Thought I'd start this considering we kick off our friendlies against Brisbane Roar in about 15hrs time. Skippy will be captaining the side and the only whisper about a starting 11 so far is this - Boruc Hinkel Caldwell Loovens Naylor Crosas Flood Maloney McGeady Skippy Samaras Only a rumour at this time but what is certain is there will be a lot of Celtic fans in the stadium. 15-20,000 are expected there and I hope they enjoy every minute of it.
Tony Mowbray on his first game in charge of the hoops - http://www.celticfc.net/news/stories/news_110709124103.aspx
Let's see.... The game will be on at 6am in Scotland right? That means it will be on at 1am tomorrow morning here.....ugh
It's a 5:30am kick off Scottish time, I think. And it doesn't look like there will be any way to get a live feed. Channel67 are doing a live audio feed of the game with the full game on video later in the day for subscribers.
Celtic team to start against Brisbane Roar - 1 Boruc, Artur 2 Hinkel, Andreas 3 Naylor, Lee 5 Caldwell, Gary 22 Loovens, Glenn 13 Maloney, Shaun 16 Flood, Willo 17 Crosas, Marc 20 McCourt, Paddy 7 McDonald, Scott 33 Killen, Chris
Translink Cup Sunday, July 12, 2009 Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane BRISBANE ROAR...0 CELTIC…3 (Killen 39, 41, Mizuno 50) BRISBANE ROAR (4-3-3): Reddy; Mundy, Moore, DeVere (Bowles 89), McLoughlan (Malcolm 57); Sarota (Miller 46), McKay, Nicholls (Brattan 77); Henrique, Van Dijk (Smits 84), Kruse (Cernak 59) Subs not used: McMaster CELTIC (4-4-2) Boruc (Zaluska 46); Hinkel (Ferry 61), Caldwell, Loovens, Naylor (Misun 61); McCourt (Mizuno 46), Crosas (Caddis 61), Flood, Maloney (McGeady 46); Killen (Samaras 46), McDonald (Fortune 46) A good start to our pre-season campaign. After a shaky opening 10mins in which Artur made three very good saves we settled down and dominated the match. I'll be watching the full match when it becomes available later today on Channel67 but after listening to the audio last night it sounds like our best performers were, in no particular order, Boruc, Flood, Maloney, McCourt, Mizuno and Killen. It didn't sound like anyone had a bad game and the only slight concern was the injury picked up by Misun towards the end of the game. Hopefully it isn't too bad though. Haven't found the Koki goal yet but here is a video to the first two - [ame]http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=hv2udt&s=3[/ame] Two well takens goals.
fraser, How would you rate the Bhoys for the game? I was going to stay up, but the game did not come on until 1am this morning, and I knew I would be gone most of the day. I watched the highlights you posted, and from that, we looked like we had more attack than usual and Boruc looked strong in goal. Anything else you can add? Was Killen that good? His goals were pretty solid from the video and Mizuno's header was dang solid.
I'll put them into sections. Goalkeepers Artur had an excellent 45mins. He was alert and his reactions were extremely fast. He was quick off his line three times in the first 10mins to narrow the angle and make the necessary save. Zaluska was comfortable in his 45mins although he had a lot less to do. Defenders Hard to judge them as after the first 10mins they were never put under any serious or sustained pressure. Caldwell and Loovens played the full 90 and looked comfortable as a partnership. Naylor played in a good ball for the first goal as did Hinkel for the third. They were replaced in the second half by Misun and Caddis. Misun picked up a knee injury in the last few minutes and had to go off. No news on how serious it is yet. Midfielders Wilo Flood played the full 90 and although he tired towards the end, understandably, he did an excellent job as the spoiler in the middle of the pitch. Crosas played next to him and was fairly quiet. The Spaniard was replaced by Ferry in the second half. He did ok. McCourt had a very good game. His footwork in tight situations is really good and he has the ability to go past players. He still needs to get his fitness up through this pre-season though. Maloney was fine on the left. He set up Killen's 2nd with a nice first time reverse pass. Mizuno and McGeady came on for them at half time. Mizuno took his goal well and was very neat on the right side. He does remind me a lot of Naka, except he's younger and quicker so hopefully he'll come more to the fore this season. McGeady looked quick. One or two good runs but we still need to see that end product at the end of them. Forwards Out of the four strikers Killen was the best. Took both goals well and held the ball up better than his partner, regardless of whether it arrived at his feet, chest or head. Skippy worked hard, tested the keeper but at times his first touch was still lacking. Samaras replaced Killen at half time and apart from the early pass to give Hinkel time to put in the cross for Koki's goal he looked sluggish. Hopefully this isn't a sign to come as it's only the first match in pre-season. Fortune only got about 20mins but in that time he looked fast and physically strong. All in all we played well but it was only our first pre-season friendly. Still, it was a nice way to start off season 09/10.
