Sandman
Well-known member
Continued from part 1.
Really, professor obvious?
Aye...
FORREST - 5/10
Our out-ball. Should have performed the Euro-role of the great Samaras. Did not. Played in flashes, much as like during his leisure time (Ladies...). When he did find joy - maybe could have won an early penalty? - he flopped his lines; awful final ball on a number of occassions after good wing-play. Jamesy was indicitive of the team's night; off-key.
SINCY - 7.5/10
Well, let's hope he was being saved for Sunday. Definitely our most lively and dangerous player. Some rabble-rousing play in the first-half and looking Tim most likely to do them damage at any moment in possession.
Then... offski mid second-half. Eh, Brendan? Even the Valencia right-back, Piccini could be seen mouthing the Scottish he'd learned last summer in anticipation of the failed move to celtic; 'Whit?' he gasped as Sonic shrunk from view.
BURKE - 5/10
He might be learning to pay lone striker effectively against SPL cannon-fodder but that's with us pressuring and them playing deep. A different story up against a quality side pushing onto us and wrapping him up tightly despite his perpetual roaming. No idea how to play that role when we are on the back-foot for a change.
Offered no freedom and unable to manufacture any. Needed a strike partner and perhaps best advised to hold his ground more and offer them a physical object to cope with. Garay - who sounds like a slow-reading shoplifter from Birmingham - had his number at every turn or run into channels. Fruitless endeavour all night.
SUBS -
TIMO - 6/10
His Dad's president of a library so he's clever. Dropping the climax of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone
- right at the bit as well when Voldemort starts giving speccy some big sticks - Timo took his wizarding excitement
from the bench onto the park and helped liven up our chances of a comeback. however, even he was afflicted by some kind of collective spell inducing hapless touches at the vital moments. Gave us hope, then yanked back the rope, just like...
FRENCH EDDY - 6/10
Introduced too late and arrived with an impact. Slaloming like Tiger Wood's ex-skier burd he almost - allllmost - set up one and hinted at general mayhem if we could feed him enough. We didn't, as our tired midfield strived to maintain momentum.
BR - 6/10
Looked like he had it right, then didn't make necessary alterations to pattern or formation that could get us into the game. Worryingly, never recognised Burke's lonesome furrow up front or asked the bhoys to get more direct and play beyond their midfield lines.
Even with Timo and Eddy thrown on - mystifyingly subbing Sincy - he still asked us to play in front of them with only one man up front down the middle. We never had their defenders turning all night, not once.
There's nothing wrong with playing a big fella and looking for a knock-down to a strike partner ocassionally, Brendan.
But he's still the boss and still heading for a triple rebel treble and the TEN, so strike Europe off for the season,
and more power to him.
OVERALL - 5/10
Up against a team who sound really cool in English but will get you ridiculed at school for having a speech defect when you attempt the definitive Spanish pronunciation, our players at first showed no signs of linguistic perplexity; Maybe because they're too thick - footballers y'know... - or more likely because they're HIIGHLY FOCUSSED PROFFESIONAL ATHLETES, Sandman, jee-sus...
Anyway, they continue to astound when they click together. However, not tonight. The performance required was of Leipzig standard, which we opened with, but which soon faded to Livingston quality.
Our tempo dropped as Valencia adjusted to a more aggressive poise after the first fifteen minutes and pressed us relentlessly. They seemed to take the opening flurry on the chin then strode into the fight - that upset our players who were settling into their SPL comfortably-dominant frame of mind. Suddenly the doors were shut and the bouncers were pushing us about.
We found no answer. No quick movement and passing around them, no getting behind them down the wings, no direct balls into the centre-forward with runners looking for scraps. We continued to play the game where they wanted us, forcing us back deeper in possession, setting traps to catch our mistakes, take the ball and kill us on the counter. They executed that very well, we did nothing but pet our lips and moan. We lacked application and sharpness of thought and movement. Our basic passing game was off-key.
Less harshly, more metaphysically, we certainly did not get the break of the ball, nor the indulgence of a fussy and irritating referee who called the game with all the charisma of an einsatzgruppen SS kommander organising an 'aktion'; one Romanian that must mourn Ceaușescu.
Celtic By Numbers will have the facts I'll be interested to validate my opinions on - that one sure sign of a poor Celtic performance, in europe especially, is when our centre-backs have most touches/possession.
Far too many touches of the ball tonight for Dedryck and Jozo just signals, for me, an insipid overall display, marked by low tempo and few forward thrusts. We need our creatives on the ball most often, building play, not
our stoppers.
However, this glamour freebie was always one (and two, considering the second-leg) I wanted out the way with no deepening injury crisis. So far, so meh.
Now let the Killie killing kommence. See what I did there, fans of grammatically incorrect alliteration?
