Crazy times at Celtic and Rangers

Another game, another injury problem for Tony Mowbray to concern himself with.

Glen Loovens, admittedly more useful in the opposition box than his own at times, limped out of the game with a hamstring injury that is looking like it will rule him out of Celtic’s match at Pittodrie on Saturday.

Considering Edson Braafheid took what looked to be a bad knock and was later replaced, the Celtic defence had a strange look about it. Yes, in recent weeks, the Celtic back line has been a mish mash but finishing with a back four of Caddis, Rogne, Thompson and N’Guemo is asking a lot.

Celtic were lucky they were facing toothless Hearts although the defence coped admirably with what they had to do.

Even luckless Loovens was comfortable in his clearances and interceptions, it was when he had time on the ball that he looked in difficulty. The jury remains out on Paul Caddis as a full-back, his interplay with Aiden McGeady was strong but whether he can be a permanent right back is a different matter.

So, back to the attention grabbing headline.

Josh Thompson – date of birth: 25/02/91
Thomas Rogne – date of birth: 29/09/90
Davie Weir – date of birth: 10/05/70

So, Davie Weir is currently 39 whereas Thompson and Rogne are 18 and 19 respectively, making the Celtic centre half pairing 37!

At times this season Davie Weir has had youngster Danny Wilson beside him but the difference in centre backs between the two clubs is of note.

There is no doubt that Celtic need a more commanding and experienced figure in their backline, as much to progress the youngsters around him as to shore up the backline.

Celtic kept a clean sheet last night but they will face a tougher test at Pittodrie on Saturday.

Can Celtic cut the gap to 5 points on Saturday?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Loovens and Fortune do the damage in a minute

Although Celtic were the stronger team in the first half, it was all about the second 45 at Celtic Park.

From the start of the second period, Celtic seemed brighter and very quickly had the game wrapped up.

Hearts were always likely to struggle to pack a punch up front and you know that Celtic will waste chances so the 0-0 at half-time was no surprise.

The opening goal came from a set-piece but its origins were possible a bit fortunate. Braafhied was trotting across to take the kick but the left back was carrying an injury and Glenn Loovens pointed out that it may be wise for him to hang back.

The kick was taken by Diomansy Kamara instead and his scuffed near-post ball found its way to Loovens, who after seeming a bit startled to be afforded so much time and space in the box eventually volleyed home to relieve the pressure at Celtic Park.

Celtic took the lead at East End Park on Sunday but were pegged back almost immediately. This game saw another quick fire goal after Celtic’s opener but this time it was 2-0 to the hoops as Marc Antoine Fortune broke down the left, drew the goalkeeper and poked the ball home.

The off the ball movement from Robbie Keane has been very impressive but his shooting in the box is probably still a bit too eager. It is obvious that Robbie is trying very hard to impress the fans and inspire his team-mates but a bit more composure in front of goal will bring the Irish striker even greater rewards.

It was easy to lose count of the amount of chances Keane missed but the fact that he was creating them and keeping the linesman happy with a number of tight offside decisions would have went some way to earning Keane’s wages this week.

All in all, and finally after the past two horrible midweek’s, Celtic fans had something to smile about on a weeknight. They only clawed back the two points on Rangers and the game is now 8 points but any step in the right direction will be gladly accepted by the hoops faithful.

Can Celtic cut the gap to 5 points by Saturday night?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Loovens the latest addition to the Celtic backline injury list

Given the way that Celtic have defended this season, it is maybe not the worst thing in the world that Tony Mowbray has been forced into changing his back four.

And when you consider his substitutions in the second half in the win over St Johnstone, if he could get away without a defence, he may well try it.

At one point, Celtic had McGinn, McCourt, Crosas, McGeady, McGowan, Samaras and Fortune on the field.

Add in Paul Caddis, who is more of a wing-back as opposed to a genuine full-back, Celtic were playing with only Darren O’Dea and Josh Thompson at the back.

