A win, but two losses; New Bhoys step up

By: Matt | August 23rd, 2008

Celtic glided to an easy win over Falkirk today at Celtic Park 3-0. Celtic got goals from Captain Stephen McManus, which looked like it suspiciously came off of his arm but the referee did not agree and the goal stood, as well as two goals from Georgios Samaras. You might be asking why Samaras was in the game over 30 goal scorer Scott McDonald. Well, it appears McDonald picked up an injury in training that will see him miss four weeks. Not only did Skippy pick up an injury during training, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink was also subbed out in the first half after picking up an injury. Shaun Maloney made his debut as big Jan’s replacement and brought a lot of creativity to the game, something that Celtic has not seen in their first two games, including a beautiful flick to Georgios Samaras for the third goal. Maloney also set up Samaras’ first goal with a nice ball that found the Greek’s feet and he was able to dance around the keeper and put it in the empty net. Artur Boruc was in midseason Holy Goalie form, making a couple of very good saves that kept Falkirk at bay and allowed Celtic to keep the momentum.

Today’s game also saw new Bhoys Marc Crosas and Glenn Loovens get their first action in a Celtic uniform. Loovens started for the injured Gary Caldwell and had a decent performance for his first run out. Crosas was a late sub, but played some great long and through balls in his limited time on the field. Shunsuke Nakamura also looked like the Naka of old, making great passes and setting up Stephen McManus‘ goal on a freekick. With Naka being creative and making plays, it certainly bodes well for Celtic. Yet, the best player on the pitch was easily Shaun Maloney. The homecoming of Maloney saw some great creativity and some brilliant passes to set up Georgios Samaras on both of his goals.

So Celtic fans were looking for change, and with the recent injuries they will see those changes. However, most are not at positions that they were expecting. While the severity of Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink’s injury is not yet know, it is a possibility that Celtic will be without both of their starting strikers from last year against Rangers next week. However, this is the reason that Celtic made Georgios Samaras a permanent member of the team, and with another solid performance next week, he can create a bit of controversy on who should start as striker. Glenn Loovens and Shaun Maloney might also be asked to contribute earlier than expected. As Maloney already knows, nothing endears a player to Celtic fans like a strong performance against Rangers. With Celtic and Rangers tied on points going into their match-up next weekend, another strong performance can take a huge first step in the road to four in a row.