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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TTT
I accept there was no money to go after. S million quid donation to set up a charitable fund would suffice but our board are Old Firmists cos they only give a fig about the money
Everything else is denial
Night Night
HH
AWE_NAW_NO_ANNONI_OAN_ANAW_NOO on 22ND SEPTEMBER 2016 5:37 PM
You know the answer on MON. His success was unsustainable. I think WGS probably should have been backed more.
With NL I think there was lots of variables going on with the football environment. I think more money might have been a better idea but I think it’s also true that financially it was more of a knife-edge.
Pointless worrying about it now. What’s done is done.
Tontine,I drank in Dalmarnock rd in the Strathie Bar,or John Travers pub,The Half Moon,over the yrs ,I have seen plenty of Priests and Nuns walking about that area,and I never heard of one of them being assaulted, if they did then The Norman Konks,would have been after them,they didn’t take any nonsense of The Billy Bhoys,in my youth in the late 50s I went to school with a few boys who came from Norman st ,Reid st ,Colvend st,at a very young age these bhoys didn’t know what fear was,The Shamrock Sacred Heart is some story,and the Home Bakeries,,for the best pies,there were plenty of them in Dalmarnock Rd,Hail ,Hail my fellow Celtic Supporter.
S is an A
The point being if the football was more important and if success breeds success … why was he note backed
30m quid of debt and rising
AWE_NAW_NO_ANNONI_OAN_ANAW_NOO on 22ND SEPTEMBER 2016 5:37 PM
I don’t have time to check, but *I think* that after Seville we were pretty skint so there was no real chance of investment.
FAC the Act
KTF
Celtic40me
And WGS ?
Here is a clue a cost cutter .
. Ooops sorry a leopard canny change it’s spots.
BTW nowt has changed
HH
Geordie Munro
Geordie, I ain’t sure how it all works but I’m sure the Polis have informants who report back threats and the like.
Also , John James mentions there are certain people whose communications are constantly monitored
Celtic fan set for trial over the plastic dolls and banner.
Absolute waste of public money! Stupid and tasteless maybe; criminal, never!
FAC the Act
KTF
AWE_NAW_NO_ANNONI_OAN_ANAW_NOO on 22ND SEPTEMBER 2016 5:51 PM
You said at 5:37 you were off tae yer scratcher and yer still here arguing! :>)
On the sauce?
FAC the Act
KTF
Try again, Celtic fan facing trial: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-37444343
Just saw Brendan’s post-match interview on BT Sport from last night. Very strange.
The female interviewer asked him about Gordon’s “rush of blood” to get a yellow card. Brendan replied that he didn’t think Kieran needed to go back to the keeper and put Gordon under undue pressure. I immediately thought they were both talking about different incidents, Brendan referring to Tierney’s 2nd half pass-back which had Gordon slicing it out for a throw-in. The interviewer obviously didn’t catch-on as she continued to pursue the other incident.
“Do you think he might have received a red card?”
Brendan was now looking puzzled.
“Why? What happened?” he said.
She then told him about the clash and the yellow card. Brendan said he missed it, probably because “the 4th official was in my way.”
The 4th official could not possibly have been in his way for the kung-fu challenge. He was definitely talking about the pass-back.
He said he’d need to have a look at it later and left the interview looking totally bemused.
Utterly bizarre.
AULD TAM
or Brendan new exactly what she was talking about
Interesting game last night especially since the hard luck hit the bar theme developed in sight of another packed defence. We sorely miss LG
the penalty box predator ,who gets bread butter goals in games like our
last two.
Celtic overwork the ball with at least one pass too many on too many occasions high intensity is fine, but we’re short of an auld heid that can put his foot on the ball, slow it down and pick a pass. Frenetic style but not a lot to show for it. and some players clearly should be kept behind after hours for basic shooting practice.
We now have KT in sizzling form and carrying a goal threat only when he learns that you don’t have to murder the ball to score, he should also consider a pass inside, more often. Good to see SA getting 90 minutes though his game play is unlikely to displace anybody in bigger matches anytime soon.
The biggest selection thing about the game was the pairing of KT and JS in the heart of the defence, where its possible BR has his eye on making that more permanent?
JF was more effective on the right flank, after PR was withdrawn and eventually scored a superb goal as did MB after a hard learning shift. CG did himself no favours in the No;1 jersey fight with a silly foul, and so much for DDV being signed to put pressure on him and make him ‘better’.
Alloa are a fine side for the First Division and having seen off Inverness and Ross County Jack Ross is one to watch out for, his TV aftermatch interview was the definitive in how you analyse a game, lose but keep your dignity.
The BT TV coverage was borderline farce what with the new Howard Webb Celtic Hotline and although Chris Sutton is working from prompts, he really should just……….let it go. In competition with Sutton , Steven Craigan’s retro ‘colemanballs classic’ summed him up, and provided the comedy for the night.
