Shaun Maloney revealed that during training yesterday, he leaned a lot on Celtic’s Kasper Schmeichel, Callum McGregor, Kieran Tierney, and James Forrest…
Maloney, who stepped in to guide the team with Martin O’Neill after Brendan Rodgers’ shock exit, had joined Celtic earlier in the summer as the club’s Professional Player Pathway Manager.
He is set to oversee things from the touchline for now, and with O’Neill making his way up from England, Maloney led yesterday’s training session in preparation for tonight’s clash with Falkirk at Celtic Park.
Speaking during the media conference at Celtic Park yesterday afternoon which The Celtic Star attended, Maloney said: “We’ve got some experienced guys. Kasper is probably the most experienced. But in terms of the lads that probably come through the club, you’ve got Callum, James and Kieran. We relied heavily on them this morning.”
“Alistair Johnston is a really big part of the group. Unfortunately, Cameron had surgery yesterday, I think, or he would have been part of that.”
Maloney added: “So there’s enough experience, enough guys that have won, and enough guys probably that have experienced days like today. Yeah, we relied heavily on them this morning, and we’ll rely heavily on them tomorrow night.”
“These moments are really, really difficult. I think as well, when you ask the question about John, he is a big part of what goes on on a daily basis. He’s a really extremely talented coach, very popular, so he’ll be missed.”
“But it’s the senior players who will be relied upon and demanded more. I think it’s always the case, and it won’t be any different tomorrow night.”
It is a massive night for O’Neill and his players this evening after the events of the last few days. It is vital Celtic get back to winning ways ahead of Sunday’s League Cup semi-final at Hampden. There’s only so much that the two interim bosses can do in such a short period of time. The senior players will have to do a great deal to ensue that the players are focused and fully understand what is now required on a night when Celtic simply must pick up the three points.
Falkirk will certainly fancy their chances by benefitting from the turmoil inside and outside of Celtic Park this evening. Keep an eye on the Directors box to see who is and more importantly not there this evening.
Conor Spence
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Don’t know why anyone would have an interest on who is in the directors box and seats.
Couldn’t care less myself, especially when there should be more interest about what is happening upon the pitch.
Don’t expect wholesale changes tonight, but will be interested to see if a renewed energy is installed within our play.
Been plenty of calls as to whether kasper should keep the no 1 jersey, think that the current situation will mean that he does for the time being. Could well change after the international break when the world cup qualification process ends all the same, but doubtful with the position Denmark are in, all the same.
Calmac can become less influential when teams opt for the man to man marking approach upon him, forcing him to sit deeper than what is best for ourselves imo.
Will be interesting to see if any potential changes could be introduced to improve that current situation for ourselves, especially if it means getting Calmac back to being more influential in games.
Worked well in the first half of Sunday where Calmac had more space to operate. Didn’t so much in the second half on Sunday, which is possibly the best way teams find out in stopping ourselves to easily within an attacking sence.
Hopefully that issue will get better resolved, than what we have seen to date this season.