Sly.
Farmer, you make way too many assumptions. Never said anything about Crouch knocking the ball down to anyone. We need pace alongside him to compensate for Crouch’s lack of it. I prefer football palyed on the deck similar to the stlye that will be played by the mighty freekick team of 2007.
Didn’t want to bring him up as I didnt want to get you on your moral highground again
For the record my position still stands. I would like to see David Villa and Ashton join
On the Crouch subject, while he isn’t a superb header of the ball goalwards he’s decent around the park for flicks on and the likes I think.
Always quote. :o
Clearly I’ve missed something here.
On Crouch’s heading ability, he’s ok at the little flicks and whatnot but not great. And especially for his height.
Regarding Celtic I think yesterday’s performance brought a few things home:
- I don’t want to attack Lennon or overly personalise it but he’s finished as a player for Celtic. He’s not motivated enough for the SPL anymore. Their goalscorer (Thompson) ran blind side of him yesterday and headed the ball home. Lennon didn’t see him on his stroll back but he didn’t see him because he didn’t care enough to look behind him to see if there was anyone to mark. I’d have castigated myself for doing that at my level of football and I expect far more from a Celtic player.
The guy isn’t enjoying his football as much anymore and it shows. I think he’d still do a job for Sunderland or someone where he had fresh impetus but I don’t think he’s capable of motivating himself for our SPL games anymore. He’s had to put up with too much shit over the years in Scotland (more today) that he should just leave.
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Kenny Miller was unlucky enough not to score yesterday, couple of decent blocks, but after a decent start he went out of the game after a while. The Beat kept showing down the channels but Miller’s confidence is shot so he just went out of it. It’s a pity because his attitude and runs at the start of the season were excellent but he’s now dropping off looking for the ball because he seems afraid to run in behind. Not Celtic class.
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The Beat. I’m not changing my mind on this lad again, he’s not good enough. The most infuriating striker in the world. On his day he’s nearly unplayable but by God is he bad when his touch is off. His penalty was pathetic, really pathetic. He ran all day and to be fair he never gives up and never stops shooting but he can’t be relied upon for consistency so what’s the point? Not good enough to start and you’d be loathe to throw him on off the bench in case he’s having a stinker so I’d let him pass on.
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Pressley was brutal yesterday. He let Gow bully him. He doesn’t organise the defence as well as I suspected he did and while I don’t think he’s that bad a player he wasn’t good yesterday. Still with himself, Mick, Darren, Gary and El Presidente we probably have enough cover there.
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Tommy G didn’t get much of a chance yesterday but Hartley didn’t cover himself in glory when he was on there either. I can’t understand why Gravesen isn’t our first choice midfieler but if he’s not going to start then we need someone to play ahead of Hartley in that role.
On the Kuyt thing, I certainly don’t think he’s a 20 goals a season man. Ashton is a lovely little player but again not a 20 a season man imo and he’s probably very overvalued. Wouldn’t mind picking up Nugent from Preston for a couple of mill and giving him a run. Been impressed the few times I’ve seen him. Not sure why he hasn’t scored more this season. Presumably due to injury?
Miller’s not a good striker in fairness. Tbh I reckon his best position is marking the left full back.
Nugent looks a good player alright - not sure if he’s been injured this season.
Good call on Miller. That’s an important position. Wait till our astro team have success with it. Egg on your face then.
Agreed on nearly all of that.
Beat was excellent for the few weeks before the first Milan game and then got injured and missed the home tie. When he was brought on in the San Siro you just hoped that he’d pick up where he left off but he was awfully erratic and was again yesterday. He’s just too inconsistent and that isn’t good enough at Celtic.
After initially supporting Miller through his early season problems I concluded he wasn’t Celtic class in December when he missed those two one on ones in Copenhagen. As you say at least he had the confidence to make those runs in behind back then. Now his belief has been shot to pieces and he rarely threatens in any games.
It’s crazy how inept we are up front considering we had Larsson, Sutton and Hartson only 3 years ago and even before that there was Viduka, Big Pierre, Cadete and the likes. Our top scorer this season probably won’t even threaten to score 20 goals.
Pressley is a decent player. Not very good. Not excellent. But will do a job when required. That said I’d prefer to see O’Dea get some game time.
Willing to give Hartley more time to bed himself in before I make any firm conclusions. Would like to see Gravesen get a run of games too and while Lennon has been quite good in the big games this season it is time for him to go. I’d be quite disappointed if he was offered another year. The thing is he’s only been captain for 2 seasons and is likely to win 2 titles. His own personal ambition/ego will probably see him wanting to stay on to captain 3-in-a-row so I hope Strachan is firm enough to hold off on giving him another year. They seem to be very close though.
He made a bit of a mess of the chance but Magic nearly equalised within a minute of coming off the bench yesterday. I think he has disimproved this season but out of Miller, the Beat et al Magic is the one I’d keep to bring off the bench for a goal. At least you know he can finish, the other lads are a lottery.
Not really concluding on Hartley yet or anything like it, more pointing out that he didn’t dominate the game at all yesterday and was culpable in a very disappointing midfield performance.
Coming back to this with a couple more names for Celtic
Marat Izmailov was linked with us about 3 or 4 years ago. Russian playmaker, 24. Looked good for Russia the few times I’ve seen him but haven’t seen him with Lokomotiv Moscow.
Short clip of him:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amMeexZxoVA
I’ve seen Humberto Suazo recommended on another forum. Chilean striker, a touch heavy but 31 goals in 31 games for Colo Colo and 4 in 12 for Chile.
Anyone know much about Muslimovic for Bosnia?
Thought I’d throw his name into the ring.