Celtic v Rangers - Sunday, 12.30 k.o.

eirebhoy

Since this is the only match on telly tomorrow morning and the rugby not on til afterwards I guess there'll be a few neutrals watching?

Probably teams.

Celtic (4-4-2):

---

Boruc

---

Hinkel --- Caldwell --- McManus --- Naylor
McGeady --- Crosas --- Brown --- Robson

---

McDonald --- Vennegoor

---

Rangers (4-5-1):

---

Miller

---

Fleck

---

Ferguson

---

--- McCullogh --- Mendes ---- Davis

---

Papac --- Boughera --- Weir --- Broadfoot

---

McGregor

---

Eirebear

eirebhoy wrote: »

Since this is the only match on telly tomorrow morning and the rugby not on til afterwards I guess there'll be a few neutrals watching?

Probably teams.

Celtic (4-4-2):

---

Boruc

---

Hinkel --- Caldwell --- McManus --- Naylor
McGeady --- Crosas --- Brown --- Robson

---

McDonald --- Vennegoor

---

Rangers (4-5-1):

---

Miller

---

Fleck

---

Ferguson

---

--- McCullogh --- Mendes ---- Davis

---

Papac --- Boughera --- Weir --- Broadfoot

---

McGregor

---

Pffft! Scottish football. :rolleyes:

Rangers will probably look more like this BTW (At least according to early reports)

---

McGregor

---

Broadfoot--Weir----Bougherra--Papac

---

McCulloch

---

Davis----Mendes----Ferguson----Fleck

---

Lafferty

---

Not massively confident tomorrow in all honesty, if offered a draw tonight i would take it.

Badabing

Apparantly there is more 'stories' in the paper tommorow about Boruc, a friend in Scotland told me.

Eirebear

Badabing wrote: »

Apparantly there is more 'stories' in the paper tommorow about Boruc, a friend in Scotland told me.

There has been an extremely strong rumour circulating the message boards for the last week, which was seemingly going to break this weekend.

I wont go into the details of it because i believe it to be nothing more than a rumour that has got out of hand.

eirebhoy

Didn't realise McCulloch has been playing the holding role.

As for Boruc. He just can't adapt to his high profile life.

smackbunnybaby

Boruc might be a bit eccentric at the moment but no way is he throwing matches. not a hope.
typical type of story to arise before a crucial old firm game to put him off his game.

Eirebear

eirebhoy wrote: »

Didn't realise McCulloch has been playing the holding role.

.

Yep, played against Aberdeen in there.....might let Fergie and Mendes go forward together.

smackbunnybaby wrote: »

typical type of story to arise before a crucial old firm game to put him off his game.

The only place i have seen this story coming from has been celtic fan sites. Not Rangers ones, and certainly not media outlets.

As i have said already, i dont believe a word of it but dont go blaming the big bad hun media for this one.

CyberWaste

Great day of sport tomorrow, Rangers/Celtic in the morning, then the rugby, then the milan derby in night.

Anyone know what channel is showing the celtic game?

newballsplease

CyberWaste wrote: »

Great day of sport tomorrow, Rangers/Celtic in the morning, then the rugby, then the milan derby in night.

Anyone know what channel is showing the celtic game?

setanta.
was thinking just there...as the rangers fans start there usual 'god save the queen' chant..... i wonder how they would react if the other fans started singing flower of scotland.....

eagle eye

I used to have an interest in these games but they play each other too often now for it to matter anymore to me. It also seems that they have taken a step backwards at Celtic since the O'Neill days. But they still win Leagues in Scotland.

Broxi_Bear_Eire

newballsplease wrote: »

setanta.
was thinking just there...as the rangers fans start there usual 'god save the queen' chant..... i wonder how they would react if the other fans started singing flower of scotland.....

Lets go fishing think you need better bait mate

Eirebear

newballsplease wrote: »

setanta.
was thinking just there...as the rangers fans start there usual 'god save the queen' chant..... i wonder how they would react if the other fans started singing flower of scotland.....

