Dont agree with that Bandage. I think if you did that poll McGeady would be favoured because he is by far the better player.
The only clown is Stan the man.
I don’t know about that Gerry. I reckon the majority won’t have seen enough of McGeady and will like what they’ve seen of Hunt.
Anyway back to tomorrow’s game. Article from The Herald below which suggests McGeady might be sacrificed due to the surface.
- I’ve no problem in Strachan choosing suitable lineups but I think he looks back on his own experiences too much. He didn’t play McGeady away to ICT last year because he said he wouldn’t have played too well himself. Not particularly logical.
- I don’t have a problem with McGeady making way if it’s that poor a surface and it really doesn’t suit him. However the decision needs to be made on Aiden’s suitability for the surface, not Strachan’s.
- Broadfoot (I think that’s who wrote it) is suggesting Caldwell might come in to offer protection. Zero chance of that happening I’d have thought (and hoped). Caldwell is a centre half, he is absolutely not a midfielder. It’s not a good defensive tactic to play an extra midfielder in the holding role because you can be sure they’ll give the ball away too often, not being used to the lack of time and space. Don’t want to be too critical here because I’ve no reason to believe Strachan is even contemplating what Broadfoot is suggesting.
Diplomacy over plastic pitch finally snaps
Gordon Strachan’s strategy to subdue Spartak Moscow has been compromised by an artificial surface he believes will curtail Celtic’s creative forces.
The manager’s tactical quandary has deepened after a full rehearsal conducted yesterday on the Fieldturf flooring, controversially laid - with FIFA and UEFA approval - inside the Luzhniki Stadium. Initial fears have been confirmed. After displaying a diplomatic bent since the draw for the final qualification round of the Champions League pitted the Scottish champions against the Russian league leaders, Strachan released his pent-up displeasure at the disruptive and restrictive qualities of a tacky, rubber-based field.
Principal among his concerns is the fact that the pitch will hinder rather than help established components of his side such as Shunsuke Nakamura and Aiden McGeady. To that end, he has hinted at a necessary change to his preferred players and, perhaps also, his recognised formation. McGeady, whose wing play is founded on darting changes of pace and direction, may have to be sacrificed for a more robust approach after extensive experimentation gave Strachan cause for alarm.
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“It’s not good for dribbling - put it that way,” he said.
"It’s a sticky surface. The ball doesn’t move well. It’s just not a dribbling surface. There’s a spin to it. If you spin a ball at somebody it’s exaggerated because there’s so much rubber underneath.
"I wouldn’t have liked playing on it because I liked to move the ball and have a go at people and get the ball into feet. I think we have to look at our tactics because dribbling on the pitch is a problem. We had a real look at the pitch this morning and we had a full practice match. We normally don’t do that but we had to test longer passes. We even had a small-sided game and a full game to find out what we could do and what we couldn’t do.
“I’ll have to choose the best side to suit Celtic, no doubt about that.”
Strachan became increasingly animated during the persistent line of questioning and hurtled into one of his bug-bear monologues on recalling that Dunfermline were required to play a UEFA Cup tie against Hafnarfjordur at St Johnstone’s McDiarmid Park despite FIFA part subsidising their ill-fated third generation surface at East End Park.
He was bordering on apoplexy at the fact that the Icelanders were given a say in the choice of away surface.
While Spartak Moscow’s version is of a superior quality to Dunfermline’s short-lived surface, Strachan’s old-school mentality dictates that playing Champions League football on anything other than grass is tantamount to blasphemy.
“Dunfermline had to change their game to St Johnstone, so I find this all very strange,” he began. "We were never given the choice.
I was asking someone the other day if Dunfermline played that game at home and found out they had to play at Perth. I don’t know why there is a distinction other than one club is very rich and the other club isn’t so rich."
His mood, best described as terse ahead of a match with financial implications amounting to around 10m, lightened considerably when presented with a most welcome observation from one of the host journalists inside Moscow’s grand Swissotel. According to folklore, good fortune is bestowed on red-heads in Russia; which, incidentally, is as common a sight as a Scot wearing a ushanka.
