30 Mar 2016 14:42:10
With the international break now confined to the rubbish bin for now, what are everyone's thoughts on our team for the next 3 league games.
Surely we must now play the players on form like Rogic and put Brown and Johansen on the bench, both have looked shadows of themselves this season. We have plenty alternatives in Allan, Commons, McGregor etc, so please Mr Deila give the team a boost by playing the players in form, along with the up and coming like young Roberts and the Inverness player Christie.
{Ed007's Note - I know Brown and Johansen have been poor this year but do you really want to rely on players like Allan and Commons to get us over the line this season? How can you ask RD to play players that are in form and mention those two when Commons has scored one league goal since October - that was two months ago - and I don't know what you've seen in Allan to warrant him even being on our bench never mind starting for us at the business end of the league season.
The AM 3 I'd go with is GMS, who I think has shown in patches that he's getting back to his best, Rogic in the middle and McGregor/Roberts on the right depending on the opposition as I'm not sure how Roberts will handle a really physical match like I expect the Hearts game to be. Have Commons on the bench to come on late on when the opposition are tiring.
For me now is not the time to be experimenting and using youngsters who have hardly featured like Christie, it's about using the experience in the squad to wrap up the double
The only game I'd have Allan in the squad is the upcoming semi final, if he can't put in a performance against lower league opposition, which is his level, then he really has no future at the Club.}
30 Mar 2016 16:07:00
Agree with almost everything you said their ED except I'd have no fear using Christie as he has played plenty at spfl level.
{Ed007's Note - But he's never played in front of a CFC support that will hang him out to dry for every misplaced pass or mistake he makes. I'd have no problem with him coming in and getting some game time when the league is tied up but for now if he played and we lost or drew a game playing him would just be another stick to beat RD with. Look at the grief he takes for picking the club captain who has been here 9 years, the fans have forced RD into going with the same old players because they don't have the patience to watch youngsters make mistakes and develop.}
30 Mar 2016 16:19:18
I agree with much of what you say, particularly Alan against the wee new club from the lower leagues . I wouldn't take Johannson out of my thoughts as he has been in no way as poor as some have made him out to be . He hasn't reached the heights of last season, but his work-rate can be very useful . I like the way he can seemingly drift back to form a trio with Bitton and Brown .
We cannot mess around trying out new players until the league is won again .
{Ed007's Note - We know that Johansen isn't a bad player, Chris, he showed us last year what he can do and hopefully he gets back to that level for us. Even though he's not reached the the same heights as his first year he still brings a lot of energy and running to the team from harassing defenders on the ball or using his running to pull them out of position etc.}
30 Mar 2016 17:12:38
Agree with most of that and happy with KC impacting he ain't played much of late IMO Ed except I think Christie moving forward that left of the front 3 for me oodles of energy and we missing quick moving players especially @ home IMO
Also any more news mate on Rogic getting a new deal yet getting a bit peeved not getting it done mate? (y)
{Ed007's Note - It's playing him at home I'm worried about! People in the ground capable of booing our current POTY are capable of anything.}
30 Mar 2016 17:50:42
I think RD will more or less stick with the core of the team he has picked most of this season - including Brown, Johansen, Bitton and Commons - even though, they may have under-performed.
I think he will be too cautious to leave them out for most of the remaining must-win games, because winning the title is his - and our - priority, asap and he will call on all of the experience at his disposal, rather than opting for form players.
We have all watched a very inconsistent and unconvincing team for large parts of the season and I don't think he would risk dropping these more experienced players - even though most of them are to blame - as it would put too much pressure on the likes of Rogic, Roberts, Allen and Christie, although along with GMS and McGregor, they can certainly play a part at some stages of matches.
30 Mar 2016 17:43:18
That mob can stick there Tena's over there big mouth's Ed
Manage a "five" next season of Ajer and Henderson holding I now want a look @ the boy Hill as he looks a bruiser for a youngster
Then Christie (L) , Rogic (AM) GMS/ Roberts (R)
I cannot for the life of me Ed think of a fan not prepared to give youth a chance! If a senior member is short changing RD stick on a youth and for RD to tell it for that exact reason (y)
Cannot believe the stick Brown getting! Please think of this and answer
Has SB EVER been FULLY fit under RD's tenure?
He got injured around 8 mins into his first friendly in Germany I think and missed around 10 weeks then for me he has went from one niggle to the next mate, thrown back in in desperation in all probability never fully fit! That for me is a stick out in RDs tenure.
