Forrest, Christie and Turnbull

962

James Forrest’s injury in September happened three days before Jeremie Frimpong’s best performance of the season, in the home win against Hibs.  I remember using the MVP acronym for Jeremie at the time.  Team form until that point was patchy: wins with alarming defensive performances and an unmitigated disaster against Ferencvaros.  The team shape was clearly wrong and pushing Jeremie forward in James absence seemed logical.

It was the first of many changes I wanted to see, each followed by a realisation that we were groping around in the darkness, until Ismaila Soro and David Turnbull became the central points of a midfield diamond.  Having (hopefully) fixed the fundamental tactical problem, James return to full training offers Neil Lennon the flexibility he is denied on the right and enhances his option in the middle.

Ryan Christie is well short of his best form in a Celtic shirt but all of those best performances came when he played through the middle.  He can cover for James and offer options on the right while giving the manager a different option when he wants to swap out David Turnbull in the 10 position.

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  1. We invent our own transfer rumours and then we complain when they fall through.

     

     

    We read clickbait sites who invent stuff and then complain when our club fails to make it so.

     

     

    And tonight, we have James Forrest bemoaning our PR for expressing an interest publicly in Benkovic and then SKY says he is going elsewhere, so our club is a disgrace again.

     

     

    Another poster reads or invents that Doughty is going elsewhere too. Are we really that eager to put the boot in to ourselves?

     

     

    We shout for more communication from the club about injury comebacks and transfer hopes but when there is any talk from the club, which is uusally no more than “he’s a good player and lots of clubs including our own would be happy to have him”, we talk of them as if they failed to deliver what they “promised”.

     

     

    In any transfer, our desire for a player, spoken or unspoken, is only one-third of the strands and around one-tenth of the detail. You also need a willing seller and a player who is willing to come. Even if those three strands come together, you need a fee agreed and a wage agreement, an agent bung and, if its Patrick Viera, a birthday cake every day.

     

     

    If we cannot cope with the disappointment of transfers falling through, then why not stop speculating about them.

     

     

    What if Benkovic reverses his decision and comes here. What can JF write then?- it’s still a disgrace because he does not want him here as he sees him as not good enough for our needs. So, as it turns out, it’s a disgrace if we get him and it;s a disgrace if we lose out on him.

     

     

    Unless, we say nothing.

     

     

    And the we’ll just get it in the neck for keeping the support, who deserve better, in the dark.

  2. Marspapa

     

     

    I did name one of them- it was James Forrest (the blogger) who got tore in for the Benkovic rumour.

     

     

    The guy who spread the Doughty rumour on the last page was Eratic.

     

     

    But these guys are not alone.

     

     

    All over Twitter and on the News Now articles we have people, who never wanted Benkovic in the first place, blaming us for not getting him.

     

     

    The club has never expressed any public interest in Declan Gallagher or Ryan Porteus but we’ll still get flack for failing to land them.

     

     

    John Kennedy just stated that Benkovic was on a lsit of players we are looking at. Thre’s laways a list. there’s always players we lose out on. And there’s always players we will get. Once we get them, we can start slaughtering the club for how bad they are

     

     

    I’m hoping we have some unheard of names on our list

  3. what a list is ?

     

     

    the line up of posters telling the blog who neil lennon should pick,

     

     

    what formation they should play.

     

     

    when and what time the subs should be deployed.

     

     

    aye, them

  4. Sftb

     

     

    That list must be 3 years old now

     

     

    Probably time for a new list not to be acted on

  5. SFTB

     

     

    It was tongue in cheek to name them all , its a bit unfair to the guys just posting their opinion on speculation/possible targets . that’s what keeps the blog bobbing along ……as people do with my posts , just scroll past these guys if it annoys you , it is their opinions after all .

  6. Personal view SFTB

     

    Ryan Porteuos, is a better option than both Benkovic and Declan Gallagher

     

    Having played over 75 games in past 3 seasons, still only 21, so still lots of development

  7. SAINT STIVS

     

     

    Have you never posted your own preferred team / line-up…..its like having your bet on the score , just a bit of fun.

     

     

    Same with the subs ….That’s my take on it.

  8. FAIRHILL BHOY on 9TH JANUARY 2021 10:44 PM

     

    Marspapa-I think you’ve touched a nerve

     

     

     

    lol… i get on a lot of peoples nerves.

     

     

    You back at work?

