vs Hearts | Vital Football

vs Hearts

wee_od_88

wee_od_88

Vital Football Hero
We play Hearts tomorrow night at Tynecastle and this is a game that we really need to win and get back into the swing of things because our SPL record has been poor!

Kelvin Wilson has recovered from flu and is back in the squad for the game while Mulgrew (virus) and Paddy (knock) are rated doubtful for the game.
Izaguirre and Stokes are both still out while Forrest may still not be ready for this game either.

Lennon needs to do a couple of things with this game. He needs a good performance for one, he needs to send a message to some of the players who are not performing and he may need to rest a few players as well.

I would go with:

Forster
Lustig - Ambrose - Kilson
McGeouch - Kayal - Wanyama - Commons
Ibrahim
Miku - Lassad

If Ibrahim isn't fit (he wasn't on the bench at the weekend) then I would move Miku back and put Hooper or Watt on up front.

I could pick a more adventurous team and put more young players in as I would hope that some of them will be used against Arbroath this weekend. We should be using one or two of them against Hearts tonight to help integrate them in the team.

I can almost guarantee that Lennon won't drop many, if any players despite what he has said after the game about players concentrating on Spartak instead of on the game they are actually playing and that some need a rest and that some have simply not been performing well enough!

I'd like to see Chalmers or Fraser get involved. I'm not sure what has happened to Twardzik but I think he must be injured!

Celtic U20s have a game in the NextGen Series again this week and have had a busy schedule. Some of these games the likes of Fraser and Chalmers have been called in to but generally they are with the first team. It would be bad for their development if they didn't get to play in the NextGen only for Lennon to not use them, but really I think Lennon should use them!

We have some other talented young midfielders who have made the bench a few times this season, it will be interesting to see how involved they get to be over the next couple of games. John Herron, Callum MacGregor, Bahrudin Atajic, Patrik Twardzik and Jackson Irvine could all be used somewhere over the next couple of games.

What will Lennon do........
 
If you're going to go with a 3-4-3 you need Muldini on the left. K-Wills is not up to that task. He is a classic central defender. I do like the idea of Miku and Lassad together. lassad has pace and touch and Miku--though he has not been great--can hold the ball up. It's a tough one because I think COmmons needs a rest but we have no creativity without him or Forrest. I'd similiar with:

Lustig---Ambrose----K-Wills----Muldini
McGeough---Wanyama---Kayal---Commons
----Miku and Lassad.

I don't undersstand Wee Od's Odd love affair with Ibrahim.
 
Mulgrew is likely to be out of the game welch. If we go 4 at the back, it will be Matthews at LB, or maybe, just maybe, Lennon will use Chalmers......

Ambrose and Wilson are more or less guaranteed to start because of other injuries. Rogne could be back in contention but I'd use him against Arbroath at the weekend to get him back up to speed rather than tonight. Lustig is starting to make that RB spot his own so I think he is almost guaranteed to start there.

Midfield is again limited due to injury and illness but I think we both have the same thought welch. McGeouch is capable of bringing that creativity and he needs some game time so I'd use him tonight, Hearts are struggling in the fullback positions due to injury so we could find some joy there tonight!

While Hooper is a good striker and really helps this team click, I think he would just benefit from the night off or at least just a run out from the bench. Miku and Lassad should be desperate for more goals now that they have opened their accounts and I don't see why they can't play up front together!

I don't have a love affair with Ibrahim, I just think he could give the team that something different we are lacking at times. He needs a chance to play otherwise why did we sign him? He's a talented little player and having seen him play for the U20s, I thought he was quite good. He's a feisty and aggressive yet skilful player. That's not something we have a lot of in the team. He is definitely not a CM or a winger though, he has to play in that hole behind the striker/s.
 
On Ibrahim, how do we know? I have seen this guy play about 11 total minutes. I'd rather see McGeough, Watt or Twardzik get in there.

As an aside, I hope Lenny now sees how badlyu this club needs Stokes. He is a bit of a headcase with Nedly tendencies, but he can score and is great for spelling Hooper.
 
