On his third appearance back after injury, James Forrest pulled-up in the dying moments of Saturday’s game clutching his hamstring. The player will be devastated but the mood was no better among those walking away from the stadium minutes later. Just as James was back and planning for what looked like an important season in his Celtic career, fundamental questions were being asked about his fitness viability.
We’ve seen this before. Shaun Maloney was forever breaking down, sometimes minutes after returning from injury. Shaun was a different type of player from James, he had a speed on the turn which made him a valuable asset, but likely contributed to his fragility.
The other pace player in the squad at the moment, Derk Boerrigter, has similarly fragile muscles. I hear the same about Aleks Tonev, currently injured. One of England’s greatest hopes of the last 20 years, Michael Owen was another member of the Fast and Fragile club. There seems to be a link between speed and injury.
There’s good news for James, and Derk too. After leaving so many regrets on the Celtic treatment table, Shaun’s limbs matured and stabilised. Michael Owen can tell a similar story, both players found their bodies vastly more robust from the middle part of their careers onwards.
James has to stick with it, continue to work on strengthening his muscles, and try to find what’s causing the problems, which can often be obscure. After a run of inexplicable injuries, AC Milan discovered that poor teeth were afflicting their athletes. Apparently your bite affects your running gate. Owen eventually found that his choice of cars (more specifically, sports clutches), was putting enough regular strain on the wrong muscles to leave him exposed to tears.
James’ and Derk’s bodies will continue to mature, to the benefit of the second half of their careers.
Not that Ronny is short of cover for James, having signed wide players Jo Inge Berget and Aleks Tonev we now have Ghanian Walaso Mubarak going through a medical.
The squad is becoming wing-heavy. It remains striker-light.
Greatest Irony
Do you know what would produce the greatest irony in sporting history? If Efe Ambrose came on as a late substitute tomorrow night, and we later discovered a rule deep in Uefa’s Articles that forfeit matches don’t count for suspensions. Forfeit matches are so rare no one will be familiar with the rules concerning them. Should we check? Oh yes.
James Alexander Gordon
It was the way he told them. Every week the man would uniquely intone the football results, you knew the outcome of each game, home win, away win or draw, before he read second number.
Maestro Match
Really delighted Celtic FC Foundation have nominated Unicef and War Child as their beneficiaries from the Maestro match next month, where we will “assist in their humanitarian work in a number of current Middle East countries”.
Foundation cheif exec, Tony Hamilton, said, “From our living rooms we have all witnessed some of the terrible vivid horror of conflict in recent days and the particular effects that these events have had on children.
“The work of UNICEF and War Child takes no sides but simply cares for all the innocent victims of conflict on a humanitarian level. The match in September will bring together some great names in football who want to make a difference.
“We hope as many supporters as possible can join us to assist children and their families who so desperately need our help.”
I know Celtic fans will want to support this enormously important cause. Read more and book tickets here.
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Bawsman , please define brilliant ? Maradona , pele , lubo and maestro quite possibly …JF cmon he couldn’t lace Mc Geady’s and as stated he’s on par with Joe Miller.
Are ST holders being issued with paper tickets for next week?
HH
There may be something in this .
From an article on hamstring injuries in baseball
“How can a simple hamstring pull keep a professional athlete out for so long? How does one so athletic, so well cared for, pull a hamstring in the first place? And what hope does that leave for someone like me, preparing for my own competition without the expert care of a Major League training team?”
“Commonly, hamstring pulls happen when there is a period of inactivity followed by a sudden acceleration,” said Dr. Joe DeAngelis of the Sports Medicine Division at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
There is more to the hamstrings than one might think. The back of the thigh is a group of five muscles, and their tendons that travel from above the hip to below the knee.”
Now some of that seems to pretty accurately describe James & why Ronny is keen to keep him running and not have quiet periods followed by a burst of activity
Full article below
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/bos/proper-stretching-techniques-are-key-to-avoiding-hamstring-injuries?ymd=20140503&content_id=74179670&vkey=news_bos
Celtic’s physio department should give Roberto Martinez a call.
Sean Maloney was constantly injured (not counting his cruciate injury and his current injury problems)
Martinez didn’t play him for almost a full season and brought him into the team to score a great winner against Man Utd.
When asked why he didn’t play he replied that he dad to get fit to be able to play.
Knowing that Sean was never out of the gym, it would be interesting to know what he saw was wrong with Sean and maybe we can apply the same solution to James Forrest
dad=had
Trad 88
Yes, got mine this morning but it may be because Uefa take my seat and I get relocated to padded seats in JS.
