It is only October – is that good or bad?

Posted on Monday, 3rd October 2011 by Harper
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Where to start, where to start…

I suppose I’ll need to open with a viewpoint that seems to be a lone voice amongst the timternet support. I thought we played ok yesterday and certainly not as badly as is being suggested by lots of people.

How can so many people be wrong I hear you ask, maybe they’re not but it seems to me that whenever we lose a game these days we were automatically terrible. We don’t have a divine right to win every single game we play in. Yes there were some unacceptable performances at Tynecastle but there were more good than bad imo.

First off and this will be no surprise to anyone who knows me but Anthony Stokes sitting on the bench is a huge mistake before we even take to the park in that ridiculous strip. Bangura may well turn out to be a decent player but Hearts away from home isn’t the place where new strike partnerships are formed.

Hooper has been poor and looks off the pace at times but there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the tried and tested partnership of Hooper and Stokes is the one that should have started the game yesterday. Even more so the fact that Stokes has a pretty good record against Hearts and for me is our best all round footballer up front. Hooper is a poacher and it will take time to mould his game to Bangura’s. By not playing Stokes flings some fuel to the Lennon critics. And they are quite right to be critical of him there.

Commons returning to the side was a welcome sight for me and I thought he was probably our best performer on the day until his moment of madness. I’m sorry all your good play is forgotten when you sell the jerseys like that. It was a ridiculous challenge to make and it practically ended all hopes we had of taking something from the game right there and then. If he had problems with the manager before today then they will be even bigger now. It’s a shame as Commons is undoubtably one of our best players when on form and even when he’s not playing great he is always likely to pop up with a goal.

I fear it will be a long time before we see Mr Commons in a Celtic jersey again…

The defence or lack of it is the biggest problem we have and why it hasn’t been addressed properly only Peter Lawwell knows. We shouldn’t forget that Lennon’s main signing for this position is now out injured and a K. Wilson/Mulgrew pairing will be the way forward once the big man is fit again. Likewise Izaguirre can’t come back soon enough. To be quite frank El Kaddouri looks completely out of his depth and I’d prefer Mark Wilson and Matthews to be the full-backs. Who plays what side is open to debate.

Forster had two fantastic saves in the first half and had little chance with the goals.

I thought Wanyama carried on his good form from Thursday evening and Ki was ok without rising to the heights of his early season form. Forrest too found himself being a spectator for a lot of the game but he looked to have the beating of his man when he did get a chance to take him on. I was baffled when he and Commons switched sides early in the second half. Sometimes Lennon’s tactics baffle me completely.

The substitutions made little impact with Stokes doing little to help my claims he should start and the last throw of the McCourt dice with ten minutes to go drives me nuts. It’s no good to anyone, especially Paddy. I can’t think of a game when the Derry Pele has been flung on at the end and he’s managed to change the game. For me Paddy starts or is given at least half an hour, if not don’t bother because it won’t work.

It’s scary to be ten points behind them so early in the season and we MUST start improving the points differential immediately. In a way the points gap going into the Hearts game has probably magnified peoples negativity towards the performance. Had we been on level points at the top of the league I think people would have seen a lot more in the performance yesterday.

Of course that being said when you go into a game knowing your ten points behind it’s a game for big players to step up and show why they are Celtic players. Why they have big reputations (that are shrinking rapidly) and why we should believe they are the bhoys that will bring the title back to Paradise.

I fear Neil Lennon is one more defeat in October away from being on the dole and if that is the case then a massive part of the blame lie’s at the door of the boardroom. It’s my belief that Lennon hasn’t been properly financially backed by the directors and Peter Lawwell needs to take a good hard look at his role in the signing of new players.

Sack Neil Lennon? – nah that’s not the way forward for me, yet…

Sack the board? – that’s another blog entirely…

There will be no HomeBhoys show tonight I’m afraid as the dreaded backshift calls this week. So until next time Hail Hail.

Harper