Shortly after Elfsborg cracked one against the crossbar last night I quickly scanned the Celtic team and had a thought. For the second season in a row we are taking on the Swedish champions but we’re missing two of last season’s big performers and none of this season’s new signings were ready for action. In short, this was Celtic 2012 minus Wanyama and Hooper. No wonder we looked unstructured.
Joe Ledley brought some vision to central midfield when he arrived, hopefully banishing the Brown-Kayal partnership to hidden corners of our mind once and for all. Anthony Stokes playing at the front of a wide diamond was equally effective. With the signing of Amido Balde, bids in for Kevin Doyle, and the addition of a wide-delivery-expert Derk Boerrigter, clearly Neil Lennon has a different plan for the months to come….. so there’s no real need for me to state the obvious.
Defensively we looked solid after a shaky opening few minutes. I’m not the only one who was a bit nervous about Efe Ambrose after he was (again) caught underneath a long ball, but he settled quickly. As we know to our cost, being great for 87 minutes is not how Champions League reputations are made, you are judged on your how vulnerable you become in your weak moments.
I said yesterday that Samaras and Commons were the two players who could cope at this level, which became plainly obvious during the game. Georgios was the one player who frightened Elfsborg, they either swamped him with four defenders or fouled him before he got near goal.
Kris is simply the most intelligent footballer we have. He is not the fastest, will never have the best stats, but he understands how games are won and is able to act accordingly. Without these two players Celtic would be distinctly vanilla.
Thanks to those who sent over their 1254125 Great Scottish Run details, I’ll have them on the page later.
[calameo code=00039017126b6a648d717 lang=en page=128 hidelinks=1 width=100% height=500]
1,112 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- ...
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- ...
- 30
- »
A Son Of…………….
…….must be a big hole………..
Livibhoy
That could be correct.
But what a waste of Millions of pounds.
We are still paying a large proportion of his current salary.
):-(
TT
traditionalist88
I agree with that. Every single player doesn’t NEED to have a sell on value. Doyle would be the type of player who would round of his career here. Bring the youngsters on etc. Nothing better than a seasoned professional helping a youngster out on the training ground. How many of our squad players and youngsters were helped by training with the likes of Larsson and Lubo? Doyle is nowhere near that bracket but we have very little in the way of experienced players in our ranks. These guys are coaches on the field too. Do we have enough vocal players in the team? I think we are short of one or two. Doyle for me would be a very good signing if the fee and wages were suitable.
The guy has something to prove and we could be the right fit for him. I would like to see at least two players in the 28-32 bracket being brought in. Not to sell on but to play and win trophies. There are some seasoned pros out there who have won nothing their whole careers who can win trophies at Celtic. Look at Ramon Vega for example. Won the treble in his first season. A fantastic signing. Made a huge mistake leaving. Would he have made a difference in Seville? I would have said so.
There are players out there and granted maybe Doyle is not the answer but I have said it many times on this blog. We need some experience in that squad!
LB
TinyTim
The ole who signed who debate?
Did NFL scout Balde, or was the player brought to him, either way I think the intention was Balde to be in the side for the CL qualifiers, as he was stripped from the first whistle in Sevastopol.
Didn’t turn out smoothly, time yet, but he can’t get on the pitch as a sub, even when we have no other, out and out CF.
There is no denying that the Bangura situation is embarrassing even for publicity sake, and he was even a pest defending the Elfsborg penalty box.
Livibhoy
It may break employment laws to have such a clause formally written into a contract .
I don’t know.
But surely there could have been a gentlemans agreement if that was the case.
That isn’t my main point .
My main point is the Millions wasted on Bangura, and the potential repeating of this mistake with Balde.
I do still believe it is too early to Efrain Juarez him.
TT
TT
Good to see you last night. Mind you given the colour you were wearing it would’ve been hard to miss you:o)
Never known anyone to divide opinion as much as Doyle regarding a potential signing.
Some interesting debate around him.
I think he would be decent for us in the absence of someone younger and better.
LiviBhoy
Spot on. Too many fans now seem to be more concerned with the balance sheet – put it this way, I think we are in safe hands and are not going to go out and blow a fortune putting our very existence at risk by signing a player with no resale value now and again!
