I grew up hearing stories about Bobby Murdoch’s ability to play the game in four dimensions. He could play a pass forward into space, across the field, at the right height, and arriving at the necessary moment, when that area would look completely different than it did when Bobby made his move.
That ball from Ryan Christie for the first goal last night fired a childhood recollection. Ryan took the ball on his chest while looking to his left. He volleyed a pass in the opposite direction into unmanned territory. It ended Alloa’s remarkable resistance. We still haven’t seen enough to know what level of player we have in Ryan, but there are reasons for encouragement.
James Forrest still had a lot to do but his shot was the first accomplished effort from Celtic after (literally) dozens of poorly composed attempts. The Alloa keeper deserved the plaudits, but he didn’t actually make a wonder save all night. He was repeatedly in the right place to do the right thing, we didn’t stretch him.
We dropped points at Inverness due to a truly inspired goalkeeper performance, and a remarkable attraction for the woodwork, but last night’s misfiring was all down to a lack of composure. Kilmarnock may reap a reaction on Saturday.
It’s hard being a keeper. Craig Gordon was caught off his line when Greig Spence got a millisecond of freedom in the first half. Spence fired off a remarkable shot which forced Craig into a diving block. It was as good as save as was made by either keeper all night, but what possessed Craig to go walkabout later, when Kolo Toure was on-hand to shepherd the striker wide is a mystery.
Decision-making like this has nothing to do with core goalkeeping skills. You can drill handling, reactions and starting positions all week, but if there’s a rush of blood on match day, or worse, panic, you’re going to lose a lot of goals.
We’ve seen this movie before. Artur Boruc was, by his own admission, the best goalkeeper in Europe in 2008. By 2010 we did well to get £1m for him, as he made his way to the Fiorentina bench. At 30, Boruc was all over the place. The superstar status had evaporated and few were sorry to see him move on.
Six years later he still has enormous potential for the haphazard, but he’s playing a lot of FA Premier League football on merit. He got his head straight and the rest followed. I’ve no idea what the issues are with Craig Gordon but if Artur can get himself sorted, Craig can too. He’s overcome greater odds already.
The same source of my Bobby Murdoch stories last night referred to Ryan Christie as Tony Christie. It’s a generational thing. Show me the way…..
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So, CG had a tough week?! Spare a thought for the poor Marco, the SV Vonderort keeper, who was arrested – yes, arrested – after letting in 43 goals in a lower level professional German match!
Cowiebhoy … how ya’ doing, mate?
I agree re: young Christie … the few times I saw him play before he came to Celtic, I was really impressed with him…. I know he is quite slight, but I figure he will fill out a bit, and, most importantly, I thought he had a good football brain on him… which is what Celtic need in the middle, more than anything.
The only thing I wasnt sure about is whether he actually plays in the midfield, or is one of those modern mid/attackers …
with the 3 attackers and either LG or MD upfront, our midfielders are often outnumbered, and over run..
we are still light and often undermanned in the middle of the park
Ryan continued his run forward after playing the pass, btw I thought it was Kieran until reading the blog, as did a few others arriving in the box and in the field of the Alloa keepers vision causing him a slight hesitation in getting down for the JF shot.
Thought Alloa were very good.
My favourite part of Forrest’s goal last night was Jim Goodwin putting out his arms as it went past him thinking it was going wide….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpIyWHuHcBw
Lovely.
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on 22nd September 2016 1:53 pm
Aye, I don’t think it’ll get universal acclaim though! There’ll be a few who take exception, but hey, ho: that’s what occupying the moral high ground affords them (they think).
FAC the Act
KTF
MIT
You not found your office yet :-))) on way to work
Doing ok big fhella thanks – now in Peurto Mogan, Gran Canaria
I actually think our midfield has been shown wanting on many occasions, and not just in Europe.
We can’t argue with being champions this past 5 years, but at times even in Scotland the midfield does not win its own battles – look at last seasons Semi final as an example
Ryan Christie when at Inverness showed up very well (at 19-20) against our experienced midfielders, as previous, he has the talent to succeed, probably needed a we bit coaching from Brendan on what is required, but hopefully now see him flourish
Is the sun still shining in Toronto ?
