The Glasgow Celtic Football Club 2007-08 season thread

just thought i'd start it off with some pictures of the new lennoxtown training facilities which are coming along nicely...










http://www.celticfc.net/news/stories/news_010607132752.aspx

 

season ticket sales heading over the 50,000 barrier yet again...

http://www.celticfc.net/news/stories/news_190607154917.aspx

 

league fixtures(up to split) and friendlies for 2007/08 season ----


05/07/2007 Friendly FC Basel 19:45 A
07/07/2007 Friendly Young Boys of Berne 18:30 A
13/07/2007 Friendly Peterborough United 19:45 A
15/07/2007 Friendly Queens Park Rangers 14:00 A
20/07/2007 Friendly MLS All-Stars 02:00 A
22/07/2007 Friendly Chicago Fire 20:00 A
26/07/2007 Friendly Newcastle United 19:45 A
29/07/2007 Friendly Parma 14:00 H
04/08/2007 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Kilmarnock 15:00 H
11/08/2007 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Falkirk 15:00 A
18/08/2007 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Aberdeen 15:00 A
25/08/2007 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Heart of Midlothian 15:00 H
01/09/2007 Clydesdale Bank Premier League St. Mirren 15:00 A
15/09/2007 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Inverness CT 15:00 H
22/09/2007 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Hibernian 15:00 A
29/09/2007 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Dundee United 15:00 H
06/10/2007 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Gretna 15:00 A
20/10/2007 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Rangers 15:00 A
27/10/2007 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Motherwell 15:00 H
03/11/2007 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Kilmarnock 15:00 A
10/11/2007 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Falkirk 15:00 H
24/11/2007 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Aberdeen 15:00 H
01/12/2007 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Heart of Midlothian 15:00 A
08/12/2007 Clydesdale Bank Premier League St. Mirren 15:00 H
15/12/2007 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Inverness CT 15:00 A
22/12/2007 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Hibernian 15:00 H
26/12/2007 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Dundee United 15:00 A
29/12/2007 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Gretna 15:00 H
02/01/2008 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Rangers 15:00 H
05/01/2008 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Motherwell 15:00 A
19/01/2008 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Kilmarnock 15:00 H
26/01/2008 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Falkirk 15:00 A
09/02/2008 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Aberdeen 15:00 A
16/02/2008 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Heart of Midlothian 15:00 H
23/02/2008 Clydesdale Bank Premier League St. Mirren 15:00 A
27/02/2008 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Inverness CT 19:45 H
01/03/2008 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Hibernian 15:00 A
15/03/2008 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Dundee United 15:00 H
22/03/2008 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Gretna 15:00 A
29/03/2008 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Rangers 15:00 A
05/04/2008 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Motherwell 15:00 H

 

no idea. but i'm waiting on ticket information as i already have a hotel booked and days off from work for my mate and i to go to the newcastle friendly. should be good fun and my company i work for is based there so i know a few newcastle season ticket holders and will be going out with them for a few beers before and after the match.

 

i'll have a great time with the geordies

i'm 36...

 

i use it now because if i dont warm up a lot before a game of football i get groin problems. and the next day my knees ache regardless ...

never used to have any problems with stuff like that but old age catches us all...

 

1st game of preseason ----

basle 0 v 1 celtic (miller 41)​

celtic lined up in the first half like this....

brown
wilson--pressley--kennedy--naylor

bjarnason--gravesen--donati--mcgeady

miller--zurawski​

2nd half we made numerous changes and lined up like this....

brown

virgo--pressley--balde--mcmanus

wilson

jarosik--brown--riordan

hesselink--mcdonald​

basel are ahead of us in their pre-season but they were a fairly average side, although i can't say for sure if they had their first 11 out. but i'll go through the main areas of our team.

goalkeeper

i already knew from his displays for inverness that he was a good keeper and i'm delighted to have him as our no.2. his kicking is sound, fine at crosses, gets his angles right as proved by a few fine saves tonight. i still think young marshall is a good keeper and i was sad to see him go but i'm more than happy to have brown as our back-up to artur.


defence

adam virgo is WGS's worst signing by far. £1.5mill was it? *ouch*. he isn't anywhere near good enough. wilson and naylor sailed through the first half as did john kennedy. pressley went to ground early once or twice but was better as the game went on. big mick is a shoe in at CB and hopefully will be our next captain. and finally we come to bobo. for the reputed wage he's on we need to get him out asap. to me he looks like slipping further down the CB depth chart. mcmanus, pressley, o'dea, caldwell and, if he continues rehabbing well enough, john kennedy are all ahead of him or at least level. we can't afford to have a guy earning near to £30k/week as a 4th choice CB at best. again tonight he was caught ball watching. this isn't anything new for bobo and unlike for instance, darren o'dea, where we could argue that he'll learn and grow out of it, that isn't going to happen for bobo. he's 31 now and if we can get anything for him then we need to do it.


