Bleh

By: Matt | July 30th, 2009

Well, the honeymoon is over. After a red-hot start to the pre-season, Celtic let in an early goal against Dinamo Moscow and were not able to add one themselves to create a difficult task for the trip to Moscow to move to the next round of qualifying in the Champions League. Celtic started the preseason goal-less, so that clearly means that Celtic will put a five spot against Dinamo in Russia, right? Oh, irrational though, I love thee! Alexander Kokorin got the visitors on the scoreboard seven minutes into the match and it would be the only goal of the match. Kokorin went in unchecked and received a pass from Alexander Kerzhakov, who probably should have been closed down by Andreas Hinkel, and put the ball into the net. After going down, Celtic controlled the ball for most of the first half, but could not put the ball into the net. Marc-Antoine Fortune was inches away from leveling the score but could not get his foot on a great cross. Celtic were not as dominant in the second half, but again almost leveled the match when Scott McDonald headed the ball past the Dinamo keeper but a Russian defender cleared the ball off the line. It would be the closest Celtic would get to scoring in the match and now Celtic face a tough task to move on in the Champions League. My thoughts and a Simpson’s video about soccer (since there were no highlights for Celtic) after the jump.

-Both fullbacks were honking today. Andreas Hinkel should have closed down Kerzhakov so he could not cross the ball. The Channel 67 commentators were even commenting on how poor Lee Naylor was yesterday. The first ten rows of both the Jock Stein and Lisbon Lions Stands were in danger of their lives again due to Naylor’s cross. Danny Fox got a run out, but as a left winger? Uhh….why? Fox and Paul Caddis should be the starting in Moscow. What do we have to lose? They certainly couldn’t be worse than the starting pair yesterday.
-While they didn’t have their worse days in a Celtic uniform, Glen Loovens and Gary Caldwell seemed unsteady in the back. While the cross never should have been there, Caldwell should have had the goal scorer marked. Dinamo did not have many other chances, they had some breaks but those were often stopped in the midfield by Landry N’Guemo and Massimo Donati (more on them later). The most disturbing thing about Loovens and Heid was the fact that they seemed baffled by every bounce the ball made on the Parkhead pitch. How do you not know your home pitch?
-While it was a disappointing day, there were some positives yesterday. Landry N’Guemo had another great game, holding the ball, back tracking on counter attacks and winning great tackles, and playing some great passes. He should be a force when it comes to SPL time. Shaun Maloney and Aiden McGeady did well running down the wings and beating defenders. Both provided some good crosses that the strikers should have done better with. Hopefully the strikers will get better with more practice.
-Finally, it’s time for our daily Massimo Donati rant box. Donati was not the worst player on the pitch, but I still do not think he should be starting. Donati seemed to have realize in the off-season that a guy of his size might actually have a chance to win a 50-50 challenge or two. He also tracked back a few times and stopped some counters. His passing still leaves a lot to be desired and hopefully Scott Brown is healthy next week.