Celtic Banter Archive March 16 2015

16 Mar 2015 14:10:42
Well done to RD and the bhoys, part 1 of 3 done. Rest hopefully to follow. There is no doubt in my mind we have improved now, though past few performances have not been great we have done enough. Question is can we kick on again? Simple answer for me is NO. While we now have GMS and Armstrong which helps the reason I say no is we will not kick on again till we have a top quality striker playing.IMHO we can now compete in Europe league and even qualify for groups in CL. But to beat these teams we got to get a top striker and this must be our priority for the summer. I know VVD and Denayer could be moving on but its not a certainty but we know for sure we need a striker. I firmly believe a top striker would have made the difference in a game like Inter and we could have won if that had been the case. Having a striker of that quality is often the difference in a tight game or a 0-0 and will see us thro these games, esp CL qualifiers. Its certainly noticeable when we playing domestically when we dominate games only to win by the odd goal and can't put teams away and people commenting on "someone is going to get a doing off us". I don't think we will do anyone till we have that striker who is ruthless and totally selfish in front of goal. I will be a very happy chappy if RD can find us 1.

16 Mar 2015 14:38:04
Rayman I think we need a striker who is experienced playing lone striker in 4-2-3-1 formation and I wouldn't be surprised if someone has already been lined up.

Its the CB situation that is concerning me.

16 Mar 2015 14:49:10
Exactly DN but I not worried about CBs yet as we don't know what will happen. Denayer may go back to City but will he get a game? maybe we can sneak another year out of him. VVD is not exactly playin at his best the now so he may be doing us a favour and no one will come in for him.

16 Mar 2015 15:28:18
We could use Van Dijk in the Champions league qualifiers. The transfer window doesn't close till the end of August and the qualifiers will be over by then.
I doubt he'll get a move to a top 4 club in England, so he wouldn't be cup tied for his new team.
Maybe if we qualify for the Champions league, he might not be so keen to leave.

16 Mar 2015 16:17:58
Rayman, there hasn't been a time in the last ten years, that a poster hasn't said that've don't want a top class striker. There isn't many clubs in the world that at any given time doesn't want a ( or another ) top class striker . Top class strikers don't come cheaply ( even spending big money doesn't guarantee successs ) . Torres at Chelsea, Carroll at Liverpool and even Falcao ( £6 million for one season loan ) hasn't bought success. I think Deila is more likely to concentrate in developing his players to create even more clear-cut chances than presently, than trying to spend millions seeking to find a striker who may or mat not score . Deila is only six months working with this Celtic squad and I think his aim every month is to develope the attacking style more and more .

16 Mar 2015 19:05:41
Chris02 top class strikers don't always cost a premium. The greatest striker I have seen wear the hoops only cost £650,000 Larsson.

16 Mar 2015 22:02:43
@Chris the problem is we ARE creating clear cut chances but we not putting them away. I didn't for 1 min suggest we going to buy a Falcao lol, I meant within our price range. As DN says Larsson is the prime example.

16 Mar 2015 22:05:24
I think we need a different type of striker to play the RD formation. I think he wants a big striker to hold the ball up to bring the 3 behind him into the game. It looks like strikers like Griffiths trying to lead the line and score just does not work. I think he felt Scepovic could do that job. Big, strong forward. I don't know if that is a fair assumption but we are playing well just no end result?

16 Mar 2015 23:51:06
Talking about big striker, I think that, that Kyle Lafferty is looking for a club, he'd be within the price range and could form a good partnership with LG, .(LOL)

17 Mar 2015 01:02:35
DN 30. I not bother counting all the strikers Celtic have bought over the last 5/6 years from prices as low as £100k to maybe in excess of £3m . All these were bought with the idea of doing a first class job for Celtic, I don't think Celtic deliberately tried to sign the duds they turned out to be .
Larsson was a one off in my life time supporting Celtic, a quality striker at a very reasonable price. If we are going to base our striking hopes based on how well one purchase has done in over 50 years, we are not going to be very successful.
Larsson became the great world renowned striker he was, based on his own ability, the right attitude and his Celtic team mates who dominated most games and fed him with a good service .
I think Deila is trying to get the proper service, then we might have the top class striker already on our books, or we may be able to attract one.

17 Mar 2015 12:29:18
Chris02 to be honest, i'm sure Deila has someone in mind who will solve the striker problem we have at a reasonable price. These players are out there, its just a matter of finding them. We need someone who is going to make a difference immediately

17 Mar 2015 18:10:11
DN 30 . It's not simply a matter of finding them . Its a matter of been able to bring them into the team, in a way that results in goals been scored . For example Falco was a regular goal scorer at clubs precious to UTD .
I can remember years ago Birtles scoring weekly for Forest, he was signed by Manchester Utd but started to score very weakly . Remember Cascarino, a real joke at Celtic, later on he went to France and had a decent record .
We will have our best striker, when we have our players creating chance after chance and then our striker's confidence will soar and we will think we have a world class striker .