Good points too re. experience and Doyles attirbutes – was talking to a mate who follows the fortunes of Irish players closely and he was saying Doyle at Wolves has been playing the lone role up front which just doesn’t suit him. Can see his point too. He’s a player who went for 6.5m for a reason, and he is still at his peak. I can see that deal going through for ~1.25m
HH
TinyTim
I think the reason Neil Lennon wasn’t happy was because Elfsborg should have shown some diplomacy and not played the guy.
What if he had missed a crucial penalty? He still could
What if he makes an error and gives us a penalty?
What is he is red carded?
Did he not score because he was rotten or didn’t want to?
Does not make the player or either club look good. Worked out OK last night but it was a huge gamble all round. It does raise these posibilities though. Celtic did not want any risk so did not want him to play and asked the club not to play him.
Poor from Elfsborg. I doubt we will deal much with them in future.
LB
Aussies showing some fighting Manchester. I hope chelsea don’t turn up and cause trouble…….
Still need a playmaker.Forest would get the service he needs then.Also Commons would not be missed so much when he is injured.Doyle would do a job for 3/4 years and score a bucketloadinthe SPL Or the SPFL or whatever they call it.I cant see a forward out there to do the job Hooper did,not at this moment.Perhaps John Park and NL have someone in mind.Lets hope so.
Hole?
The whole steenkin edifice is ….a Hole!!
BSR
True story.
I attended a meet the manager meeting at CP around last November .
I asked him how the scouting of a player worked and who was responsible for signing Bangura?
His opening words were that “it just hadn’t worked out for Bangura.”
He had made his mind up then that the player wouldn’t make it at Celtic.
He told me that the transfer window was about to close so he was rushed into making a decision .
That he went to Portugal (i think)to watch a player, but the player only played part of the game , so he couldn’t judge him and therefore decided to drop his interest in the player .
He said that John Park had watched Bangura several times and had great faith that he could do s job for Celtic.
So he decided to back John Parks judgement, but the final decision to sign Bangura was his own.
( note : There was no mention of Henrik recommending Bangura)
So I take it that Lenny has the final decision , but may not even see the players in the flesh.
I don’t think he saw Jaurez or Izzy in the flesh either.
As for Daryll Murphy , Wanyama,who knows?
TT
traditionalist88
It’s all about balance!
We have plenty young players. They have experience to a degree but they don’t have that guile and craft that comes with a decade of playing. They don’t also have a wee bit of mischief when required. Samaras and Commons are the only two players we have who know when to go down for a free kick. I’m not talking diving. I’m talking about playing the ball into a position to force the player to bring you down. That is experience.
We have enough players who we can sell on if need be.
Lustig
Matthews
Forster
Forrest
Balde?
Wilson
Ambrose
Izzaguire
Kayal
Ledley
It’s about balance again. Do we need to sell them all on? No! We need the guys who are going to stick around and bring the next group on. We need some players like Brown, Samaras and possibly Commons and Ledley who will come out and say ‘I like this club I am staying’.
These guys may have no sell on value but they are your main stays. Celtic have always sold players and always will do but we have always had a core who stay most of their careers and bring on the younger guys and teach the new players want Celtic is about. We have some there just now but I reckon we need more. They don’t have to start every week and may not do that but these guys help the team when the chips are down. They are the guys who fight you out of the type of game against St Mirren last season when we seemed to lose our shape completely.
It’s an observation I have had for the last two years and I keep saying it! We need experience in that side.
LB
Livi & traditionlist – i hope the current strategy is to mix potential who we can sell on and players who we need for fitba purposes on a case to case basis.
Celtic getting a mention on the ashes coverage! Botham played in a bounce game before Celtic played in Brian robsons testimonial.
Good luck to St Johnstone and Motherwell. Dont particularly like them but we need as many teams in Europe as possible.
Each person who donates may receive exclusive photos of the two Swedish Physios:
https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/morrissey23rdskydiveforstiliyan
RobertTressell
Was Beefy not doing a charity walk and popped into Celtic park last year? I’m sure neil Lennon walked a part of the journey with him.
