The Offical Glasgow Celtic thread

[Main Street]

when he doesnt have the ball he needs to work harder and start putting in a few tackles.

He wouldn't be in a GS team if he didn't work back and tackle. Eg. he spent most of his time covering the FB against Barca.

He is a playmaker supreme, a gifted intelligent player who is a world class sublime passer of the ball.
Imo his best role would be in front of a 3 man midfield.
Celtic fans say he is a different player at home than away in the EPL.
Without him in the CL, Celtic were outclassed at home by Shakhtar.

[Lamh Dhearg Alba]

yes I have said it before, and if he can play LB (as he did very capably for MON teams a number of times then he isnt good enough to start at all  imo.
A decent makeshift centre half, Darren O'Dea is less akward and better at reading the game, but has a long way to go yet before he is good enough.
McManus just isnt what any top team need at centre half. Caldwell isnt even half as good as mcmanus.
Pressley the better centre half, but legs are gone.Balde and a reiper-esque centre half is what Celtic would require

He played the very occasional game at LB for O'Neill simply because Celtic were short on cover and he is defender and left footed - but he is not and never was a natural left back. He isnt a "makeshift centre half" either, thats the position he has played for many years. You dont play ball winning centre backs at full back. McManus has kept a number of top players quiet for both Celtic and Scotland and is a better player than Balde (who would incidentally be a better option next to McManus than Caldwell) and Ive no doubt he will continue to be a key player for years to come. Maybe if he had a fancy foreign name he would be more easily accepted . Seems to be highly rated by the majority of Celtic fans too I must say.

[lynchbhoy]

He played the very occasional game at LB for O'Neill simply because Celtic were short on cover and he is defender and left footed - but he is not and never was a natural left back. He isnt a "makeshift centre half" either, thats the position he has played for many years. You dont play ball winning centre backs at full back. McManus has kept a number of top players quiet for both Celtic and Scotland and is a better player than Balde (who would incidentally be a better option next to McManus than Caldwell) and Ive no doubt he will continue to be a key player for years to come. Maybe if he had a fancy foreign name he would be more easily accepted . Seems to be highly rated by the majority of Celtic fans too I must say.

No prob LDA. A lot of Celtic fans think McManus is great , then again Shaun Maloney was voted player of the year in scotland...my point?
If a player is a native, they will be seen as the new pele just because they are Scots ! ! !
Celtic's two best centre halves are Pressley and O'Dea (imo). One past it, the other might never make it.
I have seen a lot of McManus on TV and live and imo he is just not good enough. Hes decent , does his best and all that, but against decent sides that play in the CL, players like him are unfortunately too freq found out. LB is where I would play him  ONLY if stuck, but if Strachan realises he wont do too well by buying the entire Scots national team for Celtic, and buys a decent Centre half, then McManus would be best left on the bench. I just wont go with the popular sentiment because many others think the same way. Celtic have too many below average players, Centre half is the key area that needs to be fixed first.
IMO.

[tyroneman]

He wouldn't be in a GS team if he didn't work back and tackle. Eg. he spent most of his time covering the FB against Barca.

He is a playmaker supreme, a gifted intelligent player who is a world class sublime passer of the ball.
Imo his best role would be in front of a 3 man midfield.
Celtic fans say he is a different player at home than away in the EPL.
Without him in the CL, Celtic were outclassed at home by Shakhtar

I've heard some nonsense said about Naka but that takes the biscuit.

He left Caddis hung out to dry on Wed night. Can't tackle, won't tackle. It's widley accepted, and even voiced by WGS, that Naka is terrible at covering his FB.

On his day he's a very good player. The amount of times he's been on his day this season however have been few and far between. To be coinsidered world class you should be having an above average game roughly 2 out of 3 times you play (averaged over a season). Naka has about 1 in 10.

Ask yourself why WGS leaves him out of big away games. Why was he on the bench against Rangers in the last OF? He wasn't injured. He just rarely does it from open play away from CP and gets regularly bullied out of games.

Away from home he's the equivalent of the NFL special teams unit. Get a free - give to Naka, he scores. That's his sum contribution away from home. How you can call that world class is beyond me. World class free taker yes, world class player - no.

For a "sublime passer of the ball" he gave 80-90% of his passes straight to Barca on Wed night.

Larsson was world class.........Naka is nowhere near Henrik's standard.

[Main Street]

He wouldn't be in a GS team if he didn't work back and tackle. Eg. he spent most of his time covering the FB against Barca.

He is a playmaker supreme, a gifted intelligent player who is a world class sublime passer of the ball.
Imo his best role would be in front of a 3 man midfield.
Celtic fans say he is a different player at home than away in the EPL.
Without him in the CL, Celtic were outclassed at home by Shakhtar

I've heard some nonsense said about Naka but that takes the biscuit.

He left Caddis hung out to dry on Wed night. Can't tackle, won't tackle. It's widley accepted, and even voiced by WGS, that Naka is terrible at covering his FB.

On his day he's a very good player. The amount of times he's been on his day this season however have been few and far between. To be coinsidered world class you should be having an above average game roughly 2 out of 3 times you play (averaged over a season). Naka has about 1 in 10.

