Celtic Diary Saturday October 1: The Bigger Picture

Celtic are up in Dundee this lunchtime as the reality of League football returns, though only temporarily as there’s another international break until the weekend of October 15. International football, where would we be without it ?

At Celtic Park, presumably.

Some of the players may well be given an extended break to avoid any kind of hangover as manager Brendan Rodgers looks to possibly even stretch the lead at the top of the table, whilst others will be recalled to be given a chance to show that they shouldn’t be forgotten just yet.

Except probably Dorus De Vries, who will be given the most extended break of all, which is a shame, as the excuses to remind him he’s hopeless will become fewer and further between. Mind you, he’ll probably be happy with that, and if anyone can give him back his confidence, then Stevie Woods, the goalkeeping coach, is just that man.

Whilst many may wonder what Rodgers sees in the keeper, here’s some food for thought… from website Soccerlens

Brendan Rodgers received heavy criticism for spending £25 million on then Southampton captain Adam Lallana. Two years hence, Lallana might be one of the most in-form players in his position at the moment.

Perhaps it was his price tag weighing him down, or the manner in which Rodgers used him, but Lallana struggled slowly after his move from St. Mary’s. The England international was expected to fill some of the void, left by Luis Suarez, but couldn’t replicate the form that earned him the Liverpool move in the first place.

After Rodgers had got sacked, many thought Lallana would be one of the first players to be shipped out by Jurgen Klopp, the German replacing Rodgers. Almost exactly one year hence, Lallana has made himself one of the most important players in Klopp’s system.

Pressing is the term associated substantially with Klopp, and it is why people thought Lallana would be shipped out quickly by Klopp. The German’s high-tempo system doesn’t complement Lallana on paper, but how Lallana makes himself useful despite this is because of the speed of thought he possesses. He knows exactly when to press, and he can play quick passes, as shown in the drubbing of Hull, to ensure that the defensive block set by the opponent isn’t very useful.

Lallana has always brought in enthusiasm to the team, even from the bench. However, the reason why he is more efficient this season is the new position Jurgen Klopp is operating him in. The addition of Sadio Mane sees Lallana in a more central, and a deeper spot in the midfield. When joining the attack, he advances from the midfield, which gets him more involved in the game, as opposed to being static in a more attacking and wider role. He also tracks back and tries to help the defence.

This almost box-to-box midfield role Klopp has assigned him is working like a charm so far.

Lallana was also criticised for his lack of end product and is something he has evidently worked on. Despite doing well under Klopp last season, and sporadically showing real class, the player still only had four goals and six assists in 30 league games, not an achievement to boast. In his new position, he has three goals and three assists in 6 league games so far, and these numbers suggest that Lallana could end this season as one of his most productive ones if he performs with similar zeal and fervour.

Lallana’s somewhat languid style and habit of rarely lasting 90 minutes under Rodgers were also something he received criticism for, and the player has made amends in this department as well. He now looks determined to provide non-stop work for however long Klopp demands him on the pitch. This shouldn’t be surprising as he also worked tirelessly under Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham and the current Spurs boss and Klopp do have equally demanding, and vaguely similar systems and managerial styles. 

Maybe Rodgers just brought him in too soon, and disrupted the rhythym of the side, and De Vries never got a chance to settle.

For those of you who think I’ve been a little harsh on De Vries, have a think about Lallana, and his sudden resurgence.

Some players just take a bit longer to get into their stride, and maybe De Vries is one of them.

Liverpool fans are not noted for being patient, as the game usually finishes only moments before the shops shut, and there’s shoplifting to be done before they get home, so Lallana, and consequently Rodgers, who had taken their club closer to a league title than anyone since the heady days of the eighties got the blunt end of the stick, in the same way that Dalglish got for buying the midfielder Jordan Henderson, who has since gone on to be captain, or at least a mainstay of the team.

Silly sods.

