Scottish football on solid ground

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Any away win by a Scottish club in the Netherlands is noteworthy but Aberdeen’s win last night is even more significant. It is a sign that a recovery is underway in one of Scottish football’s perennial underachievers. St Johnstone’s result is more of the same after last year’s achievements. Motherwell’s sorry exit is a lesson on being unprepared….

If Celtic can reach the Champions League group stage for the third successive season, there’s reason to believe our game is on solid ground after the years of excess and abandon.

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  1. Norwegian commentator reckoned Watt was Celtic’s MOM. Thought McMullan and Biton put in decent shifts. Defence was dodgy to put it mildly.

     

     

    Henning Berg has a string of failures as manager behind him so need success badly.

     

    Will see hos they fare today.

     

    HH from Oslo, where Thor just brought the Thunder…

  2. SFTB

     

     

    Watt playing wide on the left of a 3 pronged attack is different from him drifting wide into channels when playing on his own or as part of a 2 up front.

     

     

    My point still stands, if Ronny wants to see the best of his squad before deciding on a preferred starting 11 or who he needs to bring in then he should be giving players time in their best position.

     

     

    For both Watt and Griffiths that means through the middle.

  3. Ah am convinced that Ronny wiz…

     

     

    Weighing up..the Talents of his Youthful Hopefuls..

     

     

    Yes.. That muss be it.

     

     

    Noo he has a Much bettah idea of their Worth..

     

     

    Game wiz a Bust as A Spectacle..Oh! Ah said that Already.

     

     

     

    But..

     

     

    It is the Trewth!

     

     

    Kojo

     

    Unpleased , wit the Celtic Team , that Ah watched ,today.

  4. mickbhoy1888 on

    A meaningless friendly then B & Q @ 4 O’clock in the afternoon

     

    Why can’t my free Saturdays be spent like that

  5. Well done the Bhoys for the second half performance. At half time there was a possibility that we’d have been over run. Not only didn’t that happen but I thought we were the better team in the second half.

  6. Never saw the game. I hope Tony Watt showed he has promise to our new manager. In his brief spell in the first team a couple seasons back, he was outstanding when playing through the middle then NL persisted on playing him on the left wing and he faded out. He is a traditional centre forward.

     

     

    Stunning day here in MN. Tee’d off at 7.00am, no wind,bright sunshine, 75deg. Doesn’t get any better.

  7. mickbhoy1888 on

    lennon’s passion

     

     

    15:59 on 26 July, 2014

     

     

    Did I miss much by not watching

     

    and

     

    What sets Tony Watt aside

     

    Anton or is it Antony or maybe even Tony Stokes seemed to have thrived on his lazy attitude

  8. Just another tim on

    Legia Warsaw are playing Cracovia Kraków at 7.30pm tonight, should be available on the net .

  9. Tony Watt put in a good shift.Mc Geough much better when he commits players.Too much buck passing.CHs looked a nightmare,defending,and in possession.Biton,played well.Not great,just,well.Passing was woeful at times.Either Ronnie is not getting his message across or the players cannot carry out his orders.Both worrying.

     

    It was a low key friendly but I would have expected a few to really bust a gut to make an impression.Sadly,they did not.Atajic,invisible whole game should have been nowhere near the penalty.Surely everyone now knows that Amido is no footballer.

     

    Roll on Wednesday.

  10. mickbhoy1888 on

    hamiltontim

     

     

    16:14 on 26 July, 2014

     

     

    With all due respect your opinion regarding Watt and Griffiths best playing positions

     

    Maybe just maybe the manager has considered each players best playing position from what he has observed so far both in training and in actual match games

     

    Maybe he considers that he has better players to play through the middle and Watts and Griffiths best positions and maybe even futures are being reconsidered

  11. Drambowiecelt on

    This analysing, R.E.todays lineup is all good I suppose

     

    but, at the end of the day we were fulfilling an obligation tae turn up for a friendly.

     

    And there is no way on Gods green grass Ronny Bhoy was gonnae field oor

     

    1st team .so mission accomplished ,we now head for the big Bhoys gemme.

     

     

     

     

    H.H.

  12. JonnyRambo67 on

    Some pace shown be that streaker!

     

     

    Some thoughts on the game. First of all, unfair to judge anyone on that performance, makeshift team thrown together to fulfil the fixture as someone else said. Still if you’re analysing the game, very poor performance. None of the crisp passing we have seen up until now, just about everyone was guilty of giving away possession cheaply and wanting to much time on the ball.

     

     

    Players who advanced their case for a first team push:

     

     

    No one. Barring injury or emm unforeseen players sales, not one of those players will be pushing for a start on wednesday.

     

     

    Players who didn’t do themselves any harm:

     

     

    Watt: I don’t think he had a good game, I doubt he has the ability or attitude to make it at Celtic, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he is sold, but he was the only one carrying a threat, and was unlucky with a few chances late on.

     

     

    Henderson: Again not anywhere near his best, still shows good awareness, always got his head up and has good drive and range of passing. The one player from the youth that in my opinion flashes star potential.

     

     

    O’Connell: Mistake could have been costly but overall pretty composed at the back.

     

     

    Herron: Decent performance. Didn’t think he did much wrong, but not too much right either.

