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| Sunday Papers; 23/11/08 | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Nov 22 2008, 10:29 PM (109 Views) | |
| Jinty | Nov 22 2008, 10:29 PM Post #1 |
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Sunday Herald Boruc again the talking point ST MIRREN 1 - 3 CELTIC Stewart Fisher at Love Street ANOTHER SPL match between Celtic and St Mirren, another crucial intervention by a match official. There was nothing here as flagrant as the two controversial Eddie Smith decisions leading to two different deciders in two different games in this fixture in the past 12 months, but when Willie Collum decided Artur Boruc's high, mistimed challenge on the onrushing Craig Dargo was only worthy of a yellow card, Gus MacPherson was still entitled to view it as another big one which had got away. The game was poised at 0-0 at that point, but by the end the big Pole's teammates had done their best to demolish the importance of the incident. Goals from the returning Georgios Samaras, Shunsuke Nakamura and Cillian Sheridan gave Celtic a deserved 11th SPL win in a row, which equals the club's best-ever league run under Gordon Strachan, and is hardly the worst of form to take to Aalborg on Tuesday night. "I would like to think that it is championship form," said striker Scott McDonald. Strachan is apparently keen to prevent his players getting into scraps, but they found themselves in one for an hour yesterday. The morning papers had revealed the club were to review guidelines on players' social habits after Aiden McGeady was attacked in a Glasgow nightclub on Tuesday, and the facial injuries he sustained in that incident were severe enough to prevent him making the squad here. Samaras, meanwhile, started in place of Sheridan. St Mirren went into the game with a chance to sign off their time at Love Street with memorable scalps of both halves of the Old Firm, although the visiting fans also had reason to remember this place fondly. At kick-off time, a series of strategically placed banners commemorated the Albert Kidd-inspired last-day title win in 1986, and you had to go back to the 1989-90 season for St Mirren's last victory over Celtic in any competition at any venue. With St Mirren's top scorer Billy Mehmet surprisingly dropped to the bench, Craig Dargo returned to the front line, and there was a place for Stephen McGinn - the nephew of former Celtic chairman Jack - who has a knack of scoring against both halves of the Old Firm. Yet it was somehow inevitable that it should be another man returning to first-team action, Boruc, who should become centre of attention. Not all of the headlines Boruc generates are his own fault, such as when he was pictured out enjoying himself a bit too much for some people's liking on a couple of days off this week, but within 16 minutes of his return after a knee operation he was plunged back into the thick of things. Garry Brady's chipped pass sent Dargo scampering away behind the defence just to the right of centre, and suddenly Boruc had a dilemma. His decision to come rushing out for the ball underestimated the backspin, and all he succeeded in doing was sending Dargo crumpling to the ground. The Love Street stands bayed for a red card, and the Polish goalkeeper can count himself fortunate indeed that Collum interpreted it as a legitimate attempt to go for the ball, and the two covering defenders as enough mitigation to administer only a yellow, two judgements which were borderline at best. Whether Boruc deserved to stay on or not, the incident, coupled with a few sclaffed clearances and a Franco Miranda corner which was allowed to hit the angle of his post and bar, meant this wasn't a good day at the office for the goalkeeper. St Mirren may have looked sporadically capable of troubling the visitors but in truth Celtic created enough chances in the first half alone to have this game won comfortably. As early as the seventh minute, Mark Howard turned away a McDonald shot. Andreas Hinkel rampaged forward to sting Howard's palms shortly afterwards, Scott Brown lobbed over, then Glenn Loovens could only head over from close range. St Mirren had their best spell of the match just after half time, but two goals in two minutes just after the hour took the game away from them. Hinkel crossed to the unmarked Samaras, who cushioned beyond Howard from close range. Two minutes later, the Greek striker played in Nakamura, who fired nonchalantly into Howard's bottom corner. With the game won, Sheridan was brought on and it didn't take long for him to register his fourth of the season. Nakamura's shot could easily have resulted in a handball against Jack Ross, but instead McDonald took advantage of the rebound and stabbed the ball across goal for Sheridan to tap in. Those St Mirren fans who chose to remain were rewarded for their patience. Miranda hung a cross to the far post, and another substitute, Jim Hamilton, nudged the ball past Boruc. |
