Monday 16 January 2012

Lennongrad: The Hidden Fortress


Mind all that stuff I was saying last time about confidence? Well it’s still there. So what was the problem against Dundee United in the second half on Saturday then, you may ask? Well, it’s like this. Everybody needs to share that confidence too. And yes that means you and me too.

You don’t want to be bothered with some guttersnipe crowing in the media that they felt the Celtic Park crowd was getting anxious and he felt that helped his wee team get back into the game. We need to cut that out once and for all and that means you have a part to play too. And yes, like I said, I do mean you!

Now I don’t watch the English Premier League if I can at all help it, and the only other team I would go out of my way to watch apart from Celtic is yon team from Barcelona. But for the first half on Saturday Celtic played some stunning, nay breathtaking, attacking football that thrilled me out of my seat and scored two great, well-worked goals in the first twenty minutes.

Izaguirre and Samaras, an unlikely duo, were interchanging and passing like they had shared the same mother’s milk. Another duo Mulgrew and Rogne were imperious in the centre of the back four, and the first goal was a cracker courtesy of the Hoopy and Stokesy deadly duo. It was nothing short of delicious football and the entire fortress Lennongrad was enjoying the spectacle. After the second goal The Triumphal March from Aida by Giuseppe Verdi was ringing out around the place, otherwise known as the Victor Wanyama song.

What made the first half performance so impressive was that both Kayal (injured) and young James Forrest (ill) were out but the trademark attacking wing back play (one of my stock phrases I know) by the aforementioned Izzy and Matthews was impeccable and was slicing through the other wee team’s bewildered defence at will.

Sadly due to my important and highly confidential role with an agency that works to save the planet and overcome the powers of evil and darkness 24 hours a day, I couldn’t be at Celtic Park myself on Saturday, but as I looked on from my secret island lair I felt, like you no doubt, that the job was done and the second half was to be a further lap of honour for the SPL leaders. A mere bagatelle.

As I sipped my first Dubonnet and soda of the day the second half began as furious as the first, with wave after wave of sharp Celtic attacks and had already they only narrowly missed two superb chances when Chico had a free kick fumbled but eventually scrambled away from the goal. The truth, dear reader, is that had one of those chances been converted the whole of Lennongrad would have gone into a ‘Let’s All Do The Huddle’ frenzy, the poor wee boys from Dundee would have shriveled up and cried to get home early and the Celtic team could have gone on to rack up five, six, seven or eight.

This is where you, me and everyone you know comes into it. Just because someone wee lad flukes one against the run of play from outside the box against us does not mean the whole fortress has to rent itself asunder. A nervous reaction they called it in the media, the Rangers fanzine The Daily Telegraph even cheekily described it as a ‘schizophrenic’ performance from Celtic that seemed to stem from the jitteriness of the fans.

Yes it was disappointing that the magnificent performance in the first fifty minutes didn’t go on to become a more enthralling landmark game, and yes we have had one or two of those already earlier this season. But the Celtic team showed a total and unflinching confidence that they were going to take all the points from Saturday’s game and that nobody but nobody was going to take anything away from them.

The result was never seriously in doubt. Apart from one unlucky slip by Adam Matthews (who we later found out had been playing with a virus) the defence was rock solid although some of the drive and creativity from the back was missing when Izaguirre was replaced before the end of the game.

In the end there really wasn’t too much to get worried about. In truth Celtic fans have nothing to fear except fear itself. If Celtic Park really is to become Fortress Lennongrad then we all have a part to play – at the ground, on Twitter, in the pub and at home.

As fans we have the right to be confident in ourselves. Confident in our traditions and in the team we support and the proud culture that created it. There are times when that self-confidence needs to reach out across the stadium and reach through your screen to the players on the park that wear the jerseys.

They have started to have confidence in themselves. Surely they have started to earn some of your confidence too. Then Fortress Lennongrad will be hidden no more.