I agree with Paul67 and reckon Kilmarnock are in for a bad day in Paradise.
this post was dedicated to madmitch and his textual brevity
CELTIC40ME on 22ND SEPTEMBER 2016 6:08 PM
AULD TAM
or Brendan new exactly what she was talking about
_______________________________
Aye, you might be right!
manipulatethemedia CSC
CELTIC40ME
Spot on, I think he was flirting.
VFR800A8
I wonder if anyone has been arrested for the Toilet Wrecking??
I doubt it as I saw the police were appealing for video evidence, I guess they have never heard of You Tube:))
HH
Since it’s quiet on here I’ll give you my opinion on last night’s game…
All I seemed to post last night on updates was
Celtic Corner
Cleared…
There was a few corners in the first half that were put into good areas but there was no Celtic player challenging for it. The rest were terrible.
Surely we could try something different?
Bourne, good summing up of the game.
In games like last night where we have plenty of the ball and are in the opposition box, we have players who are reluctant to use their ‘standing foot’ to have a shot.
It happened last night with Dembele, Forrest and Rogic in particular.
I was delighted with Forrest’s goal as he scored it with his ‘standing foot after missing a chance in the first half which he shouldhave taken with his left foot.
Griff is now beginning to use his right foot more.
Lubo showed what could be done by using both his feet.
Dallas
Left Right or Bottom
I think in games like last night, 2 strikers would move a packed defence about a bit more, and create a bit of space for attacking MF’s…
BT have highlights from last night on the now.
Forrest also made the goalie make two good saves in the second half after left footed shots.
YORKBHOY
griff should take the corners when he’s back
STARRY PLOUGH on 22ND SEPTEMBER 2016 6:41 PM
Aye, hundreds of faces and they cannae make an arrest!
Bourne at 7pm .
Thank you for that link.
I’m looking forward to Saturday’s game despite the weather forecast of heavy rain.
I hope our support dig deep for the Kano Foundation collection and the team does their bit on the pitch.
The shooting fails last night , either the players dribbled, and shuffled to try get the ball onto their favored foot, or they rushed the shot, melting it, i mean how many skyed or wildly wild shots were there.
I look forward to Griffs return.
I was screaming at JF to pass the ball, as his shots all night were rubbidge, then he did score with the left peg.
well done, it worked.
Hi Paul67,
Interesting piece… think it was a good result last night, same old Alloa… organised and hard working. Rode their luck but they might have deserved that.
Interesting how many shots we had. I think BR is a bit of an experimenter… Think he asked the guys to take shots at every opporchancity… Wasn’t pretty though. Bit more composed in the second half. Great goals.
Sinclair as you’d expect made an impact but was great seeing Christie come on and make a real difference. He is a very tidy player with great potential.
Touch of the Maestro about him?? Mind you he’s no Bobby Murdoch…
I was thinking about him t’uther day, when musing over our (un) defensive midfielder.
What happened to the days when you could have a midfielder who could tackle, break up play, protect the defense… yet still start moves after winning possesion, fill the space from box to box, find many-a-pass, time a run and score you a goal from time to time…!?
They did exist you know.
Hail Hail
anyone got a like to the bucketeers volunteers for saturday ?
SFTB…
I think James was responsible for only 63.4% of our first goal last night. ;))
ABSTRACTPEDANTRYcsc
Auld Tam 6:00
It’s called ripping the P@@H out of her :0) HH
Hear the blow up dolls guy has been named on radio. One guy a minority of 1 who got more attention than their Fenian blood singing minority of thousands. Yes like many I thought what he did was tasteless but getting named will make him a target for the bad asses from the dark side.
In his case I expect the punishment will exceed the alleged crime
Meanwhile the singers bring their song sheet to the next fitba ground and no one in power hears a thing
Yep ye cant have the old firm with out all the sectarian baggage that goes with it meanwhile the media whip it up and then they get all moral on us when they get the result they wanted.
If peace broke out half of them would made redundant at a stroke
celtic media is the future subscribe .csc
Watched highlights again,3rd time i’ve viewed last night,our shooting gets worse the more you see it.Trying to work out the best worst effort,think i’m going for Sinclair’s not long after our 1st goal.It’s so bad I think he meant it.
CELTIC40ME on 22ND SEPTEMBER 2016 7:05 PM
YORKBHOY
griff should take the corners when he’s back
…………and then run into the box to head it in…. :-)
https://twitter.com/MattMcGlone9/status/778894734802685952
An important piece from James Forrest…
http://thecelticblog.com/2016/09/blogs/the-celtic-family-has-enemies-dont-ever-forget-they-are-out-there/
Good Evening.
New piece about the ‘collapse’ of ‘hopes’ that Scottish clubs might be able to join the English league… https://theclumpany.wordpress.com/2016/09/22/cancel-the-rocket/
If yer watching the fitba keep a eye on James Daniel
Maddison, their bumming him up on BT just now
caught the sheep’s game on Sunday the boy looks a player.
VFR800A8 on 22ND SEPTEMBER 2016 7:10 PM
STARRY PLOUGH on 22ND SEPTEMBER 2016 6:41 PM
Aye, hundreds of faces and they cannae make an arrest!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ugly b…..ds all look the same,bud.