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Celtic fans singing Flower of Scotland!

eirebhoy

eagle eye wrote: »

I used to have an interest in these games but they play each other too often now for it to matter anymore to me. It also seems that they have taken a step backwards at Celtic since the O'Neill days. But they still win Leagues in Scotland.

It's been a long time since they played each other less than 4 times a season.


Suprisingly Flood starts for Celtic. I'm not surpised as most, I knew he'd play some part but he gets in ahead of McGeady for that bit of bite in midfield. I'm annoyed that Hartley starts because it means there's a big chance of a crap match.

---

Boruc

---

Hinkel --- Caldwell --- McManus --- Naylor

---

Hartley

---

---

Naka

---

Brown

---

Flood

---

---

McDonald --- Vennegoor

---

newballsplease

Eirebear wrote: »

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Celtic fans singing Flower of Scotland!

what would be wrong with that?

theteal

any streams lads? i'm in scumdee and the television selection sucks

never mind, got it on iraq goals

CantGetNoSleep

theteal wrote: »

any streams lads? i'm in scumdee and the television selection sucks

never mind, got it on iraq goals

+1, can't find one anywhere?

am i bovvered

just in case anyone else is looking...

http://atdhe.net/live-tv-3517.html

eirebhoy

Not a game full of chances which was a guarantee as soon as Hartley's name was on the teamsheet. Flood playing has given Naka the freedom to roam and he's been excellent. McDonald should really have scored after great play by Naka to play it for Flood who sent in the perfect cross. Very much 50/50 so far with nothing much else to write about.

Badabing

Crap match so far both midfields on top, jvoh looks very unfit.

mike65

Premier League - you're having a laugh. About Norwich v Ipswich on a very bad day level.

The Guardian live report

HALF TIME, AND BOTH SIDES HAVE ACHIEVED THE SQUARE ROOT OF ABSOLUTELY EFF ALL. A very low quality half of football peters out. There's nothing much to say about that, really.

newballsplease

am i bovvered wrote: »

just in case anyone else is looking...

http://atdhe.net/live-tv-3517.html

is it just me or does think stream keep stopping?????

eirebhoy

mike65 wrote: »

Premier League - you're having a laugh. About Norwich v Ipswich on a very bad day level.

The Guardian live report

Appreciate Nakamura so because his class is just shining out in this game.

If you do a search for Hartley under my username you'll see that Hartley has consistently dropped Celtic down to his poor standards. He genuinely is the difference between Celtic/Scotland playing good football and poor football.

Badabing

mike65 wrote: »

Premier League - you're having a laugh. About Norwich v Ipswich on a very bad day level.

The Guardian live report

Yeah right did you watch the liverpool v everton matches recentlly. In big matches the quality is punctured by the desire not to lose.

Badabing

eirebhoy did you read that Lennon more or less told Strachan to pick Hartley as we need 'strong' players for the match.

eirebhoy

Badabing wrote: »

eirebhoy did you read that Lennon more or less told Strachan to pick Hartley as we need 'strong' players for the match.

I read something about that alright. In fairness the likes of Mizuno, Donati, etc. have been eaten up in these games so maybe Crosas needs more experience first. Hopefully he comes on for Hartley after an hour or so though.

It's pretty astonishing when I list off all the games Hartley has started compared to those he hasn't. I don't know how one player has so much influence.

Nalz

i hope this tea time tip helps your game

jaysus i hate that ad

~Marky~

here is a stream that working http://football-tv-livesports.blogspot.com/2009/01/channel-1_14.html

newballsplease

must be my broadband so but every stream is stalling and starting and stopping every few seconds

am i bovvered

i've been watching that stream all match no probs

Red Sleeping Beauty

newballsplease wrote: »

must be my broadband so but every stream is stalling and starting and stopping every few seconds

JustinTv is liked that with busy videos

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

LuckyLloyd

Boruc's reaction stop from the misplaced defensive header was really, really good. On the whole though, the game was not a great advert for the Scottish league I'm afraid.

