The lad that sends round emails about astro here in work is a big Celtic fan. Refers to us as “bhoys”, signs off “hail, hail” and the like. So I was up at a meeting there (or AWOL as farmer described it) and I hear him on the phone to a mate. While supposed to be listening to the lad I was talking to I started listening in on this guy’s conversation. He’s a little bit worried by Celtic’s defence and the gap between defence and midfield.
But the interesting thing was that he said that McManus is the worst captain (in terms of footballing ability) of Celtic that he can ever remember (since he started supporting Celtic in 79). Just wondered what the Celtic fans on here thought? I think he’s certainly a little suspect. Great heart and determination but not a very intelligent player or able to read the game all that well.
I wouldn’t disagree with much of that but I don’t want to be too critical. It’s not his fault that he’s captain of Celtic and to be honest the job is more his by default because there weren’t many other candidates. Consider that now that Neil Lennon has gone there is nobody left in the starting eleven that featured under O’Neill. He’s as experienced as anyone else in terms of playing for Celtic and he speaks English and has an authority about him on the pitch.
He’s by no means the greatest defender in the world but you have to admire him to a certain extent. He’s all too aware of his limitations but rather than pull out of defenders’ shirts like Pressley he just commits himself 100% to every ball. It can go horribly wrong but I like his honesty and determination.
In an ideal world we’d have a Lennon or a McStay or a Larsson or someone to captain us but those guys simply aren’t at the club anymore. There is nobody like that at the club at the moment. Scotty Brown has the makings of a captain but for the moment McManus is as good as it gets.
I don’t think he’s any worse than Jackie McNamara was in his last season here by the way.
And just to pick up on the other point made by the Celtic fan in your office Clarkey I’d also be weary of the space between the back 4 and the midfield. Rusell Latapy found himself in acres of space in the first half at the weekend and Titov will probably play a similar role for them. I think we’ll be able to cope, simply by being less adventurous than we’d normally be in an SPL game, but it’s something to be aware of alright.
If I were a Celtic fan I’d be quite worried about the qualifier on Wednesday. Despite being at full strength ye looked quite vulnerable at the weekend. Best bet of ye scoring is a quick counter attack or a setpiece.com imo. Without knowing much about Spartak I’d give them a much better chance of scoring than ye. Also ye are not the best travellers in Europe. Liverpool’s tie is by no means a gimme either.
I don’t think any Celtic fans are less than concerned about the qualifier and I think that will stand us in good stead. There is absolutely no assumptions or complacency and we know it will be a difficult game.
I think you’re right on the chances to score as well. Much depends on whether Miller plays but he’s been very effective away from home for Scotland in Italy and places like that and he’d be well capable of getting a chance on the break. Other than that obviously Naka is always a threat and from corners and the likes we’re usually dangerous enough.
Liverpool won’t have it all their own way either. Toulouse were lucky to get into the CL (only crowd violence in Lens got them through) but they’re obviously competitive in a semi-decent league and beating Lyon at the weekend will have done them no harm.
Coudn’t be arsed checking back but I don’t think Miller was in your original team per the Celtic-Spartak thread was he? Don’t think he can play tbh unless it’s at the expense of Jan. Celtic should play 5 in midfield with Brown, Donati and Sno imo and get Brown to support Jan. Nakamura and McGeady to be the other two obviously. Miller’s not clinical enough to justify selection although he’d be better at closing down defenders high up the pitch.
No I didn’t have them in there originally but said I’d like to see him come off the bench. He holds the ball up reasonably (in a completely different way to Jan) so you wouldn’t be risking too much by bringing him on for Jan on the hour or something. When his confidence is high I still think he’s a very dangerous player and I’d even be happy with him starting ahead of Jan.
Don’t think Sno will start ahead of Hartley. He broke his foot or something last March or April with the Dutch Under 21s and has only played 45 minutes for Celtic in pre-season and then another 45 minutes with the reserves last week.
Interesting (enough!) stuff. The oceans of space between the midfield and defence was one of the main reasons for our defensive inadequacies the other day. Watching the game I immediately thought of Neil Lennon. What he giveth the team (tactical discipline, eye for danger, defensive midfield solidity) was sadly absent in the first half but in the second half we had everything he didn’t have in his game (drive going forward from midfield, lung bursting runs into space, fast tempo and movement of the ball forward with purpose and inmagination from the centre of the park etc.). It’s kind of like a trade off in one sense but I expect Donati and Brown to have benefited further from Saturday and their understanding will need to be better on Wednesday.
I’d echo the sentiments on McManus. He knows his limitations and defends accordingly. He’s a true exponent of the ‘if in doubt, put it out principle’ which is the safety first approach I like with defenders. His weakness is fundamentally a lack of pace which means he drops off too much to avoid getting skinned. I know it’s a harsh example given the quality of the player involved but that’s what he did with Kaka in Milan last year - dropped off, but in the end got skinned anyway such was the acceleration of the boy.
He also tends to dive in rashly on occasion. Again, I think it’s linked to his slight lack of pace in that he’s often on the stretch and diving to prevent shots etc. But in fairness to the lad he’s as honest as the day’s long and he makes an awful lot of those blocks and generally goes in where it hurts. In essence he’s from the Terry/Carragher school of defending but a level a little bit below them. Brave, genuine, committed but lacks pace and true top level class.
I think Scott Brown will be a future Celtic captain but it’s too early for him having only joined. Artur’s a little bit too crazy so Mick was the only real candidate. Harsh to judge him as the worst ‘player’ to captain Celtic when his job is basically to be a stopper.