As I have said on another thread it’s plainly obvious Celtic need a striker to partner Jan. Someone with a predatory instinct who will read and get onto his little flicks and touches. If they have pace and movement too then that would be nice.
Also, a goal threat from central midfield would be welcome. Milan figured us out somewhat by having 2 men on Naka and Aiden as there’s no real threat from the centre with Sno/Lennon. Obviously Hartley’s there for next season and if Lenny goes then Sno can take up the defensive midfield mantle. I’d like to keep Gravesen too but you want 2 options for each position so that entails getting another box office midfielder in. There would be a nice mix between these 4.
I also wouldn’t mind another full back. Telfer is likely to go and we don’t know how good this Doumbe guy is. Wilson has had an injury affected season but it’d be good for competition to get someone else in. Other than that I’m happy enough. The development of O’Dea and the signing of Pressley covers the centre back area.
The only other thing I’d consider would be signing a right winger that might allow Naka to play infield but in order of priority imo it’s:
Striker
Central midfielder
Utility full back.
So, who to get rid of?
Kenny Miller: Not Celtic class and if Everton or Newcastle, who have been linked with him, offer 2m then I’ll go over and carry Miller down across the border myself.
Magic Zurawski: Even when he scored goals last season I wasn’t all that big a fan of the guy. He scores against a lot of shit teams too and rarely made any impact in the Huns, Hearts or Hibs games bar the goal at Ibrox last season. This season he’s seemed laboured and has been injured a lot. He’s hitting 30 now too and some mid-ranking Bundesliga sides are sniffing around him so I’d gladly take a fee of 1.5m for him. Then we can have Riordan, Beattie, hopefully Sheridan and the new striker battling it out to partner Jan
Neil Lennon: Celtic to the core but there comes a time when you have to move on. We need to inject more pace into our game from midfield and Lenny will be 36 next season. There’s talk of him looking for another year’s extension but I hope he bows out while holding the Cup aloft at Hampden.
Jiri Jarosik: I just don’t know what to make of this guy. He strolls, looks disinterested, casual and lazy and then scores. In about a handful of games he’s been decent and I thought he did well the other night in Milan. But he was signed as central midfielder and rarely gets played there because his work ethic is quite poor. Instead he’s shunted out left or asked to play as a stand0in striker when everyone’s injured. Seeing as he hasn’t made the required impact in his natural position then I’d be satisfied to accept a couple of million from some EPL side for him.
Dianbobo Balde: With the emergence of McManus and O’Dea along with the signings of Caldwell and Pressley and hopefully the return of John Kennedy we don’t really need Bobo any more. He’s the wrong side of 30 now too and is one of the highest earners at the club so selling him will free up more wages for transfers. Had he not broke his leg in December he possibly would have joined Aston Celtic in January. They might come back in for him in the summer.
That’s all I can think of for now.
We need a little bit of extra quality rather than quantity and we’ll be well set on both the domestic and European fronts.
Agreeing with you on who we need to punt and the areas we need to strenghten. A couple of weeks ago we were all screaming for a centre back but with the emergence of O’Dea and Pressley not being cup-tied next season we have better cover. There is probably just enough there with Caldwell, O’Dea, McManus and Pressley - assuming Balde goals.
A full back will be needed and it remains to be seen whether that will be Perrier-Doumb or not. Hart at Aberdeen would be an adequate signing I think.
In midfield, again assuming Lennon leaves, we’d have Sno as a holding player with Gravesen and Hartley capable of getting forward. So I think we need to look at someone who can play deep, though if they’ve an engine that allows them to bomb forward all the time as well as covering back then that would be ideal.
We’re pretty sorted for wingers with Riordan, Naka and Aiden considering any of Hartley, Gravesen or Jarosik could play wide if asked.
Up front we need a goalscorer pure and simple. Preferably with a bit of pace, but not at the expense of finishing ability. We created an abundance of chances on Sunday and Miller just wasn’t up to it. Nothing wrong with his attitude or anything he’s just not good enough.
Possible strikers for Celtic next season: (in my order of preference)
Eduardo da Silva - 24 year old Brazilian and Croatian nationality. 6 goals in 10 appearances for Croatia (including one against England in the current campaign). He scored for Dinamo Zagreb against Arsenal at the start of this season in CL qualifiers and he played superbly that day if I recall. He then got 18 goals in 18 games before the winter break.
Afonso Alves - 26 year old Brazilian striker with over 20 goals this season for Herrenveen in the Eredivisie. He had two 20+ seasons with Malmo before then.
Mladen Petric - Striker with FC Basel and Croatia. He has 5 goals in 12 appearances for Croatia (4 against Andorra), He got 15 goals with Basel last season, not sure how many he has this year.
Don’t know about Alves signing a pre-contract. He may well have done as he’s hot property in Holland. The trend there seems to be that players prove themselves at a middle club then join one of the big 3 and then get a move abroad. We need to get the guys from the likes of Heerenveen and Roda and AZ Alkamar before they get priced out of our range.
I don’t know much about Petric at all - more of a filler to be honest but I think I heard decent reports on him before.
Da Silva would be a quality signing. Do you recall him playing against Arsenal? I’m pretty sure he was excellent in that game and I’ve seen quite a bit of talk about him over the season.