Back at the ranch, and players such as Christian Gamboa, Emilio Izaguirre, Eoghan O’connell, Stuart Armstrong , Liam Henderson, Calum MacGregor and even Nadir Ciftci could reasonably expect to be involved today, which adds a bit of spice to the game, which will be live on telly at noon.

After that, the rest of the weekend, and the next two weeks, are your own.

So try to make the most of it.

This afternoon, for example, you could keep an eye on the results as there are possibly huge changes to the current league positions-except Celtics, of course, with the league already looking as though Hearts and Aberdeen will require snookers by probably January, with a huge range of possible standing by tea time.

As this table illustrates,

Wouldn’t it be interesting if ross county ended up second, Aberdeen seventh, Hearts eighth and “rangers ” tenth.

We;d have league reconstruction sorted before Christmas, no relegation until they manage to put together a team and a manager that can handle the top division, which could take quite some time.

Especially with Barry Ferguson and his tracksuit lined up to replace Warburton and his hat. Thats not rhyming slang, and I wasn’t referring to David Weir.

This show could run and run, and with regular introductions of new characters with endles comic potential, a stage show to rival Celtic -The Musical must be in the planning stage somewhere.

“Rangers” -The Cabaret, has a ring to it. Though the censor might want to have a look at some of their “musical ” numbers.

They could even get Jeremy Kyle to narrate it, although i can’t imagine any of the current-or past-directors being happy with the idea of a lie detector.

Though on the bright side, the audience would get to see two of their favourite shows in one place.

TV football pundit and former Manchester City player Niall Quinn may have had his priviliges revoked at the Etihad, as he upset a lot of Manchester City fans when he appeared to cheer for Celtic during Wednesdays champions League game.

The reaction from City fans on twitter suggests that he won;t be getting any christmas cards;

There’s a whole documentary waiting to be made on how Manchester city is viewed by former players and fans now that they are one of those rich mans playthings.

Can’t imagine Sky rushing to make it though.

Speaking of TV, although of a much higher quality, one way to while away some of the free time over the next couple of weeks would be to find the Jimmy Johnstone documentary shown last night on BBC Alba, put together by Purple TV, managed to make the viewer-me-laugh, cry and smile proudly at the story, so carefully and respectfully told, of a man that makes us laugh, cry and snile proudly, often at the same time.

 It showed his family and friends remebering the good times, and the bad, with equal measure, and allowed them plenty of space to tell it from their point of view.

Two contributions were outstanding, that of Mrs Johnstone, who spoke lovingly of her man, whilst injecting enough Glasgow humour to make it real-such as when john hughes and Jimmy were heading out the door for a pint, and she said to them something like

“If he gets better i’ll kill him myself “

brought to life the relationship between Jimmy, his family and his friends.

The other contribution, the one that had nme welling up, came from Bertie Auld, who was clearly upset when he remembered the phone call from Mrs johnstone that had the message he was expecting, but dreading nevertheless.

What did Bertie miss most about him ?

“Him, himself. “

For those too young to have sen him play, or read about his antics in the papers, on and off the field, the programme shows you what the rest of us have been harping on about all these years.

And for us, well, its a chance to look back at something we may never see again, perhaps in any sport anywhere in the world.

A team who actually cared about each other, and still do, even after all these years….

A team we all care about, in fact..

Yesterdays caption competition also appeared on the Etims twitter, which saved me searching for a suitable picture.

As did the winner…

@ETimsNet @Richiestoke over to John Anderson. Creditors, you will go on my first whistle  

and the runner up,

James Finnell ‏@HoudiniBhoy  22h22 hours agoOldham, England

@ETimsNet @Richiestoke

Warbs “Remember, we’re going for 55”

Weir: “Naw boss, we’re going AT five tae five”

Today, I’d like someone to explain this… which apparently is a genuine picture from the 1927 tour de France, presumably the one that was sponsored by Benson and Hedges.

There must be another explanation…