Celtic face Astana, or at least some of them do, in Khazakstan this after noon on what seems to be something between mission impossible and mission highly unlikely.
If you read the papers or listen to the more vocal section of the support, that is.
They tell us that Astana made the group stages last year, and were unbeaten at home, they are battlers, that they are halfway through their season and have only conceded two corners and a throw in so far, they’ll tell you that their players are wanted by other teams and worth millions, and yet none of them will tell you anything about our players, our spirit and our increase in form.
Sure Astana were unbeaten in the group stages. They didn’t win any games either, which suggests that they are a decent side at home, who don’t take full advantage of the three week trip over mountains on elephants their opponents are forced to take.
We didn’t do too bad away from home in Europe last year, if you recall, and but for a few individual errors, would have comfortably made the group stages of the champions League, or the knockout stages of the Europa.
It’s a fine line at this level.
Which might explain the words of Brendan Rodgers when asked about perennial fall guy Efe Ambrose, who looks likely to have a big job to do tonight.
“In terms of Efe, people have seen him a lot more than me, and he knows that if he can cut out mistakes and errors that he makes in games, then you have a very good player,”
“Physically, he’s very strong, he’s very fast and he’s good in the air. It’s just about decision-making and simplifying the game and if he can do that, then he can be an asset.
“Those two players ( O’Connell and Efe) are two of very few central defenders which are available. But I have no qualms about who I put into the game as the strength of us will be the team rather than the individual and the team we put out will hopefully get the result.”
This will be the 28th time Ambrose has played at this level, and on the positive side, it can be said if you don’t make a mistake , then you’ll never know what you’re doing wrong.
All he has to do is keep it simple tonight, and, as we used to say in Scotland, keep the heid.
If he does leave, it will be a shame. There is something to be said for a fast, strong and aerially excellent defender. A season with Kolo toure would have done him the world of good.
Today though, its down to him, and despite what the support think of him, secretly, we’d all love him to play a blinder. Though to be honest, we’d be more than happy if he gained heroic status just by not making an arse of it, or at least not being in a position where he can be accused of making an arse of it.
Another who seems to get a little less faith kept in him is Leigh Griffiths.
You’d think his forty goals and never say die attitude would have won him the benefit of the doubt from the support by now, and yet there are still more than a few who claim he can’t do it at this level.
Nonsense.
The same people didn’t expect so much from him last year, and have simply raised the bar for him. Next season, if he doesn’t finish top scorer in the Solar System Cup whilst representing Earth against the other planets, these guys will turn around and say, “Hah, feckin telt ye! ”
Just as Efe needs to keep the heid, so does Griffiths, and maybe just not try so hard in front of goal. The player has a knack of being in the right place at the right time, will never stop working, and sometimes that wee bit of frustration gets the better of him.
As I said this time last year, Griffiths will become a Celtic legend, on a par with any Scottish striker of the last forty years or so. Oddly enough, all he has to do is stop putting so much effort into it.
Moving forward from the debacle of last years European campaign, we should now have a squad core of seasoned campaigners, guys who know how it feels to lose, and a few with memories that remember how it is to win.
All we have to do is put all of that together, keep the heid and find the hero within us that means at the very worst Celtic are still in the tie next week when Astana show us just how bad they are at travelling for a few days to reach the far west of Europe.
A good result is certainly possible, and although the squad is a bit thin-Kris Commons may be brought on to raise the average waist size,-we needn;t give up before a ball is kicked.
It seems Commons’s time has gone. a shame, because he’d be in the game for me tonight, as he isn’t afraid to shoot on sight, or try to create, as last seasons statistics showed in matches against continental opposition. In short, and he is shot, if Commons didn’t score one of our goals, he created it.
An away goal is crucial, and there would have been no harm in having someone aboard who can make something out of nothing.
Craig Gordon will start , and probably still be there at the end, in goal.
Its time he had another of his better games. All he can do is what is asked of him, but a goalkeeper can inspire, and he’s not reached the heights of his first season for a while, and there would be no better time to do that than now.
Maybe it will help him if there are three defenders in front of him.
Lustig on the right, Ambrose in the middle, and Honduran kick boxing champion Emilio Izaguirre to the left.
Choosing Izaguirre may surprise some of you, choosing Ambrose may scare the life out of you, and choosing Lustig at centre back may surprise and scare him, but these three know each other, and together they have height, poise , pace and that little bit of nastiness that all good defences need.
Either side of them are the outballs. Or wing backs, to give them their proper title.
That ability to carry a ball to safety, with pace and direction. As opposed to hoofing it away only to see it come straight back at them, like a badly thrown grenade into a bunker.
James Forrest and Keiran Tierney can both do that. And by doing that they allow the defence to regroup.
In the middle Scott Brown can have the holding role, with Stuart Armstrong and Calum McGregor either side of him, slightly in front, with Patrick Roberts, if Manchester City haven’t got a “no plastic pitches ” clause to take the ball from them and find space.
Leigh Griffiths works better on his own, and away from home in Europe, thats what we need.