Hail Hail
Due to a breakdown in communications,my Dad has ended up wi THREE spare seats for Saturday.
The padded ones behind the goal in The Jock Stein Stand,aye posh.
Anyway,one full-price at £31 and two concessions at £22.
Anyone interested please drop me a line at
bmcuwp@gmail.com
They can be picked up at The Crown Creighton or if needed The Coarnir!
(Or
bmcuwp @ gmail.com
without the spaces)
mike in toronto
They were losing 35-0 at half time! What the flip were the rest of the team doing?
Cowie … been crazy busy here of late …. couple of trials , and, in fact, just off to a hearing in a few minutes, so I better run….
otherwise, KT has headed back to Oz for six weeks, so a few boys nights outs are in order …. having dinner with Dan and Waheeda on the weekend.
enjoy your holiday! I need one !!!
VFR800A8
Ok not known as a lover of the board,and I thought it was a pretty much balanced piece.
In fact,I hope yer missus has the tweezers out to remove the skelfs in yer arse(!)
West End of East End on 22nd September 2016 1:55 pm
Throw ins were one of my biggest moans at the game, to be fair Brendan must have read that and it has gotten better, not great, but an improvement to what were doing before in giving up possesion almost every time.
________________________________________
Spot on; I mention this last week that I was beginning to see improvement there as well!
As for corners! They corner takers seem to signal the same corner every time, but by the time it goes intae the box it’s different! We seriously need to work on our set pieces.
Cutest one I recall was wee 10:30 (I think) against Vojdvodena (I think) who bent down to adjust the ball and played the ball as he was bent over it. Caught everyone out! I think it was him as well he took a shy (what we used to call them) and threw it against the opponents back, then played a pass. Brilliant stuff.
FAC the Act
KTF
Cowiebhoy
Puerto Mogan? Nice. You got an apartment in the marina, or a boat tied up?
BTW, those marinas cost about £18,000 a berth to build :¬)
I thought Paddy Roberts was guilty of slowing our play down last night, not sure if he still has a niggling injury. He has not been as good as I thought he would have been since he came back, hope this is a temporary issue as he is great to watch when in full flow.
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on 22nd September 2016 2:32 pm
There are many ripostes to that, but Blog Rules preclude them.
FAC the Act
KTF
Brown
Tierney
Sinclair
Simunovic
Dembele
Toure
Are all CL class players when fit
Christie
Rogic
Roberts
Could be CL class players if developed further
Reckon that is BR starting point
HH
Threadbare CSC
Hawd oan!
35-0 at hauf time. Seriously. We are talking about a goal every 77 seconds.
If you take into account that losing side would be in no great mood to get ball back, return to kick off, lose posession, lose goal * 35 times how the feck is that possible without every player being involved in rigging this match from both sides?
Let’s face it. if you are getting gubbed by 10 after 13 minutes your are not then going to start rushing getting ball out of pokey, running it up to half way, retaking kick off and then losing possession and oppsing team running down the park and scoring!!!
MWD
TBB
In a hotel just outside marina (cordial playa Mogan) was at playa taurito 2 years ago and liked Mogan, so a wee visit.
Ok – that John James article, someone spent £400k on a 1.79% share in that new club, giving it a value of £22.3m – where would that value come from ????
Hail Hail
COWIEBHOY on 22ND SEPTEMBER 2016 2:47 PM
All the land, player registrations etc, etc would probably come close to that.
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on 22ND SEPTEMBER 2016 1:10 PM
GLENDALYSTONSILS
Jan 1888 perhaps?
Harrumph! I might be an auld codger but I’m no that auld! -))
Greetings from Munich, home to the biggest party on the planet. Oktoberfest 30 IAR for me :-)
I didn’t see the game last night as I spent last night in Nürnberg and due to a lack of Wifi and Irish pubs that are actually interested in showing Celtic games. I got my hopes up when I saw a Bhoy in the Hoops in Finnegans only to find out he was a local.
I was speaking to a German waiter at an excellent restaurant in Nürnberg who said to me that my Celtic shirt said everything about me – he was a good lad.