Do we access to the bars in JS stand then?
EC67
QuidproquoCSC
No matter what strategy Celtic adopt, there will be those who see it as a negative one or attempt to turn it into a negative one.
They just can’t do anything right it seems.
Just when the blog was getting a little lighter too. Ah well.
Did I imagine it or did anyone notice James’ running style has changed slightly this season?
Maybe its something they are also trying to work on
Auldheid
Is building a Manager/Head Coach, for the future, something we may have to get used to also? por cierto
I think that Danny McGrain was suspended for the second leg against Rapid Vienna in 1984
The suspension was then carried forward to the game at Old Trafford
BHOYLO83
Thanks,mate.
I usually have difficulty convincing people about the wallet theory.
I’m certainly not an athlete-unless it’s my round-but as a driver,I discovered that a while ago.
Can be quite dangerous too,wi a lorry battering along a motorway.
THE BARCA MOLE
Someone menti
Eurochamps67
I have been relocated to padded seats in JS. as well por cierto
Try again.
Someone mentioned that our warm-up exercises are more suited to warm-downs,pretty much as is in that article.
Syd Negakev – the proportionality of negativty on this site is directlty proportionate to the negativity displayed by those who run celtic.
Auldheid – have a read back at what you have just written! And I thought I was negative. What you are saying is that Celtic should just give up cos its too hard.
Just Another Tim
As a result of my derisory 43 points mid table mediocrity I am demanding showdown talks with my board to release funds or I’m walking.
Does your league have that facility ? Can’t see the button.
Read an interesting item in the Independent this morning where the journalist (Sam Wallace?) was assessing Man U’s attempts at signing new players over the last decade or so.
It highlighted the clubs success in signing the most prominent players in the Premier League…Ferdinand, Yorke, Rooney, Van Persie etc…but the relative failure to attract the prominent European players…only Sebastian Vernon and perhaps Stamm.
Anyway the point being made, despite sounding ridiculous, was a reluctance to live in the North. The journalist wasnt taking an absolutist position but I believe there is a truth in there somewhere. Chelsea certainly have a better strike rate.
It got me thinking about a Premier League with Celtic in it and how viable an ambition to be a top sixclub would be.
James Alexander Gordon
Is my memory faulty? I’ve a hazy recollection of a Morecambe & Wise sketch in which one of them is checking his coupon and continually has his hopes rising as JAG’s dulcet tones lead him to anticipate the final result only for his ba’ tae burst, each time, as an inappropriate score completed the fixture.
Anyway, may the gent RIP.
NegAnon2
I don’t agree. The mood of the site is dragged down when the consistently negative posters come on, those who can see no good in anything. All in my opinion of course.
Eurochamps67
Cheers, will look out for it,
HH
neganon2
12:05 on 19 August, 2014
Great idea….you can be the striker and I can be the big CB …… and I can then kick seven lumps out of you ………. No wait, forget that, you might hit me back …..LOL
Someone posted a link to Mad Bill McMurdo’s blog earlier and I had a wee peek, followed by a cold bath and scouring with a wire brush. However I did catch one gem and would invite, at the risk of re-starting a political debate, our CQNrs to solve this particular bear’s political problems:-
“On my rant about voting mate, It’s just that I feel any true bluenose from Glasgow of voting age should never vote another Labour councillor in their lives and obviously the SNP can never get a bluenose vote either locally or nationally so who does that leave us mate ?”
Big Wavy
I agree
My captain and vice captain both scored and im sitting down around 143rd…
I demand answers
benjybhoy mul .
Here I Go Again .
Indeed ! A gem of a choon from 69 . B side of -A World Without Music .
Gamble and Huff CSC-way down south
A wee request to our south-of Spain bhoys.
My mate and I are intending to go over for the weekend to take in one of Malaga’s games later this year/early next year. What are the chances of the Saturday games being moved to Sundays for TV at short/late notice? What are the chances of picking up a couple of tickets?
Ta in advance.
The MSM now getting their hawkeyes on the Mubarak signing, hoping we make a clerical error.
Its a curious tale with an unfortunate outcome at present as is James.
Its a fantastic case study you mention about the bite – something I had never heard of and a subject I am interested in.
There are a couple of things my own interpretation / understanding of this predicament that wont have helped thus far.
