Griffiths walked away looking the grown up

426

Last night’s performance was at the upper end of my expectations.  We were sharper than I remember from a year ago, although not Nadir Ciftci, who is a couple of weeks behind, and looked a couple of pounds over, his team mates.

You could see how Stjarnan did so well against Lech and Motherwell last season.  They defended with six along the back and have a good keeper.  Celtic’s passing looked off, but I think that had as much to do with Stjarnan’s denial of space in advanced areas.  The chances came when we broke forward having allowed space to open up 50 yards out, and from a set-piece for the opening goal.

Stefan Johansen was my man of the match, he was the creative fulcrum behind all that worked.  And yes, Stefan, in a public spat with you, Leigh Griffiths, a man who eats Tea Cakes on the bench and cultivates a rascal persona, walked away looking the grown up.  You think about that for a while.

Emilio Izaguirre had a horrible World Cup and started all over the place last season.  It was months into the campaign before people started to notice his consistency was back, but the head seemed as though it was still on the beach last night.  He would have been punished severely by a mainland European team.

Ronny started with his traditional 4-2-3-1 but for a while after Leigh replaced James Forrest, he played a 4-4-2, which coincided with our best period of the game.  Nadir had someone to link with, instead of being isolated in a sea of blue shirts, resplendent with the old World of Sport logo.

It was great having Mikael Lustig back and although Dedryck Boyata was not challenged defensively, he was clearly on a par with Lustig as being a defender who is comfortable on the ball.  No mistakes and a goal is pretty much all that could be asked of him.

Click Here for Comments >
Share.

About Author

426 Comments
  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. ...
  4. 5
  5. 6
  6. 7
  7. 8
  8. 9
  9. 10
  10. 11
  11. 12

  1. ThompsonTwin –

     

     

    Answered your last contribution at 18:20. Happy to continue the dialogue. Posed a question re: your statement on racist language.

  2. GMS would have made a big difference last night .. Can finish a chance but can also create them.

     

     

    If forrest can’t do it against these Iceland boys then that says it all.

  3. 25th..,

     

    I take it you don’t like the look of the rotana

     

    The ramada on Salam street has the closest thing I’ve seen here to a CSC if the game is on its on there.

  4. West End of East End on

    Canamalar

     

     

    20:17 on 16 July, 2015

     

     

    25th…,

     

    That’s an excellent budget the hala arjaan by rotana does apartments excellent broadband and should give you a free pas to their beach resort complex ten min walk, in the abudhabi mall.

     

    But there is plenty of choice

  5. Jungle Jim Hot Smoked

     

    20:51 on

     

    16 July, 2015

     

    Dena29

     

    I Googled then went through a series of possible links so I cannot help you with the exact link. Nevertheless, the automated reply I received came from here:

     

     

    bbc_complaints_website@bbc.co.uk

     

    Hope that helps.

     

     

    JJ

     

     

    Cheers

     

     

    HH

  6. saltires en sevilla on

    Murdoch Auld etc

     

     

    Watching Jock Doc on Alba – not watched it before and some great stuff

     

     

    Weel spotted mate

     

     

    HH

  7. West End of East End on

    As someone said earlier, give McInnes manager of the year now, you know he deserves it….

  8. saltires en sevilla on

    Good grief Dons are doing their bit for the auld co-efficient

     

     

    Ball in the net 4 times in Croatia is good going by any standard

     

     

    Are Caley Thistle still down 0-1 in inversneck?

  9. embramike says "the Huns are Deid" on

    This mob the Sheep are playing only have Plan A – pump the ball high into the box from anywhere.

     

     

    Wonder who that reminds me of ???

     

     

    Clue – begins with an ‘S’ and ends in financial ruin !

  10. saltires en sevilla on

    Embramike

     

     

    Is it in the box?

     

     

    Are the Croatian mob pure mince?

  11. Well done the Sheep, be good if we start to have other teams in Europe, especially as Sevco will be challenging for the Big Cup before we know it:)))

  12. embramike says "the Huns are Deid" on

    Hope the Sheep make the group stages as it will be a) good for the old coefficient, and b) give them more games to stretch their squad over the early part of the season

  13. My goodness, forgot how busy you can be at work :-)

     

     

    I thought several players were extremely rusty last night, and need some games to oil the old limbs, this included Stefan, I lost count the number of times he lost possession through poor passing or trying to keep the ball

     

    In fact I would only have given 6 or 7 players pass marks last night

     

    But

     

    We still won 2 – 0, with another game this weekend and the 2nd leg next week, more players will be a bit sharper, so I was happy enough with the Result, also the crowd was excellent, and I believe well worth some thought from our club to drive a wee change to the football calendar ?

     

     

    Hail Hail

  14. Well done the sheep, my mate in work who likes a punt fancied them to win tonight, as said before 7/1.

     

     

    He asked big sheepy what he thought today, naw we’ll be lucky to get a draw…just got a text from him sheepy…reckon I’ll be getting my baws booted tomorrow;)

  15. saltires en sevilla on

    Gordon Strachan & Graeme Souness account of Jock’s last moments – very moving and Huge respect to them both obviously deeply affected. Archie MacPherson lost a great friend too.

     

     

    Weel done Alba that was quality TV tonight

  16. Just back from Craobh Chiaráin, the venue for the Easter 2016 Rhebel Sesh, where cloghercelt and myself paid the deposit for the Saturday night music event. cloghercelt had a fair distance to travel in poor weather conditions so fair play to him for his enthusiasm and commitment. We will now work on getting a band for the night and some other ideas we are developing. If you have any queries, ask on the blog or email us at

     

     

    dublin2016@mail.com

     

     

    Didn’t see the match last night so can’t comment on the performance but looking forward to meeting a few Tims in the Bad Ass Cafe in Temple Bar, Dublin city centre on Tuesday night to watch the 2nd leg.

     

     

    I’ll be over for the first two home matches (1st & 15th Aug.) so can meet up with people at the CQN corner to discuss the event with those interested in participating.

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. ...
  4. 5
  5. 6
  6. 7
  7. 8
  8. 9
  9. 10
  10. 11
  11. 12