{Ed007's Note - I don't think Brown's struggling with fitness it's more his match sharpness as he seems to be a yard off the pace during games, a bit slower to react etc.}
30 Mar 2016 18:14:43
It's difficult because RD sees a lot behind the scenes and in training that we don't see. For me Rogic is the only must have right now in midfield. I also think Allan has shown good vision and an eye for a defence splitting pass when he has played and think he gets a bit too much of a hard time from some on here, Ed included. No matter who plays from now on, we've got more than enough quality to win a double.
{Ed007's Note - A lot of CFC supporters believed the press when they were hyping Allan up when it looked like TRIFC were 'taking him home'. As I've said before, I never seen Allan playing for Hibs so can only go with what I've seen from him in a CFC shirt and that's not a lot. How many assists does he have in his 19 appearances with these defence splitting passes you've seen him make?
People need to remember that Allan is a player who at 23/24 had one good season in the lower leagues of Scotland, he's already met my expectations of him. Scott Allan chose to be a bit part player at CFC rather than be idolised at Ibrox and so some fans wish to see him succeed.}
30 Mar 2016 18:29:21
So now its the fans fault for forcing Ronnie to pick the teams he picks, the excuses are getting more imaginative.
{Ed007's Note - I wouldn't expect you to understand, it's far too intellectual for you.}
30 Mar 2016 18:31:34
ED I not on to have a go at RD as u know already I not his biggest fan. I agree with most of what you say there but the thing I picked up on was That RD is forced to play players because of the crowd. Or not play them.
I would be very disappointed if this were true, no manager and I mean NO MANAGER should pick a team because of crowd reaction or because he a crowd favourite.
It only shows weakness for me as any manager I have ever heard speak always says that he has to do it his own way or not at all.
How can any manager after being sacked (and they all do sooner or later) say to himself I wish I had done it my way instead of being influenced by others.
1 he cudnt live with himself.2 Why would any prospective
employer want him as he not got the courage of his own convictions.
{Ed007's Note - So the fans reaction to Boyata and Ambrose hasn't affected RD's selection? The fans are dictating that they want instant success, that means going with experience and players who have been over the course. Some fans don't have the patience to see young players make mistakes and learn so the manager again needs to go with the same old experienced players. The fans demands for instant success don't allow for experimentation.
I'm sure RD told Stefan Johansen just to suck it up when he was booed off the park by so called supporters.}
30 Mar 2016 18:35:42
ED007 as usual we disagree, it is the more experienced players who have by and large, let us down so many times this season, whereas Rogic, Allen, Christie and Roberts are bursting to play, maybe their energy and enthusiasm can galvanise the whole team, I take your point about playing them all at once but a midfield of Rogic, Biton, McGregor and reluctantly Brown to start with the others named on the bench to come on as and when needed. Also Tierney has very little experience but his performances have outshone his elder teammates. The back four does not need messing with it is only deciding to add another midfielder/ wide player or play Kazim Richards alongside Griffiths.
30 Mar 2016 19:47:01
Ed fans will be more patient with a young player they always have. Esp if they can see potential and actually see some good football.
Rd has made a rod for his own back here promising fast exciting football when its actually rotten.
Can u imagine how bad the fans would be without KT in the team.
{Ed007's Note - They wouldn't be any worse. Most of them had never had of KT and Izzy had a catchy tune the GB sang to keep them entertained.}
30 Mar 2016 20:07:59
ED, Ambrose has been at the club for a while now, he should be beyond making the sort of mistakes that he continually makes. I'm not in any way condoning getting on the backs of players, but it is frustrating when a player who is a full international and has played at the world cup continually make basic errors which cost us games.
I would generally agree with you about going for experienced players in the run in, but I think that they have to be in some kind of form, if they are so out of form that it's affecting results then I'd rather risk the younger players. After all Izzy is a lot more experienced than Tierney, but at the moment I feel a lot more confident when Tierney is in the team.
30 Mar 2016 20:50:27
You could be right, Ed, how many minutes in total has Allan played in his 19 appearances?
{Ed007's Note - 587 and that's an average of just under 31 mins per game or the equivalent of 6.52 whole games of 90 mins. I'd say that's more than enough, others might even suggest that it's too many.}
30 Mar 2016 21:32:10
Did'nt think it was that many, but a player has to have a few full games in a row before he can settle into the team, think we might be missing out on the best team combination due to Ronnies devotion to squad rotation, and am not talking about Allan in that.