Sandman done.
Really, professor obvious?
Aye...
FORREST - 5/10
Our out-ball. Should have performed the Euro-role of the great Samaras. Did not. Played in flashes, much as like during his leisure time (Ladies...). When he did find joy - maybe could have won an early penalty? - he flopped his lines; awful final ball on a number of occassions after good wing-play. Jamesy was indicitive of the team's night; off-key.
SINCY - 7.5/10
Well, let's hope he was being saved for Sunday. Definitely our most lively and dangerous player. Some rabble-rousing play in the first-half and looking Tim most likely to do them damage at any moment in possession.
Then... offski mid second-half. Eh, Brendan? Even the Valencia right-back, Piccini could be seen mouthing the Scottish he'd learned last summer in anticipation of the failed move to celtic; 'Whit?' he gasped as Sonic shrunk from view.
BURKE - 5/10
He might be learning to pay lone striker effectively against SPL cannon-fodder but that's with us pressuring and them playing deep. A different story up against a quality side pushing onto us and wrapping him up tightly despite his perpetual roaming. No idea how to play that role when we are on the back-foot for a change.
Offered no freedom and unable to manufacture any. Needed a strike partner and perhaps best advised to hold his ground more and offer them a physical object to cope with. Garay - who sounds like a slow-reading shoplifter from Birmingham - had his number at every turn or run into channels. Fruitless endeavour all night.
SUBS -
TIMO - 6/10
His Dad's president of a library so he's clever. Dropping the climax of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone
- right at the bit as well when Voldemort starts giving speccy some big sticks - Timo took his wizarding excitement
from the bench onto the park and helped liven up our chances of a comeback. however, even he was afflicted by some kind of collective spell inducing hapless touches at the vital moments. Gave us hope, then yanked back the rope, just like...
FRENCH EDDY - 6/10
Introduced too late and arrived with an impact. Slaloming like Tiger Wood's ex-skier burd he almost - allllmost - set up one and hinted at general mayhem if we could feed him enough. We didn't, as our tired midfield strived to maintain momentum.
BR - 6/10
Looked like he had it right, then didn't make necessary alterations to pattern or formation that could get us into the game. Worryingly, never recognised Burke's lonesome furrow up front or asked the bhoys to get more direct and play beyond their midfield lines.
Even with Timo and Eddy thrown on - mystifyingly subbing Sincy - he still asked us to play in front of them with only one man up front down the middle. We never had their defenders turning all night, not once.
There's nothing wrong with playing a big fella and looking for a knock-down to a strike partner ocassionally, Brendan.
But he's still the boss and still heading for a triple rebel treble and the TEN, so strike Europe off for the season,
and more power to him.
OVERALL - 5/10
Up against a team who sound really cool in English but will get you ridiculed at school for having a speech defect when you attempt the definitive Spanish pronunciation, our players at first showed no signs of linguistic perplexity; Maybe because they're too thick - footballers y'know... - or more likely because they're HIIGHLY FOCUSSED PROFFESIONAL ATHLETES, Sandman, jee-sus...
Anyway, they continue to astound when they click together. However, not tonight. The performance required was of Leipzig standard, which we opened with, but which soon faded to Livingston quality.
Our tempo dropped as Valencia adjusted to a more aggressive poise after the first fifteen minutes and pressed us relentlessly. They seemed to take the opening flurry on the chin then strode into the fight - that upset our players who were settling into their SPL comfortably-dominant frame of mind. Suddenly the doors were shut and the bouncers were pushing us about.
We found no answer. No quick movement and passing around them, no getting behind them down the wings, no direct balls into the centre-forward with runners looking for scraps. We continued to play the game where they wanted us, forcing us back deeper in possession, setting traps to catch our mistakes, take the ball and kill us on the counter. They executed that very well, we did nothing but pet our lips and moan. We lacked application and sharpness of thought and movement. Our basic passing game was off-key.
Less harshly, more metaphysically, we certainly did not get the break of the ball, nor the indulgence of a fussy and irritating referee who called the game with all the charisma of an einsatzgruppen SS kommander organising an 'aktion'; one Romanian that must mourn Ceaușescu.
Celtic By Numbers will have the facts I'll be interested to validate my opinions on - that one sure sign of a poor Celtic performance, in europe especially, is when our centre-backs have most touches/possession.
Far too many touches of the ball tonight for Dedryck and Jozo just signals, for me, an insipid overall display, marked by low tempo and few forward thrusts. We need our creatives on the ball most often, building play, not
our stoppers.
However, this glamour freebie was always one (and two, considering the second-leg) I wanted out the way with no deepening injury crisis. So far, so meh.
Now let the Killie killing kommence. See what I did there, fans of grammatically incorrect alliteration?
Sandman done.
