It was a night where everything that could go wrong went wrong for Celtic, and the Scottish champions’ hopes of a long Europa League campaign ended on Thursday night.
Against a backdrop of fan protests, the Hoops continued to have an absolutely dismal performance against Bundesliga powerhouse Stuttgart, showing no signs of faltering defensively and essentially leveling the score at half-stage.
The Glasgow side have covered up the rifts in recent weeks with some stoppage-time heroics, but the obvious flaws were all too easily exposed in midweek.
Certainly no one man can take all the blame, but the biggest concern facing Martin O’Neill right now is Kasper Schmeichel’s performance, with the experienced keeper set for another miserable week at Parkhead.
There may be a sense that O’Neill, who has so far stuck with the veteran Dane, may continue his relationship with Schmeichel until the end of the season, with the Premier League winner set to leave when his contract expires this summer.
But last week’s evidence suggests that, in Chris Sutton’s view, Celtic cannot afford to wait until next season to make changes as the former Leicester City hero has reached ‘responsibility’ status.
The quality of 24-year-old reserve Viliami Sinisalo is yet to be decided, but the promising Finnish star is certainly no worse off than Schmeichel in his current form.
Injuries or not, errors have increased alarmingly, with the free agent signing highlighted by his failure to stop Joe Hugill’s looping header against Kilmarnock last weekend.
The 39-year-old could and should have done better to thwart that meek attempt, but against Stuttgart he failed to thwart what seemed like a routine effort from Bilal El Qanous in the opener.
Schmeichel could do little for the second after his earlier disastrous defense, but he was the culprit again in the third, producing a bizarre swipe from another saveable attack.
Celtic’s number one is no longer guaranteed a starting berth following disastrous events in the past, including the away game at Bologna and the recent derby defeat.
At least you can say he’s had an impact in some way, but that doesn’t apply to everyone at Parkhead.
Celtic’s failure made Schmeichel look like a good player.
Signing Schmeichel at freeback in 2024 means Celtic won’t be drifting into Vasilis Barkas territory at the expense of a goalkeeper, and at least his recent slump is alleviated somewhat.
Celtic’s failure who ‘hasn’t contributed anything’ is worst signing since Barkas
The Celtic failure, who has struggled mightily at Parkhead this season, looks like the worst signing since Barkas.
But transfers of that Barkas ilk have been made in other divisions as well, with £5m Michel Ange Balikwisha standing above the rest as perhaps Brendan Rodgers’ second and worst signing.
There have been few successful transfers in the post-Ange Postecoglou era, be it Nicolas Kuhn or Benjamin Nygren, but Balikwisa is clearly a good example, but the list of costly failures seems to be growing.
Celtic – All transfers for 25/26 | |
|---|---|
player | previous seasons |
It’s finished | 0 goals in 14 games |
Tunekti | 5 goals in 31 games |
Yamada | On loan |
Nygren | 17 goals in 42 games |
Adam | 1 goal in 4 games |
Inamura | On loan |
Tierney | 10 assists in 39 games |
doohan | 0 games |
Osmund | 1 goal in 3 games |
Iheanacho | 3 goals in 13 games |
Araujo | 1 goal in 9 games |
simpson pusey | Sent out after 1 game |
arthur | 0 games |
i was born | 1 game |
Kvankara | 1 goal in 6 games |
Saracchi | 1 goal in 15 games |
O. Chamberlain | 1 goal in 2 games |
The Democratic Republic of Congo international, who has long been chased by Parkhead’s ranks, appears to have been signed as a replacement for Daizen Maeda, who was expected to leave in the summer.
When that happened, the Japanese speedster remained in place, but the club also moved to sign Sebastian Tunekuti, immediately knocking Balikwisa down the left wing pecking order.
Although Rodgers sees him as a winger, he is not helped by O’Neill’s belief that the 24-year-old is more of a number 10 or second striker, with the Northern Irishman saying last month that the Belgian-born talent is “definitely not a wide player”.
That turmoil, along with AFCON duties, did not pose a problem for the somewhat forgotten forward, who still failed to score at all after returning from Royal Antwerp in August.
Balikwisha hasn’t been given many opportunities in defense, having not featured in any league games since October and being left out of the recently renewed Europa League squad.
However, this latest absence highlights just how lethargic he has been under three different managers, with just two assists in 14 appearances in all competitions to date.
There is no doubt that Schmeichel is public enemy number one at the moment, but the fact that Balikwisa was so close to being expelled so quickly undermines his quality and influence, and an early exit this summer is likely.
The star Celtic sold for just £500,000 is now better than Kasper Schmeichel
The player, who left Celtic for just £500,000, will be a huge upgrade over Kasper Schmeichel at Parkhead.
