 Monday, November 14, 2005
Nakamura explains some technical aspects of new-Celtic
Shunsuke Nakamura has shared interesting thoughts with the Japanese media on some of the technical aspects of how he and the rest of the team are playing at the moment.
The quotations from Shunsuke are all translations from Japanese thanks to my friend Depflight at the excellent Football (Japan) Lost In Translation web site, with edits from me.
“Paul Telfer and I have started to play more smoothly with each other after a lot of work during training.
“In training, we tell each other: ‘If I do this, you need to do that’, and set down a few important ‘promises’. When I have these promises with my teammates, I can go forward with absolute confidence because I know how those around me will move. Telfer also seems to have an easier time switching between the offense and defense.
”When we play with the attack-oriented McGeady on the left, the manager has told me to play like a defensive midfielder. Lennon is to support McGeady by taking care of the opposition right side midfield player. I need to ensure that the opposition defensive midfielder and left back do not get too much freedom.
“Right now the team goes into a game with the conviction that if we focus for the full 90 minutes, we will get good results. We are at the point in the season where we are starting to see opponents we have gone up against before, so we have a better understanding of our opponents. We also have a better understanding of each other as teammates, the variation of style and abilities. That is significant.
“We are getting better at moving the ball around in midfield. We have various types in our forwards, and I think our midfielders and defenders are doing a good job understanding each forward, and knowing how to pull out their best characteristics.
“Backup is always present, so you don't see players getting stranded. The team is in a really good place right now.
“Of course there are always things to work on. If we do not recognise and aim for a higher level of play, we cannot expect to improve. There is a difference between having a to-do list of very basic problems versus a list of high-level goals.
“Personally, and as a team, it's important for us to maintain our current level while trying to improve. If we do not let ourselves get satisfied with where we are now, and look to continue setting a higher bar, we will keep getting stronger.
“We are at the top of the league now, but to be honest neither my teammates nor I are particularly conscious of this. The only important thing is whether we are at the top at the end of the season. We need to avoid letting our current standing affect us, and just focus on playing our style of football.
1214 Comments:
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am I first?
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Not sure I want all our opponents reading this, but it is a good insight into the work that WGS is doing.
Really looking forward to Saturday!
HAIL HAIL!
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Let them live in fear!!!!
Glad to see the positive vibes coming from the playmaker...
Bring on Saturday!!!
Hail Hail
SPC
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It might all be a cunning plan and we will play totally differently on Saturday.Cant wait.God,its only Monday.
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From the BBC wesite:
Henrik Larsson believes that Celtic missed an opportunity by not investing more money in players after his exit.
Larsson left Celtic for Barcelona 18 months ago but wishes that his former club had shown more conviction in the transfer market, for greater rewards.
"Maybe they should have built on two years ago when we reached a European final.
"We had a team able to compete at that level. With a few more players we could have gone on like that for more years."
The Swede believes that Celtic instead took a risk on the existing squad that did not ultimately pay off in the European context.
"For whatever reason they decided not to build and instead took a gamble on the players they had, that they would be able to achieve something similar.
"Was that lack of money? I don't know, I can't see it. Wherever you go there are Celtic fans. There is a full house at every home game. The money must be there somewhere.
"The club should be attracting more quality players than they did and the way to do that is pay big money and good salaries. Celtic are a huge club."
Ardoch.
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Because there are Celtic fans everywhere you go, it doesn't follow that we will have millions of pounds in spare cash available to spend as we please. Henrik seems to have forgotten the old adage you cant spend what you don’t have. And he has a nerve to talk about us as being miserly, considering the millions we gave him over the years. Coming back to Parkhead and scoring against us for Barcelona was bad enough Henrik, please no more dodgy interviews.
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its nice to our japanese boy talking simply but effectively.. but also intelligently.......
a high work ethic!!!! coupled with intelligence,playing things simple but always looking to be effective!!!
NOW THAT SOUNDS FAMILIAR!!!!!
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OH an my 1 wish would have been for henrik to have played just a handful of games with the japanese boy, he wouldnt have left IMO
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Great to see an article that looks at tactics and systems, I wonder if the Scottish press will pick-up on it or does it not contain enough clichés.
I wonder what his role is if McGeady isn’t playing?
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Paul, is this a good idea giving ourrivals an insight to some of our tactics. Would it have been better to keep it to yourself and just told us that NAKA is loving it ere. I see the SFA have agreed to pay us 250,000 for JFK's wages.
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Ardoch, that is stunning from Larsson. I have the greatest respect for him as player and man, but I cannot believe that he of all people has said this.
If he cannot see that lack of money he should look in two places; the Celtic accounts, which detail it clearly and his own bank balance, which is where the largest slice of our money ended up.
Celtic were paying wages at a level beyond where the clubs income could service them.
“The money must be there somewhere”. It sure is Henrik – in your bank.
Fleet45, I also agree; what was he thinking giving this kind of quote to the media. He should know better.
