Tekel Towers » Utd v Celtic

Tek · 04/12/2021 2:52 am

So, tomorrow see's Utd looking to register their first win against Celtic since 2014. The 21st of December 2014 to be precise when goals from Nadir Ciftci and Stuart Armstrong on the day seen an excellent Utd side deservedly win 2-1.

There have been only 12 fixtures between the sides in the intermittent 7 years since, largely due to Utd's 4 year hiatus out of the top flight. Which have subsequently resulted in 9 Celtic wins and 3 draws between the sides.

But in a positive spin, two of those draws have came in the last two meetings between the sides. A 0-0 Tannadice draw at the tail end of last season and an exciting 1-1 Parkhead score draw between the sides in late September.

Utd are (so far) undefeated against Celtic in 2021.

Dundee Utd haven't remained undefeated in a calendar year against the Glasgow side since 1984.

Beharder · 04/12/2021 1:40 pm

Any hopes we may have depend on player availability. A midfield 3 of Fuchs, Levitt & Butcher would give us a chance to be at least competitive.
If the midfield 3 are Harkes, Hoti & Glass it will just be an exercise in keeping the score respectable.

Tek · 04/12/2021 6:17 pm

Beharder wrote:
Any hopes we may have depend on player availability. A midfield 3 of Fuchs, Levitt & Butcher would give us a chance to be at least competitive.
If the midfield 3 are Harkes, Hoti & Glass it will just be an exercise in keeping the score respectable.

Agree about Fuchs and Levitt. They are vital to us.

But we need every single player to bring their 'A game' tomorrow.

McMann's form has dipped after a great start to his Utd career. As has Freeman's.

Niskanen has been poor for weeks now and Pawlett's form has also dipped. And Nicky Clark though a hard worker, never scores. We need all these players to really step-up their game, and we need any subs like Chalmers, Meekison or Watson to try and make a real impact also.

Regardless of tomorrow's score i would like to see a real reaction from Utd, after the dross on Tuesday.

Tek · 05/12/2021 3:10 pm

Zero reaction to midweek and in fact a gutless, cowardly performance.

We had nothing about us today again. Nothing.

Could have been 6 or 7 to Celtic easily.

Livi next weekend now looking like a huge match.

Arabdownsouth · 05/12/2021 3:15 pm

Tek wrote:
Zero reaction to midweek and in fact a gutless, cowardly performance.

We had nothing about us today again. Nothing.

Could have been 6 or 7 to Celtic easily.

Livi next weekend now looking like a huge match.

If only we could spend millions on our playing squad too. Wasn't a great performance at all but the gulf in class was massively apparent today.

Beharder · 05/12/2021 3:41 pm

Both posts i would agree with. It was a gutless performance. Based on i think our players ( excluding Mulgrew , Edwards & Butcher) were totally intimidated by the Celtic players.

The gulf in class was massive and the scoreline flattered UTD.

Without a few significant signings in January, strikers,
we will end up in a battle at the wrong end of the table.

Rick Dagless · 05/12/2021 3:55 pm

We set up to contain them and after they scored within 20 mins did nothing to change it.

Celtic are miles ahead of us I don't think anyone could argue otherwise. But Christ at least have a go and make it difficult for them.
Celtic didn't need to get out of first gear against us. If they were more clinical and if not for Benji it would have been a lot more than 3-0

I thought we might have been up for it after the poor performance on Tuesday but it was much the same which is concerning, we are definitely in a bit of a rut atm.

Given the games coming up Livi next week is a big game now. Fingers needing extracted from rear ends.

Butcher lucky to have stayed on the park today as well.

Billy_Hainey · 05/12/2021 4:33 pm

Startin we the 2nd half, in which we were a but better than in the 1st, but that's no difficult coz we were terrible in the 1st half.

We sat too deep, we stood aff them. We allowed their back 4 that much time and space on the ba, they coulda did ballet dancing we it.

Oor passin wasna good at all. We couldna keep the ba. Seemed like for every 5 seconds we had on the ba, they had fehv minutes. We gifted them the ba far too often and ended up gifting them their goals.

Benji probly kept it fae bein worse.

MOTM for me Fuchs.

Tek · 05/12/2021 4:42 pm

Arabdownsouth wrote:
Tek wrote:
Zero reaction to midweek and in fact a gutless, cowardly performance.

We had nothing about us today again. Nothing.

Could have been 6 or 7 to Celtic easily.

Livi next weekend now looking like a huge match.

If only we could spend millions on our playing squad too. Wasn't a great performance at all but the gulf in class was massively apparent today.

