Celtic v ICT

Download TVU from here: http://www.sendspace.com/file/ihpcx3

Then unzip the install file and run it

Then play the match from the link on this page: http://www.footballstreaming.info/schedule/streams/scotland.html

Celtic are one up thanks to Big Jan

We had a nervy spell there after going one up and Boruc made one magnificent save but we improved again to score a second through Donati. Playing lovely football now and it’s good to see how well Aiden is doing after his disappointing international performances.

Looks like a good game to watch. Whats the team rock? Only caught the last minute or so.

Team is:

Boruc

Wilson Caldwell McManus Naylor

Naka Brown Donati Aiden

Jan McDonald

Donati took his goal very well - he makes great runs into the box.

Would like to see Riordan, O’Dea and Killen come on in the second half in place of McManus, McGeady and Jan. Vital we are fresh for Tuesday.

I’m sure we’ll see changes now that we’re 3 up. What a goal that was by Naka.

I’d be anxious to give Scotty Brown a rest as he played 180 tough minutes for Scotland, though he’s a fit guy.

Excellent stuff so far all right. Today could have been a day when we were sluggish after international break. Encouraging to see us get straight back to playing great football.

Sno for Brown was a good decision. Brown has played a lot recently as you mentioned. Sno could certainly do with game time also. GIves me the impression he might start Sno on Tuesday. The longer he leaves Aiden on the likelier Hartley is to start in Moscow also imo. Any thoughts?

In Donetsk you mean? Yeah I’d agree that Hartley looks the more likely starter now that you say it but hadn’t thought of it like that.

Good to see the fifth going in with 20 minutes to go. Too often these days we only score the 5th with a few minutes left.

Donetsk yeah sorry. Convinced Hartley will start now that we have made our three subs and McGeady wasn’t taken off. Interesting to see how the new combination up front will do for the last ten.

Nice to see McGowan getting a run. He was out on loan with Morton last year and played very well for them. We turned down a 100k bid from them last month which shows we rate him highly. He was the only player to do well against Finn Harps in that pre-season game apparently.

Cracking performance. Lots of excellent individual performances but I think Aiden was probably MOTM for me.

Goals:

Donati: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2ze72_donati-goal-celtic-v-inverness-1509_sport

Naka: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2zeiv_nakamura-celtic-v-inverness-1509200_sport

Jan’s second: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2zeks_jvoh-celtic-v-inverness-15092007_sport

Who would have thought a few months ago that we’d finish a league game with a front partnership of McGowan and Killen (as said to me by a new friend I made watching the game in town yesterday)?

Played some lovely stuff at times without extending ourselves. Have goal threats all over the park now too which is excellent although we did give up 3 or 4 good chances and Artur made one save of astounding quality. My man of the match was Scott McDonald, who has been a complete revelation for me and was involved in 4 of the 5 goals.

I wasn’t overly impressed by Scott McDonald yesterday though he did very well for Jan’s second goal in particular. The difference from last season is immense isn’t it? We’re flying forward from midfield now and we look like scoring every time we attack. The big challenge will be defensively where we look less certain but I think Caldwell and McManus will improve again as a partnership the more games they play together and it’s a huge improvement on Pressley’s efforts in pre-season and at the end of last year.

Part of our defensive uncertainty probably emanates from the midfield bombing on all the time now but with the football we’re playing then I’m happy to allow them get on with things.

Caldwell/McManus are bedding down that partnership again and McManus has had an outstanding start to the season for club and country so overall things look in good shape.

McManus article from The Scotsman:

The remarkable rise from Bhoy to man
TOM ENGLISH

THEY sat side by side on the bench that night, one old dog coming to the end of a long road, one young pup barking and yelping and impatient for a run. It was October 20, 2004, a Wednesday in Donetsk, a Wednesday when the name of Francelino Matuzalem flashed across the consciences of the Celtic fans and left a permanent mark, a Wednesday that Paul Lambert and Stephen McManus, among others, will not forget.