{Ed007's Note - I had a massive post typed out and the sites went down - you're a lucky Bhoy lol The gist of it was that we have far too many players and we need to address that in this coming window.}
30 Mar 2016 23:34:31
Ronny has tried his best with teams election stability but things haven't worked out for him . Penalty kicks against Celtic players that have been questionable to say the least and same incident or worse ignored next week when Celtic on the attack .
R D has tried to play the same keeper and the same holding midfielders . I like the constant movement up front with L Gfiffith leading the band . Most players hold their hands up at some time and have had relatively good spells . Maybe Rogic coming back so far from Austrailia will be left out this week.
31 Mar 2016 00:12:26
Generally speaking:
Gordon
Lustig
Mulgrew
Sviatchenko
Tierney
Bitton
Brown
?
Rogic
Johansen
Griffiths
I think consistency in the team is key at this stage. Certainly not trying to introduce bit part players as key ones in the business end of the season. Johansen and Brown may not have been at their best but they are still two of our better players. Some people I think 'watch' a game, but don't 'see' it. Johansen has been far from as bad as being booed off a pitch warrants. He's still in my side. The? is between GMS/ McGregor/ Roberts for the outlet in the 3 - a nice headache to have though and it's only something I could make a shout on after who has been sharpest in training that week. But all three will feature for me, as will Commons AND Christie. Not a necessity but would really like to see Janko get given playing time where appropriate.
31 Mar 2016 01:22:14
K commons 2nd top scorer this season also joint top in Europe s Johansson scored midweek same as rogic they would be my three behind griff brown and bitton who also has 8 goals behind them.
{Ed007's Note - Not in the league Commons isn't, and he's scored one league goal since October. Boyata, Ciftci and McGregor have all scored the same amount of league goals as Commons. And Bitton has been more prolific in the league than him.
A 4 goal return from Commons in the league is a damning statistic for him and I've said for months now that if you Play Commons you're cutting of the main supply to LG.
Tim asked for RD to play the players on form, would you say Commons is one of them? I'd say he's had worse season than Joe Hansen. Joe Hansen still gives 100% and I'd have him starting in front of Commons any day - now. (The Joe Hansen is just an in joke with a couple of friends.)
This isn't a dig at Commons, I said above that I think he has a part to play this season, but from ths bench. I'm just explaining why I think that, everything else can wait till the end of the season. All I'm concentrating on is winning the Double - I don't particularly care what players we use to do it as long as we do it. It's just my thoughts on the best ones. And it's better than us all going round in circles about RD, we should all be pulling together at this time of the season, we've got 2 trophies to win and the bickering going on within the support in general is ridiculous.
(swear) it...I'm putting a £10 bet on Commons to get a hat trick against Hearts!}
31 Mar 2016 02:56:06
Well 4 goals in the league still beats most in the celtic team also 4 goals in Europe counts as double imo which he has fenebache home and away molde away all important goals.
{Ed007's Note - How does it beat most when 3 have scored more and 3 the same? There's only 11 in a team. Goals scored in Europe were months ago, it's hardly recent form is it? Sadly goals n Europe don't count as double in the real world unless it's the away goals rule, they don't count as double in goal scoring.}
31 Mar 2016 04:04:22
Well actually they do goals in the spfl. Goals get half a point in the golden shoe and if you use your head you'll find no other players outside celtic have any goals other than spfl ones in Europe that count on the qualification stage commons 4 griff 4.
31 Mar 2016 11:41:45
Just got round to reading your reply Ed. I remember him making a fantastic pass to put LG through on goal against Ajax as soon as he came on but LG missed it, so the assists argument isn't entirely fair especially when he's only getting about 5/ 10 minutes at times. He also gave the ball away for their winner from the corner which could be used to back up your view of him, however, I don't think he's been particularly poor as some people have suggested and with a run in the team he could have done well. Just my thoughts.
{Ed007's Note - (rofl) One pass in a game from 6 monts ago that didn't create a goal and he deserves a run in team. OK, we'll just leave it there I think.}
31 Mar 2016 13:33:37
Can I ask Ed how much game time KC has had since October? Pit against the others on equal tally?
It seems to me KC has not featured greatly.
{Ed007's Note - Since Commons scored 2 goals against Dundee Utd in October CFC have played 23 matches he's made 11 appearances (totalling 781 mins or 71 mins per match) and he's missed 9 matches with injury and been an unused sub three time.