A player making his first start for the club and another who struggled to get a game on loan at Reading for the first half of the season.

Mowbray is really down to the bare bones of a back line at the moment.

Gary Caldwell is gone.
Mark Wilson is still a long injury casualty.
Stephen McManus is injured and has looked off-form all season.
Danny Fox has been missing since after the Rangers game.
Lee Naylor picked up an injury after the Morton match.
Glen Loovens was subbed around 20 minutes of the St Johnstone game and required stitches. The player had a slight concussion which may see him unavailable for the next game or two.

Celtic currently have Andreas Hinkel, Josh Thompson and Darren O’Dea available.

The club has recently signed two centre halfs, Jos Hooiveld and Tomas Rogne and Hooiveld may be forced into first team action sooner than Mowbray would have wanted.
Celtic welcome Hibs to Celtic Park on Wednesday night and there is no doubt that Hibs have the fire power to punish a weak rearguard.

Hibs struck 5 against Hamilton with Nish, Stokes and Riordan all on the score-sheet.

Tony Mowbray will need to spend a couple of hard days on the training field (or in the transfer market) to ensure his backline is up to the task at hand.

Do Celtic need to buy more defenders this window?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Little Football Boots returns to advise Big Tony Mowbray

Continuing our series of Pop Goes The Football, the return of Tony Mowbray brought some cheer to Celtic fans during a flat summer. He may not have been everyone’s choice for the Celtic Park hotseat but he had that ABS quality.

Anyone But Strachan.

Yes, the stats of three titles, two last 16s of the Champions League and three domestic cups will be recited by the Strachanistas but he overstayed his welcome by at least one year and the football on offer near the end was turgid.

There was hope that Tony Mowbray would bring excitement back to Celtic Park and he hasnt disappointed.

Okay, a lot of this is due to absolute helter-skelter defending as opposed to swashbuckling attacking play…but there has been some of that.

Anyways, Little Boots has already provided WeKnowSFA to put the boot into Gordon Smith, which is always fun and now the attention turns to the confusion over Tony Mowbrays first half-season. There have been good and bad moments so far, so take it away……

Little Football Boots – ‘Tic’

This is a live version of the track from Chicago..which means she can go abroad and put in a good performance...not something every Scottish club can say!

Other tracks in the Pop Goes The Football back catalogue include:
Eddie May-ly Cyrus with ’Bairns Need The Climb’

Killie Perry with ‘Waking Up In Killie’

Little Football Boots with ‘Gordon’s Stuck On Repeat’
and
Lady Hail Hail with ‘Bad Defence’

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Good three points but a lot of room for improvement for Hoops.

It is hard to think what to make of Celtic these days.

For chances created, they should have had the game won out of sight within the first twenty minutes.

Last week’s villain of the piece, Glen Loovens, opened the scoring early on and the initial signs were that Celtic would go on to seriously punish Hamilton Academicals.

The Lanarkshire team hung on in there but it was one way traffic.

Of course, the longer the game went on and Celtic never got a second goal, the more nervous it became for the Hoops fans.

Loovens had a header cleared off the line, sub Fortune hit the post and Robson and Samaras narrowly missed the target.

As the 70 minute mark came and went with only the one goal so far, the Celtic fans and defence started to get uptight and there was a genuine threat that the Accies could steal a point.

All the home teams fans had their hearts in their mouth as the Accies put the ball in the net but there was a foul in the build-up. Regardless, Danny Fox was caught well out of position before the cross came in and what Artur Boruc was doing, God only knows.

The Polish stopper made a good save with his chest in the first half but a diving save to his left in the second half was even better…but question marks were definitely raised over the Polish stopper in his role in Accies chopped off goal.

That said, even though the foul was apparent, it was a let-off but as can so often happen, it galvanised the home team…slightly

And just as Celtic fans were streaming for the exit, Niall McGinn lashed home from the edge of the box to seal a 2-0 victory for the Hoops.

