Signing a great backup goalkeeper seldom makes the difference between a successful or unsuccessful season, but things felt differently in season 2020-21. After Fraser Forster left Lennoxtown, where two years ago this week he returned for preseason training, rejecting the chance to remain at Celtic, the club were plunged into turmoil. Travel restrictions make proper scouting and we ended up paying €5m for Vasilis Barkas.
As the season progressed, Vasilis was swapped out for Scott Bain and Conor Hazard. To be fair, the defence was sufficiently dysfunctional to make it difficult to impress as a keeper.
Benjamin Siegrist made a clear impact on the Celtic support two days before his 30th birthday in January, where he denied to would-be champions until Liel Abada’s 89th minute winner. He is now mobile and commanding, enjoying a position that looked unlikely five years ago.
On joining Aston Villa at 20, he was loaned out to four lower and non-league English clubs before escaping to Vaduz in his native Switzerland. After a season, he lost his place at the club. Recovery started a year later with two seasons in the Championship with Dundee United, before promotion and two seasons in the Premiership. Before arriving at United as a 25-year-old, he made 52 appearances in senior football, just 10 more than he made last season alone.
Benjamin got a lot of things wrong in his career before blossoming in his late 20s. He is a lesson to a lot of players, and a lot of scouts.
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Beyoncé
C’mon the Swiss Fenian!
Hi
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Good afternoon from a sunny Springburn (work).
Come on Benjatim
D :)
Welcome to Celtic Ben regardless of age your now a Bhoy.
Yesterday Right Back debate , today Goalkeeper debate,……… tomorrow?
“a great backup goalkeeper seldom makes the difference between a successful or unsuccessful season”
A team is literally only as good as its backup goalkeeper.
Hart, Siegrist, Bain, Doohan, Hazard, and Oluwayemi all keepers under contract.
Loads CSC
You forgot about The Ghost …….Barkas
P67
You mentioned the excuse again about not scouting a replacement for Forster due to covid restrictions.
Those restrictions didn’t take place till late March 2020.
I’ve read a number of managers of top clubs saying their clubs scout with the intention of who to buy in 12 months time.
What you are actually doing is, rather than defending the set up at the time from your man Lawwell, is actually doing the opposite, as you are showing just how Micky Mouse the scouting set up actually was.
Paul, you have done a Mudo Fraser from a few days ago. you have unintentionally shown how second rate the set up was.
An unintentional own goal.
He’s a good back up and could well push Joe Hart. A solid signing.
I’m still not having covid restrictions as the reason why we signed Barkas – the whole episode smacks of complacency on our part which was replicated with the Eddie Howe affair.
A number on here think the problem in defence is the goalkeeper’s not cutting out cross balls.
I suggest the goalkeeper coach must share the blame ,are they instructed to stay on their line ?
Welcome Benjamin Seigrist a worthy addition to our squad.good luck and God bless
HH
BSR tomorrow Bernabei day? :-)
HH
That awkward moment when you forget about Venus De Milo, alias Quaver Wrists,
Still blaming Covid? Dearie me…..
Hopefully he isn’t coming with the mindset that he is going to be a backup.
Welcome to Celtic, Benjamin.
Got to hand it to Klopp.
Buy a 24 year old.
Get six good years out of him
Sell him aged 30 for virtually the same price you bought him.
Then bring in next gen – 22 years old.
Even better work with Minamino.
2½ years of contributions.
Sale price £7-8m MORE than purchase
Plus loan fees and wages part paid by others during his time.
Must be close to a genuine cost neutral signing.
That awkward moment when no one tells MadMitch there’s a new thread, and he ends up arguing with himself on the old one.
Lambert14 12:31
The whole Forster episode has always felt “spur of the moment” to me. Goalkeeper didn’t seem like an urgent position to be addressed in 2019. If it had been then why not get someone in BEFORE the CL qualifiers rather than wait until we had been knocked out? Strange….
The commanding keeper clearing out his six yard box and catching every high ball is a thing of the past and to be honest, in the past I’m not sure it was really a thing!
Good defences and good teams protect their keepers. I’d be interested to find out from a goalkeeping coach, but I do suspect the default for modern keepers is that you rely on your defenders to clear all but the most catchable or punchable of crosses or those that are in a specific ‘corridor’ between keeper and defence?
The only thing I thought Barkas was actually good at was catching balls in his 6 yard box.
https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/ange-postecoglou-using-pressure-to-achieve-success/id1579460058?i=1000567277450
90 minute podcast with Ange
Good afternoon all from me and Leggy in the Tolbooth, via Avant Garde and 8 ball pool hall.
ROBERTTRESSELL on 22ND JUNE 2022 1:19 PM
I think the evidence of what we are seeing would support that . Not only from our own team , but in general .
Alfa Semedo is NOT on the verge of joining Celtic, Football Scotland has learned.
The holding midfielder had reportedly agreed terms on a loan to buy transfer taking him from Vitoria Guimaraes to Parkhead according to local suggestions in Portugal. The Guinea-Bissau ace only joined the Portuguese side last season but the Hoops were still linked with a move that had supposedly already been agreed between the club and player.
Football Scotland can now reveal that those links are wide of the mark and that the Hoops have not – and will not – make a move for the player this summer despite these reports. Celts are, indeed, still on the hunt for another midfield option but Semedo is not one they are considering at this time. Vinicius Souza, previously on loan at Mechelen, is one they are hoping to get over the line but a deal has not yet been concluded for the Lommel enforcer.
Afternoon all.
BRRB and Leggy, enjoy your day oot, BRRB;s turn to get the Hula Hoops. :)
DAVID66
‘Benjatim’ brilliant. :)
I really want Souza. Looks the part.
Get him on Ange’s Whatsapp group asap.