“Do I have special luck with my red hair?” he said excitedly. “Great! In Britain, we just get abused.”
The old wives’ tale provided only momentary respite from a mentally taxing build-up to a rummy tie. Artur Boruc, despite travelling with an air of optimism, has succumbed to his shoulder injury. Mark Brown will continue to deputise but Strachan is more vexed by the outfield dilemmas than how his back-up goalkeeper will fare on his Champions League debut.
Stanislav Cherchesov, the former Russian goalkeeper now in charge of Spartak, has continued the expansive policy of his predecessor, Vladimir Fedotov. Roman Pavlyuchenko, the club’s predatory striker, will play despite breaking his wrist during Saturday’s 2-0 win against Krilya Sovietov. Vladimir Bystrov is a shuttling winger with a propensity for diving, while Mark Wilson will encounter the more aggressive Dmitri Torbinski on the other flank.
Mozart, fittingly, orchestrates from a central berth and affords Egor Titov freedom of expression at the fulcrum. Strachan has issued detailed scouting reports of the various departments and will finalise his own set-up today.
There has been a temptation to play Kenny Miller in his Scotland away role’ as a lone striker, supplementing the midfield with another layer of protection in Gary Caldwell. Yet the presence and European pedigree of Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink is likely to prove irresistible. Paul Hartley’s industry is expected to be preferred to a mollified McGeady and Miller may begin the match from a deeper position.
“There’s a lot of mobility and energy in the team - we need to use that,” he said in anticipation of a sweaty evening. “It’s easier to use the energy at home because of the conditions but it’s harder here. It depends how well we handle the ball as to how much we can dictate the game. You can’t dictate when you haven’t got the ball.”
He is hopeful his young side will have learned from parlous past adventures away from home in the Champions League, not least the 3-0 thrashing meted out by Benfica last year. “We have to take that in,” he said. "The lessons we have to learn are about our psyche. I have asked myself what information did we give different players? Did we give them too much? Did we moan at them too much? That’s what we took out of it as coaches. You can get too much information sometimes.
“We’ve told the players: you’re not playing the stadium, you’re not playing the surface, you’re playing a team and we have to make them aware that the team’s got qualities and deficiencies.”
Bandage wrote:
Re McGeady, I think if you did a straw poll of Irish football supporters they would overwhelmingly vote to have Stephen Hunt in the Irish team ahead of McGeady (assuming of course that Duff was fit, which he isn’t, and pushing him to the right and playing Hunt on the left).
This would be a sad, sad reflection on the knowledge of most of the clowns who ‘support’ Ireland.
I don’t agree with that Bandage. Anytime McGeady has come on from the bench (ridiculous to think he didn’t start most of the time) he has always gotten a huge ovation. I think a lot of the public see his potential. If you did a straw poll of RTE panelists I’d say Hunt would start however. Don’t think Brady, Giles, Dunphy etc. would watch Celtic more than once or twice a year however.
Good omen:
Last year before the home game against Benfica I sootd on a wasp and got stung on my foot. We went on to win 3-0
Today I noticed an odd smell at work. Went through some cursory checks and it seems I’m after dragging shit in.
They’re both cases of careless footwork so hopefully they both lead to Celtic victories.
No doubt about it now. We are going to win.
Baby - you coming in to Frazers for the game?
might just go to Gibneys Rock depending what time I can get out of here. If not then Frasers.
i believe the Croppy and Piper are on an all day session sniffing around for distraught females who didnt quite get enough points to do medicine in UCD.
I heard you were watching it somewhere in town other than Frazers? Was I misinfomed.
therock67 wrote:
They’re both cases of careless footwork so hopefully they both lead to Celtic victories.
Jesus if only Celtic had been playing every Wednesday night during the summer they’d be set.
thepiedpiper wrote:
I heard you were watching it somewhere in town other than Frazers? Was I misinfomed.