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| Jinty | Nov 22 2008, 11:25 PM Post #2 |
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The Observer Boruc a lucky man as Celtic stay four points clear Nial Briggs Second-half goals from Georgios Samaras, Shunsuke Nakamura and substitute Cillian Sheridan gave Celtic a 3-1 victory over St Mirren at Love Street. Gordon Strachan's side finished comfortable winners, but the game turned on the first-half incident in which Hoops keeper Artur Boruc was only shown a yellow card by referee Willie Collum for a late tackle on Craig Dargo. Samaras broke the deadlock on 66 minutes and Nakamura doubled the lead two minutes later. Sheridan came on for Samaras in the 76th minute and three minutes later the gangly Irishman tapped into an empty net after being set up by Scott McDonald. Two minutes from the end Jim Hamilton headed past Boruc from Franco Miranda's cross for a Saints consolation. Hearts rallied from a goal down to beat Falkirk 2-1 at Tynecastle. Steve Lovell beat goalkeeper Janos Balogh to a Burton O'Brien through ball to put John Hughes' team ahead on 16 minutes. The lead lasted two minutes when last weeks match-winner, Bruno Aguiar, curled a free kick over the wall and into the top right corner. The hosts clinched victory courtesy of a superb individual goal by Andy Driver. The winger, ran at the defence before rounding the goalkeeper to score, but Michael Higdon missed a chance in the last minute to equalise. An injury-time own goal from defender Brian Easton denied 10-man Hamilton a first win in 10 games at Tannadice. Richard Offiong's ninth-minute goal looked to have given Accies a rare victory but Dundee United finally got the equaliser they sought. Accies' Simon Mensing was dismissed with eight minutes remaining after an off-the-ball altercation. The visitors paid the price for a lack of numbers in defence as Craig Conway's corner caused confusion and Easton appeared to get the last touch on Darren Dods' effort in a crowded goalmouth to steal a 1-1 draw. Mehdi Taouil missed an 89th-minute penalty as Kilmarnock lost 2-1 at home to Inverness. Dougie Imrie put Inverness ahead inside 15 minutes and Garry Wood doubled the visitors' advantage just before the interval. Home substitute Willie Gibson had thrown Jim Jefferies' team a lifeline with his strike six minutes from time, but Taouil's miss cost his side a point. Steven Fletcher's spectacular 30-yard strike was the highlight of an impressive Hibernian display as they emphatically beat Motherwell 4-1. John Rankin gave Hibs an early lead at Fir Park and they quickly recovered from losing the lead to Bob Malcolm's superb free-kick as Dean Shiels and Fletcher struck early in the second half. Derek Riordan added the fourth goal late in the match. |
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| Jinty | Nov 22 2008, 11:27 PM Post #3 |
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Sunday Telegraph Artur Boruc tackle spices Celtic win St Mirren (0) 1 Celtic (0) 3 By Roddy Forsyth at Love Street Blend St Mirren and Celtic, stir in a highly contentious refereeing decision and you have a dish that will simmer for days. That has been the recipe whenever these teams have met this year and Saturday's match was no exception. In Paisley in February it was Eddie Smith who became the target of intense criticism when he awarded Celtic a late free-kick for an innocuous challenge by Gary Mason on Shunsuke Nakamura, a decision that gave the Japanese international the opportunity to score another of his spectacular, dead-ball strikes for the only goal of the game. That victory sustained Celtic's title hopes and Smith prompted further debate when he was in charge of the game between the sides at Celtic Park on the opening day of the season and found himself embroiled in another feud over penalty kicks awarded and denied. This time the flashpoint arrived after quarter of an hour. Garry Brady pitched a clever lob into space on the left of the Celtic back line, perfectly weighted for Craig Dargo to take in his stride, with only Artur Boruc between him and the goal. Boruc bolted from his box to intercept, sending Dargo spinning to the ground with a straight-leg tackle that would have ensured any outfield player a straight red card. William Collum, whom some within the Scottish Football Association consider a wunderkind among whistlers, reached for his pocket and to the outrage of the home support produced the yellow. From Franco Miranda's free-kick, Boruc touched Hugh Murray's header on to the post, but the flag had gone up for offside