Lady Luck Kicks One Right in the Baws

By: Matt | August 19th, 2009

Celtic did there best to keep the firepower of Arsenal under control, but William Gallas’ lucky arse and Gary Caldwell’s too long stud put a near impossible task for Celtic. Celtic seemed to be able to keep Cesc Fabregas, Andrei Arshavin and company from getting one past Celtic, but it was still not to be for the Bhoys. While the Gunners held a majority of the possession in the first half, Celtic were able to create some counter opportunities, yet neither squad was able to net a goal in the first 43 minutes. A Cesc Fabregas free kick bounced off William Gallas, who seemed to be trying to avoid the kick, and past a helpless Artur Boruc. In the second half, Arsenal had more room with Celtic trying to push for a goal, but a Arsenal cross bounced off Gary Caldwell’s boot and into the net for Arsenal’s 2nd goal and a near impossible task for Celtic to move on in the Champions League. After starting with a new line-up of Georgios Samaras instead of Marc Antoine Fortune and Scott McDonald, the usual striking pair was inserted in the 2nd half to try and get one back, but it was not to be. Join me after the jump for my thoughts.

-So far, everything Tony Mowbray has done has turned gold with Celtic. However, this will mark the first disagreement and hindsight dispute I will make. From the kickoff, I did not like the move to a 4-5-1, with Samaras alone. It seemed to contain Arsenal, but Celtic needed to do more than contain the Gunners in this fixture. They needed to get a result, which a 0-0 draw would not have been, yet Celtic did not even get that, with Lady Luck sending two low blows our way. Why mess around with something when it was working?
-Gary Caldwell had a howler of a game. The goal was not his fault, as he had to play the ball. However, he was playing terrible long pass after terrible long pass and gave the ball away at will.
-Danny Fox’s weakness is the defending aspect of playing fullback? Could have fooled me! Another week of solid defending, while his final ball still needs work. He seemed to make some great runs with the ball though, so hopefully the final ball improves.
-Andreas Hinkel for 4 million quid? Where do I sign? Hinkel was another player who seemed to be giving the ball away for sport and his defending has never been the best. Might it be time for the Paul Caddis era?
-Aiden McGeady and Shaun Maloney showed that they are EPL quality last night. They were able to dance around the Arsenal defenders and put a lot of balls into the box. One must wonder what would have more targets in the box besides Samaras.

St. Johnstone this weekend, hopefully all the goals that weren’t used on Tuesday are busted out at Celtic Park this weekend. As always, Keep the Faith!