You were. Check your PMs.
In summary: nowhere else is guaranteed to be showing it. The Liverpool match won’t be over by the time the Celtic game starts. I’m not interested in heading anywhere to see it in the background. Plenty of people don’t like Frazers but it goes out of its way to show every Celtic game and I’m happy to reward them with my custom. There’ll be a decent atmosphere in there anyway.
ClarkeyCat wrote:
therock67 wrote:
[quote]
They’re both cases of careless footwork so hopefully they both lead to Celtic victories.
Jesus if only Celtic had been playing every Wednesday night during the summer they’d be set.[/quote]
Harsh Clarkey. My heart is broken.
As Gerry has said Celtic Moscow and win the game tonight. If we don’t we could be playing Russian Roulette for the return leg.
Piper, what time will you be in Frazers ?
heading into town at 3.15 to meet the croppy. meeting him in a bar near trinity. head to frazers sometime after four i’d say. what are your plans?
just talking to croppy there…gonna meet yas around 3.45.
he was wondering is anyone staying out for wigan and middlesboro ??
Frazers sounds fantastic. http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48/Flano/allnighteof6.gif
Good stuff. Cant hang around for wigan and middlesboro unfortunately as I am going to have to rush home as I want to do some research for the Oxford Cambridage boad race.
I think they’re kicking everyone out after the Celtic game and then it’s tickets only in Frazers for the Wigan match. If you’re not on the waiting list at this stage you’ve no chance. of getting to see it.
Big Jan is an injury doubt:
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/display.var.1618873.0.vennegoor_in_injury_shocker.php
CELTIC striker Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink is an injury scare ahead of tonight’s vital Champions League qualifier against Spartak Moscow.
The giant hitman has been applying ice packs to an injured foot. Manager Gordon Strachan will give him until the last possible moment before making a decision on his participation on the plastic pitch at the Luzhniki Stadium.
It would be a blow if the man considered the club’s No.1 striker was ruled out.
However, Strachan was already considering playing one up to allow five in midfield, with Gary Caldwell a possibility to come in from the cold to add extra defensive cover.
The lone striker role is not necessarily one which suits Vennegoor as much as it does the more mobile Kenny Miller or Scott McDonald.
Strachan will also take into account the condition of the pitch, as he has been told it will have water applied before the game.
This should reduce the stickiness the players encountered when they trained on it for the first time yesterday.
Whatever line-up is selected, captain Stephen McManus will demand his men show nerves of steel.
As he prepared to lead Celtic into a European tie for the first time, the rugged defender said: "Spartak will be confident going into this game. But, I can assure you, so are we.
"People have built this game up because it is the first really big one of the season. We can’t get caught up in all that. We must just focus on doing our jobs.
"What we have learned away from home in Europe is you need to be disciplined or else teams will just go to town on you.
"So we will be disciplined in all we do, and hopefully we can also get a goal.
“Having said that, as we sit here, I would take a goalless draw to take back to Celtic Park.”
McManus is not underestimating the enormity of the challenge if they are to book their 10m ticket to the group stage.
After one of the many briefing sessions, he said: "We know it is going to be tough.
“But that’s no different from what we experience every week with Celtic.”
Mick agrees with his boss when Strachan says the potential the squad have to develop is something which truly excites him.
“It’s obviously a young squad,” said McManus. "But we have terrific ability and a great attitude as well, which is so important.
"It feels good to be part of this and I’m enjoying my role. I know there will be ups and downs, but I want to make sure this is one of the ups.
"I really don’t how it works that some clubs can win championships but still have to play qualifiers, while others go straight into the group stages.
“We just have to make sure we’re in that draw.”
I shall be making a bold bid to escape the clutches of Corporate Ireland in time for kick-off and plan to meet you lot (even that clown croppy) in Frazer’s. I might miss a chunk of the Celtic game but I suppose the main thing is to get in there in time for the Wigan game.