Matchday Thread ICT -V- Celtic (Cup)

[Big G]

When I saw the team sheet it struck me that playing a left back as left midfield Terry picked a team to combat Jamie Forrest and left us with limited attacking options. When Forrest didn't play G.Shinnie was not able to use the space that was available down the Celtic right thus giving us two defensive left sided players who had no-one to mark.

Edited February 5, 2012 by Big G

[bishbashbosh]

proctor getting flack for 2nd goal, he was only trying to do what all defenders do and usher ball out of play.unluck for him on a sticky pitch the ball would not do what he thought it would do. full marks to hooper for chasing his own pass, keeping it in play and being "clever" for penalty.

wish we were as clever at times.

back to my point for 2nd goal gillet had ball at left back, why does he always wait too long to clear.( i think it is a lack of ball control as he seems to need 2-3 touches sometimes to get the ball where he wants it)

if you watch him he regularly has a clearance charged down due to his dithering on the ball.

yesterday he tried to clear, hit the celtic player ( not charged down) and the ball fell to hooper and as they say-- what happened next is history

pat nevin said on sportscne we had a 30 second spell and the rest was all cellic.

dont agree with that but we were poor yesterday. i was shocked by tel's team choice. you dont get relagated if you lose in the cup so should have had a go and played a more attacking team.

big roscoe is taking some stick on here but we need to realise that he is behind hogg, golafart, williams for the centre back slot

[WYNESS101]

Foran was appalling. Does not deserve to be kept captain but who would you put in his place?

As long as TB is in charge there will only be one captain and thats his golden boy FORAN

[tm4tj]

Foran was decent enough yesterday, at least he looked like he gave a feck. He worked very hard.

The match report is made up of quotes taken from the matchday thread. If anyone objects to their posts being quoted please PM me and I will remove them. Have a look and see if you made the report. http://caleythistleonline.com/page/index.html/_/reports-2011-12/ict-v-celtic-r914

Cheers reporters

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

You appear to have missed me ??

[tm4tj]

I have retired you

[old caley girl]

Enjoyed the new look match report. What is it with the Foran bashing? At least he looked like he cared unlike others.

[12th Man]

Im hoping for a Celtic Motherwell final so that the top 5 teams get into europe

[AJS]

Wow, its amazing how one bad result (against the best team in Scotland just now) has people talking like its the end of the world.

All the talk in the papers was about how we were gonna do it and this was our time to shine against Celtic but you know what? I think it was a load of bull. We lined up with 5 at the back against them, spent most of the game playing hoof ball towards Tade and latterly Jonny which was mind baffling and there seemed to be lack of desire to win or even try to win this game. Tade and Jonny were both hooked fairly early which almost never happens as well.

Celtic didnt have to work very hard and were gifted their goals with some iconic defending yes but how can people say Tokely should be punted at the end of the season based on that alone? Apart from his error on saturday he has been one of our best defenders throughout the season and has had to fill in 2 or 3 different positions and i fully expect him to bounce back from his dodgy performance.

Terry's tactics were a little confusing for me. Jonny as centre forward in the 2nd half? Do you really expect him to compete with Wilson and Rogne in the air? And at a time when 2 other strikers were on the pitch, wasted in midfield.

I was bitterly dissapointed with what i saw but lets face it after the start we had to the season the league should be priority (even if our next game is against Celtic ). So come on lads we know your capable of bouncing back. Step to it.

[+DoofersDad]

Just seen TB's interview, blimey not good viewing, the definition of an unhappy chappie!

Interesting also to see Lennon's interview. Celtic have now won their last 15 matches and Lennon was heaping praise on his players for what he felt was a very good performance. They certainly defended well but they did not create much and relied on bad defensive errors for their 2 goals - if that was a performance to rave about then Lennon cannot have a particularly high opinion of what he expects of his team. Even accepting that what the 2 managers said after the game is something of an exageration of their true opinion and considering their opinions in the context of what I felt about the performances of the 2 teams yesterday, it seems to me that the 2 managers have pretty similar expectations of the quality of the product they expect from their teams. We lost by just 2 goals to the best team in the country but our manager is damning in his criticism of his team's performance whilst Lennon waxes lyrical about his. That suggests that both managers know there is not a lot of difference between the 2 sides. That is something to be positive about - it is a reflection of how far we have come and it really doesn't serve any purpose to read anything into yesterday's performance beyond the fact that it was disappointing.