another wrong call. Miranda had already planted an inswinging corner kick off the junction of the far post and crossbar, so St Mirren might have guessed it would not be a productive afternoon for them. They continued to mix it impressively with the champions, only to be sucker-punched at the peak of their second-half aggression. Giorgios Samaras inflicted the first blow with a well controlled strike after being set up by Andreas Hinkel, then turned provider for Nakamura to drill home Celtic's second within two minutes. With a view to preserving Samaras for Tuesday's Champions League date with Aalborg in Denmark, Gordon Strachan replaced the Greek with Cillian Sheridan, who added to his burgeoning reputation by netting Celtic's third with 10 minutes remaining. Jim Hamilton at least got Saints on the scoresheet with a header from Miranda's excellent cross in the dying seconds. Celtic's merited win guaranteed that they would stay four points ahead of Rangers, but the result was overshadowed by the Boruc flashpoint. Strachan tried to shift culpability from his goalkeeper when he said: "I knew the referee was a good referee. The ball was going away from goal with two players behind it and I'm sure that he wasn't the last man, so I think a yellow card was the correct decision." Gus McPherson, the St Mirren manager, got to the heart said: "If an outfield player made a challenge in that manner we'd all expect a red card. We're not complaining about goalscoring opportunities, only the challenge itself. If a centre back made a challenge as crude as that, there could be only one outcome." |
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| Jinty | Nov 23 2008, 12:15 AM Post #4 |
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The Scotsman St Mirren 1 Celtic 3: Celtic pole-axe Saints to make it 11 in a row By Andrew Smith at Love Street CELTIC have never had it better domestically under Gordon Strachan. Yesterday's two-minute, two-goal burst midway through the second period of their last ever Love Street encounter more than simply undid a St Mirren side who were at that point seriously putting the frighteners on them. The sumptuously crafted strikes from Georgios Samaras and Shunsuke Nakamura made certain of an 11th straight league victory that matches the previously longest winning run of Strachan's three-and-a-half years in charge. Across that period, their current points total is also their best with two-fifths of a championship completed and, just for good measure, so is their goal-scoring. All that makes it sound as if they are in tip-top shape for their must-win Champions League encounter in Aalborg. Yet, until they were 2-0 up, there was nothing very convincing about their display and much to recommend in the performance of their opponents. As with Hamilton the previous week, St Mirren were sufficiently enterprising to expose vulnerability in their hosts. And, also in common with the New Douglas Park encounter, Celtic appeared fortunate to be on the right end of a wrong decision. It wouldn't be a Celtic and St Mirren game, or, it seems, any Celtic game these days, without some sort of controversy. At least, though, the one yesterday was real and not some manufactured nonsense about a run of play free-kick or corner. And it all centred around Artur Boruc spectacularly reintroducing himself to first-team scene after a fortnight out following a minor knee operation. All of 15 minutes in, the Pole pole-axed Craig Dargo, having galloped from his goal to gub him, only to then escape with a yellow card from referee Willie Collum. Dargo had knocked the ball past the keeper and, though the forward was 20 yards out on the right-hand edge of the area, would have had an open goal to aim at if not halted by a horrible, high challenge. Yet, even if the over-riding feeling was that Boruc appeared to be treated leniently, none of those involved could agree on the nature of the offence. Strachan insisted the St Mirren striker had touched the ball away from goal and, with Celtic having two defenders rushing in to the area, was not denied a goal-scoring opportunity. The Paisley club's manager Gus MacPherson claimed the brutality of the challenge alone should have warranted a dismissal. Dargo, interestingly, said he had "no complaints" about Boruc only being booked and was more "peeved" by the loss of the two goals after a first quarter of an hour of a second period that the home team had dominated. That is to do a disservice to Celtic's part in St Mirren's downfall. Picked out by Scott McDonald in the 64th minute, Andreas Hinkel led the way for St Mirren's lancing with a lethal run and cross that set up Samaras for a six-yard tap-in. Within two minutes Hinkel's exquisite touch, control and drive were bettered after McDonald released