In all that time he has scored ONE goal and that was against Dundee Utd way back in January.}
31 Mar 2016 14:39:30
That was one example of his vision Ed and it's not his fault Griffiths couldn't hit a cow's backside with a banjo that night is it? There are a lot of players in our squad who have been getting undeserved runs in the team despite showing massive drops in form and lack of effort so why not give him a try? At least we might see a bit of heart from a player with something to prove.
{Ed007's Note - Well what other examples do you have of these passes Allan can make? So you want to put a player into the team that from what we know has made one pass that didn't create a goal whilst we're chasing a league and cup double in the hope that 'we might see a bit of heart' from him? I'd rather pick players because of their ability.}
31 Mar 2016 17:32:06
Kevbhoy so what if LG had a bad game that night? Every player has the odd bad game here or there! Even Messi and Ronaldo do! Your making Scott Allan out to be some midfield maestro when all he has done is had a few good games for a second tier team. Give him a try? On what basis? Cause he is and never will be good enough. i'd rather have an underperforming Brown or Johansen than Allan cause they are still better.
Reality of situation is, he was only signed as a PR stunt to get fans on side and deflect attention from real issues at club. Not the first time PL has done this, remember the "mystery striker" pi$h we were fed a few seasons back?
The ones on this page who slate RD for "failing to qualify for CL" puzzle me. A few of these posters constantly run through RD for failing to hit CL. These same people think second tier players in a league system that is pathetic and the top league (SPFL) on a par with English League 1 downwards are the players to take us there (Scott Allan) . Just doesn't make sense. Very confusing.
31 Mar 2016 17:54:19
@DN30 "so what if LG had a bad game that night?" The point is that it's not Scott Allan's fault LG didn't put away the chance. Like I said, I would like to have seen him given more of a chance than he's had. I know some agree and some disagree but that's my feelings on it.
31 Mar 2016 21:13:12
DN, you are talking rubbish as usual, there are many gems of players to found in the lower leagues, you would have probably dismissed Vardey because he was a lower leaque player, once,
31 Mar 2016 22:39:27
One of the amazing things about Celtic support is that having booed and ridiculed some players from the stands on a regular basis and also frequently from forum nasties, these people wonder why the players targeted have suffered a loss of confidence .
Are these fans for real, if u ridicule and sneer at a player, how can u not expect him to not lose confidence.
31 Mar 2016 22:47:36
Aindoh, it's not clever or wise to argue the exception as normal. Vardey is definitely the exception . Scot Allen could well have an incisive attacking pass within his ability That's good and hopefully if and when R D builds up his positional sense, tackling ability and over-all team work, then we will have a good attacking mid field player that can offer something special.
31 Mar 2016 23:31:05
Lmao Aindoh you really have made my night with that comment 😂😂😂😂. Usual antics from you. How can you possibly even think about comparing Scott Allan with James Vardy? Utter nonsense.
Yes there are gems to be found in lower leagues. I've said this in the past on this page. Scott Allan my friend, is no way classed as a gem. End of.
01 Apr 2016 09:32:30
DN and Oldbhoy all i am saying is we will never know until he is given a proper chance, and then if he is, and if he does well, it will all be about how much he has improved under Ronnies wonderful tutelage.
01 Apr 2016 16:33:28
Putting words in my mouth again, DN, I never compared Allan to Vardey.
01 Apr 2016 17:56:19
*Vardy.
01 Apr 2016 18:19:39
We have 10/ 15 youngsters ( not players in mid 20's like Allan ) who we will never know if they are going to make it as a top player for us unless R D plays them . This is not the time to risk not playing our best players Aindoh . We will have to use some other criteria before we can risk throwing a player into first team who hasn't proved himself . I suggest R D is doing that by watching the players every day in training and making his decision based on that .
I suggest Aindoh, that we are in no position to know for sure if a player should play or not, and are best served by using R D 's judgement.
01 Apr 2016 19:16:49
DN "posters on here who slate RD for not making the CL puzzle me".
Well you slated NL and he got there lol. Not only that he qualified for the last 16.
It puzzles me that posters would slate that, I wonder where u stood on that mate.
01 Apr 2016 19:52:58
Rayman you've picked up what i posted above wrong. What I meant was straight forward. There are posters on this who run through RD for CL yet think players like SA are the class needed to get us there. A player of a far worse standard even in Lennons last CL squad. Hope this is easier for you to understand son.
02 Apr 2016 00:19:43
I have run thro RD many times on here due to CL failings but I have never mentioned Scott Allen.
People have different opinions on players just like we do on managers.
I cudnt give 2 hoots who the players are as long as we get there.
02 Apr 2016 14:39:59
I never said you did mention SA.