It is also a bit disappointing to see a return of the Foran bashing again just because we lost to the best team in the land. He may not have been particularly effective yesterday but I don't think his attitude can be faulted. Two incidents stand out for me. The first was when Tokely made his 2nd howler: Foran went to him and clearly offered words of encouragement which is what a captain should do. The Foran of old may have given Tokely a mouthful. The second was in the 2nd half when he dwelt too long on the ball and was dispossed on the edge of the Celtic area. The ball was passed up the field as Celtic counter attacked and it was Foran himself who had run back quickly who made the interception of the final ball in the ICT box. If others had demonstrated the same level of effort yesterday, the score may have been different.

[Pele_Is_God]

Brilliant post DoofersDad. Ritchie is like a different player in his new role, he didn't do much wrong yesterday IMO.

[Alex MacLeod]

I've watched the game twice now and the highlights even more and I dont blame Tokely for the Samaras goal. Samaras was doing what he does best. Hanging around looking bored. At this point, as Hooper (I think) puts the ball forward, Samaras snaps into action. Tokely doesn't get on the end of it and the rest is a very good goal. However, I do think Proc should have seen what was happening and stayed with Samaras. The only other bad mistake was the pass back from Tokely that could have resulted in another goal. We played fairly well up to the first goal, had a lapse of concentration for three or four minutes then got it together again for the remainder of the firts half. We even had a couple of efforts on goal and should have had a penalty for the way Tade was held during a corner. All in all I was sure we'd come out in the second half and go for it. I dont know what was said in the dressing room at half time but a different team came back out after the break. Celtic were mediocre at best and were there for the taking but we didn't capitalise on that. In fact we held up a white flag and threw down our arms.

Proc tried to shepherd the ball out and then gets pushed of it and then makes an error of judgement that gives them a penalty. If only he'd dragged the ball across the line and given a corner things may have been different.

Other than the couple of incidents that cost us the game I wouldn't single out anyone for criticism. I think everyone played well for th first 32 minutes. I think they got it together as a team towards the end of the first half and I think they all failed to play as a team for the second half.

I couldn't for the life of me understand what the tactics were supposed to be. I also couldn't understand why, when he should have been on the touchline shouting encouragement and guidance, TB was sat up at the back of the stand.

This was a cup game. No points at stake. Nothing to lose. We should have been set up for all out attack. If we had done then failed at least heads would have been held high.

Edited February 5, 2012 by Alex MacLeod

[starchief]

I presume the tactics were, that Celtic would normally try to hem us in on our goal line. So hoofing a ball up, with Celtic's defenders pressed so far forward, would give a quick runner like Hayes an opportunity to steal a march.

Unfortunately, Celtic were fairly average. They played quite cautiously, with only really Brown and Hooper being something spectacular. Hence, their back four, played fairly deep, so nothing to get beyond.

As I said before, Tansey had a real off-day but tried so hard. Another time, he would be pinging passes out left, right and centre. I do like him as a player but it just didn't happen on Saturday for him. I've no problem with Foran's play. Did probably best out of all the midfield and attacking players. Gnasher also looked as though he could be good when he came on. Give him a few more games and we can see if he's a player, or if he flatters to deceive.

[12th Man]

I hope the police carry out random stop and searches the next time. http://www.scotsman.com/news/police_appeal_after_football_fan_injured_1_2100691

[+DoofersDad]

Celtic beating Hearts 3 - 0 at half time at Tynecastle makes Saturday's result look not too bad.

Nobody has mentioned the Pars 1-1 draw with Kilmarnock yesterday which was a great result for us. We are now 8 points ahead of them with a game in hand. Winning at home against a middling side like Killie is really a must do for Dunfermline now, whilst winning away at a sh*te side like the Pars is a must do for Kilmarnock if they have aspirations for a top six finish. It will be looking very good for us when we end Celtic's unbeaten run at the weekend.

4 - 0 at full time. Are Hearts having a wobble? We are just 9 points behind with a game in hand. There is surely as much chance of us catching them as the Pars catching us. Europe next year, anyone?

Edited February 8, 2012 by DoofersDad