A Dub in Glasgo

Poor game

McGeady should have started and McDonald should be shot for that miss

eirebhoy

ziggy wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Jesus ziggy. I know you think my bias clouds my opinion of Naka but I can't believe you think that. Naka was class in the first half. Celtic's best player by a mile. He was much quieter in the 2nd half but Celtic hardly played any football in the 2nd half.

Anyway, have a look:
http://kerrydalestreet.co.uk/topic/8075455/1/

Seriously, you need to start looking at yourself if you think someone is overly biased when it comes to Naka.

If Naka played like he did in the first half for the entire game he'd be the unanimous choice for motm. I can't believe you thought he was poor after an hour of the game.

eZe^

Will Crosas ever get his game... Bet he is bitter that if he stayed at Barca he would have the opportunities that Busquets got so far this season.

A Dub in Glasgo

I thought Naka was poor, did very little from I could see

eirebhoy

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

I thought Naka was poor, did very little from I could see

This calls for a little video be made. I'll just put a few clips together of what I thought he did well in the first half. I couldn't disagree that he had a quiet 2nd half so won't bother with that. I'll download the game and stick a vid up as soon as I can. I just genuinely want to get people's opinion on the few clips I do post up.

eirebhoy

eZe^ wrote: »

Will Crosas ever get his game... Bet he is bitter that if he stayed at Barca he would have the opportunities that Busquets got so far this season.

Crosas is first choice along with Brown. He didn't play today because so many flair players have failed in these games and he's still very young and inexperienced.

PauloMN

Yawnfest. Rangers will be happy enough with that, but what a crap match.

Was really surprised to see Flood start, but he did very well, and his cross to Skippy should have seen a goal.

JVoH was worryingly ineffectual, and Samaras not a lot better when he came on. I'm concerned about our strikers at the moment. McDonald is the only one who has deserved a regular slot.

Boruc was excellent with two decent saves (shame one was from McManus). We came out with a point thanks to him imo.

I have to add though, Lafferty is an absolute load of gash (thankfully). Makes me feel better when I think what a waste of money Loovens was. At least we're not alone in pissing money down the drain.

Any news on Brown? He looked out of it, and I was shocked he was left on after his clash with McGregor.

I thought Hinkel had a howler today, even Naylor looked better than him. :eek:

McGeady really should have started today I thought.

EDIT: Oh, and did anyone else expect about 5 mins added time? I know it prob wouldn't have made any difference, but 2 mins???

PauloMN

eirebhoy wrote: »

Anyway, have a look:
http://kerrydalestreet.co.uk/topic/8075455/1/

There's people voting Hinkel motm on that thread. Insane.

Boruc, Flood and Caldwell would be my 3 best from today. Naka was just ok in the first half, but I agree with Ziggy in that he should have been taken off in the 2nd half.

eirebhoy

Here's a few clips of Naka from the first half.

http://www.zshare.net/video/5567311271be5d1d/

What I liked was his tempo. His speed of play was a lot higher than it often can be. He came inside a lot to take control of things. He misplaced 1 through pass which isn't bad because he had the ball in some tight situations. The ball wasn't on the ground a lot but when it was it was Naka and Flood coming inside and linking up with the others.

If you compare Naka to Hartley. I watched Hartley and when his teammates have the ball around him he's literally walking. Naka is constantly moving himself into a position to receive the ball. When he does receive it he knows exactly what to do with it. That little flick to Hartley on 35 seconds is a good example. The ball is on it's way to Naka, Naka looks right to see if there's a positive pass on, there's not, he knows exactly where Hartley is without looking to play the pass to him in no time.

He's a little genius. A fantastic reader of the game and in the first half today his head, work rate, touch and passing was at the top of his game.

eirebhoy

PauloMN wrote: »

There's people voting Hinkel motm on that thread. Insane.

I think that's just down to the fact that Fleck got a big build up and didn't really do much to cause us trouble. Thought Naylor had a good game myself.

Eirebear

what a ****ing awful game.

both sides seemed far too wary of eachother to have a real go, and it didnt stretch out untill the last 15/20 minutes.

Nakamura? The guy is nothing but a dirty diving bastard, and i was sure that freekick was going in at the end.