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No doubt if a stink is kicked up, he will have been misquoted. There was me thinking he spoke perfect english too. We should have money but maybe not in the quantities he was speaking of.
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How does one download a putfile?
(not so net literate Big Liam)
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Did Henrik actually say what has been attributed to him? The bit about trying to build the team I can imagine him discussing but the stuff about 'where is all the money" seems utterly out of character.
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Nakamura isn't giving away any secrets, he's only pointing out what is obvious from the team's performances - that they work very hard on the training ground.
I am also sure that McGeady is told to tuck in on the left and play more defensively when Naka has the ball on the right.
Great to see him talking about adjusting to the different styles of the forwards; this is one very clever player.
Good also to see him talk of "promises" he and Telfer give each other. I'd see that as a form of words used by Strachan to appeal to the Japanese player's sense of honesty and honour.
The terrifying thing for opponents isn't that we are working hard on teamwork but that Naka feels we can get a lot better.
Starting with this Saturday, I hope!
;-) JohBhoy
(http://celticfcblog.blogspot.com)
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Paul
you need to read the whole article.
It was in the Scottish Sunday times.
I alluded to on here last night
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we may well have paid henrik a lot of money for his services,but i think he was good value for it.
the question of where did all the money go is one that stretches back to the jock stein era but i think it is a proven principle in football that you strengthen the team when you are doing well to ensure continuity of success.
seville was a great experience.we had been saying for years what a great club we were and finally had a chance to prove it.i can't help thinking that in some ways after seville turned out to be a missed opportunity
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mmm what is wrong with henrik stating what most of the uneducated celtic fans!!!!!! think?? uneducated by way of knowledge of finances btw!!! we are supposed to be a global brand.
his wages where no better than what he deserved, he could have made a fortune playing in england.. but it wasnt all money with him!!! surely even the dim on here can see that!!
we should have superstores worldwide, man utd do it, why cant we????? look at our superstore in edinburgh, that really sums up how we are run..... and that is why we will always be the underachievers in world football.... go on the interenet, place an order?? nah bugger that says the majority, just go to donnay/sportsnsoccer instead!!! at least we will have our tops on time!!!
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Hi Paul,
Celticbhoy 11.52 You bring up a very interesting point, reporting standards in Scotland, what appears to be a well thought out and intelligent interview on current football style and tactics would in most Scottish papers e covered with a pic of Mr Nakamura eating sushi and some dreadful pun, then a quick list of banalities and clichés. Carefull Paul or you will give reporting a good name.
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Ardoch/Paul67. The article was published in yesterday's Sunday Times or Scotland on Sunday (read both, but can't remember which ran with it). The interview was extensive and the point about Celtic re-investing was a very small part.
HL was reluctant to criticise the club and made this clear, but felt they should have attracted top talent by paying higher wages.
Like you Paul, I suspect he'd forgotten to check his bank account or talk to some of his well paid team mates before commenting!
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does anyone think that Henke's comments have been manipulated by the interviewing media?
always good to get a negative spin on things before a Rangers game.
Is this the best they can do?
Do i sound a little bitter and paranoid?
Come on folks, the man is far too candid to come out with that rot
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do you really think the rest of scotland couldnt figure out what mr naka and co are doing?
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I read the article yeterday on Henrik and it was one scentence from a good article. The BBC have choosen to put some BBC spin on it to generate negative press.
In my mind Henrik was saying "maybe" the club should have gone for it but they stuck with the same guys. It was caveated by the man and I wasn't offended.
And as Paul said Herik benefited enormously from Martin's use of the budget.
However......I thought the article on the balance was more about Barcelona and how he was pleased to see Celtic rebuilding an exciting team and could noise up Gio.
On the whole nothing that we really need to get our scants ina twist about bhoys.
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hey most of you guys have dhanged your tune three months ago you were all agreeing with henke i guess he doesnt log into CQN
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agree with Marty - read this yesterday, and it was a very very small part of an extensive article. He made it clear he wasn't criticising, and to be honest, we all know that they management and board elected to go with the players that were there instead of buying big names in - he's not exactly saying anything contraversial, is he?
Nice spin for the pre derby hype though....
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Good to see that the team spirit is positive and all the bhoys are getting along nicely.
Making promises and all that.
Especially after the rangers game when all the players were giving each other big hugs.aaaaaawwwwwww.
They went through a tough time to begin their Celtic career's however, slowly but surely, and without a fuss, crept back to the top of the league.
Nakamura is adamant they will not become complacent and that it only matters if they are at the top in May.This is easy enough to say but it is vital that we don't witness a repeat of last season:(
Also on Mr Telfer, it appears that he and Nakamura have spent a long time in training to forge a decent relationship on the right side.So simply punting Telfer and bringing someone else in isn't really feesable at the moment.
p.s Don't tell them too much Naka!;)
Sean
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BelfastBhoy, BalantyreKev and all other fans of silly adaptations of songs to suit our purposes. This ones quite topical given the debate on the media going on here.
To the tune of Dirty Laundry by Don Henley I give you Lazy Journos.