Ask yourself why WGS leaves him out of big away games. Why was he on the bench against Rangers in the last OF? He wasn't injured. He just rarely does it from open play away from CP and gets regularly bullied out of games.

Away from home he's the equivalent of the NFL special teams unit. Get a free - give to Naka, he scores. That's his sum contribution away from home. How you can call that world class is beyond me. World class free taker yes, world class player - no.

For a "sublime passer of the ball" he gave 80-90% of his passes straight to Barca on Wed night.

Larsson was world class.........Naka is nowhere near Henrik's standard.

Naka has missed months due to injury.
As I said,  Celtic fans say he isn't an away player in the SPL. I dunno, I don't get to see those games. The SPL doesn't exactly light my fire. Caley feckin thistle? it's a foreign league to me.
On the Barca game,, have a look at it again, the pundits spoke nonsense about Naka not tracking back even though he spent most of the game in the Celtic half, he hardly ever got forward, yet the Setanta crew were criticising him for not tracking back.   the whole team were awful against Barca, how come you'd have the sight of the playmaker Naka spending 80% of the game in the Celtic half in a home game.
Celtic's back 4 are rubbish and the midfield are barely adequate for the CL. Where is the base for a playmaker to operate when the back 4 can't string 2 passes together, when put under a bit of pressure  the first response is to hoof it out.
Without Boruc they wouldn't be in the last 16, this year and last.
Did I say Naka was world class? no I didn't, I said he is a world class passer of the ball.
If Strachan didn't rate Naka he would have been sold last Summer after winning the POY award.
Let me remind you of what Strachan says about Naka
"The man's a genius," Strachan said of a player he has described as possessing 'the touch of an angel'. "But we also have statistics that say he covers more ground than anybody in our team."

last week
: "No, I (dont) want to get rid of the one of the best players in Britain! January and December,

[tyroneman]

Naka has missed months due to injury.

He was poor before that at the start of the season

Did I say Naka was world class? no I didn't, I said he is a world class passer of the ball.

ok - part time world class then according to you

Celtic fans say he isn't an away player in the SPL. I dunno, I don't get to see those games. The SPL doesn't exactly light my fire. Caley feckin thistle? it's a foreign league to me.

For a man who has no interest in Celtic away or the bread and butter SPL games you seem remarkably forthright with your views on a player who you only see in marquee games for Celtic. Rafael Schiedt looked good on the video highlight compilation y'know!Try Setanta for the away games and take a more informed view of Naka

Celtic's back 4 are rubbish and the midfield are barely adequate for the CL. Where is the base for a playmaker to operate when the back 4 can't string 2 passes together

I agree..however this is the same back 4 and midfield assembled by Strachan so he obviously rates them all.........so on one hand you slag off the back line and MF created by WGS and on the other you suddenly value his opinion on Naka? Bit of a contradiction.

how come you'd have the sight of the playmaker Naka spending 80% of the game in the Celtic half in a home game

Cos 90% of the time he got the ball he gave it straight back to Barca perhaps? It was quite obvious Caddis had no protection inf ront of him. Naka doesn't tackle and the pundits were 100% correct to point this out. Again..ask yourself why he was left out of the first OF game of the season at Ibrox.

Alsoask yourself why no big Euro team came in for Naka after his POY or indeed around the time we bought him.........did you hear anyone offer 10Mill + for him? For such a genius?

[Main Street]

Cos 90% of the time he got the ball he gave it straight back to Barca perhaps? It was quite obvious Caddis had no protection inf ront of him. Naka doesn't tackle and the pundits were 100% correct to point this out. Again..ask yourself why he was left out of the first OF game of the season at Ibrox.

Alsoask yourself why no big Euro team came in for Naka after his POY or indeed around the time we bought him.........did you hear anyone offer 10Mill + for him? For such a genius?

If he was of such limited use to Strachan then easily Celtic could get their money back and get shod of the wage drain. If Strachan has a high opinion of a player and it is backed by the player getting POTY,
backed by him getting the 2005 confeds  POTT and most importantly I agree with Strachan  then I value that Strachan opinion.
Strachan isn't perfect -  shocker - has a load of blind spots. What other coach would instruct Naka to play an alien game with an inept back 4, he was awful on the ball but he did a lot of effective covering off the ball. Overall 3 or 4 out of 10.
It was a mistake to play Naka and instruct him to support a rookie FB. I don't think less of Naka for that. I have said before that Naka plays best in front of a strong 3 in midfield.
AFAICS Celtic are technically inept to utilize a player like Naka, that you have Celtic fans crying out for another brainless hard tackling mucker, I'd say spend a few mill and get a decent RB that will cover and support  Naka.
I like intelligent players and obviously I'm subjective about Naka. I see he came on as a sub against St Mirren, replacing a poor Robson, he added some creativity, more chances were made and capped off by an example of his genius
I have seen enough of Naka over the past 4 years to have my definite opinions of him.