As for Sellick fans singing Flower of Scotland....sure they're irish are they not?

PauloMN

Eirebear wrote: »

Nakamura? The guy is nothing but a dirty diving bastard, and i was sure that freekick was going in at the end.

Are you for real?

Eirebear wrote: »

As for Sellick fans singing Flower of Scotland....sure they're irish are they not?

I heard the away supporters belting out their old favourite today.

eirebhoy

Strachan has an insistence of playing with 2 strikers up front. He wrote an article on Euro 2004 about his beliefs in the 4-4-2. As far as I'm concerned, 4-5-1 is one less striker for the defenders to punt the ball up to and an extra midfielder try and play football. A 4-5-1 would get the best out of all our midfielders. There's no way we could have created any less than today so it has to be worth a try.

Eirebear

PauloMN wrote: »

Are you for real?

yes

PauloMN wrote: »

I heard the away supporters belting out their old favourite today.

uhuh? Whats your point Paul? The conversation is about sellik fans singing Flower of Scotland....it aint ever gonna happen...ever.

PauloMN

eirebhoy wrote: »

Strachan has an insistence of playing with 2 strikers up front. He wrote an article on Euro 2004 about his beliefs in the 4-4-2. As far as I'm concerned, 4-5-1 is one less striker for the defenders to punt the ball up to and an extra midfielder try and play football. A 4-5-1 would get the best out of all our midfielders. There's no way we could have created any less than today so it has to be worth a try.

For a few games now against Rangers, I've thought we should match their formation if they play a 4-5-1. We struggle enough in midfield as it is without having to cope with 5 players vs. our 4 there. As I said earlier, I thought JVoH in particular was completely ineffective, so I'd have been happy to have McDonald on his own up there and another midfielder in the mix.

I think Maloney is perfect for situations like that but obviously he was unavailable. Even if he was, Strachan would have gone 4-4-2 anyway I'm sure.

We did well playing 4-5-1 vs. Villareal away in the CL, compared with other CL away performances. 4-5-1 does not simply equate to overly defensive football.

I'm really pissed off about the game today though. When I'm thanking our lucky stars that Kyle Lafferty is so ****e - in a home game - that's a really bad sign.

eirebhoy

And it was a 4-5-1/4-3-3 at home to Villarreal too which was one of the best performances of the season. McGeady and Maloney both scoring with Naka and Brown superb in the middle.

Only 12 games left now. This is the point of the season where every win becomes crucial.

Broxi_Bear_Eire

eirebhoy wrote: »

And it was a 4-5-1/4-3-3 at home to Villarreal too which was one of the best performances of the season. McGeady and Maloney both scoring with Naka and Brown superb in the middle.

Only 12 games left now. This is the point of the season where every win becomes crucial.

That would be 13 games

eirebhoy

eirebhoy wrote: »

Here's a few clips of Naka from the first half.

http://www.zshare.net/video/5567311271be5d1d/

What I liked was his tempo. His speed of play was a lot higher than it often can be. He came inside a lot to take control of things. He misplaced 1 through pass which isn't bad because he had the ball in some tight situations. The ball wasn't on the ground a lot but when it was it was Naka and Flood coming inside and linking up with the others.

If you compare Naka to Hartley. I watched Hartley and when his teammates have the ball around him he's literally walking. Naka is constantly moving himself into a position to receive the ball. When he does receive it he knows exactly what to do with it. That little flick to Hartley on 35 seconds is a good example. The ball is on it's way to Naka, Naka looks right to see if there's a positive pass on, there's not, he knows exactly where Hartley is without looking to play the pass to him in no time.

He's a little genius. A fantastic reader of the game and in the first half today his head, work rate, touch and passing was at the top of his game.

No reply to this. It's pretty frustrating having to read "Naka was pish" if you're not even going to debate it...

btw - that motm thread I posted... the votes for Naka have dried up compared to the first few hours after the game. I think it shows perfectly that a lot of what Naka does will go unappreciated because it's not as memorable as a Brown surge forward, or McGeady leaving a man on his arse, or a Caldwell crunching tackle.