Lessons from the Trip to the States

By: JT | July 24th, 2007

The Celtic Football Club recently completed a two match, week-long trip to these United States, and while its difficult to draw too many concrete conclusions from what we witnessed during the friendlies, there are some things that are fairly obvious. Let’s start from the back:

• Artur Boruc is indisputably world class. There is no doubt about that anymore. I sometimes cringe when I see him make another amazing save, because I think “Well, its really just a matter of time till he’s off”. You could see a club like Spurs coming in for him because their keeper sucks, and a commanding figure between the sticks for them could make a world of difference. Mark Brown is an adequate backup, but I’d prefer he not be needed for long stretches. So any move for Boruc this season will have to be for crazy money.

• Mark Wilson is decent (at best) at right back right now. We need some cover there soon, though. The overall speed of the MLS players made Steven Pressley look old and slow. McManus surprised me when he caught that dude with the headband from the Fire with ease. He’s getting better all the time. With Kennedy still getting fit and O’Dea injured, Bobo Balde is going nowhere. Strachan needs to find the right mix there…..Paging Gary Caldwell…..Lee Naylor is the man, period. I think I’d cry if he went down for a long period. He does like to act like he’s been shot, wriggle around on the ground every once and a while and then get up though. Its what we Eagles fans call “Jevon Kearse Syndrome”.

• With Nakamura taking nice long geranium baths at the Asian Cup, the Bhoys suffer from a SERIOUS lack of creativity in the midfield. Some of the passing was incredibly bad, especially the weight on medium distance ones. Scott Brown has sealed an automatic starting spot, as has McGeady, who looked frustrated at times with a lack of movement from the guys up front. Donati’s getting a feel for things, and showed his class with that insane 30 yard cross-field bomb to the foot of Deek Riordan for the trip’s lone goal. Riordan must play more, period. Hartley gives his all, but he needs a shave and is a squad player. The jury is out on Andrea Capone. He has two friendlies left to show what he’s all about. Bjarnason should see some more time as the season progresses. Where’s Evander Sno? Gravesen is on the way out, and Jiri might be too. I’d bet on him being around till at least January though.

• It was obvious that Jan the Man was pissed with the quality of his strike partners. Not that he did anything special, but the finish on the goal that should have been against the Fire was pretty damn good. He’s a lock for the first team. Zurawski had his moments against Chicago. McDonald runs a lot, but doesn’t do much else. Killen is currently out of his depth. Kenny Miller looked OK against the MLS team, and if he was on the pitch against the Fire I don’t remember him doing anything. In the end, the strikers just didn’t get the service required from the midfield during these matches. They’ll look better as the midfield gels and gets used to each other.

• WGS (that picture looks like him, right? Weird) obviously runs a tough preseason. Results and performances the last two years show that. He knows there is work to do both on the field and in the market. For all the criticism lobbed at a manager who has brought home four trophies and a round of 16 date with Milan in two years, this will likely be the defining season of his tenure, if not his managerial career. These guys are all his, not Martin O’Neill’s, and Rangers won’t be easy prey like last year. **** UPDATE: I must be doing something right, because Tommy Gemmill, of Lisbon Lions fame, agrees that Rangers will be a tough nut to crack this year. ****

This week sees friendlies at Newcastle and at home against Parma. Top notch competition, indeed. It should be fun.