Huh?
True enough.
It’s absolutely awful though, it will rain blood in Palestine now, the blood of innocent folk.
@Bandage tells anyone that will listen to him about this brilliant story that Brendan Rodger’s tells about Danny McGrain…
Reo Hatate will be out until the new year. A bad hamstring injury unfortunately after he had to come off early against Atletico Madrid. The entire team was flat last weekend in the draw at Hibs after the CL tie, but it’ll be interesting to see how Rodgers adapts.
Bernardo is still finding his feet, Turnbull got starts in the early part of the season when Hatate wasn’t firing/carrying niggles & they’re probably the next two in line. McGregor still looks a fair bit off his best. I thought he was better against Atletico but was passive again at Hibs. I actually felt he was really poor at home to Lazio & didn’t really demand the ball, he was happy to jog around & point to where the centre backs should pass instead of making himself available to receive it. I don’t know if bringing Iwata in & allowing McGregor more licence to get forward might kickstart his season.
As a general point, I think Celtic will struggle to keep 20 players happy in Scotland. Really good players probably won’t be satisfied to sit on the bench in the SP(F)L if they’re not getting minutes in the derbies & European games. Plus Celtic wouldn’t have the finances to carry that many players of equal standard I guess. But the weekend showed there’s quite a fall off in standard from starters plus the main injured absentees (Hatate, Abada, Naiwrocki) to the filler that came off the bench (Ralston, Forrest, Mikey Johnston, Turnbull, even Oh too).
1 Like
Giako was a big loss imho. Could have changed that game against Hibs. I absolutely agree that outside the first 15 or 16, there are a lot of mundane players, who’ll do a job, but not much more. Scales was a great find though.we are still short a scary striker.
1 Like
It’s a really tough one to manage and something Ange struggled to manoeuvre too
1 Like
I really liked Giakoumakis too but I think he was a prime example of a lad who didn’t want to stay at Celtic to play second fiddle behind Kyogo & not get enough minutes in the big games. If you recall, Kyogo ended up badly tearing his hamstring in Ange’s first season - he pretty much came back too soon from the initial strain, scored the League Cup Final winning double & was then out again for 2-3 months - so Giakoumakis got significant game time in the second half of that season. But with Kyogo firmly restored to the side as main striker, Giakoumakis didn’t look all that pleased to be back up again in the first half of last season. I think he’s a good bit better than Oh based on what we’ve seen from the latter so far, albeit he’s younger with more room to improve (maybe).
1 Like
I’d still hope for Oh. Nunez is a classic example (and graylish) of a lad that just needed time to settle. It’s a huge culture shock in addition to everything else.
Not sure what’s happened to Holm. Is it just because he’s suspended in Europe but he has slipped down the pecking order.
Every time I see Oh I’m impressed. His build up play is better than Giakoumakis. As you said, he needs an injury really to get a look in and clearly that’s not something we want.
I forget about Holm but I’d read some Rodgers quotes from yesterday’s press conference since my own post & saw reference to Holm being back in contention. As you say, he was suspended in Europe but (without mentioning a specific injury) the tone seemed to be he was back in contention after a knock rather than the suspension. I didn’t notice him being on the bench at Tynecastle or Easter Road anyway. Rodgers namechecked Bernardo & Holm as now having an opportunity to show if they have the mentality/attitude to complement their talent. Said it was up to them to take the chance to get an extended run in the team.
Fuck the PLC
2 Likes
Giako was a great big strong aggressive handful. If Oh develops that level he’d be excellent. Giako was an centre forward to my mind. An aggressive frontman who allowed Celtic to change tack if need be, and a handful for any defender because he carried a constant threat. Always showed up in the big games when he got a chance, and never took a backward step against the huns.
He was very good once he got a run in the team and a great alternative option as you say. I’m impressed with Oh though and think his touch around the pitch is better. He really hasn’t had any chance yet - which is probably just unfortunate for him but possibly reflects his training performances. I was very surprised he didn’t come on against Atletico
This Green Brigade thing seems a bit nasty, surely a misstep by the Club? Will the fans stand for this?
1 Like
From chatting to a few of them last season they knew the board wanted them gone long before Atletico match last week. I’d say the board were waiting to pounce for a while and pinned the blame on them with minimal evidence for some messing at Motherwell instead of the real reason.
2 Likes