HH
BW @ this morning
The GK conundrum …
You gave out these two names:
*****
Arijnet Muric – 23 YO – Man City = Kosovo NT / Playing regularly out on loan
Matei Safanov – 23 YO – Krasnador = Russian NT / Playing regularly in Russia.
*****
Are these players being looked at to be the No.1 / starter for the new season or do you put them forward to be the back-up to JH?
If they are to be the starter then who would be the back-up?
What would happen to JH who is with us because he starts?
How much would they cost?
AM = wages / loan fee.
MS = significant transfer fee.
Can we afford them?
Would they want to be a back up?
Would they come?
Interesting choices but a bit rich to me.
I fear that you have the great as the enemy of the good.
My thoughts are that JH will improve this coming season.
Here’s hoping.
Transfer style Guide 2022
(16)
Transfer deals involving Celtic will be reported as ‘ wide of the mark ‘ in the ensuing negotiations which may last for days and invariably end with ‘ Celtic snubbed ‘ in race for insert club flop insert name of player
Madmitch,
Kosovo are hardly world greats – 120 in rankings with the Faroes higher up.
Get them, have them back-up, loan them out. Forward plan. Hart’s an injury away from the issue of small margins winning game and titles. I think it’s a better strategy than 30-somethings with little room to grow and little coherence to the way we play.
Let’s build on much great signing and some ‘pragmatic’ signing last year with a little more thought.
HH
Always preferred Marciano of the Scottish wee based keepers but he may well be a shrewd free transfer.
Seen a report that Semedo is not on and Sousa still preferred. Have to say that is a massive step up in class if true but given it would likely be a loan only it would be painful a year down the line. He really looks like he could turn into a world class player.
GLASSTWOTHIRDSFULL on 22ND JUNE 2022 1:00 PM
Lambert14 12:31
The whole Forster episode has always felt “spur of the moment” to me. Goalkeeper didn’t seem like an urgent position to be addressed in 2019. If it had been then why not get someone in BEFORE the CL qualifiers rather than wait until we had been knocked out? Strange….
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That is the perfect summary of the Lawwell years.
Get the players in AFTER we are knocked out of the most important competition of the season.
Most keepers I have seen nowadays are really starting to come and punch.Noticed it with the Man C and Liverpool keepers near the end of the season.Real keeper punched everything in the CL final.Very obvious.
Seigrist will have plenty of time to improve his distribution,although,I have to say,I have no idea if he is good or bad at it.Never noticed.Not easy to judge keepers playing against us,the amount of efforts on goal we normally produce.Seen us win 6-0 and the opposition keeper has been MOTM.Either picking the ball out of the net,or making a save.
Welcome big man.Lets see.
“The Lawwel Years”.Yawn.”The old Board”Yawn.”What Lennie did”Yawn.
New wonderful manager in,no sign of how we used to be in the transfer window,because the manager is calling the shots.Everything looking very good,but wait,can’t have this,let’s whinge about the bad old days.
Yep,carry on,yawn.
BW @ 2.38
Just don’t see it — they will cost money and lots of it.
AM — he might be Kosovan but he is contracted to MC.
MS — he is in the Russian NT so will cost big bucks.
Not sure we have this level of resources this season for a back up keeper.
And if they do come then there is the issue of game time — they will not want to warm a bench.
Then the loan issue becomes a problem — is it the hokey cokey between us and the loan team?
JH gets injured in the warm up — who you going to call?
Not a keeper out on loan that is for sure.
So no matter the long term squad planning — talent / potential out on loan — we do we will still need a reserve / back-up GK.
Consequently BS is a good call for the next couple of years until we sort out the youth GK’s.
A back up keeper who knows the league and is a pretty accomplished athlete.
He will get game time or at least he deserves to.
So to me there is a back up keeper and then there is a project with potential.
It might be a case that we work both angles but first we need a back-up.
That is BS for now.
TURKEYBHOY on 22ND JUNE 2022 2:49 PM
“The Lawwel Years”.Yawn.”The old Board”Yawn.”What Lennie did”Yawn.
New wonderful manager in,no sign of how we used to be in the transfer window,because the manager is calling the shots.Everything looking very good,but wait,can’t have this,let’s whinge about the bad old days.
Yep,carry on,yawn.
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Turkeybhoy
Strange that you made no comment on P67 bringing up the goalkeeper issue on two occasions which brought the Lawwell years into focus.
Hey, maybe you never read his intros, or it could have just slipped your mind………
MB @ 2.39
New — badly needed — DM that is hitting the headlines.
Not quite understanding your view on this.
VS — Lommel paid EUR2.5mill two years ago from Brazil.
Surely we would be aiming to buy him rather than asking for a 12 month loan?
Also is he really a sleeper style world beater — if he was I am sure that he would soon be out of our price range.
Interesting to find out the fee that they are looking for.
Anything over EUR5mill would be a surprise.
Or do you think it will be a loan deal first?
AS — bit of a banger but he seems to have a more mainstream career.
Portuguese academy system followed by an early move to Benfica.
Loaned out over 3 seasons then onto a second string — non Big 3 — PL1 team.
When it was live this move seemed to be a loan with a chance to buy.
Consequently not the stick on star that I think we need but still new blood for a difficult position.
L14 @ 3.08
It can be all too painful at times to see PL’s failures laid out in broad daylight.
He really is / was a first class banger when it came to business development and investment strategy.
The annual sweat of the CL qualifiers with half a squad and NB playing at CB is now to painful to contemplate plus the car before the horse business logic that gave the impression that we were being set up to fail so that the CL proper never became a proper part of our season.
The guy was / is a complete muppet yet still many shout his name and continue to clap.
Connelly’s and now Grace’s. I keep bad company. 😳