New Year resolution
Since the turn of the year, with unforeseen circumstances giving us only two fixtures played, there seems to be staleness in Celtic's performances. Not short of enthusiasm or work rate, but again a lack of cutting edge giving us too few goal giving opportunities particularly considering the possession statistics in both 2008's games. Even the season's outstanding player Aiden McGeady couldn’t cut Stirling Albion open with the same panache that he has done to far greater defences this term.
Obviously there are many extenuating reasons why Celtic have not played close to their optimum. Having not played the players may have struggled to get back into their stride, although you would think the two weeks break would have been a rest that may have benefited and increased energy in the players performances. But it seems to be that final break through the opposition defence that is missing in Celtic's build up play. Perhaps the opposition, a lower league Stirling, and an injury hit Kilmarnock may have accepted Celtic Park as sheer damage limitation, but again I am not convinced. Although neither played what you would call adventurous football, they were hardly a 5-5-0 type formations to deal with.
In four games without conceding a goal and resulting victorious in all of them, I am sure Gordon Strachan will be reasonably content, but football fans increasingly concern themselves with the manner of victories as an indicator of form and future performances. Regardless of the managers defence of his team, Celtic are not setting the heather alight currently, and hope McGeady's return after his Kilmarnock suspension, allied with match sharpness of Nakamura and those around them, will breath fresh life into Celtic.
Boruc, McDonald, and McGeady cannot continue to win games alone if Celtic hold out league winning ambitions. There are several others expected, and needed to step up to the plate....
Obviously there are many extenuating reasons why Celtic have not played close to their optimum. Having not played the players may have struggled to get back into their stride, although you would think the two weeks break would have been a rest that may have benefited and increased energy in the players performances. But it seems to be that final break through the opposition defence that is missing in Celtic's build up play. Perhaps the opposition, a lower league Stirling, and an injury hit Kilmarnock may have accepted Celtic Park as sheer damage limitation, but again I am not convinced. Although neither played what you would call adventurous football, they were hardly a 5-5-0 type formations to deal with.
In four games without conceding a goal and resulting victorious in all of them, I am sure Gordon Strachan will be reasonably content, but football fans increasingly concern themselves with the manner of victories as an indicator of form and future performances. Regardless of the managers defence of his team, Celtic are not setting the heather alight currently, and hope McGeady's return after his Kilmarnock suspension, allied with match sharpness of Nakamura and those around them, will breath fresh life into Celtic.
Boruc, McDonald, and McGeady cannot continue to win games alone if Celtic hold out league winning ambitions. There are several others expected, and needed to step up to the plate....
posted by Michael__67 at 10:29 AM
1 Comments:
The staleness of performance of late and the absence of a consistent cutting edge show that the easy option of blaming our captain last season did not deal with the problem.
In big/tight/or physical games, Neil Lennon would still have been an asset this season. Although in some respect maybe Lennon went at the right time. His laboured style (which he had even at his physical peak) places him as an obvious target when things arent happening fast enough in an attacking sense. He left when he was still doing it at the top level and couldnt be said (and taken in any sense seriously) to let anyone down...
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