Thirty minutes in and Jackie McNamara gets injured. Jackie’s replacement is McManus, a left full-back in the eyes of the manager Martin O’Neill. Jackie hits the deck and immediately McManus’s back straightens and his eyes widen and on his face Lambert can see that “oh f***” moment that every young player experiences when he’s about to enter an arena that is utterly alien to him.

“Good luck, Mick,” Lambert says.

But Mick McManus says nothing. He doesn’t even look at Lambert. He looks straight ahead and goes out to play his first Champions League game. Celtic get destroyed 3-0 and Lambert goes up to McManus in the aftermath and asks how he is. He’s fine. Really? “Really.” Why wouldn’t he be? Hadn’t he been waiting for an opportunity like that since he was a boy? Hadn’t he wished it and dreamt it for years? How was he? He was on top of the world.

Spoke to Willie McStay the other day. If you want to learn about McManus, Willie McStay is not a bad starting point. “My father scouted him, you know,” he says. “Himself and Hugh McGovern. They were a double act. Still are. I’d get these calls every weekend. 'You gotta have a wee look at this boy, McManus. He’s a wide lefter, got stature, he can get past people and deliver crosses. You gotta do something. This kid has a chance.” Willie went to Sunderland to view the apple of his father’s eye. He remembers it well. A day in August in 1994. Down to the Sunderland international tournament he went. Celtic had a team there and McManus played on its left flank. He saw enough that afternoon to know the old man was right. He called home. “Aye, he fitted the picture you painted. We’ve got to do something right enough.”

They did plenty. They signed him, encouraged him, shaped him. They withdrew him from wide left midfield to left full-back and then into centre-back. "He wasn’t too sure about centre-back. We sat him down one day, got a piece of paper out and said ‘right, let’s put down here the things you’re really good at’. The pen came out and by the time they’d put it back down again McManus was a centre-half.

A lot has happened since then, a lot of good stuff and a lot of bad stuff. O’Neill didn’t buy the McManus conversion. The few chances he gave him were at full-back and they came and went in dribs and drabs. “You could see he was made for Celtic,” said Lambert, but he wasn’t getting an opportunity. Not with the immovable forces of Balde and Varga and Valgaeren ahead of him. “All you had to do was be around him and you knew he had it,” added Lambert. “He was hungry for work. And I mean hungry. He was an animal for it. You see some young fellas coming into first team training and they arrive with their shoulders back and their heads in the air and they disappear in a whimper an hour later. Mick arrived quietly and with no bullshit. I remember saying to Lenny one day, ‘this one’s got a bit of something’. Lenny says, ‘aye, you can tell’.”

Not everybody could tell. O’Neill struggled to see it but Strachan did not. Under O’Neill, McManus had his moments when he thought about leaving, thought about taking up one of the many offers that came his way. Nothing personal. It was just the way it is. He needed to play. “The thing was that John Kennedy and Stephen signed full-time terms on the same day and John progressed far quicker than Stephen,” says McStay. “John was a man at 16. A man! Stephen only got that way at 21. I know he got dejected but he dusted himself down every time. That was the making of him. He wanted to be a Celtic player so badly you wouldn’t believe it.”

Everybody said it would happen. He was with his agents one night. Martin Reilly, Mark Donaghy, McManus and Lennon, who they also represent, all sitting down for a chat. Reilly says, “I’m going to make a prediction and you see if I’m not right. Mick, you’re going to captain Celtic one day and what’s more you’ll captain Scotland.” McManus, a Celtic reserve, laughed out loud. Shut your noise, Reilly. “One down, one to go,” said Reilly, in August when Strachan handed McManus the captain’s armband and told him he was the only man for the job.

Strachan raves about him, not just as a player but as a man. A proper man at 25. Not since Billy McNeill has there been a younger captain. Not since Paul McStay has there been a captain that has come through the ranks. Now Alex McLeish is raving too. In the last week we saw two breathtaking defensive performances from McManus, first against Lithuania at Hampden (where he also managed to score the critical goal) and secondly against France where his leadership was immense and where his ability to read the game and throw himself in front of danger stirred the soul.