Hail! Hail! PMTYH
Now I’m back n the sunshine
But
The hotel is promoting – selling tickets/ packages for the Las Palmas v Real Madrid game on Saturday
Imagine any hotel in Glasgow doing similar for Celtic ? See we need the extra space in a refurbished South Stand :-)
Catch you all later
Hail Hail
GLENDALYSTONSILS
FFS,canny believe I put 1888 down instead of 1988!
Another dunce’s cap for me…
POGMATHONYAHUN
When you think you’ve had enough…
Have one for me!
Have a belter,mate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHuOagWzaws&sns=em
Please,please ,please let us draw the Huns tonight.Or Morton.Even Aberdeen or St Johnstone would be OK.
Bring them all on.
Sally or Ned … I reckon
HH
BMCUW thanks, I most certainly will.
vfr800a8 on 22nd September 2016 2:34 pm
West End of East End on 22nd September 2016 1:55 pm
Cutest one I recall was wee 10:30 (I think) against Vojdvodena (I think) who bent down to adjust the ball and played the ball as he was bent over it.
*Dukla Prague, he passed it tae Wispy.
Caught everyone out! I think it was him as well he took a shy (what we used to call them) and threw it against the opponents back, then played a pass. Brilliant stuff.
*Charles Patrick did that in the 1951 St Mungo Cup Final against the sheep, he threw it off the back of hun captain tiger shaw’s brother davie, this move inspired a 3-2 comeback victory
Like no other on 19th September 2016 8:36 pm
THE SHAMROCK on 19TH SEPTEMBER 2016 6:42 PM
Some bedtime reading? It is a Monday after all . . .
GLENGARRY – Glasgow’s Sacred Heart – The Story of Bridgeton’s Catholic Community and its connections with Celtic
*thoroughly enjoyed that, brigton is a place I’m not that familiar with as it was always seen in my lifetime as a tangerine hole, looks like it wasn’t always that way.
My recollections of the place other than getting off the Balloch train and walking down London Road safely in numbers is as a young lad walking to Parkheid in the company of older relatives and passing Bridgeton Waverly’s park, I have no idea where that was.
Then in 1968 I was despatched to work in the high rises on Ruby Street, all the way from the safety of the Kirkton Avenue flats with the short walk to Scotstounhill Station via Lincoln Avenue to the dark and dastardly Dalmarnock Road where it has been said that the clergy were advised not to wear their dog collars outwith the confines of the church grounds.
This was at the beginning of the job and all I can recall is leaving after a Saturday morning shift to walk up tae Parkheid for the 0-2 loss tae the Pars in the SC, Davie Cattenach at right back became the fall guy for that result.
As I said I wisnae that long there moving tae John Browns in Clydebank for repairs due tae the “great storm of 1968” a couple of weeks earlier. Saturday lunchtimes in Connolly’s was a treat.
It wasn’t as bad as I thought as I never felt concerned or intimidated walking up tae the station and revelled in often seeing our floodlights on in the distance and a home bakery close by tae the site made the best pies I ever ate, even 48 years later.
I had one more involvement in the area but not a pleasant one this time. Having been living over here for 14 years I decided to come hame for the New Year. Up the toon I went with my mother arranging to meet her in Bremners on Glassford Street as I headed on tae Parkheid in search of a ticket for the upcoming derby.
By this time the Balloch train went tae Airdrie and not Bridgeton so I alighted at Bellgrove, I was a wee bit familiar with the area as we used tae go there, on police advice, when hun games were on.
When I exited the station I was a bit confused as all the landmarks I knew were gone and also there was no crowd to follow. So I searched for a pub hoping to get a taxi to the ground.
Nae pubs about so I walked down this side street and kept walking until I found a pub, Phew, in I went, “pint of heavy please and can you call me a taxi”, and no she didnae say “awright then yer a taxi”, “where you going son”, I’m 42 and she calls me son FFS.
“Eh Parkheid hen, looking for a ticket tae see that wee bassa getting his hips and haws ripped aff”. There’s yer pint, its yer last and naw I’m no getting you a taxi, get yer ain”.