I make my living off the red-top news
Just give me something-something I can use
we make up all the phoned in views,
We’re the Lazy journos
Well, I coulda told the truth, but I wound up here
It just has to sound good, It don’t have to be clear
Come and whisper in my ear
Give them Lazy journos
Kick ’em when they’re up
Kick ’em when they’re down
Kick ’em when they’re up
Kick ’em when they’re down
Kick ’em when they’re up
Kick ’em when they’re down
Kick ’em when they’re up
Kick ’em all around
We got big Traynor who’s
renowned for his size,
and Andy Cameron
he tells nothing but lies,
Crack the Celtic crest in Two
Give them Lazy journos
Is David Murray in Trouble?
have we got the proof?
Well we don’t care
we’ve got Neil Lennon to hoof!,
Hang him from the nearest roof!
We’re the Lazy journos
Daryl Broadfoot in the Herald
he’ll go far,
He said Franny Jeffers was a World Superstar,
Now the fans are bricking big Eck’s car
He’s a Lazy journo
Kick ’em when they’re up
Kick ’em when they’re down
Kick ’em when they’re up
Kick ’em when they’re down
Kick ’em when they’re up
Kick ’em when they’re down
Kick ’em when they’re stiff
Kick ’em all around
Will it be Hitzfeld for the Rangers Job?
We’ll talk him up big time for the baying mob
It’s more likely to be Williamson Bob!
They love Lazy journos
We can do the innuendo
We can dance and sing
When it’s said and done we haven’t told you a thing
We all know that crap is king
Give them Lazy journos!
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Sam
Pure Poetry.
That is all
Sean
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EdwardUrsus
Thanks for your reply, this is something which we in the UK are lacking in the main, analysis of system and tactics in the press. I read the introduction to Andy Gray’s book on football tactics when Malcom Alison ( of all people) complained that the press in the UK where only interested in who was getting a better contract than whom and that the fan in the UK was being short changed when if came to analysis of football and we were thus less well informed than fans in other countries. He used his experience in Spain to contrast the UK press with the Spanish press who asked detailed questions as to system and players usage within those systems.
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What kind of analysis do you think the press would give on the Rangers system of play at the moment.You really couldnt call it football now could you????
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theres not a lot of football being played in Scotland at the moment so whats to analyse
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I think maybe the fans are being short changed on the football and not the analysis
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The beeb's standards have deteriorated badly over the past four or five years. Not only that, but I detected a distinct change of spin being applied around three or so years ago. was there a change in editorial staff at that time?
A post CL match interview with Petrov went some thing like this:
Reporter: "can you win the group now?"
Petrov: "Well, we will try to win all of our games"
Later, these comments were spun as something like "Petrov says 2nd in group not good enough for Celts".
Look at the number of semi-literate hacks the beeb employs. Also, we don't know which of their staff is writing their web site articles as there is never a name attached. This could have been Chic Young, or it could just have been lifted straight from a tabloid rag for all we know.
I wouldn't be surprised if Henrik's real comments have been manipulated.
If the quotes are geniune, then as other bloggers have said, if you want to know where the money went look in the bank accounts of Larsson, Thompson, Sutton, Hartson, Lennon, Hedman etc.
Senor Pablo Diablo
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The Nakamura quotes are just great and an insight into the way our team is coached. "Common sense" say the usual critics! Henriks comments do show the world from the footballer`s point of view. To think that success is that simple. He forgot to add, buy low sell high!
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The football reporters in this country frequently complain that the standard of football in Scotland is poor compared to Europe. If they were to look abroad they would see we have the journalism to match.
I think it was William MacIlvanney that said we no longer have football reporters in this country we have gossip columnists.
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Martinobhoy
That is classic mate.....I'd love to hear the question put to Traynor, Keevins et al then wait for the answer and reply with
"so standard of football is as good as the standard of journalism.....pure mince!"
That would get Fat DJ dinging his bell alright!!!
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Re Henrik, as people are saying, it was a small part of a bigger interview.
Secondly, he's only acknowledging what we all know to be true...for that period to have been capitalised on, we should have been investing after Seville. The time to do such things is when you're on a high, not when things are starting to go wrong.
How many times has this discussion come up amongst us 'normal' fans too, and most people agree. Perhaps the thoughts come from a man who is now in a fan's perspective.
Regarding the money in his bank account, he earned every penny as far as I'm concerned.
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Does anyone think that players from abroad expect Celtic to pay higher wages than other clubs of similar size?
It seems that if Celtic are interested in a player their wage demands suddenly rise even if they have not proven themselves on the big stage. For instance, I'm pretty sure that when Agathe came from Hibs his wages doubled, why is this? Why should he get more at Celtic than he does at Hibs? Should the lure of playing for a bigger club and maybe a good wage increase not be enough? The same with Zurawski - I'd bet my mortgage (if I had one) that the wages Zurawski would be on if he went to Besiktas or whoever it was who was interested in him would be a fraction of what they are playing for Celtic. Surely, if all things in the contract were the same most people would choose Celtic over Besiktas!