Tonight's Celtic team to face Hearts: Forster, Lustig, Ambrose, Wilson, Mulgrew, Commons, Kayal, Wanyama, Ledley, Lassad, Hooper.
SUBS; Zaluska, Matthews, Miku, Samaras, Brown, Watt, McGeouch
 
Tonight's Celtic team to face Hearts: Forster, Lustig, Ambrose, Wilson, Mulgrew, Commons, Kayal, Wanyama, Ledley, Lassad, Hooper.
SUBS; Zaluska, Matthews, Miku, Samaras, Brown, Watt, McGeouch
 
Well I got to see him close up for 60 mins in a team of 16 and 17 year olds, considering who he was playing with, I thought he and Lassad played well!

That's part of the problem as well though welch, he and others are not actually getting a chance to show us what they can do. All they are really getting is training in front of the coaches and that's not always enough. We don't seem to have many development squad games this season, they have been replaced by the U20 league, of which we can have a few overage players but still not coming frequent enough for some of our players.

Personally I'd rather see McGeouch or Twardzik play before him as well. Watt already is ahead of him. Twardzik seems to be injured at the moment and in my personal choice of team, I'd have McGeouch and Ibrahim both playing at some stage. No reason both can't play at the same time. Watt has been doing well and playing a fair bit recently but I just feel he could maybe do with a rest in this midweek game.

You're spot on about Stokes welch! Me and Tic said the same thing via twitter the other day. It's becoming very noticeable. I think he is able to stretch defences and help open them up and create chances as well as finish them.

As for tonight's team, I'm a little disappointed we are not seeing more changes. I think the likes of Chalmers and Fraser are actually away with the NextGen team as they are away to Eindhoven to play PSV. That's fair enough, but why not at least bring McGeouch into the team? I think we are going to lack a cutting edge tonight and lack that person to open things up.

Mulgrew has apparently been battling with a virus this week, so why play him? Do we REALLY need to? Ledley was out with a bit of an injury problem last weekend, so why throw him back in to start again tonight? These sorts of things just don't seem to make sense to me. Why is Lennon so afraid to use the squad? They will never be ready when we really do need them unless Lennon starts to use them more......

However, hopefully this team works well tonight and we pump the tarts! We need a good win tonight!

COYBIG!
 
Lassad puts us 1 up with a cracking finish at the back post. Mulgrew with the cross after the LB is pulled out of position, leaving nobody marking Lassad at the backpost but he had to take it on the volley and he did well to finish at the keepers near post!

Lustig makes it 2-0. Flicks the ball out to Lassad on the right of the box who crosses back into the box and Lustig continued his run into the box and finds the ball falling nicely for him to stretch and and hit it past the keeper!

This is more like it lads, now just keep it tight at the back, looked a bit shaky at times so far!
 
A lot of silly freekicks in this game, getting a bit nasty at times as well. Wouldn't be surprised to see a sending off in this game!
 
3-0!

An OG from Stevenson! Good play from Commons to pick it up in the CF position, lay it off to Lustig who then plays it back out right where Commons had made a run, controls the ball and crosses with his left foot, Hooper gets his head to it but it's going out to the left of the goal, Mulgrew manages to get to it and cut it back into the box but as Stevenson is coming back to try and block it, he sends into his own net!
 
3-0 at HT and well in control of the game. We need to be careful at these silly free-kicks and just make sure we stay alert when they cross the ball but definite improvement in the play tonight!
 
Still comfortable in this game but nowhere near the same attacking threat from us in this half. Some players starting to look tired, Lustig off for Matthews and Ledley off for Brown. 3-0 up and still quite comfortable, why not Miku and McGeouch on??
 
4-0 final score! Mulgrew with a superb cross from the left, not cut out by the defenders and Hooper gambles and just jumps to make contact with the ball and put it in the back of the net.

Not such a good performance second half, a good win in a difficult game though!

On to Arbroath at home this weekend....last game before the Spartak game so what sort of team does Lennon put out? He has to find the right mix of resting players and getting them ready for the important home game against Spartak.
 
It was a humping in the scorebook though maybe not in the run of play. Great to see the flurry of goals. I think Lassad is proving to be a very good acquisition. Hail Hail!
 
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