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You are at:»»Murdoch, Christie, Gordon and Boruc, Show me the way

Murdoch, Christie, Gordon and Boruc, Show me the way

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By on CQN BLOG & Comments

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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  4. Turkeybhoy on

    DESSYBHOY on 22ND SEPTEMBER 2016 8:26 PM

     

    I do not expect anyone to be arrested and charged for the damage to our stadium, I do not expect Sevco will pay up and I do not expect our board to pursue either payment or ban them from attending in the future.

     

     

     

    Your post reminds me a bit of a Dickens novel I once read,

     

    “No Great Expectations”

  5. dessybhoy on

    Philbhoy

     

    I took it to mean by Celtic , the statement came from the Police and was on the BBC scotland website in the evening after the game

  12. ExSlaemuirBhoy on

    Maybe Celtic as a club where ahead of the game in charging the huns 50 bangers a ticket. 7000 x 15 (extra cost of attending match) will pay for the damage. I’d ban the barstewards mind ye

  16. BABASONICOS71 on

    A teacher is teaching a class and she sees that student isn’t paying attention, so she asks him, “If there are three ducks sitting on a fence, and you shoot one, how many are left?” student says, “None.” The teacher asks, “Why?” Student says, “Because the shot scared them all off.” The teacher says, “No, two, but I like how you’re thinking.” student asks the teacher, “If you see three women walking out of an ice cream parlor, one is licking her ice cream, one is sucking her ice cream, and one is biting her ice cream, which one is married?” The teacher says, “The one sucking her ice cream.” Student says, “No, the one with the wedding ring, but I like how you’re thinking!”

  19. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on

    Seriously,the people being charged about the dolls faced court having first being remanded in custody?

     

     

    Ffs,is anyone ever gonna take this ludicrous police state to task?

     

     

    What was the criminal offence? Why the remand? Rape and murder suspects are routinely allowed bail.

     

     

    Offfend the easily offended thoroughly offensive mob,yer banged up.

  23. Jimmynotpaul on

    Babasonicos 71.

     

    Since you are a good egg. I googled the Scott Nesbitt goal it was against club Brugge in 1993.. Huns won 2.1 with his goal being the winner. It must go down as the most fluckiest goal in Champions league history.

  24. vfr800a8 on

    WINNING CAPTAINS on 22ND SEPTEMBER 2016 9:00 PM

     

    How old would you have to be to say that Rangers have won more major trophies in your lifetime than Celtic?

     

    _____________________________

     

    Which incarnation?

  25. tully57 on

    Evening my Celtic Amigos,

     

     

    I had one of my great Celtic days today and we weren’t even playing.

     

     

    I never win anything (well not strictly true, I won a signed ball as 3rd prize in the HT draw about 15 years ago) but I was notified by Paul67 on Friday night saying my name was drawn from the raffle to be included in the Celtic Team Photo at Lennoxtown today. The prize also included a Celtic Park tour provided by Tom Boyd. An unbelievable prize.

     

     

    Let me tell you about how the prize came about. Excellent CQN-er MALORBHOY bid £700 for this prize at the Celtic FC Foundation Charity Dinner a few months ago. He was entitled to take a pal as well, but instead of this, he offered the other ticket to Paul67 to raffle to raise even more money for the Foundation. Paul did this and duly raised another £500. A fantastic gesture by Malorbhoy and brilliant work as usual by Paul67.

     

     

    I transferred my prize to my bhoy who works in London and he flew up last night. I tagged along to take the (non-official) photos, to hold Malorbhoy’s coat and be a general gofer. I was in my element but not as much as Malorbhoy and my own bhoy (CentenaryBhoy on CQN but mostly lurks) – they were given full Celtic strips for the occasion (and to take away) and as well as the official photo, I took numerous photos of the 2 bhoys with Brendan and the players – all who were brilliant and had time for everyone.

     

     

    The team photo with CentenaryBhoy at one end and Malorbhoy on the other was eventually taken after Malorbhoy finally agreed to get off John Kennedy’s knee. If JK did have any chance of a comeback he certainly hasn’t now.

     

     

    Jane Maguire from The Foundation was our chaperone for the day. She is a great lass, she is part of an organisation that does brilliant work, and nothing was too much trouble for her today. She took us back to Celtic Park and introduced us to the great Celt that is Tom Boyd. As well as taking us around the trophy room, dressing rooms and out to the dugouts, he answered all our questions, including settling a debate about where exactly he was on the pitch when he made that pass to Jackie in the Cheerio-10-In-A-Row Game. We talked about Smell The Glove – but you’ll have to wait for his book coming out to

     

     

    So….from myself & CentenaryBhoy, a massive thank you to Malorbhoy, Paul67, Jane Maquire, Tom Boyd and all the Celtic Staff we pestered for photos.

     

     

    CentenaryBhoy even got a selfie with Summer from CelticTV after delivering the “….hey Summer, ma cousin fancies ye – any chance of a photie?” line.

     

     

    Right son.

     

     

    Tully57

  26. BABASONICOS71 on

    JNP…

     

    I thought it was a Moscow team for some reason.Think the shot was going about 8 mile wide before it hit the Brugge player.

     

    Cheers for that bud,hope you’re well.

     

     

    BADA…

     

    Was that the Marseille who cheated thems out of winning the European (sorry,i’m pmsl here) cup? ;))

  31. vfr800a8 on

    PHILBHOY on 22ND SEPTEMBER 2016 9:22 PM

     

    VFR……

     

     

    Look forward to meeting you!

     

    __________________

     

    LOL. Start preparing your disappointment now …………

     

     

    FAC the Act

     

     

    KTF

  40. Billy Bhoy on

    So, as we sit through this dross awaiting the draw for the semis my mind is drifting back to a Sunday afternoon in the early 80s. It’s the 4th round of the Scottish Cup live on Scotsport.

     

     

    They run through the numbers for each team then the draw commences:

     

    First out its number 1 – Aberdeen.

     

     

    Damn! No time to get the rosary beads out……..thank God there’s another 31 balls in there………..

     

     

    Will play number 3…….aw FFS…….Celtic.

     

     

    Shit! We’re already 8 points behind them in the League and that’s us almost certainly oot the Cup.

     

     

    Fast forward a few weeks and we’re travelling back down on the CSC bus on the end of a 4-1 pumping. Season finished in January.

     

     

    So, let’s hear it for David Murray. The man who singlehandedly wrecked Scottish football.

     

     

    We’re sitting here with not a care in the world who we are going to face…..and it’s not going to be St Johnstone.

     

     

    Thank God we’ve been spared another 30 mins of this.

  41. praecepta on

    Absolutely dreadful game – thank God someone scored before the 90 minutes were up – don’t think my neck muscles could’ve taken another 30 minutes.

     

    Like watching Wimbledon – humped from one end to the other and infrequently on the deck!

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