Of Bhoys and Men - Gordon’s Striking Combination?

By: Cham | January 21st, 2007

Goalkeepers - their present and their future - is a big story at Parkhead during this January transfer window. The close of December and the opening of January were filled with talk of Artur Boruc and his loyalty to his Bhoys, as clubs in London and Manchester were announcing varied interest. In the same breath, Gordon Strachan has procured Mark Brown, the 24 year old talent from Inverness, as a back up and understudy to King Artur. This all coming on the heels of Scotland’s own David Marshall and his loan to Norwich City.

But a fantastic column in The Times today has highlighted the ongoing saga of Gordon Strachan and his striker selections. Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink in his last three matches has scored a total of five goals, a hat-trick in Celtic’s most recent defeat of St Mirren. JVH this last match was paired with Scotland’s own Craig Beattie, who assisted in fourth Celtic goal of the day, JVH’s hat-trick third. Beattie played in place of Maciej Zurawski, who scored twice in a SFA Cup crushing of Dumberton January sixth. Against St Mirren, Beattie was subbed out by Kenny Miller, who came on to score Hoops’ final goal of the day, a ricochet of Saints’ keeper Chris Smith that Miller cleaned up for the Celtic fifth of the day.

This column highlights the greater success of the Dutchman of Hesselink, compared to the relative lack of goal-scoring success of Miller and Zurawski. Now, Zurawski got his share of goals when JVH was sidelined to injury. In fact his curriculum vitae at Celtic since 2005 has produced twenty-two goals in forty-seven appearances - almost a goal every other match. Kenny Miller, after being signed in September last year, failed to score in his first nine outings, waiting to net his first against his former employer and Old Firm rival Rangers. Miller has only produced four goals in twenty-four appearences, two against Portugal’s Benfica in the home Champions League win. Beattie, since 2003 has scored eleven goals on forty appearences, but only one this season, again capitalizing as host to St Mirren back in September.

Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink is the obvious scorer of goals right now. Strachan thinks Beattie pairs best with him up top. Magic can score on his own, but with less consistency, and then there’s Kenny Miller. Oh, and then there’s Aiden McGeady, who also scored against Saints in the 5-1 route. Obviously, the talent and potential for attacker goals is there, and with many of the Bhoys now back to form from injuries, Gordon Strachan will have his hands full to find the perfect combination of forwards. All this, preferably before the February 20 match at home with Milan to kick off the Champions League Round of Sixteen, where Celtic will need to produce in order to keep any hopes for more UEFA success.

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