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Celtic FC Women

Is Chloe Craig going to play with American football armour on? “That’s a question for Chloe,” Fran Alonso

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Fran Alonso is a man on a mission as the charismatic Celtic coach takes his third placed Celtic side back to Petershill Park in the north of Glasgow tomorrow to take on the current Champions and League leaders Glasgow City.

The sides in the SWPL1 play each other three times per season and Celtic this year have two away games against Glasgow City, the first visit back on 10 February ended up in a 2-0 defeat on a night where very little went right for Celtic. This was the game were Chloe Logan suffered a bad knee injury on the eve of her first international call-up for Scotland. The goalkeeper had to have surgery and that happened earlier this week, with the Celtic Manager reporting that all had gone well and Chloe is now starting her recovery and hopefully will be back with the squad soon.

Chloe Logan has now had knee surgery and all went well, Fran Alonso has said.

There’s usually nothing that Alonso doesn’t want to talk about but he flagged up during yesterday’s media conference that there were indeed aspects of the last game that he didn’t want to talk about ahead of tomorrow’s match. Presumably he was referring to the shocking challenge by Glasgow City’s Niamh Farrelly which happened right in front of the referee who didn’t show a yellow never mind the red that was more than merited.

Have a look at the photographs below and make your own mind up.

Celtic’s focus may well be turning to the Scottish Cup campaign, the quarter final against Aberdeen at the start of April is maybe the key date on the calendar the way the league has panned out this season. However the chance of a late run to grab a Champions League spot is still on if Celtic can keep winning and maybe one or two results elsewhere go in our favour. The small print for that one folks is probably needing theRangers to do us favours.

The last time they lost a league match was on the final day of last season and had they won that day Celtic would have been Champions so perhaps anyone hoping for favours are being a wee bit unrealistic. Stranger things and all that so all Fran Alonso can do in the league is keep getting the wins.

On that last visit to play the 14 in a row  SWPL1 Champions, Alonso has been determined to avoid a similar outcome tomorrow and has made adjustments to both the training and the tactical approach for the challenge as he eyes three vital points on a game on that tight pitch.

“The way we play and the size of the pitch, we found it difficult to put the right weight on the pass especially in the final third, we struggled to create clear-cut chances – we had a few but not as many as we normally create so we have adjusted this week at training,” Alonso said.

“We have modified the size of our pitch to be more realistic to the dimensions we will find on Sunday and hopefully we’ll have a better game especially in the final third. Apart from that I thought we were good, we build up well, we had 68% possession, which is quite good especially against Glasgow City but we didn’t create the chance we should have. Hopefully on Sunday we’ll see a different game.”

Celtic’s lack of clinical finishing in recent weeks has perhaps been down to the injury to Charlie Wellings, the 25 goals she’s already grabbed in her debut season in the hoops would have been higher but for this frustrating month or so when she’s tried to play when not anywhere near 100% – against City last time around – and then had to sit out the next few weeks in recovery.

“The most important thing in football is to put the ball in the back of the net – that’s what gives you points,” the Celtic FC Women manager continued. “Obviously the more you create the more possibilities you have to score.

“I feel we are creating a lot of chances and we are missing many clear chances. We are working on it constantly, we have been working on to for many weeks now. I see the players improving. Sometimes it’s about the early chances, you convert one and sometimes we have great games.

“Sometimes with the first couple you hit the post or miss a clear-cut chance and then maybe you lock a bit of belief which can happen to any striker, it can happen to any football team. Right now our opponents are in great goalscoring form, probably their form of the season and we know that it is going to be a very difficult game but we are up for it and we can’t wait for the game to arrive. ”

Injury news eased of tomorrow’s game which has a 4.10pm kick off.  “Still without Natalie Ross, Chloe Logan had her surgery on Thursday and it all went well so she is in recovery now. Hopefully we can see her back with us soon and Rachael Johnstone has an injury that will be assessed but she is doubtful so it might be an opportunity for Anna (Vincenti) to play.”

Fran was then asked at the what if we lose tomorrow question regarding the gap that would  open that would effectively mean that the Champions League spot would be missed.

“We never think what if we don’t win a game because we alway believe that we are going to win,” Fran replied. “They are on a great run of course but we always believe we are going to win. We work all week to make sure that we win. Sometimes we cannot do it. So I don’t want to think what will happen if we don’t win.

“In our minds we are going to give 120% to try to win the game, knowing that they are in top form. In the last two games they were very impressive and they are in very good scoring form so it is going to be a tough game. In my mind we are going to play to our strengths and we are going to do our best to try to win th three points.”

Asked why Celtic have ended up in third place in the league this season when the Hoops challenged all the way to the last day for the title last season, the manager was clear what the difference has been.

“We haven’t been as clinical as the other two teams (Glasgow City and theRangers), they haven’t dropped points away from the top three and we have with two teams (draws against Spartans and Hibs) and that has been the difference.

“The margins been very narrow, this year we haven’t been as clinical – so far – as the other two and they have been more consistent than us, bit the league still hasn’t finished and we will try our best to finish as high as possible.

“Probably the most uneven game we have had against Glasgow City this season was the (League) cup final, in terms of performance, not the result (1-0 to Celtic). I think the last game was much closer that the final result suggests (2-0 to City) there were some circumstances that I don’t want to talk about ( as mentioned above Chloe Craig being victim of a shocking tackle that drew blood from his thigh from a straight leg high boot, yet the refereed didn’t even produce a yellow card rather than the straight red that everyone who saw to believed was merited) but these are always very even games where little things define games.

“We’re normally quite good at controlling the little details but that day we weren’t and our focus all week is not only on the tactical and technical but we work a lot on the psychological. We know that with lack of concentration against top teams you can get punished so we will see our team have 100% concentration during the 95 minutes.

Last up was The Celtic Star and we wanted to know given the dynamics in the league at the moment and looking at the last game, if Celtic could benefit form sitting deeper and exploiting the space in behind the City defence – a ploy we reckon Celtic will adopt.  Fran Alsono however was giving nothing away.

“We know the game plan, if I tell you David they probably hear it as well so that would give us a massive disadvantage but we have made adjustments from our last performance against them because we didn’t consider enough the dimensions of the pitch and that made a big difference.<

“How many times we got the defence on the half turn and the final ball was over hit because we are used to training on a bigger pitch so we adjusted this week and hopeful that will do the trick and we’ll see a team that is a little ore clinical and the last ball is better. We’ll also have a couple to tactical adjustments for Sunday and hopefully they will work.

“But listen, they also have a top coach, they are a very good team in top form so they will also do their adjustments so it will be a battle and the little details, the team that controls the little details will win. That’s what I think.”

Given Fran didn’t want to talk about the controversial incident in the last game we finished with a humour approach to him flagging up that it wasn’t going to be discussed.

“Is Chloe Craig going to play with American football armour on?” we asked.

“That’s a question for Chloe!” Fran answered  laughing his head off.

Best of luck to Fran and the team tomorrow afternoon. Glasgow City v Celtic FC Women kicks off at 4.10pm at Petershill Park in Glasgow and the match is also live on BBC Alba.

COYGIG.

IMAGO / Pro Sports Images – Photo Colin Poultney PSI

About Author

The Celtic Star founder and editor, who has edited numerous Celtic books over the past decade or so including several from Lisbon Lions, Willie Wallace, Tommy Gemmell and Jim Craig. Earliest Celtic memories include a win over East Fife at Celtic Park and the 4-1 League Cup loss to Partick Thistle as a 6 year old. Best game? Easy 4-2, 1979 when Ten Men Won the League. Email editor@thecelticstar.co.uk

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