On one hand, 2-0 was the least Celtic deserved for their overall dominance. However, you have to credit Hamilton for hanging on in there and keeping in touch with the home side.

Of more concern to the home club was the number of missing seats. Yes, the weather was atrocious and many families had other concerns for Boxing Day, so perhaps it was understandable but historically, Boxing Day have gathered big crowds.

However, as these pictures taken just after Loovens broke the deadlock show, there was a big number of empty seats.

The gap behind Rangers is now at one point and all Celtic fans will be hoping that Hibs can do them a turn at Easter Road.

Celtic fans, did you brave the cold and did you enjoy it?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Lady Hail Hail kicks off the festive fun and frolics at WeKnowSFA

During the Christmas and New Year period, many papers and online sites give time over to articles that are a bit more whimsical than would normally take centre stage. Whether this is because there is less news around at this time of year or the writers have all been hitting the Christmas spirit in a big way, who knows.

Regardless, WeKnowSFA is not going to buck the trend and will hopefully offer up a series called Pop Goes The Football, mixing Scottish football and music in a way that no one has bothered to do so far. And there is probably a reason for that!!

First up – Lady Hail Hail with a re-working of her recent hit, which is now entitled ‘Bad Defence’

Even the most casual Scottish football fan knows that a bad defence is the major problem for Celtic at the moment and boss Tony Mowbray must be tearing his hair out at the clown-esque performances he sees on a weekly basis.

Glen Loovens was the Chief Coco the Clown at Tynecastle but throughout the season, Gary Caldwell and Stephen McManus have worn the massive shoes and brightly coloured pantaloons with pride.

The ‘Bad Defence’ may be enough to get Tony Mowbray the sack but the rumour mill appears to suggest that reinforcements may be on their way.

During this series, WeKnowSFA will try and add some of the original videos by the original acts but given the video for this track is a bit saucy, we’ll leave that one….dig it out on Youtube yourself if you need to see it!

Lady Hail Hail – ‘Bad Defence’

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Defensive mishaps cause Celtic to drop points again.

Andy Hinkel wasn’t clever for the winner but the blunder made by Glen Loovens changed the course of the match. Even with 10 men, Celtic were by far the most impressive team and Tony Mowbray must be wondering what he has to do to get his team to cut out the stupid mistakes.

Much like at Tannadice when the defence chucked away two goals to cause a 2-1 defeat, once again, Celtic leave with nothing because of personal errors.

The best thing Mowbray could do is to get rid of all his centre halfs and replace them with his own men. If your centre halfs are going to get you the sack, they may as well be your own men.

Of course, it takes two to tango and credit to Hearts for winning the match. They may be wondering how they hung on to win the game but the winning goal, from an attacking perspective, was an excellent header from Bouzid.

Things started well for Celtic and Greek striker Samaras continued his good goal-scoring run of form by bundling home after Scott McDonald struck the post.

There was only one team in it but a Glenn Loovens blunder let Mole through on goal when Gary Caldwell challenged. On first view, it looked like a penalty and without the benefits of television replays, it was the only decision to be made.
Michael Stewart showed the Celtic players how to take a penalty, levelling the game.

In the second half, Celtic continued pummelling the Hearts goal and Aiden McGeady, who was sensational throughout the match, cracked the post from distance.

Giorgos Samaras then scooped the ball over the bar when some composure would have given the Glasgow club a 2-1 lead.

Swapping Fortune for McDonald was not enough to give Celtic the goal with further missed chances before the youngster Templeton swung in a tremendous ball for the winning goal.

There have been far too many hard luck stories for Celtic this season.

The strikers aren’t converting enough of the chances they are making and the defenders aren’t doing their job properly. No matter how exciting the style of play is, when these two instances occur, you will lose or draw games.

There is certainly nothing decided in the title race yet but you have to wonder how many days like this Celtic can have without giving Rangers the boost to drive on for 2 in a row.

Celtic fans, can you sort out the back line?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.