I’m not totally sure on Alves; just have a feeling I read about it somewhere but I can’t recall where.
I saw Da Silva against Arsenal and for 60 minutes of the game against England. He didn’t stand out against Arsenal but he was excellent in the England game. He looked very quick and direct and his stats suggest he can finish too.
Zagreb had a guy playing in midfield called Modric that looked a player too. He’s since made his Croatian debut and was excellent against England. Might be one to keep an eye on.
We are at a serious disadvantage in comparison to clubs from similar quality leagues like Holland and France because of the UK work permit rules. These other European countries don’t have the requirement that non-EU players have to have played 75% of their countries recent internationals and that allows the likes of PSV to take Alex, who wasn’t given a permit to join Chelsea.
The continuing expansion of the EU is critical to our chances of picking up young gems from Eastern Europe and other smallish nations.
Missed the vast majority of the Celtic game yesterday but it only confirmed how lacking we are up front. Beattie and Miller were truly awful apparently and Lennon was petulant again at the end.
I’m in full support of Strachan but he’s baffling me with team selections more and more recently. McGeady won us the game at Falkirk earlier on in the season with an individual goal late on and was excellent last week against the huns and Strachan relegated him to the bench. What does Riordan, a 20 goal a season man last year for Hibs, have to do to get a start ahead of the 2 bhoys up front?
Really need a midfielder and a striker and I hope all targets are lined up and ready to go. We have to play a 3rd round qualifier this season too so we need the signings in earlier unlike last August when Big Jan, Nails and Tommy G arrived in the last week of August.
rocko, piedppiper, pagey; any thoughts on yesterday?
Liverpool need a lot. Was p1ssed off that I had to go to a family lunch yesterday so was gonna miss the Villa game but half saw it in the pub and it looked shocking. First and foremost I think we need a 20 goal a season man. Huntelaar might be the man.
I’ve said before that we need full backs and that still holds true. Both are solid and dependable but don’t give us enough going forward. I’d be surprised if we were able to get Bale or Dani Alves. Perhaps try and get the injury prone Trabelsi? He’d be difficult to rely on but is a good player when he plays.
Middle of the park seems fine but out wide we struggle badly. Stevie should not play there. Pennant despite the talent doesn’t seem like he’ll ever make it. Don’t think Chelsea would sell us SWP and presumably he’d be way over-priced anyway. Joaquin isn’t getting his game at Valencia so is worth investigating. On the left I’m stumped. We literally have no one. And no one jumps out as a possible signing.
Agree with a lot of that. We need two - maybe even three strikers. The only striker we have at the moment who is anywhere near good enough is Kuyt.
Problems on the wing. Agree with suggestions re right. I would still sniff around Duff for the left. Happy with Finnan at right back so not a priority area. Need a left back. Apparently Bale’s first choice is Liverpool but is he the real deal. We need another centre half - don’t think Agger is good enough as a first choice so I would plump for Woodgate not surprisingly
I think Crouch is better than Kuyt tbh. Certainly in terms of golascoring and touch. Kuyt’s workrate is fantastic and he’s excellent as a first line of defence but I’d prefer to see Crouch start games and Kuyt come on. If you look at Crouch’s recent Champions League and international record it proves he can do it at the top level. Need a quick man beside him though. Also, he’s Liverpool’s top scorer this season despite being third choice and you don’t hear him cribbing in the press or anything. You seem to revere Kuyt Farmer but his strike rate’s not good enough and you’ve said yourself that he seems to always need a second touch to get the ball under control. I’d also point out that his partnership with Bellamy is woeful. They have no understanding of each other, basically steeming from the fact that Bellamy’s not good as an out-and-out number 9 which is where he is playing. Bellamy’s runs are rubbish - all straight lines and straight at the goal.
I hate people saying they need someone nippy for Crouch to know the ball down to. They fail to realise that Crocuh possesses an inability to head the ball.
We have discussed Crouch before and we are never going to agree so there is no point doing it again really.
Re Kuyt I must admit when he joined I really liked him. However I would agree with a lot of that criticism. I also see a lot of similarites to Riise. He has this real energetic way about him, all claps the fans and makes comments as he is somehow a representative of the team. The difference between the two though is that Kuyt has some ability. I think he’s the best striker there but again we are not going to agree
Haven’t seen too much of Liverpool this season but it the consensus that Kuyt isn’t a 20 goal a season man?
Liverpool could do a lot worse than Amauri at Palermo. He looks quality every time I’ve seen him play and is used to playing alongside a big guy (in Carracciolo).
What happened to the talk of Dean Ashton - is he no longer considered the solution?
Joaquin would be a quality winger but I’d be surprised if he moved again so soon. He did well for Valencia against Internazionale so he might be back in the picture again.
Did you not tell me Amauri was joining Barca in the summer when I suggested him as a possible Celtic signing?
What’s this all about with Pires? Do you mean Robert? He’s at Villareal or is it somebody else you speak of?
Not many left sided players jumping out at me either. Had been championing Malouda for the last 2 or 3 years but he had a disappointing World Cup. He could be one to consider though.
Amauri was linked with Barca alright. I didn’t mean we won’t get him because he’s signed a pre-contract: more that he’d cost 20m or so because of the teams that are after him.
What’s your Pires point? You think he’d join Liverpool??? Can’t work out what you’re saying.