Celtic Rumours Archive October 22 2013

22 Oct 2013 18:28:57

{Ed007's Note - Celtic XI v Ajax: Forster, Lustig, Ambrose, Van Dijk, Izaguirre, Forrest, Kayal, Mulgrew, Samaras, Stokes, Pukki

Celtic subs: Zaluska, Ledley, Biton, Balde, Rogic, Atajic, Fisher

Big plus for me tonight was Izaguirre getting back to being a decent defender. Stokes was v good. Kayal I've always liked and I think he can push on and form a pairing with Ledley (both better than Brown). Biton was silly but we'll forgive him as I think he looks tidy.

Good night. One negative for me and I hate to look for one but Ambrose is cat.

Thought central defensive pairing were excellent myself

22 Oct 2013 22:15:01
Firstly kayal and sammy were fantastic tonight. agree with the point about izzy, he showed he can defend and attack. biton should never of been sent off.

i have signalled out just those three for praise but in actual fact the whole team deserves massive praise. ambrose and van dijk were great. keep it up bhoys

If you think Biton should not have been sent off mate you need to get glasses, stonewall sending off, if it had been one of their's that done it, we would have expected a red
Tambhoy

22 Oct 2013 15:34:48
On to tonight's starting XI. Been thinking about it all day and like most have said, Lenny will earn his money picking a squad tonight!

The squad I'd mostly likely go for would be:

Forster
Lustig - Ambrose - Virgil - Mulgrew
Forrest - Ledley - Sammy
Stokes
Pukki - Balde

If Lustig is out I'd be comfortable playing young Fisher at RB, if Ledley is out I'd play Charlie in CM + Izzy at LB.

I'd definetely look at playing Balde + Pukki up front together though, I think Pukki looks like he has some pace hidden that we've not seen yet and Balde's height could knock chances down for Pukki to drive with it!

HamiltonBhoy

Can't imagine Stokes, Pukki and Balde all starting.

More worryingly than our absentees in midfield and defence is that it's now late October and we don't have a settled, regularly scoring striker/partnership. Besides an unlucky deflection and a poor Forster parry against Milan, and an instance of poor marking from Ambrose against Barca, our defence has been relatively solid; our midfielders have fought tooth and nail and held onto the ball as well as you'd hope against superior opposition; up top though, we've been poor at CL league level.

Despite good possession and pressure, there has been a lack of movement into areas a midfielder would love to play in a striker, instinctual forward play and link up play. Substandard and frustrating decision making has led, ultimately, to a lack of goals or even clear cut opportunities for strikers.

Why our transfer activity frustrated me so much is because we didn't replace our best forward, and at this level you get to see the difference.

It's not all doom and gloom though, I'd be tempted to go against everything I've ever said about the lad and play Samaras in a more advanced, central role tonight. If anybody's going to do the business I feel it could be him.

Like the attitude, and I think at parkhead that sort of thinking ought to be the norm.

Haven't seen enough of Baldi but I hope he features tonite

22 Oct 2013 09:24:34
I realise tonight is the biggest game of the year for our club, but I am becoming increasingly worried about the contract situation.

Ed you any inside information about Samaras, Ledley or Stokes? Would be a disgrace if these players leave the club. {Ed007's Note - Out of the three I think Stokes could be the most likely to leave. All three players will not be short of options come January or the summer if they have not signed new deals.}

I would be sad to see any of them go but the most dispensable would be Stokes. Sammy gives us and extra something in European games but the big miss for me would be Ledley. Quietly goes about his business but a very valuable player. Good job that Cardiff are going into meltdown because I could have seen him going back there.

TomTheTim