     

     

    Biton: Showed a bit of dig to win the ball back, unfortunately it was usually after he had given it away with sloppy play.

     

     

    McGeough: Don’t think he is a winger, now been played central a few times and imo looked better there. Unlikely to break into the team in that position though

     

     

    2 keepers: No chance with the goal, and not really tested out with that.

     

     

    Players that didn’t really show much:

     

     

    Finlay – the less accomplished of the 2 central defenders, should maybe have sneaked in the category above, but just doesn’t fill me with confidence

     

     

    McMullan – Won penalty with decent bit of skill. Struggled to get on the ball.

     

     

    Players who damaged their chances:

     

     

    Balde: Give the guy a break since he just came back from his fathers death, but on the football itself, never showed anything at all.

     

     

    Twardzik: Would let him of with the mistake if he had impressed in other areas, but caught out repeatedly and poor going forward. Think his best position would be centre mid, but like McGeough would be way down the pecking order

     

     

    Atajic: Didn’t really get involved and poor penalty.

     

     

    Once again I would stress that it’s difficult for young players to come in and play in that environment, ideally you would want 9 or 10 1st team players, with 1 or 2 youngsters alongside them to see how they bed in with better players, but you can only comment on what you saw.

     

     

    Looking forward to wednesday

  13. Brogan Rogan Trevino and Hogan supports Oscar Knox, MacKenzie Furniss and anyone else who fights Neuroblastoma…..

     

     

    Thanks for the response re the blog.

     

     

    Any thoughts on getting someone from Celtic to talk (at least in general terms) about our strategy and business model?

  14. mickbhoy1888

     

     

    Of course it’s only my opinion and as the manager then RD will be doing what he believes is the right thing. I just happen to believe that both those player’s best position is through the middle. I also think evidence supports that.

  15. The view from behind the couch ……

     

     

     

    Goalkeepers…..nothing to do

     

     

    Herron….good footballer, looks more like a right sided midfield player though

     

     

    Findlay…..not convinced

     

     

    O’Connell….very very raw

     

     

    Twardzik….looks dispirited, needs games in midfield . Would loan to Hibs or Dundee

     

     

    Henderson….a talent, better in 2nd half

     

     

    McGeoch ….excellent 1st half…..miles better when he plays centre mid

     

     

    Biton….rusty, 90 minutes will have done him good

     

     

    Watt…..very good game, he has the physical & technical ability to be a 1st team regular

     

     

    Atajic……not for me

     

     

    Balde…..again showed very little. I would loan him out for 6 months

  16. Just another tim on

    Some decent friendlies on tonight

     

     

    AS Roma v Man U 9pm

     

    NY Red Bulls v Arsenal 10pm

     

    Real Madrid v Inter Milan 11.30pm

  17. The slight desperation by some of us to have Tony Watt make it as a centre forward at Celtic underlines the teams problem at the moment and for quite some time : we are crying out for a goal scoring hero, allayer to get us out of our seats and pump our fists blood pressuring dangerously like mad young things!

     

     

    I thought the Bhoy was decent today but I have yet to be convinced that he has everything in his kitbag to be such a hero, such heroes are few and far between and can we honestly say we have had one since The King Of Kings left the building??

     

     

    Where’s our No.7 CSC

  18. When I was watching Watt today, I had flashes of Henrik shouting at Mark Burchill to pass the ball, which he failed to do because he never seemed to play with his head up. Of course, there was no Henrik on the receiving end but Watt never seemed to get his head up and look to cross the ball. Just ran forward. Can’t see him making the necessary progress. Hope I’m provedwrong.

  19. Just another tim on

    Even if we did unearth another No.7 hero could we hang on to him like we did with the KoK? Or would the club continue to follow the current business model and flog the family jewels when the first decent bid came in?

  20. Parkheadcumsalford,

     

     

    I made a similar comment earlier – Watt always wants to do it all on his own. Now strikers need a bit of a selfish streak perhaps but he has to learn to see what’s around him. A pass to a team mate is sometimes a better option than trying to beat three players every time.

     

     

    And it makes you harder to play against if defenders are unsure about what you might do. Predictable players are easy to stop.

  21. Just another tim

     

     

    KoK was a one off in a different time, you can say the club policy has changed and maybe you’re right but I would suggest that football has been totally f***ed out of all recognition since Kok signed for us 17 years ago..

     

     

    Millions of pounds being played by EPL clubs with 2 dozen games under their belts, Ross McCormick 11 mil..

     

     

    Wether we can keep a no7 for me is not the question, can we find one would be the main question!

  22. Just another tim on

    ….PFayr supports WeeOscar

     

     

    I think we would probably sell in all honesty.

  23. !!Bada Bing!! on

    HT- agree ,i posted when Watt was being played wide left that it was unfair on a young guy trying to establish himself ,and not playing him thru the middle.

  24. skyisalandfill on

    That Celtic side looked very lightweight against the physical germans.

     

    Agree with other posters that Watt needs to try and pick a better pass rather than try to do it all himself. Thought McGeogh had a decent game. Few others with pass marks from me, but it is after all only a friendly and will serve a purpose in letting Ronnie and John see how these guys might perform in our similarally physical league environment.