16 Mar 2015 10:23:55
Absolutely delighted for Ronnie Deila and especially Scott Brown.
Brown and Johansen were superb and controlled the game, while Denayer had a majestic and faultless match beside the elegant VVD.
Again we should have scored more goals - seem to say that every week - and lacked pace and sharpness.
Stokes will never be a favourite of mine and if he, Mulgrew, Forrest and Ambrose were to leave in the summer, they could easily be replaced and I am sure RD has identified who he wants to further improve the team and continue his philosophy and style of play.

Another missed penalty against United and once again a large part of the game when we had numerical advantage and should have hammered them, but it's irrelevant when the trophy is back at Paradise.

Guidetti was given a terrific opportunity by Celtic to get his career on track and his initial performances had promise and the support took them into their heart. However he has shown, flaws in his game and his attitude and seems to be distracted and delusional about his ability and ambition.
Scepovic and Wakaso may not be the darlings of the fans, but they should be given their chance before this Prima Donna.

16 Mar 2015 12:37:10
I agree with what you say JJ, I am delighted for Ronny. Whatever else we win under him, his first trophy will always be a special memory for him.
I see the Dundee United players are moaning that it was the ref that cost them the match. Last week they survived in the cup, because one of their players cheated to win a penalty. Their argument then was everyone does it, and some you win, some you lose.
I don't know if it was a penalty or not, I haven't watched the game back on TV, and I didn't have the greatest view at Hampden. But if you are going to go down the road of conning the refs, you can't complain when they don't give penalties which are.
By conning the ref last week, they put doubts into the referees mind this week, I have no sympathy for them.
Brilliant support again yesterday, I thought the crowd doing the huddle, was fantastic.

16 Mar 2015 12:37:46
Wakaso for sure. Would like to see more of this lad, although its hard to see who he will replace.

16 Mar 2015 16:31:12
I think it must be getting towards the end of their Celtic careers for, Tonev, and Wakaso, I think no matter what reasons, exist, there isn't enough games left
Until the end of the season for these players to win deals .
Stokes, played very well against Dundee Utd in the cup final.
Forest played well for the last 25 minutes and both showed how valuable they can be
At the end of the day Celtic will always need players who know is wanted off them .
Even if Ambrose Stokes and Forrest are going to be regarded more of back- up players rather than first teamers all the time, I think they will be very useful, none of them let themselves or the club down .

16 Mar 2015 00:20:23
Absolutely disgusted with guidetti today it one thing saying things in the media about wanting to go elsewhere but we he did after the game is inexcusable all the players ( together ) done a lap of honour and he stayed well behind by himself sulking, I can understand he is annoyed at not getting the penalty but the game is over we have won the cup he should be out there celebrating or even thanking the fans who pay his wages with there hard earned cash! Now iv never not supported a player wearing the hoops but I hope he never pulls a celtic Jersey on again he is a petulant young man who will go through his career jumping from club to club

16 Mar 2015 01:01:31
Tam1888 I agree with u 95% only that if the penalty taker is decided before the game well u might not like it but as my mum used to say " u can lump it " and too be honest guidetti hasn't shown that he will sign so why should he get to take anything but the wee man ( no pun lol ) didn't help himself by fluffin it but hey we are on a treble run now COME ON U BHOYS make it so we believe hail hail :) :) :)

16 Mar 2015 07:14:43
Guidetti is overrated. Struggled at Burnley, was hopeless at Stoke, not any better than any striker we have at club. He had a good season in Dutch league, but if he can't find the net in scotland I doubt he will do much in Holland this time.

I hold my hands up and admit I wasn't keen on celtic signing Griffiths due to his behaviour off the field. But the bhoy deserves credit, he has got his head down, put in tremendous effort and fully deserves to be starting striker.

16 Mar 2015 12:42:44
guidetti is starting to remind me of viduka with his attitude, I could see guidetti claming he only played at 70 % etc, prob get pelters here but i'd send him back after his loan and take the offer away, spend it on someone whos actually happy to sign for us,

16 Mar 2015 14:00:24
I agree he won't be a loss when he goes bad apple good player but just a we boy spitting the dummy time for him to grow up watched the game again when I got back home noticed at the end of the game RD was looking at him when he went off the park at the end of the game instead of celebrating with the rest of us