{"id":6249,"date":"2014-12-23T09:33:45","date_gmt":"2014-12-23T09:33:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etims.net\/?p=6249"},"modified":"2014-12-23T09:33:45","modified_gmt":"2014-12-23T09:33:45","slug":"celtic-diary-tuesday-december-23-guidettis-break-to-give-griffiths-his","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etims.net\/?p=6249","title":{"rendered":"Celtic Diary Tuesday December 23: Guidettis Break To Give Griffiths His?"},"content":{"rendered":"

With John Guidetti hitting a slump in form, which is understandable, sometimes even Henrik Larsson went the occasional game without scoring. and for whatever reason not scoring in the last few games, Ronny Deila keeps looking across the training pitch at livewire forward Leigh Griffiths and thinking ” Should I, should I ?”<\/p>\n

And increasingly, it looks like he thinks he should.<\/p>\n

\u00a0“It is important that Leigh gets games.<\/em><\/p>\n

“He wanted to play in the Development Squad match at Sunderland last week, and that’s the important thing.<\/em><\/p>\n

“It’s good that he shows an interest in playing.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Leigh scored two goals in that match, and he has shown when he came on at Tannadice that he can make a difference to the team.”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0Ronny isn’t quite making the leap to adding Griffiths to the team \u00a0alongside Guidetti, a move which would almost certainly benefit both, but at least he’s thinking of making a change, and giving the Swede a rest.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Despite all the early hype, the Guidetti bandwagon has run out of steam a wee bit, and its important to remember that he hasn’t played a lot of football in recent years, so it might be that its all catching up with him.<\/p>\n

So , a wee break for him, and a big break for Griffiths could be on the cards.<\/p>\n

Another who perhaps could benefit from a rest is Adam Matthews, who looks a shadow of his former self, and he isn’t doing himself any favours while he’s in the shop window ahead of choosing whether he goes to play with Gary in Norwich, Joe in London or he’ll share a cab with Kris to Bolton.<\/p>\n

\u00a0With Dundee United and Aberdeen breathing down Celtics neck in the title race, the Welshman acknowledged that winning the league is not a foregone conclusion;<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cAre we in a title race? Yeah, definitely. The top tier this year is strong. Aberdeen, Hamilton and Inverness have done well, so we know it\u2019s going to be tough. But we\u2019re where we want to be at the minute.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted a bigger gap, \u2028especially with the game in hand at\u00a0<\/em><\/span>Dundee United<\/a>\u00a0on Sunday. But we\u2019ve got to focus on one game at a time and hopefully get the win in the next game.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s just them playing it down. If they\u2019re close to us they\u2019re going to want to make a title race of it.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe know the pressure is on us and we\u2019re expected to run away with it but it\u2019s not going to happen like that in football.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time someone plays Celtic they step up their game.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0Fair play to Matthews. He’s unlikely to win any player of the year awards this term, so he’s made a late entry in the “blandest Interview ” competition, and with only a week to go, he could yet have a souvenir of the season.<\/p>\n

The transfer window opens next week, and with a few players ready to leave, a few others thinking about leaving and a few surprises for everyone no doubt in the pipeline, the manager looked ahead to doing a bit of business, and in one sense, you get the impression he’s already decided what he wants to do.<\/p>\n

\u00a0“Yes, we are more prepared than before,”<\/em><\/p>\n

“As the manager, I think I am more prepared for it, too. That’s no problem.<\/em><\/p>\n

“The most important thing is to get the best out of the players we have here.<\/em><\/p>\n

“People are improving, and that’s what makes me happy.”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0Which, in fact , doesn’t appear to be a great deal. Which is worrying.<\/p>\n

