An injury plagued squad, currently operating without a permanent manager, a board and support at loggerheads but the team is still getting results…
During November Celtic has shaved seven points off the Hearts lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership and reached a Cup final after beating city rivals theRangers at Hampden. All credit to the players and the interim management team lead by Martin O’Neill.
It’s fair to say that Celtic were lucky to get all three points in Paisley on Saturday night. We looked disjointed and devoid of ideas, and looked nothing like a title winning side. That being said, I think myself and others are being a tad harsh on the side, especially when you look at the current circumstances.
As I speak, we are missing three mainstays of the side in Alistair Johnston, Cameron Carter Vickers and Jota. Not to mention being denied the services of Kelechi Iheanacho, Marcelo Saracchi, Callum Osmand, and James Forrest.
Then there’s the small matter of not having a permanent manager in place after Brendan Rodgers left at the end of last month, so to say things are a bit unstable at this moment in time would be an understatement to say the least.
That makes our recent domestic results all that more impressive under the guidance of Martin O’Neill, Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham.
Taking the reins after the 3-1 defeat to Hearts, the stand-in management team have won three consecutive Scottish Premiership fixtures, significantly cutting the gap between ourselves and the Jambos in the process, not to mention defeating our bitter rivals to reach a cup final.
During that run, the side have scored 12 and conceded only once, which was from the penalty spot. We might be in a bit of disarray, but we’re still getting results, you can’t deny that. There was one disappointing result, in Denmark against FC Midtjylland in the Europa League where the weaknesses in this current Celtic squad were fully exposed.
But MON & Co can only work with the squad that is there and the players that are fit and even to them that’s been challenging with one injury set-back after another. Full credit to them for steadying the ship and winning all domestic matches they’ve handled. And to the players too, even on Saturday at a difficult venue and not having played well in the game, Celtic still found a way to secure the three points and pile the pressure on Hearts ahead of yesterday game at Pittodrie against Aberdeen.
That, Jambos, is why we are Champions. See you on 7 December at Celtic Park…
Just an Ordinary Bhoy
Last orders for Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter
Last remaining copies of Celtic in the Eighties – get your copy now before it’s too late! Here’s what you get…
- David Potter’s beautifully produced hardback book, the Celtic Historian final work before his passing. Your copy will also be personally signed by Celtic legend Danny McGrain!
- You’ll also receive a complimentary copy of another brilliant David Potter book – Willie Fernie – Putting on the Style.
Order Celtic in the Eighties from Celtic Star Books and we’ll automatically add Putting on the Style. Please note postage will only be charged on one book so there is no cost to you at all for the Willie Fernie biography.
These two books combined will make a brilliant Christmas present!
Totally correct.
Even now, would we class the match on Sunday as a bigger game than that on Thursday?
Personally I would myself, and can’t ever recall a situation where a SPFL match, could be regarded as a bigger match than a European game, especially with both being so important to ourselves?
Well known that the Thursday/Sunday turnaround brings enough challenges within itself, and the travelling factor hardly makes things any easier for ourselves.
With such an injury list in operation, then hardly an easy call for a rotational policy to be introduced in a few positions either.
A number of very poor individual performances on Saturday evening, makes team selection for Thursday, not as straightforward as maybe it should be for ourselves.
Got a feeling that MoN and Maloney, may well change the set up of our team on Thursday imo?
Ralston looks badly out of form at present, so could Donovan come in as part of a back 5?
Would mean starting with Murray also, by the looks of things, if such a structure was introduced?
Might mean less width available on the night, but Maeda can cover that, with going longer and quicker. Still options available for someone to partner Maeda in a front 2 imo?
Think that a change in team structure, for a European away match, might be the way to go, especially as we are still struggling to find an elusive away European victory?
Regardless, if only offered 1 victory in our next 2 matches, would opt for Sunday moreso imo?