Chief Executive Peter Lawwell likes to talk about "telling the Celtic story", and in his head tonight would have seen the triumphant debut of his expensive new No.7, Robbie Keane. Went a bit wrong, though, didn't it?
Instead Jimmy Calderwood got his first win as Kilmarnock boss, thanks to a goal from another debutant, Chris Maguire, in his first match on loan from Aberdeen. With Falkirk also beating Aberdeen tonight, it was a vital win to keep Killie away from the bottom of the table.
Of course, Henrik Larrson's first match for the Hoops ended in a 2-1 defeat to Hibs, so maybe the omens for the new man are pretty good after all. But one thing is clear - Keane might not have been Tony Mowbray's signing, but making the team work with him in it is his problem. If Celtic don't start chipping away at Rangers' 10 point lead soon, the manager could be on his way out.
As We Love Fitba have said before, plenty of Celtic's longer-standing fans are still pretty pleased with Mowbray, and can see the rebuilding job he is attempting to do. But the best managers rebuild squads while still winning on the park (insert obligatory Alex Ferguson reference).
As it is, the "give him time" punters are being drowned out by the impatient "get tae fuck" merchants.
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In the other big match tonight, St Mirren beat Hearts 1-0 in the CIS League Cup Semi Final, thus ruining Jim Jefferies' return to the Jambos. As St Mirren beat Killie earlier in the competition, this means that Jumbo's been knocked out of the competition by the same club twice in one season - that is bad luck!
Showing posts with label CIS League Cup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CIS League Cup. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Celtic 0 - 1 Hearts
So much to talk about following Celtc's defeat to ha-ha-Hearts in the CIS League Cup last night, but let's ignore the Old Firm angle for a moment - they've had plenty coverage, no? - and think about Hearts for a moment.
In the build-up to the game, manager Csaba Laszlo gave a frankly hilarious press conference in which he expressed his anger at the current situation at the club, beset by problems and lacking a clear structure.
Hardly helping to bring clarity to the situation, owner Vladimir Romanov jetted into Edinburgh ahead of the match, and apparently introduced the club's new sporting director to the players, but not the manager. All nice and straightforward, then.
And so to the game, which Hearts won after Christian Nade - a player who admitted this week to personal problems affecting his game, but didn't elaborate on them - was brought down in the box, and Michael Stewart - who was booed by his own fans in Hearts' last game against Falkirk - converted the penalty. Unsurprisingly, he passed up the opportunity to celebrate with the Jambo support.
Celtic were unlucky last night, but that didn't prevent the 18,000 or so that turned up from venting their fury at Tony Mowbray at the final whistle. Georgie Samaras once again showed that he is far from a lethal finisher, while captain McManus committed probably the most cynical and reckless tackle you'll see all season. If you haven't already seen it, you really should - it's a shocker.
Is Mowbray's job on the line, just 3 months into the season? The board won't pull the trigger yet, but the faithful are getting madder and madder and things might come to a head if the results don't improve soon.
Scottish football's pretty exciting at the moment. Who'd want to leave it?
In the build-up to the game, manager Csaba Laszlo gave a frankly hilarious press conference in which he expressed his anger at the current situation at the club, beset by problems and lacking a clear structure.
Hardly helping to bring clarity to the situation, owner Vladimir Romanov jetted into Edinburgh ahead of the match, and apparently introduced the club's new sporting director to the players, but not the manager. All nice and straightforward, then.
And so to the game, which Hearts won after Christian Nade - a player who admitted this week to personal problems affecting his game, but didn't elaborate on them - was brought down in the box, and Michael Stewart - who was booed by his own fans in Hearts' last game against Falkirk - converted the penalty. Unsurprisingly, he passed up the opportunity to celebrate with the Jambo support.
Celtic were unlucky last night, but that didn't prevent the 18,000 or so that turned up from venting their fury at Tony Mowbray at the final whistle. Georgie Samaras once again showed that he is far from a lethal finisher, while captain McManus committed probably the most cynical and reckless tackle you'll see all season. If you haven't already seen it, you really should - it's a shocker.
Is Mowbray's job on the line, just 3 months into the season? The board won't pull the trigger yet, but the faithful are getting madder and madder and things might come to a head if the results don't improve soon.
Scottish football's pretty exciting at the moment. Who'd want to leave it?
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Goalfest in League Cup leaves Hibs with a headache
An exciting night in Scottish football, with the 2nd round of the CIS League Cup leading to plenty of goals. It seems that the players are still getting used to regular football, so mid-week fixtures are a treat rather than a chore. Well, a treat for most anyhow.
Most of the fixtures went according to the book, with the bigger club dominating - Dundee Utd beat Cowdenbeath 5-1, Falkirk beat Raith 3-1, and St Mirren put 7 (SEVEN) past Dumbarton. But Hibs hosted Morton and crashed out.
The home team was 2 nil down, pulled back to level terms, went ahead in extra time, and then conceded twice more. Not good, and you can't help but wonder if this might define Hibs' season.
The Edinburgh club had a terrible pre-season, but seemed to be knitting it together slowly this season. But they remain a fragile team, seemingly quick to lose confidence and with a shaky defence. They were missing captain Rob Jones at the back tonight, but it they really should have closed out this match in normal time, let alone concede the tie in extra time.
Motherwell await on Saturday, and it should be a fascinating game. It's still August, but both Hibs and Motherwell could do with a result.
As for the League Cup, let's hope there's as many goals in the second half of the draw on Wednesday night.
Most of the fixtures went according to the book, with the bigger club dominating - Dundee Utd beat Cowdenbeath 5-1, Falkirk beat Raith 3-1, and St Mirren put 7 (SEVEN) past Dumbarton. But Hibs hosted Morton and crashed out.
The home team was 2 nil down, pulled back to level terms, went ahead in extra time, and then conceded twice more. Not good, and you can't help but wonder if this might define Hibs' season.
The Edinburgh club had a terrible pre-season, but seemed to be knitting it together slowly this season. But they remain a fragile team, seemingly quick to lose confidence and with a shaky defence. They were missing captain Rob Jones at the back tonight, but it they really should have closed out this match in normal time, let alone concede the tie in extra time.
Motherwell await on Saturday, and it should be a fascinating game. It's still August, but both Hibs and Motherwell could do with a result.
As for the League Cup, let's hope there's as many goals in the second half of the draw on Wednesday night.
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