midfield

bjarnason played well. he was comfortable on the ball and showcased all his talents in creating the goal. he was alert enough to intercept the pass, then he drifted inside a guy with ease before slipping through a slide rule pass that was perfectly weighted for miller to finish. i look forward to seeing more of him this season. mcgeady looked lively. had a few good runs. donati looked comfortable on the ball and gets his challenges in. takes up good positions and will get forward when required to. gravesen showed he has plenty of ability but he needs to cut out the silly mistakes. namely getting caught in or giving posession away in our half. it inevitably catches our defenders out and puts them on the back foot. jarosik did alright. put in a reasonable shift and is as we know comfortable in posession. brown looked good. seems to always win his 50-50 challenges and breaks forward with pace and menace. it's fair to say with him and donati in our central midfield we'll be able to get up through the gears a lot quicker if and when required. riordan looked lacklustre. after watching mcgeady have a run at players i was expecting the same from riordan but it never materialised.


strikers

zurawski looked sharp. unlucky in the first minute when he hit the bar from a wilson cross and the keeper made a good save from his header. miller had a tidy finish for the goal and buzzed about as he usually does. miller showed composure for his finish. something that was missing from a lot of his finishing last season. hesselink did ok. won his fair share of high balls. tried to hold the ball up when he could. scott mcdonald was lively. first touch was lacking at times but he ran the channels well and had a decent header saved by their keeper.

 

damn right. we were that far in front last season we were killing everyone we played. nice observation..

eejit

 

a tale of 2 teams again for tonights game against young boys.

WGS has said he'll make a load of changes at half time again just like he did against basel.

also, he seems to have really enjoyed the pre-season trip to switzerland. looks like we were well looked after.

http://www.celticfc.net/news/stories/news_060707180111.aspx

 

managed to see young boys whip us 4-1 while i was drinking myself into a stouper (i have no idea how to spell that..)

2 goals in the last 10 minutes made the scoreline look worse than it was. i think...

2007-07-07: Young Boys of Berne 4-1 Celtic, Friendly
A DEFEAT and poor performance from Celtic in the second of the series of friendlies in which they will build to the start of the new season in a month’s time. Perhaps the greatest concern to Gordon Strachan will be how few chances his side created without the delicate invention of Shunsuke Nakamura, who is at the Asian Cup with Japan. In his absence, Celtic’s strikers were largely starved of service. Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Scott McDonald suffered in the first half and the supply to Kenny Miller and Maciej Zurawski, their replacements, was also meagre.

Trivia

* Uren Cup Game


Teams
BSC Young Boys (4-4-2):
Wolfli; Schwegler, Tiago Calvano, Portillo, Raimondi (Kallio 60); Varela (Madou 84), Mangane, Yapi, Regazzoni (Hochstrasser 86); Joao Paulo (Yakin 75), Schneuwly (Kavak 64)

Celtic (4-4-2):
Celtic (first half): McGovern, Bjarnason, Balde, McManus, Naylor, Jarosik, Sno, Brown, Riordan, McDonald, Vennegoor of Hesselink

Celtic (second half): McGovern, Virgo, Pressley (Sno 57min) (Killen 70min), Kennedy, Naylor, Bjarnason, Donati, Gravesen, McGeady, Zurawski, Miller

 

Mcgeady v Riordan

we're only 2 pre-season games into the start of the new season but already i see a huge difference in the performances of these 2 players. WGS has given them both a half each in the 2 matches so far. one player, mcgeady, is buzzing around, looking to take on players and generally showing an appetite for the game. the other, riordan, looks lacklustre and almost it seems as if he doesn't want to be out there.

last season mcgeady started like a speeding train. he was unstoppable at times but he then went through a spell of ineffectiveness. during this time riordan came more into the fore and i was wondering if this was going to be a closely fought position at the start of this season. but the evidence so far doesn't support that theory.

a lot is still being said about riordan's off field activities curtailing his chances of a regular first team spot. if this is the case then i back strachan on it. although riordan does seem to have his head down by the looks of things. now he's(riordan) come out and said he wants to play as a partner to JVOH through the middle. strachan spent a lot of last season trying to convince everyone that riordan's best position was attacking from the flank.

mcgeady also seems to work his position more. he tracks back a lot better now and while he will never be a good tackler he can at least mark a bit better and hold people up until reinforcements arrive. riordan doesn't do quite as well in this element of his game.

so where does that leave us now? to me mcgeady is far ahead of riordan as a winger and will always play 2nd fiddle to him out in that area. but will riordan see any playing time in the middle of the park seeing as we now have mcdonald, a sharp looking zurawski and kenny miller still on the books..? he's a better finisher than miller...not exactly an earth shattering statement there.. but i still think zurawski is our best out and out finisher when he's on his game. can't say much about mcdonald at the minute and i haven't mentioned killen as i see him as a back up to JVOH.

i hope riordan can get his act together as he's got plenty of talent but we don't seem to be getting the best out of him. i'd hate to see him leave without doing himself justice at celtic park....

 

Re: Mcgeady v Riordan

the 2nd home game will happen after the stupid split that the SPL thinks is ground-breaking. celtic will make up there other home game then.