Vasilis Barkas does not enjoy too much appreciation among the Celtic support. It is not that he makes mistakes, more that he has failed to take the numerous opportunities presented by a largely lax defence to convince us he has the talent to become a mainstay in the team for years to come. What’s for sure is that he cannot perform the miracles we were treated to last year by Fraser Forster.
At 26-years-old, Vasilis should be approaching his prime years, but instead of building on a solid reputation gained at AEK Athens, he has seen Scott Bain and Conor Hazard chosen ahead of him this season.
There will be many changes this summer and if the manager (?) wants to move Barkas on he will likely find a taker, but there are reasons I would persevere with him for the rest of the season. First of those is the development we saw in Fraser Forster under goalkeeping coach, Stevie Woods.
When Fraser first arrived at Celtic on loan a decade ago the jury was out on him, some of the support preferred Lukas Zaluska, whom he shared the gloves with for a period. Fraser was 18 months into his load period when a penalty save against Hearts brought wider recognition of his improvement over that period, however, he continued to improve well into his third season at Celtic. There are few keepers Stevie has not improved in his years at Celtic, given time, Barkas will also benefit, although let’s hope he does not have too many opportunities to demonstrate that against Hamilton tomorrow.
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Hot Smoked – from last article.
The grubby Sun has a picture today of Frank Lampard and his Dad among the Hun support, apparently during 2008 Uefa final.
I’ll not paste the link given its source.
Not that this should exclude him from being considered for Celtic job.
So long as the board do proper diligence and select the very best candidate available (who is willing to come).
SFM Twitter account saying Frimpong is off.
Having a medical now.
https://twitter.com/TheSFMonitor/status/1354026778952667138
Currently I’d prefer the boul’ Stevie between the sticks than any of our personnel……
The cliche of a strong spine to a team begins with a good stopper………………
HH
BHOY FROM THE BOYNE on 26TH JANUARY 2021 12:04 PM
Thanks for that. I am not sure it could be used as `evidence` by ernie, though !
It’s hardly surprising Barkas has struggled.
Apparently he has little English which won’t help.
He has also had a defence in front of him which
seems to be picked weekly like numbers in a lottery.
Even big Forster would have struggled with that.
Paul67
Barkas is unwilling.
TURKEYBHOY on 26TH JANUARY 2021 12:05 PM
BFTBoyne,
Only seen him play once in the league not in Euro games.Played well in that game.Very strange player to me,full of confidence,can look very good,or poor,normally in defence.I always thought that in a rigid good back 3,he would have been very good wide left.
—————
Thanks TurkeyBhoy,
Apparently Boli’s Spanish trip was one of several previous (non covid related) discipline issues. That might explain his lack of football the previous season pre covid.
BHOY FROM THE BOYNE on 26TH JANUARY 2021 12:08 PM
After reading the comment and SFM responses,, I would be surprised if there is any truth in it.
Lampard is indeed a currant bun… Think his wife will be pretty loyal as well!!!…. Mind Gerrard changed his colours quickly!!!
AICSC Statement
Recent days have seen us in direct contact with Celtic to again express our disappointment and ongoing concern regarding the current situation at the club. In a season which had promised so much, very few could have envisaged us to be in the dire position in which we find ourselves in the early weeks of 2021.
Again, we outlined the concerns of our members regarding the lack of communication by the club and the perceived resistance to change in terms of the current management team. It is our view that change sooner rather than later would be more beneficial.
We also took the opportunity to highlight our concerns regarding the potential consequences of further inaction, in relation to season ticket renewals in the coming months as a feeling of disillusionment is growing among our members and indeed the wider Celtic support.
As always, we will continue to liaise closely with the club and keep our members updated through our usual channels.
The Committee of The Association of Irish Celtic Supporters’ Clubs
Pingback: Barkas and the Stevie Woods Academy | Celtic FC News Now
It seems that some on here are touting Lampard for our next manager.
It was reported this week that the Chelsea players were saying that they didn’t know what system they were supposed to be playing,as Lampard basically told them to go out and express themselves,sounds familiar.
I hope there is no truth in Frimpong exit story.
Young 20 year old, huge potential probably struggling in this covid world outside work. With good coaching, he could be a 25m+ asset to us and we get to enjoy seeing him for 1 or 2 more seasons.
Ah Barkas….
1. He’s just NOT Fraser Forster, whose ship has sailed.
2. The opposition chance creation by the 2020/21 version of the sieve (copyright BSR) would make Gigi Buffon look a diddy.
3. His distribution is terrific in comparison to FF but we lump it long.
4. It takes new signings 8 months to settle (add a few more for the COVID19 impact) – source Spurs documentary.
5. He’s not FF.
Give him a chance. Protect him and help him develop (Under a new regime)
HH
All this talk about Barkas. I don’t think any keeper in the world would look good behind that excuse for a defence. Get decent defenders in , then judge the guy,I’m sure the doubters would change their minds.
Even if we played with two keepers at once I doubt they would look good behind our defence.