For a man who has no interest in Celtic away or the bread and butter SPL games you seem remarkably forthright with your views on a player who you only see in marquee games for Celtic

Personally I think Samaras is shocking poor, based on his 15min CL cameo. Maybe I'm wrong but i don't see the point of that (loan?) signing when you already have JVOH and Killen.
I'll keep an open mind - for a while.
 I am a long distance Celtic sympathizer since before I can remember. Im not a Glaswegian. I have said elsewhere that Dundalk were my local soccer team and when they played Celtic in the EC  I was there supporting Dundalk. I am Irish.I wouldn't watch a Strachan team in a b&b spl game away but I had no problem watching MON's team anywhere.


 

[Lamh Dhearg Alba]

No prob LDA. A lot of Celtic fans think McManus is great , then again Shaun Maloney was voted player of the year in scotland...my point?
If a player is a native, they will be seen as the new pele just because they are Scots ! ! !
Celtic's two best centre halves are Pressley and O'Dea (imo). One past it, the other might never make it.
I have seen a lot of McManus on TV and live and imo he is just not good enough. Hes decent , does his best and all that, but against decent sides that play in the CL, players like him are unfortunately too freq found out. LB is where I would play him  ONLY if stuck, but if Strachan realises he wont do too well by buying the entire Scots national team for Celtic, and buys a decent Centre half, then McManus would be best left on the bench. I just wont go with the popular sentiment because many others think the same way. Celtic have too many below average players, Centre half is the key area that needs to be fixed first.
IMO.

I totally agree that centre half is an area that Celtic need to address but for me Caldwell is the only man who needs to be replaced. I see your point on the native players being talked up but then again I dont rate Pressley and I never rated Beattie even when some people seemed to think he was a great prospect.

Good win for Celtic today after being on the ropes at times. Samaras seems to be taking some stick on here but he took his goal very well when he came on, a good 3 points for Celtic in a game in which they didnt really play that well. Steven Fletcher will surely be the next young Hibs player to move on to a bigger club, he looks like he can be a very good striker.

[clarshack]

samaras looks more of a threat than mcdonald and vennegor put together. dont know why he is taking stick as the only poor contribution he had was against st mirren. caldwell needs replaced and asap. balde and o'dea are much better defenders.

[lynchbhoy]

I totally agree that centre half is an area that Celtic need to address but for me Caldwell is the only man who needs to be replaced. I see your point on the native players being talked up but then again I dont rate Pressley and I never rated Beattie even when some people seemed to think he was a great prospect.

Good win for Celtic today after being on the ropes at times. Samaras seems to be taking some stick on here but he took his goal very well when he came on, a good 3 points for Celtic in a game in which they didnt really play that well. Steven Fletcher will surely be the next young Hibs player to move on to a bigger club, he looks like he can be a very good striker.

Agree with you on Caldwell. Thought Beattie was just inconsistent and needed to find his best 'game' and style, as at times he could be superb.
Pressley was excellent a few years ago (after being fairly mediocre early in his career).

I like Samaras. Could be superb if used properly. Dont know if Celtic are that team though to do so.
Fletcher defo looks a great prospect.
Celtic were ok in first half, but offered no attacking threat. If they didnt shoot straight at the keeper in the second half they could have won by a mile. Very energetic high intensity perf from Celtic in second half. McGeady showing he is looking like reaching the potential he promised a few years ago. Scot Brown superb.

Alloa finding it difficult to score away from home these days...

[Rav67]

I haven't quite made up my mind on Samaras yet, its obvious he was severely lacking in confidence at Man City because he's not been the donkey I expected him to be.  Good to see Brown put in a good performance, it would be great if he could add real consistency to his game- in pre-season he was unbelievable, I know people don't take those games seriously but in every game I saw he was driving the midfield forward like Gerrard on a good day.

Lovely bit of football from McGeady again for the second goal, I wonder what his assist tally has been in the past while he seems to be setting up a goal every game now.  Off to Barcelona tomorrow for Tuesday's game, its a bit shit that we're basically out but hoping for a valiant display nonetheless and should be good craic.

[Gaoth Dobhair Abu]

Still no team reports up on any of the usual sites!


Anyway, hears hoping with a novena, prayer and a candle.


Hail Hail......... Come on the Celts

[Croí na hÉireann]

Does anyone know if this will be on any channel apart from Sky bleedin Sports??? 

[Main Street]

In the end only one nil after fears of 4-0.  The first half was very hard to watch from a Celtic point of view.
Second half was better, mostly because Barca took it easier and the presence of  Sno who was an infinitely better option than Donati and should have come on after 15mins.
McGeady did better when he cut more inside.
Naka wasn't dispossesed once and did he have a perfect successful pass rate?
Samaras did well. Boruc as usual - top marks.

[Gaoth Dobhair Abu]

Well, on the bright side, at least the Celts can now concentrate on winning 3 in a row (for the first time since Big Jock!), without any more distractions.
Thought we were terrible in the first half, but got better in the second, albeit with Barca taking the foot of the gas and Messi going off. We were beaten by a massively better team, but Lawwell has come out today and announced that WGS will be given the funds to strengthen the team in the summer, given a rub of the green and a decent draw for next years CL, maybe we could get to the last eight...! 


Hail Hail