The Lotw Diary- 3 Days and Calming
When you think of Celtic, you think of bravery, you think of leaders and great skill and artists. Celtic’s history is littered wie players who where brought up the Celtic Way and it’s only recently that a foreign element have grown to love the club through firstly money then the passion we as a support have.
We always have had players whom Celtic was a way of life before they fulfilled all oor dreams by pulling on the hoops. Sometimes the weight of the jersey was too much for them and especially in the early 90’s it was too great for their limited ability.
Fitbaw changed and over the last 15 years, since Fergus, we have become a buying club. Oor modest spends were no more with us taking advantage of revenue streams unseen in oor history. When the market went pear shaped and we had to doon size one of the plus sides of this, for me, was the turning to young players and Scottish players to see Celtic through.
The fact we already had a youth system in place, which was geared to producing players of not SPL but CL quality meant that money would be saved. It has been saved, yes and we have produced players now that are termed 1st team regulars and also we have signed players from the SPL and Scottish internationalists.
This is what makes Saturday debacle so galling. We had players from a Celtic background and Scottish players whom know what it is aboot. Instead it was left to a Pole to have a show of defiance and an English left back to epitomise the fabled Celtic spirit.
Mick, Caldwell, McGeady, Lennon and Hartley are all Celtic men. Maybe their Celtic-ness has been diluted over the years through not watching the club while progressing their own careers but the feeling they should have pulling on that jersey should bring back childhood memories of the jungle. The fact none of them crunched through an Adam, Hutton, Novo or Fergie- something EVERY ONE of us would have done- is a disgrace.
They knew how we would be feeling.
Miller and Pressley know the score as well. While not being Celtic minded they know the importance of the game. To be hassled oot the game wie nothing but Scottish graft and harrying is nothing sort of disgraceful when over half the team know what this game is aboot and over half the team have the Scottish traits that are making the meeja think the h*ns are great.
The game wasn’t a great advert for Scottish fitbaw. In fact if it wisnny involving ma team I would have switched over after 15 mins it was that poor. Maybe that’s the doonside of bring in players wie a Scottish trait, lack of quality but usually us Scots don’t mind that as there is usually effort.
When you get none, sometimes the road to Damascus seems long and the vision of a mostly homegrown Celtic-minded team mixed wie foreigners is sheer folly. Maybe they just haven’t got the same mentality that was expensively assembled by Saint Martin of O’Neill.
Maybe again I’m just scunnered by the attitude of the modern day fitbawer….
Forza The Hoops
We always have had players whom Celtic was a way of life before they fulfilled all oor dreams by pulling on the hoops. Sometimes the weight of the jersey was too much for them and especially in the early 90’s it was too great for their limited ability.
Fitbaw changed and over the last 15 years, since Fergus, we have become a buying club. Oor modest spends were no more with us taking advantage of revenue streams unseen in oor history. When the market went pear shaped and we had to doon size one of the plus sides of this, for me, was the turning to young players and Scottish players to see Celtic through.
The fact we already had a youth system in place, which was geared to producing players of not SPL but CL quality meant that money would be saved. It has been saved, yes and we have produced players now that are termed 1st team regulars and also we have signed players from the SPL and Scottish internationalists.
This is what makes Saturday debacle so galling. We had players from a Celtic background and Scottish players whom know what it is aboot. Instead it was left to a Pole to have a show of defiance and an English left back to epitomise the fabled Celtic spirit.
Mick, Caldwell, McGeady, Lennon and Hartley are all Celtic men. Maybe their Celtic-ness has been diluted over the years through not watching the club while progressing their own careers but the feeling they should have pulling on that jersey should bring back childhood memories of the jungle. The fact none of them crunched through an Adam, Hutton, Novo or Fergie- something EVERY ONE of us would have done- is a disgrace.
They knew how we would be feeling.
Miller and Pressley know the score as well. While not being Celtic minded they know the importance of the game. To be hassled oot the game wie nothing but Scottish graft and harrying is nothing sort of disgraceful when over half the team know what this game is aboot and over half the team have the Scottish traits that are making the meeja think the h*ns are great.
The game wasn’t a great advert for Scottish fitbaw. In fact if it wisnny involving ma team I would have switched over after 15 mins it was that poor. Maybe that’s the doonside of bring in players wie a Scottish trait, lack of quality but usually us Scots don’t mind that as there is usually effort.
When you get none, sometimes the road to Damascus seems long and the vision of a mostly homegrown Celtic-minded team mixed wie foreigners is sheer folly. Maybe they just haven’t got the same mentality that was expensively assembled by Saint Martin of O’Neill.
Maybe again I’m just scunnered by the attitude of the modern day fitbawer….
Forza The Hoops
posted by Keving at Wednesday, May 09, 2007
13 Comments:
Kevin - like the rest of us: calming a bit but still as perplexed.
You are right the players should know the score and are not blameless. But the single most influencing factor on the team is the manager.
Look across the road - the same uglies are playing but their manager has transformed them in the space of a few months.
Look at Dunfermline - a new manager comes in and they're beating all and sundry and are in with a decent chance of a bit of silverware as well the way things are going.
One thing I don't understand in our setup is this.
GS picks the team, lays out the gameplan, and (supposedly) gees up the players.
What if Burns and Pendry think that the selection and tactics are mince (for whatever reason), do they have a say?
Of if the senior players think that playing one guy up against two big central defenders isn't going to work, do they have a say?
I hope to God that they discuss tactics together BUT it is kinda worrying if they are ALL getting it wrong!