“I love that guy,” said McLeish on Thursday. “I love him in every way, shape and form because he wants to learn, he is a willing listener and he’s a professional. I saw him as a kid as a left back and I thought, well, I’m no sure, but ever since he came in to the Celtic team at centre-back…”

Celtic return to Donetsk on Tuesday night. The Ukrainians will notice many changes in the visitors but the greatest one of all, you suspect, will be in the authority of one player, who was a boy the last time they saw him but who’s done a bit of growing up since then. From a minnow to a colossus in three years. Makes you wonder what he’ll be like in three more.

That’s a cracking article. Plenty of players could learn an awful lot from McManus and his attitude.

Celtic v ICT: Player Ratings (Sept 07)
Written by Tommy Cockles
Sunday, 16 September 2007
Celtic 5 - 0 ICT

Saturday 15 September 2007

Player Ratings

Artur Boruc: Another solid and reliable performance from the ‘Pole in the Goal’. You’d think from the final scoreline that Boruc had a quiet afternoon, but he stayed alert enough to make a couple of excellent saves at important times and generally marshalled his defence to another satisfying clean sheet. A key player for Celtic. (8)

Mark Wilson: Performed capably in his defensive role, and managed to back up Nakamura in forward positions when he could - was unlucky with a late long-range effort. This game continued a run of decent performances as the lad looks to return to the consistency that made him such a good prospect when he first came to the club. (7)

Gary Caldwell: You pretty much know what you’re going to get with Caldwell and we pretty much got it again on Saturday. He was tidy in possession, moved the ball from back to midfield without too much fuss and contributed to a defence which perfomed reasonably well as a unit. Solid enough display. (7)

Stephen McManus: Returned from a good couple of performances for his country to another reliable and solid performance for his club. As with the rest of the defence, he did what he needed to do - and did it without too much fuss. (7)

Lee Naylor: He’s settled down a bit over the past few games after a shaky start to the season. Saturday’s game was another small step in what will hopefully be a return to his form of last season. Still needs to maintain concentration and improve that crossing. (6)

Shunsuke Nakamura: Simply oozes class, and is starting to benefit from the fact that the team now has a few more options when it comes to unpicking opposition defences. He was at his best when drifting behind the front two and played an important part in Celtic’s opener. His goal was simply outstanding. (8)

Massimo Donati: The classy Italian was one of a number of Celtic midfielders who vied for the MOTM award. He sprayed an impressive range of passes about the park as he drove his side on. His goal was a touch of class, drifting into the box, dropping his shoulder and selling a stepover dummy to a bemused ICT defender before stopping and curling the ball into the far corner of the net from a tight angle. He tired towards the end of the game without the dynamic Scott Brown beside him. (8)

Scott Brown: Another player returning from impressive performances for his country. He seemed to be playing a little deeper, but still bossed the midfield and linked well with Donati. Perhaps lacked the forward drive of recent weeks, but we’ll forgive him that as he still played his part in getting the team to a position where Strachan could afford to rest him later in the game. (7)

Aiden McGeady: By all accounts had a less satisfying time on his International duty, but was well up for this game - giving Ross Tokely, in particular, a torrid time. When Aiden is in this sort of mood he opens up lots of space for his team-mates as defenders are forced to double and treble up on him. He still has a tendency to overplay the ball, and needs to work on his end product but his overall contribution on Saturday was excellent. (8) ETims MOTM

Scott McDonald: Having broken his league duck with Celtic in the last game, McDonald would have been hoping to push on and he could - and probably should - have scored a couple more in this game. It was not to be, however, but he still earns plaudits for work-rate and assists, with involvement in 2 Celtic goals. Continues to earn his place. (7)

JVoH: The big Dutchman continues to do a reasonable impersonation of a hybrid of John Hartson and Kris Boyd (shudder). Does next to nothing in the game but still delivered two goals. That’s his job, so I’m not going to complain. (7)

Used Subs:

Sno (for Brown): Still looks lethargic and short of pace. (5)

Killen (for JVoH): Made little contribution (5)

McGowan (for McDonald): Showed plenty of energy and buzzed about the ICT box, albeit without much end product (6)

Gordon Strachan: Decided to play his best 11 and get the points on the board before resting key players ahead of the CL campaign. Can’t argue with his decision given the result. (7)