vs St Johnstone | Vital Football

vs St Johnstone

wee_od_88

wee_od_88

Vital Football Hero
Brown looks likely to miss out as he is yet to recover from his virus that made him miss the Barca game.

Lustig should be recovered from a hip knock he suffered in the Barca game but considering how well Matthews played at LB, I'd be surprised is Lustig starts the game. I think Matthews will play RB and Lustig will take a spot on the bench.

Izaguirre, Rogne, Forrest, Hooper and Lassad are all still injured. Samaras is fit but I'm not sure playing him is the best option in this game. He was only 50/50 for Barca and if we play him that means we can't really have any excuse for his country to use him in the upcoming friendlies!

I would go with:

Forster
Matthews - Ambrose - Kilson - Mulgrew
Commons - Wanyama - Kayal - Ledley
Watt - Miku

Although that may change to a 3 in midfield with Commons playing behind the front 2.
 
Celtic starting XI to play St Johnstone: Forster; Matthews, Ambrose, Wilson, Mulgrew; Brown, Wanyama, Ledley, Commons; Miku, Samaras

Subs: Zaluska, Watt, McCourt, Kayal, McGeouch, Lustig, Ibrahim
 
I think this will be more like our 4-3-3 system we have adopted this season.

Brown, Wanyama and Ledley as a midfield 3 with Commons joining Miku and Samaras up front. Commons and Samaras will probably drift into the wider areas.
 
Brown on the pitch. Good to see. Also good to see Samaras has recovered and can play. How bad is Hooper's hamstring? Will he be ready for the Benfica match?
 
I get that the guys are worn down from two matches against Barcelona. But this sleepy domestic form is getting old. Another lazy performance.
 
Unfortunately I didn't catch any of the game really but I agree welch, this really is starting to take the piss!

What happened to two players for every position and a team for Europe and a team for the SPL?? Why was Kayal not starting the game? Why are Paddy, Ibrahim and McGeouch not getting a chance to push back into the team?

Just doesn't make sense! Lennon is going to have to have more faith and belief in some of the younger/fringe players and let them try and prove themselves in the SPL!

Chalmers and Fraser could have come in to defence, Twardzik must be injured I think but McGeouch and Ibrahim are both trying to get back to match sharpness so they could have played. Ibrahim is a wee terrior of a player, goes and chases down the ball and gets stuck in but he's also got a really nice touch on the ball and given a chance could create goal scoring opportunities.
We have injuries, fair enough, but all the more reason to rotate a few players in the squad. We are limited up front as Tony Watt is our young striker but he only came on as a sub against Barca so he could have started....
 
Agreed, and I don't think the 4-3-3 is working. Three men in the middle is not enough, so we end up having Sammy and Commons coming back to help out. TYhen we have no one taking ownership of the 18-yard box. Too many times yesterday we brought the ball up and no one was forward. There's no reason for that against SPL opposition.

People have complained that the fringe players don't do it. But no one gets into a rhythm playing 10 minutes a week.
 
The more they play, the more chance they have of getting a rhythm as well welch!

That's part of the reason I don't like the 4-3-3, it too easily becomes a 4-5-1!! Our success up front over the last couple of seasons has come from Stokes and Hooper linking up together and being able to create goals just the two of them. We can't do that now because we don't have two strikers who can really link up like that.
Watt is scoring and playing quite well at the moment but he's more used to playing as a lone striker and you can see that in his play.
Miku is the same, he mainly played as a lone striker and he's yet to really settle although his ability in and around the box and his link-up play looks as though it should be quite good! Maybe he needs a Stokes up next to him?

I think the way we will have to look at the SPL until our European adventure is over is one for giving others a chance! Winning the league by a big margin is not looking so likely the way we are playing, so we won't have the same opportunities to play the younger and fringe players like we did last season. So why not give a few a chance to do it now instead of the end of the season?

I'd like to think that Twardzik would be getting a chance to play in the SPL especially after a European game if he was fit. I'm quite frankly shocked that McGeouch hasn't been given some time as a sub to improve his match fitness. I watched the footage of him playing Real Madrid in America at the start of the season....he was taking the piss out of world class players and they actually started doubling up on him!!!!
 
All true, but I would still try to find a partnership with Sammy and Miku to pull the formation into the other end. When Stokes is back, we have a better option for that. But he's out until December, I believe.
 
So Wanyama has pulled out of the international game this week because he is apparently suffering from the effects of a flu bug....seems he may not be the only one in the squad either. But he also played through it at the weekend......no wonder we drew 1-1 if our players were suffering with flu symptoms!

WHY in the hell would Lennon play players if they weren't right like that? Especially if it was more than just Wanyama that was suffering. It's acceptable with one or maybe two, but any more than that and you are risking the whole team! My guess, Brown wasn't over his virus, Wanyama was suffering from it and a few others were getting it too......hence the 1-1, lackluster result!
 
Wanyama shouldn't be in Africa at all Jimmy, he should be at home in his bed! Haha! He pulled out of the game and the Kenyan Football Association accepted our reasons for him not joining up with the squad.
 
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