I know a lot of this has to do with playing in Scotland and having to give that extra incentive for coming (apart from the guarentee of a chance at European football every year); but I think the reputation the club has is also a problem. Hopefully this is beginning to chance and wages are slowly coming down, no longer will we see mediocore players being paid superstar wages.
I suspect Larsson's interview has had considerible spin applied but Celtic pay massive amounts in wages, it would not be possible to pay anymore than we already do.
I can see problems coming from the amount that Thompson, Sutton, Hartson and the likes are being paid. Apart from probably raising the wage of new players it makes it harder to satisfy exsisting players signing new contracts.
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Big Liam,
Here's how ye download a putfile :
From a putfile web page :
e.g. http://media.putfile.com/celticvrangers/640
right click on this web page and click view source.
In the source filethat pops up, just do a search for "wmv",
ye should then see something like :
http://x100.putfile.com/videos/d7-31217133957.wmv
This link lets ye play the video on windows media player
(and not on yer browser). From the windows media player
ye can do a "save media as....."
There ye go……Cheers. /GerryR
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As said by many already, the time to invest was after Seville but we could only invest what we had.
MoN made decision to invest in what he already head, i.e improved contracts, instead of new faces.
That was the choice made which turned out not to work. Not saying it was wrong it just didn't work. He could've gone out a bought a couple of high profile names (if they would have come in the first place) without any guarantee that would have brought us anymore fortune.
As for Henrik he's expressing a view, he is surely entitled to that.
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Sorry Paul, my posting appears to have stolen some of your thunder from an interesting article.
CelticHowl, you really need to get out more! :o)
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Henriks comments are only in keeping with what many if not the vast majority of fans believe.
Regarding his wages, taking most of the wage bill RUBBISH. The King was worth every penny he earned, even if the supporters were fleeced (emotionaly) by the board into paying him 1 million pounds on his departure.
A clause that was in all probability inserted in his last contract. Does this mean the board new they were going to fleece the fans a few years down the line?.
If a guy like the King is saying what the fans already know that there was indeed LACK OF INVESTMENT after Seville then I for one believe there to be truth in his words.
I have logged onto this site for some while now and it beggars belief that first MON is the brunt of criticism (watch MON the early years to see free flowing football},and now the King for speaking the truth.
MON took us to the heights of trebles and Seville, WGS has done NOTHING to-date.
No dont be suckered, we all KNOW that the investment after Seville was lacking. It is the board who run the show and it them that have saddled us with the debt.
Remember the share issues, money for this money for that and still we are in debt, a company that runs on a loss is a badly run company no matter which way you look at it, but hey no doubt that will be the fans fault too.
To add champions league monies into your budgets when there is a chance no such monies would be forthcoming is to say the least FOLLY.
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all i can say is read henke's complete interview b4 posting.
we all do/did and are still wondering why we did not get better after seville. u could go on 4 pages on that alone. however lets just bask in the glory that ghord is bringing us now as we seem to be back on the right path again. as for the scottish hacks, dont make me laugh my self into insanity, when do we ever get a fair crack of the quill. this week for instance is only going to get murkier. (see weekend papers re: majik etc. now henkes spin story, wonder what itll be tomorrow.) lets just look forward to hammering the sons of satin on saturday lunchtime setting us all up for a lovely weekend.
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Cheers Martybhoy. Agree with your comment at 12:28 regarding Henrik. You could read it as how dare he question where the money has gone when a large amount went to him. Or you could read it the way I read it (and it looks like you did too) that he recognises that we had a choice of investing in new players or rewarding the ones we had and we chose the second option.
I also think he is saying that as a global club we should be making more money from our global fan base rather than the 60,000 punters at Celtic Park every week. And again I dont think anyone can argue with him there.
The whole article was actually about Barcelona and only a very small part was about Celtic although he did say some very complimentary things about us. As you said nothing for us all to get upset about. Again we've allowed the press in Scotland to get us in a twist by choosing a few select sentences and putting their own unique spin on it. Will we never learn?
Which brings me back to my original point about gossip columnists rather than football reporters.
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Well, the cat has just been thrown amongst the proverbial pigeons. The referee for saturday, one Dougie McDonald. Sit back and enjoy the show.
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I don't think that Martin O'Neill failed us after Seville. After all we did get to the Uefa Cup Quarter Final (after beating FC Barcelona)
only to be put out to Villareal(who are quite good ,you know).
We also blitzed the league with 25 wins in a row.Not an easy feat.
Maybe after that season, was the time to revamp the team, albeit with hindsight.
Anyhoo, better times are just around the corner.....
Saturday actually.
Sean
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Al Obundy
You said that it was the board that saddled us with debt.
How did they do this if they didn't invest? Where did the debt come from?
How could they possibly run up the debt without spending money?
The board gave MON money to spend. MON decided to reward the players who had done so well with increased contract terms, instead of buying new players.
The board dared not interfere with what was the football manager's decision to spend the football budget as he saw fit.