@the_eriugena media specialist for @SixtySevenLive

Tuesday 10 January 2012

We need to talk about Kelvin

Wilson that is. But let’s start with Thomas and Chico and the rest of the Celtic defence for that matter and then we’ll come back to Kelvin later. Like many of you I’m sure I used to wince and cover my eyes when a long ball bounced through the Celtic back line. Bloody murder it was, watching as the big back line tried to flail the ball away as Fraser Forster tettered on his line indecisively.

But I’m over that now. And so are they, which is the most important thing. The Celtic defence in the past 10 games or so has had a new ring of confidence and that’s what I’m really planning to talk about.

Confidence. That’s the thing that was so lacking before. Only now they all seem to have it. Everyone. To the last man. *Crosses fingers.

It played an important part in the overhaul of Rangers in the SPL and at Celtic Park on 28 December. The whole Celtic team have begun to play with passion and a new-found flair but it has all seemingly been underpinned by this newly-minted self belief that hadn’t shown itself since last season and even then it was a faint and frankly fragile thing.

Confidence eh? And why now I hear you ask? Put it this way, it’s just one of those things that you have or haven’t got but when you haven’t you’re really in big trouble in anything in life. But, like you, I know it when I see it, and I’ve seen quite a bit of it at Celtic Park and on my Sony flatscreen TV with Craig Burley permanently on mute.

For the Celtic defence confidence started to come back some time in November and it was confidence and that confidently saved penalty that was never a penalty in the first place, against Hearts, that was the defining moment. Easy to talk about turning points but Fraser Forster hasn’t been the same man since. He’s grown an extra foot in height for a start and he then went on to give his best ever performance in a Celtic shirt against Udinese in the very next Celtic game.

Rangers thuggery can sometimes seem like the nasty tired old tag team wrestlers that used to feature on Dicky Davies era World of Sport compared to the fiery knuckle-duster thuggery that calls itself Heart of Midlothian. Beating Hearts convincingly but with a small goal margin and that all important saved late penalty was just the thing the Celtic team needed and the manner of the win seemed to bring the whole squad together.

Young Thomas Rogne has just oozed confidence when he has played in the back four, expecially against ‘them’, while Charlie Mulgrew has been even better than last season now that he’s matured and refound his regular place in the heart of the defence. With Emilio Izaguirre coming back after such a long break too it must give the whole team added confidence as they seek to extend their winning run.

Even Big Dan and Loovens were getting the vibe before they went out through ill-timed injuries and then there’s Victor Wanyama. It’s Victor’s style and technique that always seems to give him confidence on the ball no matter how sticky the situation.

But it’s the flowing play from the back that seems to be the hallmark of the Celtic style. Adam Matthews matches Izzy’s darting attacking play perfectly and it should be fun to see them carving though opposition defences on separate flanks. While Mikael Lustig adds a further dimension and after his short winter break he should really find a place in the starting eleven – a grungy Pearl Jam right-footed version of Izzy. With Kayal out for the rest of the season I wonder if Lennon will think of using the versatile Matthews in midfield where his strong tackling and incisive passing could bring added steel?

We’ve been here before I know but a bit of extra quality in the side during this transfer window could make all the difference. An exciting striker Hamdi ‘The Bomber’ Salihi has been linked with Celtic since the end of last week and the exciting young Icelandic winger Ingolfur Sigurdsson has been on trail this week at Lennoxtown and with current players returning to full fitness, which may or may not include Kris Commons, there must be a confident air about the whole team right about now.

Which bring us back to Kelvin. Having recently returned after injury Kelvin Wilson is only just coming back into the team. Against ‘them’ at Ibrox in September young Kelvin lost his cool and lost his shape and like one or two others it has to be said he seemed to bottle it as long balls rained down in the Celtic penalty box.

Kelvin needs his confidence fully restored and one thing in his favour is that he’s coming back into a team, and a back four, that are simply reeking of confidence and his return is giving much-needed defensive options to his manager. All Kelvin needs is to go with the flow and he’ll soon be as cool and calm as he first appeared before the Ibrox storm.

And now there’s no more talking needed. It’s time to get stuck in!