Cardiff City v Celtic starting in less than 30mins. Live on Channel67. Looking forward to it. Team news as soon as anyone has it.
Celtic team news - CELTIC (4-4-2) Boruc Hinkel Caldwell Loovens Naylor Maloney Donati NGuemo McGeady Fortune McDonald Subs: Zaluska, O’Dea, Caddis, Ferry, Crosas, Flood, Samaras, McCourt, Mizuno, Killen Good to see Massimo back. I still hope he has a part to play in our clubs season. Interesting to see how both himself and N'Guemo will play in central midfield.
HT: Cardiff 0-0 Celtic Well we may be playing 4-4-2 but what is very encouraging is the way our full backs are playing. They are higher up the pitch and overlapping at every opportunity. It's giving us a lot more options in the final third of the pitch. We dominated the first 20mins or so but Cardiff have came back into it and it's been fairly even since then. David Marshall saved well from Aiden in the 1st minute and from a Glenn Loovens header. Skippy also clipped the post with a turn and shot. At the other end Artur was slow off his line once or twice, after looking so quick in Brisbane, and could have conceded a penalty but the ref gave a corner. He redeemed himself though with two smart saves within a couple of minutes of each other. Player-wise N'Guemo has really looked the part. Strong on the ball, with excellent technique including a terrific first touch. Donati has been so-so. Maloney and McGeady are looking lively and Fortune looks the part up front although he did blaze a chance wide after racing onto a Maloney through ball. Lee Naylor looks to have had a new lease of life on the left, although is it too late with more rumours of Sylvinho on his way? The left back has put a few good balls into the box. All in all, a decent first half. Let's see how many changes Tony makes at HT.
HT 0-0 Guys have looked pretty good so far. Lots of attack from the Bhoys. My little overview: -Boruc has looked great. He was tested for about 10 minutes where he made some brilliant saves. -The backline looks so-so. Loovens with some decent touches and Hinkel clearing balls. -N'Guemo and Fortune could be big, BIG for us this year. -N'Guemo has beautiful control over the ball. If he keeps up his play like he is in this game, he could be gold. -Fortune is every where. Great first touches and is running all over the field. He had some chances to score, but he looks really good. -McDonald always seems to be on the ball up front. He need to finish though, but he still looks good. -Lots of smooth connection between the Midfield and front. Especially between N'Guemo and Fortune.
Koki Mizuno and Paddy McCourt on after 60mins for Maloney and McGeady. We've been very sloppy in the first 15mins of the second half.
FT: Cardiff 0-0 Celtic 2nd half - Ugh. The crisp moving and passing were gone. Cardiff didn't do much either although Zaluska made a couple of smart saves and will surely push Boruc a hell of a lot more than Mark Brown has done for the no.1 spot. Nobody else stood out in the second half.
Don't know. Maybe he has a slight knock or maybe they want to keep him to play the full 90mins against Al Ahly on Friday at The Wembley Cup.
The starting 11 that started today's game is certainly the one I would go with. Maybe put Crosas in the mf for Donati. But yeah, second half was pretty dead.
Celtic 5-0 Al Ahly Highlights - [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15_pmJCpBlE"]YouTube - Celtic vs Al Ahly 5-0 The Wembley Cup [24/07/09] Highlights[/ame]