Larsson was worth every penny. Some of the others, I'm not so sure.
However, Larsson is a footballer (and a total hero to me), not a financier.
Senor Pablo Diablo
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Henrik rightly points out that we have two big pieces of the money puzzle: a large stadium and a big global following.
Unfortunately a key piece is missing from our particular jigsaw: significant TV revenue.
Gate receipts and merchandising revenue can keep us going, but what seperates us from the moneymaking clubs of Europe is that TV deal.
And we might never have that particular pot of gold, so it's encouraging to hear BQ talk about exploring 'other revenue streams'. I for one get the feeling that the golden age of the silly-money TV deals might be over.
I'd like to see us using our driving position in the SPL to push for more re-sale packages of Celtic coverage. A shared TV broadcast deal with the other clubs, but a seperate rights deal for re-sale of Celtic matches/highlights via newer channels like foreign TV/internet/phone etc.
Paul, what are our current offerings in this department?
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the last time tactics were discussed in any depth in the media
was when j.barnes had us playing 4-2-2-2-2'just like brazil'
otherwise the bogpapers are only interested in transfer stories,many of which are cooked up by agents with the full collusion of the hacks.
a canadian sword swallower has died after trying to eat an umbrella.
why does it always rain on me...
there's a rumour going round that the russians are willing to sell the radar off the ballistic missile launcher.that should be able to pick up setanta
gale 8 increasing severe gale 9
imminent
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I don't think the big-money TV deals are coming to an end. The broadcasters must be making (or should be making) moeny out of the deals so why would they end? The French league have just got a massive TV deal (bigger than the EPL?) so why would things chance.
On a different note, it's no wonder viewing numbers are down with SKY, have you seen some of the teams they put on, especially mid-week? What is the point in airing two teams with a total following of maybe 50,000?
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The most notable tactics i have noticed from celtic this season is on the left side.
MoCamara bombing up the left flank allowing the player in front of him a lot more freedom.
Simple but effective.
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Supercelt
True and very noticible. The nice thing is, teams know about it and there really isn't much they can do except have their wingers track back to cover which puts them on the backfoot even more.
The same thing happened when Wallace came on, it gives the likes of Maloney much more time and space. He has to option to cut inside, go outside or play the through ball.
Simple and very effective.
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I went to the zoo the other day.
But there was only a dog.
It was a shitzu.
I'll get my coat....'cos it's freeeezing!
Sean
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EKBhoy, it did cross my mind that I might want to keep this info to myself. I omitted the crucial info – that sometimes they like to play the ball long to Hartson, as this is just too commercially sensitive.
Celticbhoy/Edward/martinobhoy/martybhoy, I agree; there is a deficit on sports journalism in Scotland. The English get much better coverage, and even then could do better.
As always, the solution (and therefore blame) rests with the consumer.
Yashin, at the moment Celtic can resell games on the Internet to non-UK residents (not sure about Ireland). I think Nakamura has changed how many look at our TV rights, as before him there was very little scope to sell our games.
They believe that selling video to mobile phones in Japan will be a significant opportunity.
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Senor Pablo Diablo (great name by the way) you can dress it up as much as something can be dressed up, those in charge of the purse strings wag the tail not the other way about. MON is a manager NOT an accountant. Any manager worth his salt will try and strenghthen his squad whether it be existing contracts or incoming players
The board have consitently run the club year on year at a loss. It is they who are accountable, no one else, unless Annie the tea lady had anything to do with the decisions.
Celtic had a budget year in year out that was inclusive of Champions league monies. Pure and utter follyberger, we should have cut our cloth long ago.
The champions league money should have been a bonus not an integral part of our budget. Hey we can always ask the punters to cough up some more, (and no doubt they will).
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Malone,
That is why i think Agathe might be a better option at RB (if he can get his head in the right place).
Could you imagine the havoc that would be caused on both flanks.
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well done paul for ignoring alobundy. there are only so many times you should have to spellout basic maths to fans too stupid/stubborn to learn. In every pub and at every fame there is an ill informed loudmouth like alobundy runing a day/night out for everyone
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Great to hear what's coming from Nakata. It shows the level of professionalism around the club at the moment, and the desire of the players to succeed. Something we all want at Celtic.
Looking through the drivel of the press in Scotland, there have been a couple of good interviews with Celtic players recently. Camara springs to mind. I'll bet WGS will have the excuses for journalists thinking twice about what they write. He dealt with the negative spin on McGeady's interview well, and seems to be making it clear to the squad how important it is to be clear when being questioned.
The thing that comes out of Nakamura's article is that the players are playing for each other, and taking a team responsibility for all that happens. Also they are keeping their feet firmly on the ground, as is Strachan, and it shows a level of intelligence and maturity that is encouraging, especially with so many top youngsters kicking around.
The one thing that strikes me at the stage of the season, that certainly didn't at the start of the season, is we seem to have a squad capable of causing anyone problems. I saw a post of a team made up of players who were not on the park last Wednesday and it looked pretty good, and they all seem to be following the same system(just look at how we've switched things about-injuries and suspensions- and kept a fluid shape ready to cope with changing demands)
All in all I am a very happy bhoy at the moment and can't wait to see what happens on Saturday.