SCHUMMI
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BHOY FROM THE BOYNE on 26TH JANUARY 2021 12:04 PM
“The grubby Sun has a picture today of Frank Lampard and his Dad among the Hun support, apparently during 2008 Uefa final.”
Proof that the riots were Chelsea fans after all – if you ignore that most of the addresses of those charged had a Glasgow postcode ;)
QB
FrankTerry on 26th January 2021 8:12 am
HH!
Was Woods asked to scout a GK? If not,why not? Would he have picked Barkas? Is this too simple?
We wont get a swathe of replacements in…………..what we have we’ll keep, mostly.
Our position though awful – and made to look and feel worse by our enemies will probably improve slightly if the stop/ start train-wreck is righted and is allowed some form of coasting till season’s end ( whenever that is deemed necessary to oblige hundom, obvs).
I wouldn’t be surprised if we beat the huns in the next fixtures………….and closed the gap appreciably but still ending up about 8 points adrift.
HH
bankiebhoy @ last article
Started a long time ago when at times under Brendan Rodgers in his second season, Celtic
were poor, some will say BR got them going again and prolonged winning, till he left.
Big changes were required after Neil Lennon steadied the ship, we should have broken up the
squad and rebuilt but didn’t, we went for safety and more of the same because of the fabled ten.
The squad is filled with players past their sell by date, better sides have been broken up after
winning their leagues.
BSR
……….punt
………retain
……..retain
…….return!
Brilliant.
Made me laugh!
If only Barkas would make a save…. Just one!!!… Its not a lot to ask for.. Just one…
Barkas deflates when a ball goes near him,as if someone sticks a pin in him.
I must be one of a very small minirity on here who simply cannot offer an explanation for our situation this season . How can we change so quickly from the incredibly successful team/Club we have been over the last few years to becoming just one of the many teams behind a seeming invincible Sevco?
Even the unenviable mixture of events such as Bolingoli,Covid omisions,Dubai,injuries and Duffy`s form would normally be overcome by a Club with our resources. Were it just beacause of Neil Lennon and Peter Lawwell then surely this would have happened sooner?As I said, I am at a loss.
PHILBHOY
Always a pleasure.
In broad agreement with the lead article.
However, any and all discussions over individual players seem fairly pointless when we are, structurally, so adrift.
Barkas could have an outstanding few months, though it wouldn’t sort out our goalscoring, defensive frailties, tactics, formation, fitness, signings, PR or any of the other shortcomings we have.
I’d like to see some leadership, some direction, some urgency.
Good points being made on here and elsewhere, though precious little coming from within CP
Whitedoghunch will be chuffed that his longstanding Glasgow grubs recommendo Cail Bruich has been recognised with a Michelin star. That’s Glasgow’s first star since Ramsay’s Amaryllis closed.
Big up to chef Lorna McNee
CelticQuickBiteCSC
HOT SMOKED:
It takes an age to build something, but you can break anything much more quickly. That’s the perceived wisdom, right? And to a certain extent it’s true.
But as I said to someone late last year, to understand what’s happened at Celtic take a hammer and his your boiler regulator with it. Your radiators will stay warm for a while, hot water will still come out of the tap. It won’t take long for the temperature to start to drop, but it might not be unbearable for a 12 hours or so. By the following day it will be entirely noticeable.
We started to slip the moment Rodgers and his coaching team left. The regression began there, but as with so much the deterioration wasn’t immediately apparent. It starts with a fall in standards. Then as players become less fit, less attuned, less confident and less motivated results start to go as well.
This pattern follows Lennon when you know what to look for; it’s like that video of him talking about the increasing number of goals conceded from set-pieces at Bolton. The problem wasn’t there when he arrived – he admits this – but by the time he’d done that interview they’d lost five from five games or something.
We’re well down the incline now … and the trouble is, you start to increase speed as you go down.
Hot Smoked
I’m afraid you can trace the decline to Lenny’s appointment after the 2019 cup final.
Start with Cluj and work forward
Lennon the cheap option, see where he goes when his lucky break at Celtic is over.
Whatever happened to good old “man marking?”
Back in the day, managers of mostly all teams would pick out their opponents main man, whether a playmaker or prolific striker, and set one of his own players on him with the instruction, “stop him playing”
You never see it now
Punditry I reckon. No major club is going to touch him.
James and Gene,
Thanks for the replies.
`It takes an age to build something, but you can break anything much more quickly.`
That makes sense.
Would it have happened anyway had BR stayed and Lenny has just been unlucky ot is it, in the main, down to the latter?
I`ll read any replies later as I have to go now.
Thanks again and
cheerio for now.
The perpetual review FC.
…apologies to any analogies that may have been damaged in my previous submission.
…….In my defence I’m sat in the “office” with the Big Light on and the rads at full pelt…………
:)
HotUnnerTheCollar CSC
JAMES FORREST on 26TH JANUARY 2021 12:51 PM
Can just see him, Walker and super swally on Sky……
I would stick with Barkas. He will come good, I’m sure. It’s a confidence thingy…