He’ll have to take what chances come his way, and they will come his way, or at the very least create spce with his movement for supporting runners such as Forrest, Roberts , McGregor and Armstrong.
Piece of piss, this management lark.
A prediction ?
Yeah, if I can’t find an android stream I’ll have big red patches on my head by four thirty today.
The game is live on the telly , Premier Sports again, or you can see where this takes you…
Final word goes to the boss, and hopefully, the players will hear what he says.
“It is important that we go back to Celtic Park in good condition.
“We don’t need to win it tomorrow night.
“We will have the support at Celtic Park and the intensity and atmosphere that the team play under there will always make it difficult for the opponent.
“But we respect the team that we play tomorrow night.
“They will look to the home game to make the maximum impact that they can in the tie.”
Thats what I said….
In other news, we haven’t signed anyone else yet, and probably won’t now for a while. This has lead to condemnation from the papers, especially those who rely on Celtic fans being pissed off with them to lift their sales into double figures.
The Daily Record employs-in the loosest possible meaning of the word-“fan bloggers “, -a bit like me but with editorial control and an inexplicable desire to be taken seriously.
Although one of them claims, the “celtic blogger”, James Flynn,
This mad notion that the Daily Record have any say over what I write is hilarious.
If you don’t count limitations on space, commercial or editorial censorship, and the neccessity to use monosyllabic prose for a readership where at least half of them need to hear criticism of the way Celtic conduct their business, then hey-he’s spot on.
AS a fan it’s difficult not to get frustrated at Celtic’s transfer policy.
Instead of making the distinction between the circumstances of Celtics position at this point in the window, with the seasons campaign not even defined as to which competitions the club will take part in, then we have to accept that it will be difficult to persuade any player of note to commit.
Especially as it is still July, and they will have other options, most of which will involve much more money and much less bad weather.
Fair enough, Flynn concedes that…
They all make things very difficult for Celtic to go out and do something which seems relatively simple for plenty of other clubs – buy players to improve the first team.
As if that doesn’t bring enough frustration, our most important games come right at the start of the season.
This is an issue which has hampered many Celtic managers in recent years and it’s no different for Brendan Rodgers. The result being we head into the biggest match of our season with only two fit centre backs.
Rodgers has his pick from the inexperienced youngster Eoghan O’Connell and everyone’s favourite calamity Efe Ambrose. It shouldn’t have come to this.
He’s right, you know. It shouldn’t have.
It’s not rocket science. The better players in the team, the more chance we’ve got of making the Champions League and the Champions League is where a club like Celtic want to be. We play a risky game every season of hedging our bets and for the last few seasons it hasn’t worked.
If Celtic fail to make the Champions League again can they honestly say they done everything they could to win these games? Bringing in Brendan Rodgers was half the job, the other half was providing him with a squad to succeed, the latter is sadly lacking.
Just what the players need to read – and they do read the papers , you know- ahead of a season defining game.
Summarised, Flynn is telling them they are not good enough, and those defenders who are injured should have been replaced by defenders who are not injured simply by popping out into the transfer market and presumably hiring a couple or three to tide us over until the others are feeling better.
Without, of course, accepting or even trying to understand the harsh reality that with the exceptions of young Scottish players, there are not too many footballers ready to come and play for the wages on offer in Scotland.
The standard of the league is irrelevant, look at the stars who go to the US or China. Its the wages, which are a fraction of those available just a few hundred miles south, and these days it is all about money.
Until we go back to basics it will ever thus be, as even the most promising of youngsters brought in from abroad will be away at the first opening of a cheque book, leaving us right back where we started.
We know there are better players out there, but there are very few better players out there who want to come to Celtic, and we should support the ones we have, and not pine for those we do not.
Constructive criticism is fine, in fact all out rants are fine, after a game, but suggesting to the players they aren’t good enough before a game is bizarre, as no matter how things look in the clear light of day, there’s always that little bit of ,” hang on, what if ? ” that is deep in the psyche of a Celtic man, although that doesn’t seem to be there in many of the younger ones these days.
Thats why I’m optimistic about todays game, because when the chips are down, and the breaks are beating the bhoys, there are a few in that team who will remember how they felt last year on exiting Europe, and with the right sort of encouragement, and the right amount of heart, then they will do everything they can not to feel like that again.
and now, the caption competition…yesterday saw a high quality of entrants again..
Tough one to call, but one did stand out… as , indeed he did at the swally the other night..
Caption: Outside the Jungle toilets 1986 ” hat’s, scarves, macaroon bars…….waders….2 for a pown”
Today, some positive quips if you will, for this picture…
Actually, thats the picture which tells us that Celtic are wearing the hoops tonight!
and the weatherman says its cool, with rain likely….
and the weatherman says its cool, with rain likely….
Scrap the last couple of thousand words.
We’re going to win!
In fact, I’m so elated I can hear music coming out of my printer.
It must be jammin again.
So, instead, we’ll have this as todays caption comp… and keep positive!