Hail!Hail!
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Harsh words Jonathan
Al has contributed a lot on here if you disagree put a point across, don't abuse.
I don't agree with him but that doesn't mean I'm going to slag him off.
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Noticed that James Porteus in trhe Herald leaves Shaun out of a 'six of the best' list of Scottish youngsters! No harm to the other boys mentioned but I hope this is not a precursor to Shaun's treatment when he steps up for Scotland. The, press supported, exclusion of Celtic players from international honours was particularly bad in the 60's and 70's - the Lisbon Lions had nothing like the caps they should have had - Jimmy Johnstone terrified every defense on the planet but was somehow kept on the bench during Germany '74 whilst often losing out to the worthy but inferior talent of one Willie Henderson on numerous occassions. I hope we are not going to go there again with Shaun, Beattie and perhaps McManus, I really enjoy seeing our bhoys getting international honours especially when TFOD can supply no-one!
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supercelt
Your are right to say that most of what is happening is on our left hand side.
This is to my mind principally because Camara does get forward quicker than Telford on the right ( look out for how often Lennon moves to the out side right position).
The whole idea of playing a left footed player on the right and vice versa is to allow him to cut inside (on to his stronger foot) giving space to the fullback to overlap causing the opposition left/rightback to have to choose with either going with the runner or going with the player on the ball. Does he allow the player with the ball to be picked up by a central defender and cover the run or go with the ball hoping that his midfield player has tracked the run of the full back risking being totally out of position if the ball is cut outside him and the midfielder hasn’t made the tracking run, (for me Alan Hutton was being turned inside out with trying to chose which option to take and finding that he didn’t have the pace to cover which ever he choose).
This allows at times for us to play as WGS said a front 6.
This leads me to the question if we play either Pearson or Thompson on our left this system instead of McGeady we will not be as fluid and the system will falter. So if Sutton isn’t fit do we go with the same line up as Wednesday or look to alter things on the left with Camera staying more defensive? What do we do on the right, does Nakamura move more to the centre, if so where does this leave Petrov?
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Supercelt
I think the idea behind Telfer on the right may be because of Nakamura's defensive failings... however, if he can dig-in like he did against TFOD then maybe it wouldn't be a problem. Telfer does manage to get up and down the line all day and I haven't seen Agathe run at full pace since he came back from injury about a year ago. Although I do take your point about pace having an added bonus.
That's why I mentioned Steve Cherundolo. Still don't know the type of price tag he'd have.
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The broadcasters are certainly making money from the deals, but I imagine they're making considerably less than they were five years ago.
In the good old days, Sky was building a subscriber base and football was its biggest marketing tool. Football rights were the traditional domain of the BBC and ITV and they were detarmined that they dould hold onto them, so Sky had to blow them away each time the rights were offered. When they won the rights to the newly created Premiership they pulled off a huge marketing coup and milked it for all it was worth.
But things are different now. Sky TV uptake is near saturation point. ITV and BBC have learned to live with less live football (and can't afford to pay for them anyway), and that has meant that there is no real competition for broadcasting rights. The Premiership is old hat now, and increasingly uncompetitive.
By contrast, the SPL is becoming more attractive, but at the end of the day, it can never yield enough TV money to satisfy our demands.
Paul and others have alluded to a shake up in the Premiership/Champions League in order to rejuvenate the market, but so far it's business as usual...
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I was surprised to see that Nakamura is a more left-footed than right-footed player, I particulary like his passes with the outside of the left foot. He is able to flick balls into the front men at the edge of the box and makes himself available for the return pass. With Lennon as a Makelele type (or maybe Makelele is a Lennon type!!) in the background, to keep an eye on things, there is less chance of a killer counter attack against that. I can´t think of too many other players who have been similar to Naka. Tommy Burns perhaps? Those were different times.
Larsson is facing a lot more competition for a first team place at the moment, even though he can still do a turn for the Catalan giants. Their new sensation is front player Messi, who is more than a passing resemblance to Maradona. There are also two physically very strong forwards called Maxi Lopez and Santi Ezquerro. In a recent match Barcelona skelped Osasuna 5-0 and Osasuna are top of the Spanish League at the moment. However the achilles heel in the Barça team is getting flustered when things are not going their way. In a recent match against Malaga at home, no goals after about 80 minutes, Ronaldinho blatantly dived for a penalty. And got it. Thankfully that night in the Camp Nou J K was not penalised for a fair challenge on the buck-toothed one, the Brazilian had made a happy meal out of the defender´s fair challenge.
With Chelsea starting to look a bit predictable, albeit mighty strong, who can challenge Barcelona in Europe this year?
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rintimtim-
rangers?
...or is it time for me to lie down in the dark again
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rintimtim
I'm probably biased but I think AC Milan and Juve are both capable of beating Barcelona. However if they are both head to head in a tight race for Serie A then that would benefit Barca.