Certain to leave are \u00a0Beram Kayal and \u00a0Jo Inge Berget,<\/p>\n

\u00a0Almost certain to leave are Adam Matthews, Kris Commons , Virgil van Dijk, Derk Boerrigter and quietly, while no-one is looking, Aleksandr Tonev.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Surprises are different. There will be a few, but they wouldn’t be surprises if we could anticipate them.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Martin Odegaard, the Norwegian superstar , hasn’t joined anyone else yet, despite whats been in the paper and on the web. Ikeche Anya and Stuart Armstrong head a list of who we’d like to sign if the price is right, and \u00a0 then theres a whole host of players that we’ve never heard of, and never will again after January.<\/p>\n

\u00a0There doesn’t appear to be a centre half on any of those lists, which isn’t so much worrying as alarming. Van dijk appears to have left in body and soul already, ambrose is playing like, well , Ambrose, Jason Denaayer has now decided that one injury is enough and he doesn’t want any more, while stand in Charlie Mulgrew shows no sign of returning any time soon.<\/p>\n

\u00a0That leaves Eoghan O’Connell, who whilst not letting anyone down, is not experienced enough to hold the fort on his own.<\/p>\n

\u00a0If Deila is prepared, lets hope he’s got a couple of big baby eating baldies ready to sign up as soon as the headaches have gone after the bells.<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a0Still, its christmas, and thats a time of goodwill to all men, a time of peace and friendship.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Its also a time for laughing at those less fortunate than ourselves, and across the city, there are quite a few peepil who will be feeling a little less fortunate than anyone this morning.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0The Second Rangers club, the current entity plying their trade from Ibrox stadium, held their AGM at , er, ibrox stadium yesterday, come on, be fair, its difficult to hire a room this time of year, with all the parties going on.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Oh, and not having a valid credit card probably made it awkward putting down the deposit.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The blue hordes have often complained that they have suffered enough, and it was hard not to sympathise with them yesterday, when it became apparent that the board were going to hold the meeting from the centre of the pitch.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In a tent.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0And they still profess to be our main rivals….<\/p>\n

\u00a0It didn’t help when the club crest fell off the front, which was kind of symbolic, in a way.<\/p>\n

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but the real news from the meeting came when Resolution 9 was rejected by shareholders, which concerned a new share issue. They just saw a potential revenue stream cut off, which won’t help their current financial issues.<\/p>\n

\u00a0But fair play to them, with mike Ashley now on board, they utilised his marketing skills to introduce a few new streama, and hopefully stave off the inevitable plunge into administration;<\/p>\n

After the meeting, a few quid was raised behind the tent;<\/p>\n

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\u00a0Theres the tent itself-<\/p>\n

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Or the replica kits, which is another speciality from Ashley;<\/p>\n

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Or the one for the garden, in summer;<\/p>\n

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Thanks to carhandle, cartuja, keyesy , liam macloughlin and Celtic Collectibles for posting those on twitter, so I could steal them and pretend i’m a funny and likeable guy at their expense.<\/p>\n

\n

Of course, the club were defiant about the future, with Ashley puppet Derek Llambias telling supporters that every penny raised will go back into the club, which caused hilarity on Tyneside when news filtered through, because oddly enough, thats what he kept telling Newcastle fans.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Malcolm murray, one of the True Rangers Men ( now theres a tag you’d like to be stuck with for life, as I’m willing to bet my definition and understanding of that phrase is worlds apart from theirs ) claimed that those fans who have remained loyal would have to<\/p>\n

make some noise if they want to get their club back.<\/h1>\n

Actually, if I was breaking into a cemetery at night with a shovel, noise is the last thing I’d be intent on making.<\/p>\n

Maybe its finally sinking in;<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

In yesterdays Diary, Murdo Macleod was explaining to the referee that he didn’t touch the stricken Davie McKinnon, and it was merely a bit of silliness between two cousins.<\/p>\n

Today, another from Lisbon lion. Why the black armband ?<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

\u00a0One more thing. a wee message for wee Jay;<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With John Guidetti hitting a slump in form, which is understandable, sometimes even Henrik Larsson went the occasional game without scoring. and for whatever reason…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":6250,"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\/2014\/12\/Griffiths.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2J7If-1CN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6249"}],"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\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6249"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6251,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6249\/revisions\/6251"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}