When James Forrest moved from his home in Prestwick he admitted in an interview he couldnt cook so relied heavily on take aways.
Something I find just as shocking as Irn Bru being served in the players’ canteen in 2014.
Home help could easily be arranged for young kids in that situation, providing nutritious and healthy meals with annual wages equating to a matter of weeks’ pay for the unfit footballer (not getting in to whether that is a living wage or not!)
You are what you eat – no one more so than athletes.
I was delighted to read Ronny’s opinions on food and diet and the importance of eating certain foods immediately after training, so we are on the right track there.
I also learned from young Declan Bunting regarding his own tragic circumstance that footballers are not allowed to do much upper body work whilst nursing a lower body injury because seemingly it affects your run and will ultimately put pressure on different areas.
So James will be doing very little core work during these continual and prolonged periods of absence.
This was pretty obvious if anyone watched him at close quarters in the european games when he was required to do more than usual – with a lot of high intensity chasing back and counter attacking.
What he now needs, to avoid becoming one of the list Paul listed of players who lost the middle part of their career (all of whom were straight back on the pitch as soon as the previous injury had healed) – is a sustained period of fitness without football, doing core and conditioning work.
You can build the core muscles up in your body fairly easily – its the smaller muscles that feed in to them which are a bit more difficult to condition.
If theyre not up to scratch, those core muscles end up taking the brunt of it and do the work for them.
The One Direction guy and Agbonlahor is another good example – Gabby shoulder charges men every week, none collapse in an absolute heap like the young fella did, because whilst he was undoubtedly fit and could probably have run 10km without much of a sweat, his body wasn’t conditioned to the necessary level.
So a prolonged period on the sidelines building everything up.
Exploring the bite case study.
Exploring the horizontal shape of his body when he is in full motion etc all needs to be explored.
The Sports Scientists etc will all know a helluva lot more than me – but a year without James Forrest and then 4 consistent years with him, is a lot better for Celtic, than 2-3 months here and there.
Danny played against rapid at old Trafford. Unfortunate as the Vienna player was more rapid than he and left him for dead for the break away goal.. O(
Did Paul hartley not use a gum shield to help some muscle problem?
Bhoylo,
I thought wee jamesy looked like he was running differently v st Johnston.
I wonder where Commons sits within Ronny’s vision. We know the manager wants pace up front and, for all his attributes, pace isn’t something Kris can boast about. Could Berget, Tonev, Wasako, McGreagor or Forrest challenge him for that central spot?
Midlands Tim
From previous.
I thought the lack of the GB and more importantly the incredibly gash weather on Saturday caused the atmosphere to be a bit flat at times.
SETTINGFREETHEBEARS
Hmmmm,I wonder who he suggests as an alternative?
Fortunately,hardly anyone listens to a word he says.
Unfortunately,that mob are notoriously easily led.
seanoc
13:03 on
19 August, 2014
Berget may well end up in KC’s position playing behind a striker with two pacy wingmen either side of him.
Too early to judge but his link up play and movement was very good on Saturday.
In case you missed it.
Yvonne Hama a Union person from Airdrie seemingly tweeted a post at Christmas last year.
“Just got the Christmas lights out they’re like Tims all twisted…and look better hanging from a tree”
I see that there is another loan deal in the pipeline
Wouldn’t be the least surprised in the future if I turned up at Celtic Park and the team comprised of 11 loan deals in the starting line up
Maybe at the the start of next season I will roll up to Celtic Park and negotiate a loan of my £1400 to the club and say come Christmas time if needs dictate that I need my money for other matters Celtic can return a proportionate amount
Either that or Celtic start charging season ticket prices that are proportionate for the league we are playing in and are similar in price that other clubs that perform in that league are charging
I wonder if the players do sessions of pilates, bikram yoga or something similar and whether that might be beneficial or not. I used to have back problems and pilates strengthened and balanced my core. Before I used to get pains all over the place after playing football or doing other sports but pilates cured most of that apart from buggered knees due to playing 5s on hard surfaces for years. I also have started using DDP yoga which has minimal joint impact and have been impressed with the results. The only players I can remember talking about yoga were Roy Keane and Shuan Maloney. Keane suggested it helped prolong his career and Shaun….well, er…
All this loan talk. Have the huns got over the Co-op loan yet? If not then these new loans could tip them over the edge!
big wavy
12:47 on
19 August, 2014
Haha! Afraid not :p
You could always use your wildcard option and change your whole team..in the transfer section but you only get 2 per season.