Midweek Derby News

By: Matt | February 11th, 2009

So yet again, Celtic faces the prospect of “the most important match of the season” (the third one it seems…how many can you have in a season?), and of course the Scottish media is full of controversy. Surely it’s a coincidence that it is all being reported the week of Celtic’s match against Rangers, right? Err….anyways, most of the tabloids are focusing on the training bust up between Artur Boruc and Aiden McGeady. McGeady has been sporting a nice wee shiner from the event, but Gordon Strachan has said the matter is closed and not that different than what occurs seemingly on numerous training grounds across Europe. Reports are that Strachan has leveled the biggest fine in Celtic’s history at Boruc for the bust up. Ginger Baws saying it is a non-story has not convinced the media, who are now talking to their second favorite Polish keeper (out of two). Boruc said of the incident, “Everyone has different moments and everyone has to get through the worst ones. It’s only football. We make mistakes like everyone. It may be due to a lack of concentration sometimes. It has grown into hysteria. There is nothing to talk about – everyone makes mistakes. I just have to train hard. That is all I can do. But I hope I will grow to better form that I showed at Euro 2008.” Pretty standard stuff, but hopefully it can be water under the bridge come Sunday.

Since Celtic seemed keen on signing every midfielder with two working legs the past two years, just who will be in the middle on Sunday seems up for debate. The obvious choices for the wings seem to be Shunsuke Nakamura and black eyed Aiden McGeady, but then again when was Gordon Strachan one for obvious choices. I am fairly confident though that those two will be put out to try and bring some creativity to what is sure to be a rough and tumble game. Just who mans the middle two midfield spots of Gordon Strachan’s predictable as death and taxes 4-4-2 is up for more debate. It seems to be between Barry Robson, Scott Brown, and Paul Hartley. Brown and Robson were partners for Celtic’s 1-0 victory over Ibrox, and some (including yours truly) believed the two were the difference in the game. The two controlled Pedro Mendes who ran rampant the first derby game at Celtic Park and seemed to be on the winning end of every tackle and ball in the air. I predict those two get the start again with Hartley coming on as a second half sub.

One midfielder who is likely not to feature for Celtic is Catalonian Marc Crosas. The Barca Bhoy just can’t seem to shrug the injury bug, picking up another injury last weekend in the cup tie against Queen’s Park. While Crosas is expected to miss this weekend’s derby, the injury is not as bad as originally thought. Neil Lennon told Celtic TV “He got a sore one on the side of the fibula, but it has started to settle down. He should be okay. At the minute, we don’t think it needs an X-ray, but it is very sore.” So hopefully Crosas will not miss long term playing time. Some of the more creative conspiracy theorists think Crosas has been kept out of games to keep Barca from taking back the youngster in two years time when they have the option to do so. Could Gordon Strachan be that clever?

Speaking of midfielders (they seem to be reproducing!), Shaun Maloney has recently told the press about team talks Celtic have had after only winning 3 of their last 7 matches. Apparently since Maloney has had the injury bug also, he has taken up a part time job as a motivational speaker. The wee winger said, “There are always going to be times in the season when there are lulls. Everyone does worry about it and the coaches and the players need to do something about it. We have spoken about it. We now have a big game this weekend and obviously depending on the result things could be a lot happier. Hopefully that will be a turning point. We’ll look back at this game and pinpoint the reasons for the poor performance and make sure against Rangers it doesn’t happen again. It simply can’t happen.”

Finally, after squeaking by Queen’s Park last weekend, Celtic have drawn the winner of the replay between Motherwell and St. Mirren away for the quarter finals of the Scottish Cup.

More of my thoughts Friday about the big game, but I have another derby to attend tonight. This of course is the Southwest Ohio Derby between the University of Dayton and the hated Xavier University. GO UD!

TAL!