Finishes 3-1. Impressive performance, particularly going forward in the second half.
Disagree. He’s put in some superb flat corners throughout the group stages. Goal in Lisbon for example.
Reading that we had 1 minute 7 seconds possession and 22 passes involving all 10 outfield players in the lead up to our third goal.
Wonder what in particular about Killie triggered Neil’s decision to select three at the back. Worked a treat obviously and the extra central midfielder allowed Brown and Ledley to raid forward with Wanyama holding. Well, it did in the first half anyway.
Poundage…did scott brown play through the middle today?..Is it fair to say since joining Celtic he has never got a good run of games playing through the middle as a midfielder with carte blanche to pour forward ?..always thought lennon and previous managers restricted him to playing quite a holding centre midfield role or else fcuked him out on the wing…or am I wrong?..He was absolute quality with Hibs when he was given the freedom to get forwrad as much as he wanted…at celtic he seemed to spend too much of his time getting into scrapes in centre midfield with less talented opposition players instead of making those lung busting runs forward…
Scott Brown is a class act, he has played that role under Lennon where he is allowed break forward, had a good run of goals midway through last season when playing this role. He’s just a really good and well rounded player who can play the midfield role that is needed.
Matthews was excellent yesterday IMHO
Liverpool have enquired about Samaras. They mentioned a prospective £5m bid. :lol:
£5m? :lol:
They can have him for 2 matches for £5m. Do they think he was better at Heerenveen when he was sold for more than that?
TASE, what do Australians make of their beloved grandson?
they are in awe of him yet they are bitter that he doesnt represent him -
its like he is roger ramjet that choose to save another nation
Hello scumpot. Celtic played 3 at the back with wing backs on Saturday and it was probably more of a 3-1-4-2 with Wanyama holding, Izaguirre and Matthews bombing on down the flanks and Brown and Ledley driving forward through the middle also. There was excellent width and a lot of fluency too - Hooper and Lassad also dropped deep on occasion allowing Brown and Ledley to go beyond them into the space vacated. I think the formation suited both Brown and Ledley, especially with Wanyama offering protection behind them.
Brown came to prominence playing a similar role for Hibs in their 4-3-3 at the time. Again, they had the insurance of a third central midfield player, which he didn’t have when he first joined Celtic. Strachan played a 4-4-2 with wide players (usually Nakamura on the right and either Maloney/McGeady on the left) and Brown struggled to adapt positionally and the tables were turned in that the opposition often had a third central midfield body in there. He was sometimes moved to the wide right position but was still performing relatively inconsistently in the centre for the most part in Strachan’s last season before being injured for a large part of the Mowbray season. He actually had a major upsurge in form then in 2010/11 in Lennon’s first season when he was moved to the right in a lopsided 4-4-2 where he played narrow with 2 of Ki, Ledley or Kayal in the centre and Commons on the left. He was sometimes called upon to play in the centre too and was much more effective than he had been previously.
He’s taken that on again now over the last 18 months playing the majority of his football in the centre. Lennon’s fairly flexible tactically and has played a number of different formations from 3-5-2 to 4-4-2 to 4-5-1 - Brown still gets called upon to play wide right the odd time (usually away from home when we’re going with a more cautious set up) and he’s done it well, like in Barcelona. But he’s been excellent in the central area for most of the time - he was brilliant in the opening scoreless group game against Benfica and I thought he was superb the other night against Moscow too.
thanks pal…I knew you could provide a thorough and informative answer…great to see the dark days of him being wasted swapping kicks with Keith lasely and the like are thing of the past for the gifted Scott…
[quote=“scumpot, post: 671452”]
thanks pal…I knew you could provide a thorough and informative answer…great to see the dark days of him being wasted swapping kicks with Keith lasely and the like are thing of the past for the gifted Scott…[/quote]
No worries mate. I saw your question on Saturday but wanted to reply in depth on work time rather than my own. The developments in Brown’s game have been very positive but that’s not to say he doesn’t still enjoy a running battle with some SPL hacker or other from time to time.
Cup replay tonight away to Arbroath and the squad have stayed overnight in Carnoustie. No new injury concerns. Lustig and McCourt have resumed training and Forrest is scheduled to return to the fold from next Monday onwards. Hooper has overcome a virus too and Neil Lennon stated yesterday that he planned to select a strong team. Tonight’s game is live on Sky Sports.
Am I right in saying that while Lustig and McCourt are back training that they’re not in contention for tonight? Should have enough to beat Arbroath without them, even away from home.
I’m not certain on that point, Rocko. But check @celticfc on Twitter between 6.30pm and 7pm and the team selection and subs announcement should clarify your query.
Thanks for that Bandage. It’s nice conversing with someone on here who knows what they’re talking about.
Celtic’s Kris Commons and Gary Hooper are making an appearance at the club shop on Argyle Street, Glasgow, tomorrow afternoon. A great opportunity for the Bomber, if he’s in Glasgow, to have a go at these two fat lazy bastards for scoring the goals last week that sent us through to the Champions League last 16.
Arbroaths pitch is meant to be right beside the sea…it will be fookin baltic up there tonite…
:lol:
Very good.