Six- was thinking aboot the uglies being transformed. I’m finding it hard not to compare them to the many run’s we went on when the pressure was off towards the end of the season. Remember at times thinking guys like Pat McGinley and Mark McNally could do a job for us due to end of season performances.
The evil ones are feeling the sameway. The evil ones players see the opportunity where under the old regime they were toast but under the new ones another two year or at least a year at £10,000 a week is now an option before a trip to Preston or derby or Colchester.
Agree the same mistakes keep on getting made off the park. Surely all can see Hartley is not working or are they just trying to get him a medal by playing him?
Or don’t they want to play Tommy G, as they dinny want to pay him?
I hope all the backroom and senior players have influence. Mind you do you really want Elvis telling GS what to do?
The discipline of systems usually errs on the side of caution. That`s where Gravesen doesn`t fit in. If a team plays an extra forward then do Celtic keep another man back? Possibly.
What if the opposition say, `only one striker that`s us pushing a player into midfield`, what would Celtic do?
I remember under Wim Jansen that other coaches would play wingers to occupy our full backs but what if our backs pushed up instead of tried to be cautious?
You have to be the bold one on occasions!
Come on the Bhoys!
Ian - I can understand the need for caution in certain circumstances. But with the league wrapped up, I just can't fathom this cautious approach.
And, surely, in the context of the SPL, other teams should be worrying about how we're lining up.
I remember when we used to be called the "Bold Bhoys" but that was back when men were men, wimen appreciated the fact, and Gordon was still reading the "Oor Wullie".
Crivvens, it just occurred to me, maybe he still is...
Still not an excuse though!
:o)
I once heard Gordon on MOTD talking about how Man U flood the box with players. Do you remember seeing Celtic do that?
At least Celtic are modern, two deep lying midfielders, wingers that come in and er it kinda stops there.:-)
(I remember an abysmal showing against Hibs in April 1977 when the league was won with a 1-0 win and when the goal was scored the Bhoys had 7 men in the box in open play. The rest of the game was McGrain pass backs to Latchford. :-/)
Let`s have a water tight defence and a lethal attack and I won`t worry about midfield! :-)
GS has said that he feels that when we play against a 5 man midfield we get over-run. Hence his excuse for playing Hartley and Lenny deep since the dire in Dundee.
He has worked out that all teams play a 5 man mid against us hence his experiment with a 4-5-1 or a 4-2-3-1 as he tried on Sat- well according to naka he played that.
We have to ask how often do teams play 2 up front and surely yer four at the back plus on deeper lying mid can handle two attackers?
If yer getting over run in the mid then drop one of yer strikers back wide and tuck a wide man in for a spell.
If you have the ball then your formation should work..when you don't have the ball you work to get it back a big problem that didnae happen on Saturday.
Seems judging by GS interview in the evening times yesterday he is asking the same the questions as us and is questioning himself.
He seems as puzzled as us....which is worrying....
Flood the box? Is that what a dodgy plumber does to get a job?
Ceratinly the hoops don't do that. But earlier in the season i seem to remember Naka, Aide, Jaro, Grav and Stan breaking into the box....
Thing is we have a centre mid that is defense minded & we have nobody that's crunching in with ball-winning tackles & moving the ball forward wi' a bit of pace, making a bee line for the opposition penalty box.
More often than not, we win the ball in midfield by intercepting or benefitting from a slack pass.
Then what happens - at best a sideways pass to the mate who will either pass it back to you or to a second mate who will edge forward a yard before passing it back to you zzzzzzz etc etc zzzzzzzzzzz, until it comes, the big hopeful 40 yard punt up to big Jan (EVEN when he's off the park to get patched up due to the punishment he's taken trying to get on the end of 40 yard punts).
Meantime the opposition have regrouped and are throwing themselves into ball-winning tackles. If they do get the ball back, no questions asked, they make a bee-lie in the direction of Artur. And it's panic stations from Elvis & Co.
One time out of 20, Jan will get a free kick in Naka territory and, all credit to him, he puts it away more often than not.
If GS is puzzled maybe he should try an experiment that consists of fighting for every ball, playing the ball forward at pace, getting forward in numbers, hitting the bye line a few times, and having a few shots a goal.
If we are going to experiment, let's do it in style, eh, Gordon. And there's only two experimenting days left before the squeaky bum cup final.
Got the cup final tickets from Hampden. That`s a nice change, it`s usually the week before. Teddy Bjarnason to start on Saturday!
Forza Bhoys!
six-coulnae agree more wie that assessment.
we require hartley to return to his Hearts form and the Grav to find some sort of form.
Lucky man,Ian - well done.
I will be coming over to sunny Scotland that weekend - coincidence it just happens to be the weekend where there will be a lot of Lisbon Lions stuff going on.
I feel a bit like one of those salmon that got to get back to its birthplace, although don't think I'll be doing much spawning...
Will probably watch the game on the box, as tickets will be like golddust.
Still, you never know your luck, a bit of spawning and a tciket for the final... we live in hope :o)
you might be lucky mate
It would be excellent to have a well functioning midfield, either in retaining possession or reclaiming it. Both would be good. The first league game of the season saw a 4-1 victory with Petrov and Jarosik in the middle. They didn`t fully pass the Tynecastle test the following week but it was Lenny who gave one that away. Getting back to the standard of the league highlight of the season (in July )would be a job well done for Gordon Strachan!
I could expect Celtic to be complacent about next season when viewing the latest Rangers signing but the club should be striving to improve no matter what the opposition do. It`s our thing!
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