Anyway my dream for the European Cup this year is to see Barca win it with a certian Swedish striker scoring the winner. It's the least he deserves after his performance in Seville.
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It's refreshing to hear a player talk candidly about training and teamwork.
If the Scottish media don't pick up on this article, it'll be because there's no easy angle in there, no sign of unrest, no crticism of players/teams/manager, no cliched chat about living in Scotland.
Nope, it's just a collection of boring quotes wherein a gifted and intelligent player discusses the process of building a great football side. There's no place for that kind of thing in 'wur game'.
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Al Obundy
You seem to be saying that the board overspent, hence running up the debt and that this was a mistake - we should not have spent as much.
You also say that the board failed to invest after Seville. How do you square the circle? How do we spend less and invest more?
Are you saying is the board should have spent less in the run-up to Seville so that we could splash out immediately afterwards?
Great idea in theory, but if we'd spent less we might not have got to the UEFA Cup final in the first place. We might not have been able to purchase/keep the players we did. The manager may have walked due to not getting the funds he felt were needed for him to do the job properly. There would have been uproar about our board failing to support the manager, and all the old bicuit tin cliches would have been trotted out.
We may just have to agree to disagree, but I honestly feel that the board couldn't have given MON more money to spend than they did, without leading to financial difficulties a few years down the line.
If you're having a go at the board simply for spending too much money, it's hard to argue.
Apologies if I'm misunderstading the point you're making.
Senor Pablo
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Read the complete Henrik article and there's not much to argue with.
The Sunday Times November 13, 2005 Star wars
It doesn’t come any bigger than Real Madrid against Barcelona, and Henrik Larsson can’t wait, writes Ian Hawkey
Half an hour in, he felt something not quite right. He glanced down at his knee, located the acute pain and felt encouraged to see no signs of swelling. He looked up at the skyscraper grandstands, heard the throb of nearly 100,000 voices, a Nou Camp still jubilant at a goal moments earlier against their oldest foe. That was his adrenaline shot. He wasn’t going to quit Barcelona versus Real Madrid, the most fabled fixture in club football.
Henrik Larsson remembers the moment with the clarity of a slow-motion replay. “I did a few jumps and to my amazement I could jump, and felt okay,” he recalls. “Then I came in at half-time and I didn’t want to go back out. I knew there was something wrong. But, you know, it was the clasico.”
The sense of occasion worked like an anaesthetic. “I played another 15 minutes. Then, I tried to pass the ball and my knee just went. It was my turn to get injured again. That’s life.”
A life of more than 700 matches, for clubs in four different countries, which had already included a broken leg and a fractured jaw. And now this broken dream, cruciate ligament damage. For about 48 hours, Larsson feared that the gran clasico, his first Barca- Madrid game — his team won 3-0 — could also be the last match of his long, distinguished career. It ranks as a minor medical miracle that, exactly a year later, he will on Saturday participate again in Spain’s so-called superderby. He will do so in his 35th year, his injury healed, the goals restored. He may be obliged to start as a substitute, although Larsson’s impact as a replacement has lately been considerable. The Swede has scored twice in his last 14 minutes in a Barcelona shirt.
They were welcome goals. Long absence even for a footballer as balanced and mature as Larsson can feed doubts. He was out of action for six months, although the initial diagnosis was for much longer, and on crutches for two. “I didn’t doubt I’d come back, but it’s a question of which level you’re going to reach,” he says. “Some days you wake up and don’t feel like doing anything. My goal, though I didn’t say it to anybody, was to be playing before the end of the season. After four months I started feeling there was a possibility.”
In late May, he returned, able to join Barca’s procession to their first Spanish league title in six years. The ovation he heard on his comeback would take him aback, and he readily admits it was out of proportion to his contribution to a season abbreviated by injury. He has achieved a sudden and surprising status among the Catalan club’s fans. “Unbelievable,” he reflects, “and I do appreciate that, because I didn’t play much last year. It’s nice, it’s one of the obstacles you have to cross.”
His popularity is not just audible, it’s recorded gleefully in Barcelona’s merchandising department. Only the names Ronaldinho and Eto’o have shifted more replica shirts in the past 18 months than the No 7, and they can’t all be on the backs of Swedish or Glaswegian tourists. He is recognised locally as reliable, courageous, determined, Barca’s Braveheart. Or as Larsson puts it:
“In the short time I was playing, they saw I was an honest player. By that I mean somebody who’s always working, always putting the team first. And they know I really want to play for Barcelona. It’s not about the money.”
Larsson has usually made his career choices for reasons beyond simple remuneration. His period at Celtic would make him the most prolific striker in British football for most of the last decade, and his stay in Glasgow could have been interrupted at almost any time in seven years there, in favour of the interest he attracted from clubs in stronger leagues than Scotland’s.
