Hoopla!

By: Martyn | July 20th, 2009

Penciled into City fans’ diaries on Wednesday of this week is a match against 1967 European champions Celtic. So ahead of City’s first proper friendly game during what American soccer terminologists like to call the ‘off-season’, here are Celtic blogger Matt’s answers to some questions I posed regarding the class of 2009. Bon Appétit!

p.s. the answers I offered to Matt’s questions regarding all things Bluebird can be found here.

Will Celtic take this game seriously and send out a decent team given that you have the more lucrative Wembley Cup coming up?

“I expect typical first team players to get a run out for this match. They definitely won’t play the full 90 minutes, but new coach Tony Mowbray needs to see what he’s got and how these pieces will fit in his expected new system and formation. I’d definitely expect a competitive team sent out there giving it there all.”

If, as many Cardiff fans expect, Celtic send a youth and reserve team down, who are the players to watch?

“Most Celtic fans are interested to see how youngsters Paul Caddis and Cillian Sheridan progressed on their year away on loan. For me, Caddis is a great player already, with tons of potential, that former coach Gordon Strachan had no idea what to do with, so he sent him on loan. Celtic have long been plagued by problems at LB, although Lee Naylor had a great game in our first friendly. If Celtic do send a young team to Cardiff, most will be looking at Milan Misun’s performance, as he’s expected to be the left back of the future. Finally, new signing Marc-Antoine Fortune is looking to get his teeth wet with Celtic after struggling in his first match.”

What do Hoops fans make of ex-City CB Glenn Loovens?

“Most Celtic supporters are big fans of Loovens actually. Or rather they are not big fans of current starting Center Back and team Captain Stephen McManus. McManus has been the butt of much criticism by the Celtic support and when he went down with a knee injury last year, Loovens filled in wonderfully, making most think that he should replace McManus in the starting XI. Loovens will have his chance to do that, as McManus is likely to miss the first part of the season with the knee injury. I caution most Celtic fans in getting their hopes up with Loovens though, as he, like McManus, is a young Center Back. It seems CB’s are like wine, growing better with age. Hopefully, the Celtic support won’t get on Loovens too much when he makes the inevitable young Center Back mistake.”

Do you think Tony Mowbray will radically alter the style’s play from the off?

“Definitely. Under Strachan, Celtic seemed to wait for the counter attack and value possession over attacks with his 4-4-2 that sometimes went to a 4-5-1. Mowbray was known for his attacking prowess at Hibs and West Brom and it is expected that he’ll do the same here. This off-season he’s seemingly going after the pieces necessary for his 4-3-3, so every indication is that Celtic will be attacking this year.”

If the football got prettier, the mythical *Celtic way*, would the fans pardon another Artmedia Bratislava disaster?

“Most fans would probably says yes right now, but if something like that were to happen again, there would be loud murmurs about the state of the Celtic defense. Lee Naylor and Stephen McManus are not already Celtic fans favorite players, so a loss like that would increase the shouts for them to be punted. I think Celtic fans would rather see Celtic go out in a blaze of glory like that, rather than the 0-0 draws with Aalborg we saw in the Champions League this past year.”

Likewise, if results are a bit iffy at the start, will the fans still dislike him several years later? Let’s be honest, even if Strachan had won the Champions League, the naysayers would still have lingered!

“Strachan was facing an uphill battle from the word go. He was hired immediately after one of the most beloved coaches in Celtic history not named Jock Stein had resigned. He had a style of play that most Celtic supporters didn’t consider to be the “Celtic Way.” He seemed stubborn with his tactics even when it seemed like the rest of the SPL figured out how to deal with his tactics. He was stubborn and short with the media. Celtic fans were often harsh on Strachan, often unfairly, but Strachan didn’t do anything to help the relationship. He was a good manager, earning Celtic lots of silverware and I’d put him behind Jock Stein and Martin O’Neill in terms of Celtic history. That’s some pretty elite company. Relations between Strachan and the support seemed strained at the end, but I think time will heal that and he’ll take his place in Celtic history.

With that being said, Celtic supporters will expect results, so despite Tony Mowbray being a “Celtic Man”, if the team struggles in the early days of the season, he will hear it as well. There won’t be the initial skepticism, but I think any struggles will be questioned fairly by the Celtic support.”

Were the likes of Hartley and Venegoor of Hesselink really surplus to requirements? Is it time to let Artur Boruc prop up a bar in another city? Similarly, with Nakamura gone, will the side rely too heavily on McGeady for creativity?

“With the likes of Hartley and Vennegoor of Hesselink, they seemed to not fit Mowbray’s style of play and seemed very much to be Gordon Strachan type players. While Hartley is Celtic daft, he is not exactly a spring chicken any more. His speed has been down lately, and he is very much a Strachan style player, as a holding defensive midfielder. Big Jan faced a lot of injuries last year and just was not worth what his club option if Celtic would have picked him up, would have payed him. Both were great servants to the club in their time here and will be missed, but I think it was time for them to leave.

Boruc has been a hot topic so far in the off season. Celtic brought in former Dundee United and Boruc’s Polish teammate Lukasz Zaluska as a back up for Boruc, a huge step up over current back up Mark Brown. Pictures of Boruc also seemed to show him overweight coming into camp. Yet, Boruc made some great saves in Celtic’s first preseason game and when on his game can be one of the best keepers in the world. It seems that Celtic are looking to give Boruc a chance to right himself, as his once high potential transfer fee has halved itself after last season.

Celtic have some young wingers that they are hoping can fill in for Shunsuke Nakamura and are in the market for a potential replacement as well. Naka’s countryman, Koki Mizuno, got a few games when Naka was hurt last year and showed some flair in his time playing. Paddy McCourt spent last year in the reserves facing a lot of injuries and struggling to get match fit. However, he scored some wonderful goals in the reserves and many wonder if he can stay healthy enough to do so in the first team. Hopefully they can help McGeady. There’s also Shaun Maloney, who’s good for a piece of magic every know and again.”

Minimum requirements from the campaign?

“Winning the league back should be the minimum requirements for this campaign. A domestic cup would be nice as well, but the league should be the focus. As far as Europe is concerned, not winning the league last year means Celtic has two tough qualifiers to the CL group stages, including a possible match up with the likes of Arsenal, Lyon, and others in the final round. Making it to the group stages would be a good result this year, which may seem like a step back for Celtic in Europe, but looking at the competition it would take to get there, it would not be.”