Must like the ole Hoops.
LB
EDB .
It was required to complete the Irish tricolour .
(:-)
Rangers consider open-roof stadium with new-look Ibrox
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article
From about 2008. Prescient!
Watching the cricket. Botham speaking fondly of playing in front of the Celtic fans at Bryan Robson’s testimonial. English friends are always surprised when I ask them when was the last time the departed hun played in a testimonial in England.
Stephen McManus 25/1 FGS tonight. 8/1 anytime.
Cracking punts.
LB
Tinytim
Thanks for that, and can’t disagree with it.
I hope there’s no sting in the tale with a player, we’ve jettisoned, and a gentlemans agreement should have been struck, as Elfsborg were always potential future opponents.
With all this concern over the condition and safety of a south side stadium, it would be inconceivable to even think that council or tax payers money could be used to rectify the issues in preparation for the Rugby Sevens…….could never happen, could it ?
There’s so many holes in the ole Ibrox roof, they might get their floating pitch after all.
The big hoose is falling down,…crumbling down, rotting round…
The big hoose ain’t safe and sound….
Hear the fat lady….?
Patch it up with Davie’s ole tin,…dodgy inspectors in,…get the hoards back in…
Patch it up with Davie’s ole tin
Patsy is his lady….?
…..
Guily@JGuily19m
The bbc accidentally broadcasts this doodle on prince William,
https://twitter.com/JGuily/status/362960385042702336/photo/1
Yesterday my friend, Tony, and I were discussing our best eleven from the last 30 years. Sobering thought was; who from our current squad would make that XI ? I think no one, Tony would include Fraser in goals. Thoughts?
Think Charlie must be feeding the FT. Says 4.29bn Sevco shares traded today….
The Little Gentleman In The Black Velvet Waistcoat
Sounds like they may need a big home draw in one of the cups.
It will happen this season. Everyone knows that the TV companies are dying for it.
LB
St J game on radio shortbread just now
Celtic Quack News…………..another Celtic medical scheduled
Sammi wiz FabYouLessssssssss…..!!!
Ah canny get enuff of THAT Sammi..
He is OOR GOLDEN BHOY!
Ah Luv Sammi!!
Movin’ Oan..
Ah Thought Joe Ledley.. Wiz the Guy Who Turned the Key in the Loak.. of the Swedish Castle’s Back Door… and that ..Let Us In!
Up until he came oan.. We wur Huffin’ and Puffin’..
But, awe our tame Efforts tae Breach thur Citadel hid come tae Nuffin’!
Sure, Izzy made the Cross,and Bounced it aff Kris’s Heid.. but, it wiz the Relentless Build Up, Gushing forth fae oor Newly Reconstructed… Middy… Thanks,tae the Newly Injected Influence of Joe Joe.. That Forced the Final Issue.
Ah hiv bin a Relentless and Savage Critic of Joe Ledley..
Howevahhhhhhh..
If he turns in More Sterling Performances,like he did Agin the Swedes..
last night…
Then.. Nevermore Shall Joe Joe ,Suffer Neither Sling ..nor Arry, From Ma Bow.. Evah Again!
It wiz a Tough Game..and We Did Waver.. and oor Goal wiz Hard won.
But, Ah am Confident that we kin Go tae Sweden, and Get that all important..
Away Goal.. Mebbe,even Two or Three..or. Four..
Ach.. Ah am letting ma Imagination Run away wi’ Me..
Suffice tae say..
Ah am Certain, It wiz a Real Plus fur Celtic,
When They Prevented the Swedes fae Scoring a goal.
Thereby,assuring , that the Only Prize which the Swedes wid Take Hame,
wid be ..
A Big Duck Egg
Kojo
Still Laughin.. and Happy as Larry.
Rubicon
*I’m with you*
Rubicon
I wonder if he enjoyed the flute band playing at h/t in BR’s testimonial.
~SPF~
Canamalar1
I’ve re-sent the email with the scanned copy.
Let me know if you get it and if it’s ok.
~SPF~
Bsr
Any more info?
scotspatsfan,
You’d need to ask him . I wasn’t at the game.