If there was a suspicion that last summer, approaching his 33rd birthday, he had left his move to Spain a little late, he did not share it. His performances also argued against the notion. He joined Barcelona on a free transfer, knew he would compete fiercely for a first-team place in the company of Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto’o and others, promptly scored on his home debut, then scored on his Champions League debut — at Celtic — and by the time of that match against Madrid had his position in a team capable of breathtaking fluency. “When we play at our best, sometimes you struggle to understand how it can seem so easy,” he says. “When everybody’s playing one or two touch, the ball’s moving quicker than the players.”
The lay-off had not blunted his edge, he sensed. “I don’t feel any different to when I was 28. I’ve been out twice with longer term injuries, a leg break and a broken jaw, so you could say I’ve missed two whole seasons in my career.” That’s two seasons of valuable recuperation, he suggests. “If you’re rested from that and you build your body up again, from scratch, you get the time back. The physios agree with that.”
For their part, Barca’s medical staff recognise in Larsson an athlete made for endurance, his best assets likely to be preserved into his mid-30s. “I’ve never been very fast over 40m or 50m,” he says. “My best metres are 10 to 20, that’s where I’m quick. I still have it.”
There had been other compensations to the rehabilitation months. “You spend more time with your family. My son was very happy when I was out, sad his dad was injured, but it was good for me to spend a little bit more quality time with them at the time they’d just moved out here.”
Jordan Larsson, approaching nine, joined us when I talked to Larsson, patiently knocking a football around in the corner of a suite at the Nou Camp stadium. He’s not a boy to be underestimated: his father once retired from international football for him. At the 2002 World Cup, Larsson Jr’s response to seeing Sweden qualify for the second round was to burst into tears. “He went out of the room when Anders Svensson scored against Argentina, saying ‘Daddy’s not coming home! ’” Larsson says. “Now, it’s different. He wants me to play for ever and ever.”
Thus Larsson will go to Germany in the summer. Between now and then, he’d like more minutes for Barca. Twelve months from the damaged knee, he finds himself in a squad with greater depth, and head coach Frank Rijkaard rotates his players with more confidence and frequency. But Rijkaard’s admiration for Larsson appears undiminished. Last month, the player and the club very quickly turned down a bid from Borussia Dortmund to take Larsson on loan.
He has a sense of what Rijkaard values: “Experience. It’s important to have experience in the group. There’s a lot of young players here, even though you have world champions like Ronaldinho and Edmilson. You need a few old heads when things are not going so well. And when they are going well to be there for assurances. I have loads and loads of experience. I don’t feel in any way I shouldn’t contribute.”
Assurance. It’s a good quality to bring to a club that can turn neurotic as readily as its current team can dazzle. Barcelona did look a naive side once or twice last season, most of all when they conceded three goals at Chelsea in the first-half of the second leg of their Champions League tie in London. The match had been a thrilling blizzard of entertainment, surrounded by issues such as Jose Mourinho’s allegations of inappropriate dialogue between referee Anders Frisk and Barca’s coaching staff and scuffles after the Stamford Bridge match. They are keenly remembered, and it can be reported with certainty that Barcelona’s focus on the European Cup, where they are already through to the second round, has been sharpened as a result.
“We’d obviously like to do better than we did last year, it’s a high priority,” says Larsson. “Against Chelsea, we were unlucky in the end because, as everybody knows, there was a foul on the goalkeeper. That’s history. But hopefully what we had against us last year will work in our favour.”
What, Mourinho’s antics? “That’s the way that manager works. He has a different style and you have to accept it. Everybody knows how he is.”
Larsson is not the type to nurse a grudge or turn especially wistful, but when he looks back over his working life, he views the Celtic era with great warmth. He’d have appreciated the outcome of their latest skirmish with Rangers — he and his close friend and colleague Giovanni van Bronckhorst, a former Ranger, often watch Old Firm games at one or the other’s homes on the coast just outside Barcelona.
“The Celtic fans haven’t got the European Cup football they’ve been used to in the past five or six years, and that’s a pity,” he notes, “but they have a good team.”
He does wonder if Celtic didn’t miss an opportunity, after making the 2003 Uefa Cup final, to have a better squad. “It’s a club that will always have a very special place in my heart so I can’t really say anything bad about it. What I can say is that maybe they should have built on two years ago. Instead they took a gamble on all the players they had, that they would be able to achieve something similar. Was that lack of money? I don’t know. I can’t see it. Wherever you go, there are Celtic supporters, there’s always a full house at home. The money must be there. It’s a club that should attract more quality players, and the way to do that is pay big money and good salaries.”
Point made, but it begged one question: could Celtic have persuaded their best footballer of the past decade to stay beyond the summer of 2004? “I don’t think so,” answers Larsson. “I was seven years in one club, which is a long time in today’s football, especially for a foreigner.”
So to the gran clasico, six days away, at the Bernabeu. Larsson was in Madrid last Monday, and chatted to Real’s David Beckham during a promotional shoot for a sponsor they share. These sorts of occasions used to bring Beckham and Larsson together as the highest-profile players in English and Scottish football.
Now they meet as honorary Castilian and adopted Catalan.
A single po |
