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A bit messy? Celtic on Sunday


CELTIC1CALEY3

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I'm actually quite optimistic that we could have half a chance here, as long as we play like we have at the back and have more pace and belief up front and play Doumbouya or Sutherland (doubtful) up front instead of Fisher. Its sensible to think that Celtic will come ready to make amends and justify their position in the league, however they may not be in a physical or mental position to have any influence on that. Its going to have been a terribly long draining week for them all, now made all the harder by having to make that nightmare journey up the heavily congested and slow A9 late on Sunday, to play a team I'm sure by their admissions they could see far enough after the midweek falterings. If we play our game smart, keep it tight at the back, and sharpen up the balls into the box plus getting Mulraney back onto the wings, and take the chances that we create for ourselves....I genuinely see no reason why we cant provide the weekends biggest football shock headlines. I think we also need to drop Polworth for this game, and go back to playing King and Mulraney on the wings with Draper and Tansey in the middle, with Vigurs behind the striker. MacKay also needs to start again, thought he was great on Saturday.

Edited by CableGuy
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The result was unsurprising in some ways as Celtic although a better team than last few seasons with more potent attacking threat, the back line has been a weak link since Van Dijk left.

Hopefully we can play with a solid back 4 and central midfield and use our wingers pace to try get balls in the box and exploit the weaknesses. I think its worth having a go at them, we may score and get picked off into a thumping but better than sitting in and still loosing 1 or 2 nil. No guts no glory.

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It's a funny old game.  Last weekend whilst Celtic were impressive in thumping The Rangers, Barcelona were losing at home to newly promoted Alaves.  I am sure the Celtic starting line up will have a good few changes from last night with guys coming in looking to press for a start in the next Champions league game.   But IHE is spot on.  If we can contain them early on and then take a chance, then it will definitely be game on.  Our lads will be in their faces and it is a game Celtic would rather not be having. I think it will be a good game but Celtic have quality in depth and I do expect them to win comfortably and go on to win the league at a canter.  Of course, on the day, anything can happen.  As I say, it's a funny old game.

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5 minutes ago, tm4tj said:

A rendition of Barcelona and the Magnificent Seven should be sufficient to wind them up.

Absolutely and blasting out from the PA system too. After all a couple of seasons ago when we played County on a Friday night the teams came out before the start to Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves by Sonny and Cher.

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I don't think, having watched two or three of their games, that Celtic are any better this season than before. Last night they played five defenders and two defensive mids yet couldn't hold back the three. For a team that professes to be of European standard their defence is shocking. Going forward they have been scoring a lot of goals but they are beatable. They are there for the taking and, on top form, we can be the takers.

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Another goal from Ian Vigurs like that last one would be just the ticket. You know, a commentator described it as a blooter. Frankly that was one of the best superbly-controlled balls, hit with just enough speed to enter the met exactly where he wanted it to go, as I have seen. He didn't try to hammer it as hard as he could but  approached the ball lovingly and very carefully stroked it at the right spot and with the right flighting. Now that was what I would call a professional beauty.

Eh IHE?

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^ I think Vigurs has an important role in this game, during the Aberdeen match (and several more before it) I have been calling for Vigurs to be substituted or dropped as he often stifles play, kills the pace of any attack and slows the game down far too much - especially when we try to break or counter attack. However for a game against Celtic I see his role and style as being key, if he can stop the play in the middle of the park and break down Celtic attacks while slowing down our play to maintain possession (although his passing and distribution has to be better than against Aberdeen) it could play a big part in us getting anything from the game. His set piece play along with Tansey may be our best chance of goals but between Vigurs, Tansey & Draper we have the capability to overpower Celtic in midfield but they all need to play well.

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21 hours ago, Alex MacLeod said:

I don't think, having watched two or three of their games, that Celtic are any better this season than before. Last night they played five defenders and two defensive mids yet couldn't hold back the three. For a team that professes to be of European standard their defence is shocking. Going forward they have been scoring a lot of goals but they are beatable. They are there for the taking and, on top form, we can be the takers.

There are still clear weaknesses in their defence, but I think they are much, much better than they were last season from middle to front. Sinclair has started on fire, is fast and tricky with an eye for goal and has experience of playing at a much higher level than most recent Celtic signings; now that he's had a couple of games, Dembele looks like he'll be very difficult to play against; Rogic is clever and strong in the number 10 role, we know about Roberts from last year, Brown is right back on form, Armstrong is looking like his old self, even Forrest is looking half-decent. I think we have a better defence than Rangers, but it will take a heroic performance to keep that sort of attacking prowess out, and while I think that their defence is beatable, we've looked very limited up front so far this season.

I agree with bdu98196 that the central midfield will be key to stopping Celtic playing and trying to prevent them getting into a rhythm, but while I would keep Vigurs in there, I worry that although he's experienced and reasonably strong, he doesn't have the pace or the presence to dominate in there and is brushed aside too easily - witness the build up to Aberdeen's goal last week. Draper is obviously far more effective at that sort of role, but I suspect he is going to have to run himself into the ground, because he's also been one of our few attacking threats and will probably have to perform a sort of box-to-box role. For all Vigurs' threat from set pieces, then if we start the same team as last week and find ourselves a couple down, I'd be looking at taking Vigurs off, pulling the harder-working Polworth into deep midfield and hoping that a Mulraney or a Doran might manage to get in behind the Celtic defence.

As you can probably tell from all this, I expect to see us comfortably beaten, but as long as we get a reaction against Dundee the following weekend, then I'm not too bothered - this season, unlike the last few no-one will be in touch with Celtic by Christmas, imho.     

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Celtic will push on their full backs as they always do, we need to take advantage of that space when we counter, I would ask the likes of Doran to stay in position when we are defending as an out ball when we win it back. We also need strong runners to support him from midfield which probably means Draper getting up in support. There's no point in punting it up to a centre forward marked by two CB's.We have no right to expect to beat Celtic but ICT teams past have shown it can be done when we are well organised and are prepared to have a go and Celtic are no world beaters as we have seen.

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