  9. Marspapa-you’re not the worst buddy.😉

     

    And folk are raging about sweary words.🤔

     

    Gees piece

  10. Marspapa-haven’t you heard,sweary words are a no no now on here.

     

    You can be a bigot,a troll or more importantly a fekn sheep.

     

    Sad days ahead my friend

  11. SFTB

     

    The principle you make about the collective disappointment over clickbait rumour-pish is largely right.

     

    But in the case of Doughty and Benky, I think Bowyer mentioned our interest and JK confirmed Filip interest. Just kinda sad now that some players view Stoke and some Belgian mob as preferable to the great CFC; we seem a much diminished brand on the world football stage.

     

     

    CFC does sometimes surprise and delight on the transfer front by pulling in good players the meeja suddenly have to check on transfermarkt in order to start deriding them (Elhamed, Laxalt, Soro, Ntcham, Frimpong were all ‘surprise signings’). The club will pull out some decent names – playing and/or coaching – when season books are due, and hopefully some more before.

     

     

    As for Declan or Porteus, I remember a few on here saying they would be redcard dreams for the refs up here as soon as they wore the hoops.

  12. FAIRHILL BHOY on 9TH JANUARY 2021 11:13 PM

     

    Marspapa-if only that was the reason

     

     

     

    I think I’ll post a Billy Joel song , that will get Gordybhoy64 interested , you know how much he loves Piano man .

  13. Morning! Sweary words, 🤣🤣the coward from ?? Who hides in his man cave when we are playing our most important game this year!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣! In ither news !! The best Tim in recent years!!! KT , will possibly go for over Hundred million in next couple of years!! , the guy is also from one of biggest Tim families ever !!! Fact HH mick the Miller 🍀🍀👏 legendfc

  14. No sweary words has been a constant since this site was launched. A simple and effective method to make contributors pause a little before they post which subsequently should lead to a more erudite stream of pish.

     

    The jury is still out on that one

  15. Anyone who refers to a Donegal man who played for Celtic for around 15 years as a ‘soup taker’ is either:

     

     

    Ignorant of Irish/Scottish history in the mid 1800s

     

    A lazy person who parrots phrases they saw online

     

    An attention seeker

     

     

    Next time i see it, i will happily take a red for swearing

  16. Melbourne Mick on

    Hello again all you young rebels.

     

     

    Thinking about our next game now, what will the defence be?

     

    Is it time to give young Welsh a run of games in the side? probably

     

    our only option at the moment.

     

    Broony as sweeper embody?

     

    H.H. Mick

  17. FAVOURITE UNCLE on

    SATURDAYS Scottish cup result.

     

    EAST FIFE 5 FORFAR 4

     

     

     

    not against each other .

  18. LAMBERT14

     

     

    “I take it that the coaching staff, going by Kennnedy’s comments, were very keen on Benkovic.

     

    Any forward thinking CEO would have had Benkovic already signed on loan and at the club.”

     

     

    I think you meant “backward thinking”.

     

    We need someone in who can hit the ground running as every game from now on must be won

     

    (1) Bencovic is not match fit by admission of Rodgers

     

    (2) He is injury prone

     

    (3) Folk on here with better memories than me have pointed out that, although elegant, he is no tiger – they mentioned a rangers game…

     

     

    I would have been very sad to see us take him on. JK didn’t say much more than he was on a list or something. That may have just been no more than a diplomatic response.

     

    I’d be happy with young Stephen Welsh or Hendry. But I’m not against Declan Gallagher as Scottish manager has put his trust in him and he has played well, he wouldn’t cost much, wages would be affordable. Let’s see how Ryan Porteous does on Monday. If he’s as good as DG then at 21 he would be preferable.

  19. We had a scout watching DG yesterday, allegedly.

     

    If true, our scouting system is actually in a worse state than I thought.

  20. CONEYBHOY on 10TH JANUARY 2021 3:51 AM

     

     

     

    Language isn’t a dead, ossified thing. It evolves. So it is with the term ‘soup taker’. I think its meaning is reasonably clear when applied in a football context to PB.

     

     

    Maybe you would prefer the term ‘uncle Tom’?

  21. Have we signed, or even identified the desperately needed Centre Half – possibly even 2

     

    Yet ??

     

    ( although I would give Stephen Welsh his chance, as one of these)

     

     

    If Elhamed goes back to Israel

     

    Have we identified the replacement Right back -Yet ??

     

     

    It’s not as if we didnt know these positions were needing filled back in Oct 20

     

    ( granted the Jullien injury has exasperated the need for an additional Centre half)

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