{"id":4172,"date":"2013-12-13T21:01:14","date_gmt":"2013-12-13T21:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etims.net\/?p=4172"},"modified":"2013-12-13T21:24:35","modified_gmt":"2013-12-13T21:24:35","slug":"a-case-for-the-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etims.net\/?p=4172","title":{"rendered":"A Case for the Attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Case for the Attack by Brian53<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

With Timdom not sure what to make of Teemu Pukki I thought I would look back in time to another striker who struggled to make an immediate impact, Big John Hartson. In a similar fashion John was a player that many had doubts about when he arrived. I have based the comparison on 17 games as that is the number that Teemu has featured in to date.<\/p>\n

As you know, Big Bad John signed for us in August 2001 and made his debut against Kilmarnock a few days later. As Jon West from PA Sport recorded in his match review, \u201cJoos Valgaeren teed Hartson up right in front of goal yet the Welshman somehow blazed over.\u201d \u201cLambert played a defence splitting pass to Hartson’s feet an opener could have been expected to follow. But Gordon Marshall, the former Celtic goalkeeper, blocked superbly.\u201d<\/p>\n

John\u2019s next appearance was as a late substitute in that fabulous win over the mighty Ajax in Amsterdam where we recorded a rare European away win. John played his first full 90 minutes in the hoops and made his home debut in a game against Hearts. He was still having trouble in front of goal though as Sporting Life reported \u201cLubo Moravcik was also looking to impress on his first start of the season for Celtic and he almost created the opener in the 13th minute. He found Lennon in the box and the Irishman squared to Hartson, but the fiery red-head slipped as he shaped up to shoot and fired over the bar.\u201d Later in the game \u201cHartson spurned another glorious chance a minute later to mark his full debut with a goal. Moravcik swung in a deep cross to the back post and with the whole goal at his mercy he somehow managed to head wide.\u201d \u201cHartson spurned another guilt-edged opportunity when he glanced Petta’s cross just wide of the mark.\u201d All was not lost however as John supplied the assist for Henrik to wrap up the game.<\/p>\n

John was to make 12 appearances before he broke his duck with 2 goals against Stirling Albion in the League cup and went on to score 6 goals in those first 17 appearances.<\/p>\n

Teemu promised much when he scored on his debut against Hearts after coming on as a late sub for Kris Commons. He scored again on his first start for the club when he made his home debut against St Johnstone in September. After a good first half, he tailed off in the second. He was replaced late in the game by the work in progress that is Amido Balde. Since then Teemu has struggled and although providing 3 assists and having approx. 7 attempts on target he has not been able to add to his tally.<\/p>\n

Personally, I think he will come good, as I\u2019ve said elsewhere he\u2019s no No9, but should develop into a good No10. In the majority of the games when he has struggled it has been in part due to poor service from the midfield. His first touch has at times been poor in these games but that is down to confidence. BBJ struggled to settle when he first came, even though we had a fabulous team with the likes of Henrik, Chris, Stan, Paul, Lubo and some guy called Neil Francis Lennon.<\/p>\n

Given time, Teemu will settle into the team, I see a player in him as he displayed during the game against Motherwell. His movement both on and off the ball during that game was excellent, he provided two great crosses into the sweet spot of the penalty area both resulting in goals. I hope you all give the lad a chance.<\/p>\n

Comparison<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nPukki<\/span><\/b><\/td>\nHartson<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mins Played<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n959<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n1033<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Time Subbed<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n677<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n70<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sub On<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n102<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n33<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Goals<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n2<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n6<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Assists<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n3<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n2<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Shot On<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n7<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n4<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
League Mins<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n638<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n736<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
LC Mins<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n90<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n90<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
S-Cup Mins<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n31<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n0<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Europe Mins<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n160<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n207<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Games Played<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n17<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n17<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Subbed<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n9<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n1<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sub On<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n6<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n7<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Games Scored In<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n2<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n3<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Games Assists In<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n2<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n2<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
No. Games Shots On<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n6<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n3<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
L. Games Played<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n10<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n11<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
LC Games Played<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n1<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n1<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
SC Games Played<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n1<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n0<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
E. Games Played<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n5<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n5<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\u00a0Pukki<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Pukki\"<\/p>\n

Hartson<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Hartson\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My Thanks to The Celtic Wiki site, www.thecelticwiki.com<\/a><\/strong> for the use of their archive of Celtic history, which is of course free for anyone to use. Any errors or omissions in the article are entirely my fault and likely to be due to bad eyesight, senior moments and alcohol.<\/p>\n

Brian53<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Case for the Attack by Brian53 With Timdom not sure what to make of Teemu Pukki I thought I would look back in time…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/etims.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/197282-teemu-pukki.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2J7If-15i","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4172"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4172"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4180,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4172\/revisions\/4180"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}