent outfit but our resources massively outweigh theirs. Over the next few years we have to be better than this.
Whether that comes from Ange Postecoglou improving the players he has or recruiting more in the transfer market we have yet to see.
It’s true we are a work in progress, but that doesn’t mean we can’t criticise what the current state of this team is and make us think about where it needs to go.
This European campaign hasn’t been great and we should expect more.
Liel Abada makes our team better
I’m only really giving pass marks to one player tonight – Liel Abada. The Israeli winger tried his hardest to drag us back into the tie when he came on, adding energy and purpose to our performance.
His substitute appearances wasn’t enough but it had us moving in the right direction. He’s a must-start on Sunday away to Hibernian, as is Callum McGregor.
The only saving grace of tonight is that many of our most important players didn’t play a full 90 minutes.
If Abada, Jota and Reo Hatate all turn up and punish Hibs this weekend it will at least numb the pain of this evening. That was always must-win and even more so now.
In other news, Ange Postecoglou explains his Celtic team selection tonight as big players sit on bench.
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