Just at that a wee punter in a trench coat standing in the corner beside me whispered tae me “see you in the lavvy son”, looking back might not have been a good move but 14 year away and being newly sanitised in a civilised country I went.
He proceeds tae open his coat and underneath he has a green sweater on with our club’s logo, “as you can see son I’m one of you, do you know where you are”, “eh naw”, “yer at brigton cross. My wife’s fae here and she visiting her maw so I come in here with my sweater on, albeit covered as I feel that I have just crossed the abyss”.
I explained about being over fae Canada and getting a bit lost and meeting up with my mother in Glassford Street after I left Parkheid.
“Ok, walk oot here, leave yer pint (that was a sore one) and walk doon tae the taxi ranks, don’t tell the driver where yer going until yer in yer seat and then get a bus back tae Argyll Street when yer done, FFS don’t walk back doon here tae the station.
Did that with a rapidly beating heart and took the bus back after I was finished in the Celtic Shop. Oh aye and I didnae get an effin ticket. We lost any way tae some plonker called nigel scoring the only goal.
I’ll continue later with a story about Father McDonnell and his further exploits in Canada after brigton, fae a teuchter ben affleck place tae an outlander ken dodd run society.
VFR800etc.,
I am one of those slightly older fans who pollute the blog.
However, I don’t hanker for any of the good old days.
They have gone and are part of our history.
I am happy that I experienced so much of that history, because, as we know, history can’t be bought in the real world.
Each generation has to live their own experiences.
I agree that the club has never been better run, in my lifetime anyway.
What amuses/bemuses me is the school of thought that holds the view that you can support the club/ team, but not the PLC/ Holding Company.
That’s a notion that has found a home in the MSM and Edmiston Dr.
I consider a football club, especially ours, a trinity, or, a three- legged milking stool.
The Board, Playing Staff and Fans.
Each dependant on the others. If one component or leg of the stool, breaks down, then we all suffer, or, in the case of the stool, fall on our bum.
Each should have the common goal of making Celtic the best that we can possibly be.
TONTINETIM
Charles Patrick is my Dad’s all-time favourite player. Matchless. A beacon in too many dark days.
POGMATHONYAHUN
Didnae think you’d need too much encouragement,but I didn’t want to let you down!
PJBHOYNYC
Nice…
I found this on the sidebar. And some good stuff on the sidebar that followed.
Again,comments are interesting too.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_hpqRajdrRg
TTT
But it works the other way round
Your can be an imvestor and not care about the team only the money and the well being of your investment. If playing sub standard football brings in better financial returns then that is what you will want I.e Ronny Deila if for example that fails , measured by ST uptake and your investment is suffering then you will advocate a change of strategy. Suc investors ddon’t care about level playing fields or if their customers have been cheated year upon year because there is no money to be extracted.
It amuses/bemuses me that given that bbackground and behavior that so many are fooled thinking that we are in this together ?
Explain that to me I don’t get it
HH
TONTINE TIM on 22ND SEPTEMBER 2016 3:36 PM
Thanks for the clarification! It now comes back that it was Dulka Prague.
It’s 6:30 in and leads to the 3rd goal!
FAC the Act
KTF
CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on 22nd September 201BOBBY MURDOCH’S 6 3:38 pm
TONTINETIM
Charles Patrick is my Dad’s all-time favourite player. Matchless. A beacon in too many dark days.
*mine tae, it might have been because his own name was Charlie as was his da’s and he came fae the “black north” tae, he loved Bertie Peacock tae.
If the huns have to genuinely move to hampden for two years, it will kill them.
I wonder if the rent they are charged will be same we were charged, adjusted for inflation?
THOMTHETHIM FOR OSCAR OK on 22ND SEPTEMBER 2016 3:37 PM
Good analogy with the Trinity and stool; I prefer the Trinity!
AWE_NAW_NO_ANNONI_OAN_ANAW_NOO on 22ND SEPTEMBER 2016 4:02 PM
I’m not so sure it is as clear as you state; the football element is the most important and if that’s dysfunctional (as we saw under Ronny) the income stream is reduced, therefore reducing potential dividends to shareholders/investors.