The depth in budgets and player quality is one thing and something where there will always be a disparity between the clubs. But we never matched their hunger and desire today, despite being the home team. That's on the Manager.

Not good enough.

Tangy · 05/12/2021 5:34 pm

I was probably one of the most vocal people against tam but equally, I dont want to go off the deep end after. Defeat to celtic.

If you look at the performance (and not the score) it was night and day to what we had in the game earlier in the season against them. That game had passion, desire, organisation and a wee slice of luck at times. I didnt feel we had that today.

For me, the more worrying thing is our form isn't actually that good. Yes, our great work in the first round of games has put us in a good position but that won't keep us 4th forever and having started the season there, I dont want to see us going backwards.

According to the fishy.co.uk our form over the last 6 games is 11th out of 12. Not great and carry that on, it won't take us long to slip backwards and it needs addressed by the management team.

Maybe other teams have figured us out - Maybe we don't have the same intensity - either way, we need a change.

BMT · 05/12/2021 8:46 pm

I was hoping for a big performance today after the disappointment on Tuesday night but that was shocking, especially the first half which was embarrassing. If it wasn't for Benji and their poor finishing it could have been a lot worse.

CCX2 2010 · 06/12/2021 12:10 am

A team lacking in confidence in particular from middle to front and also with no structure or any idea of how to break the opposition down.

You can apply the above to the last two games.

What are we doing to address this? 65 minutes before we had a shot on target.

The lack of hunger or desire to take the ball is frightening (fuchs apart), look at our players when we get a throw in. They don't want it and we nearly almost give it straight back.

We just look powderpuff, the first goal was embarrassing. Pull him back, trip him up but don't just usher him through in on goal.

Next week is massive for us and as Tangy said above we.wont be in 4th spot for long at this rate.

Finn Seemann · 06/12/2021 10:54 am

That performance was like night and day compared to the win at Easter Road. Defeated before we had taken to the pitch undoubtedly. This is really the first test of Courts now and it is a big one. It appears Tony has bought him a dud striker so we are gambling a lot on the fitness of McNulty. Work on that front needs doing in January window, but we have plenty of games before then. We can't undo the good work in the first few months by putting a team out trying to play the same way and losing - we have been found out now. It's looking a concern and we can't even rely on the Dees to ensure relegation is not a possibility. Granted that was Celtic and we are only getting a result against them on really good days, but the form is heading in the wrong direction. What has happened to Levitt?

Arabdownsouth · 06/12/2021 11:52 am

Finn Seemann wrote:
That performance was like night and day compared to the win at Easter Road. Defeated before we had taken to the pitch undoubtedly. This is really the first test of Courts now and it is a big one. It appears Tony has bought him a dud striker so we are gambling a lot on the fitness of McNulty. Work on that front needs doing in January window, but we have plenty of games before then. We can't undo the good work in the first few months by putting a team out trying to play the same way and losing - we have been found out now. It's looking a concern and we can't even rely on the Dees to ensure relegation is not a possibility. Granted that was Celtic and we are only getting a result against them on really good days, but the form is heading in the wrong direction. What has happened to Levitt?

Levitt is injured, as is Biamou so pretty unfair to label him as a dud imo. Relegation is not gonna happen 100%

Shedtastic · 06/12/2021 12:09 pm

We got beat from Celtic 3-0, no big shock there it's happened for years, hell even McLean consistently got a good few hidings from them, it's important the manager learns from this though, time will tell.

Finn Seemann · 06/12/2021 12:23 pm

Arabdownsouth wrote:
Finn Seemann wrote:
That performance was like night and day compared to the win at Easter Road. Defeated before we had taken to the pitch undoubtedly. This is really the first test of Courts now and it is a big one. It appears Tony has bought him a dud striker so we are gambling a lot on the fitness of McNulty. Work on that front needs doing in January window, but we have plenty of games before then. We can't undo the good work in the first few months by putting a team out trying to play the same way and losing - we have been found out now. It's looking a concern and we can't even rely on the Dees to ensure relegation is not a possibility. Granted that was Celtic and we are only getting a result against them on really good days, but the form is heading in the wrong direction. What has happened to Levitt?

Levitt is injured, as is Biamou so pretty unfair to label him as a dud imo. Relegation is not gonna happen 100%

Dud may well prove incorrect in time, but we needed a striker to hit the ground running before McNulty got injured and even more so after that. So in terms of what Courts needed he has been a dud - reflected in his lack of game time and the fact that he has been of little value when given that game time.

I worry about Levitt. Suspect that we will only be permitted to play him if Man U say he is fit - which might be a higher standard.

Getting steamrollered by Celtic is nothing new. However we normally put up a fight and that is far from the greatest Celtic team that has visited Tannadice.

I think relegation is a real possibility, probably unlikely, but we need to address the form and that is why i said this will be the biggest test of our rookie manager during a spell where the games come thick and fast and injuries and lack of depth in the squad are a real concern. We need to arrest the slide now.

Last edited by Finn Seemann (06/12/2021 12:26 pm)

dufc2019 · 06/12/2021 3:11 pm

Finn Seemann wrote:
Arabdownsouth wrote:
Finn Seemann wrote:
That performance was like night and day compared to the win at Easter Road. Defeated before we had taken to the pitch undoubtedly. This is really the first test of Courts now and it is a big one. It appears Tony has bought him a dud striker so we are gambling a lot on the fitness of McNulty. Work on that front needs doing in January window, but we have plenty of games before then. We can't undo the good work in the first few months by putting a team out trying to play the same way and losing - we have been found out now. It's looking a concern and we can't even rely on the Dees to ensure relegation is not a possibility. Granted that was Celtic and we are only getting a result against them on really good days, but the form is heading in the wrong direction. What has happened to Levitt?

Levitt is injured, as is Biamou so pretty unfair to label him as a dud imo. Relegation is not gonna happen 100%
Dud may well prove incorrect in time, but we needed a striker to hit the ground running before McNulty got injured and even more so after that. So in terms of what Courts needed he has been a dud - reflected in his lack of game time and the fact that he has been of little value when given that game time.

I worry about Levitt. Suspect that we will only be permitted to play him if Man U say he is fit - which might be a higher standard.

Getting steamrollered by Celtic is nothing new. However we normally put up a fight and that is far from the greatest Celtic team that has visited Tannadice.

I think relegation is a real possibility, probably unlikely, but we need to address the form and that is why i said this will be the biggest test of our rookie manager during a spell where the games come thick and fast and injuries and lack of depth in the squad are a real concern. We need to arrest the slide now.

they wont care, he will be leaving them in the summer anyway

Finn Seemann · 06/12/2021 6:24 pm

Canadian Arab wrote:
Not too concerned about the prospect of relegation, but if we lose Fuchs in January, it's not inconceivable that we could finish 9th or 10th. Our form over the past few weeks has been bottom 4 form, no doubt.

If we lose Fuchs in January and don't replace like with like I'd be delighted with 9th or 10th, but I don't see relegation as impossible especially if we were to lose Fuchs and not replace him. He has been key - when he has a poor game (or is absent) we have a poor game. Genuinely hoping the Courts bubble has not burst. Guess Livi is now a huge game.

Tek · 06/12/2021 9:44 pm

Finn Seemann wrote:
What has happened to Levitt?

Supposedly he got Covid about 3/4 weeks back.

And is still poorly.

Finn Seemann · 06/12/2021 11:10 pm

Tek wrote:
Finn Seemann wrote:
What has happened to Levitt?
Supposedly he got Covid about 3/4 weeks back.

And is still poorly.

Ah, not good - a lot of youngsters getting ME type symptoms with the long covid. Hope he makes a full recovery soon. More important than the football, just

Last edited by Finn Seemann (06/12/2021 11:10 pm)

TangerineDream · 07/12/2021 9:49 am

I have now erased that performance against the Tims from the memory bank.

One of the worst ever in decades v Them.

Looking forward to the Livi game on Saturday. Massive for us now.

Billy_Hainey · 07/12/2021 2:37 pm

Tell me if this is wrang, but is it right that it was 30 quid to get in on Sunday?

AlwaysUnited · 07/12/2021 3:06 pm

Billy_Hainey wrote:
Tell me if this is wrang, but is it right that it was 30 quid to get in on Sunday?

Correct. Board chasing the old firm away fan payday at the expense of their own working class fans, who quite understandably aren't prepared to fork out £30 to watch their team get pumped.

Last edited by AlwaysUnited (07/12/2021 3:07 pm)

Billy_Hainey · 07/12/2021 3:41 pm

Kinda explains how the George Fox lower wasna chockablock.

Beharder · 07/12/2021 6:19 pm

Billy_Hainey wrote:
Kinda explains how the George Fox lower wasna chockablock.

More to do with very poor form and little to no chance of a positive result.
If for example it was the usual £26 to get in i dont think that would have affected the crowd in the home end one bit.