Nakamura at the edge of the six-yard box. The Japanese midfield sold Franco Miranda with one twist before wrapping his boot around the ball and steering a low effort into the far corner. Celtic could then rest easy. Substitute Cillian Sheridan knocked into the empty net 10 minutes from time when the ball in from McDonald broke off a St Mirren player to him, before Jim Hamilton headed a consolation at the close. By then, the visiting players may have been in a Danish dwam. Strachan's initial team selection had hinted at Aalborg being on his mind. His determination to have as many players in his depleted squad match-sharp ahead of Tuesday's Champions League surely explained first starts for Boruc, Samaras and Glenn Loovens since their varying periods of inactivity through injury. All looked like they needed the game time. Loovens linking with Stephen McManus in central defence meant Gary Caldwell was deployed in the midfield sitting role he impressed in at Old Trafford. Pushing the Scotland international up the pitch allowed knock-carrying club and country team-mate Paul Hartley to watch from the bench along with that other notable performer of late, Sheridan. Their vantage point could not have made for pleasant viewing for certain passages of the afternoon. As if determined to give their creaking but corkingly atmospheric old stadium a fitting send-off on the last major occasion it will host, St Mirren endeavoured to take the game to their visitors, and did so admirably, with strikers Dennis Wyness and Dargo well supported by midfield runner Hugh Murray and Jack Ross and Miranda on the flanks. The Argentine full-back, indeed, rattled the junction of post and bar with an inswinging corner deliberately aimed there and Murray had a shot that came close. Yet, for all that, Celtic would not have been flattered by a 2-0 lead at the interval. McDonald and Loovens were both set up for sightings of goal they would expect to convert into counters. But the Australian scuffed an effort wide after he was teed up by Hinkel and Loovens somehow failed to hit the target with a free header from 12 yards. Strachan later admitted that his team "weathered a storm" in the opening 15 minutes of the second period, a spell during which Celtic were forced into some desperate defending in and around their own penalty box. Edginess gripped the visiting supporters, who became increasingly subdued before the quick-fire scoring double that completely destroyed any St Mirren hopes of an upset. So clinical, so classily did Celtic claim the three points in 180 seconds it was difficult to argue when the travelling band of fans found their voice and launched into choruses of "that's why we're champions". Indeed. MAN OF THE MATCH Andreas Hinkel is now showing the form Celtic expected of the German when paying Sevilla £1.9m for him 10 months ago. QUICK FACT Celtic last racked up 11 straight league wins in the corresponding period of the 2006-07 season, that winning sequence ended this weekend two years ago. TALKING POINT It doesn't do to say that even if Artur Boruc had gone off, Celtic would probably have ground out the win. That doesn't change the fact that his challenge was probably cynical enough to merit a red card, though it equally deserves to be said that tackle victim Craig Dargo had no issue with the Celtic keeper staying on the field. MacPherson slates referee over Boruc's studs-up challenge ST MIRREN manager Gus MacPherson accused referee Willie Collum of keeper rather than team bias after Celtic's Artur Boruc was only cautioned for a studs-up challenge on Craig Dargo outside his penalty area in an incident that inevitably dominated the post-match debate following Gordon Strachan side's 3-1 win. There were questions over the severity of the foul and whether the St Mirren forward was denied a scoring opportunity but no clouding of MacPherson's judgment on the offence. "If any outfield player made a challenge in that manner we would all expect a red card," he said. "Just because its a goalkeeper it shouldn't be any different. We are not complaining about a goalscoring opportunity, last man or anything like that, we are taking about the challenge itself. If a centre-back makes a challenge as crude, there would only be one outcome. "The fourth official said Craig Dargo wasn't in control, but he was. It's not a leg breaker because Artur Boruc is only trying to stop Craig Dargo, but he knows what he was doing." Dargo himself didn't exactly echo his manager's sentiments, suggesting the challenge was one of those which some referees would adjudge worthy of a red card and other not. Yet, he did also state that "if he (Boruc] had caught me full on then I would have been in a lot of pain and might have ended up in the Royal Infirmary". Strachan concentrated only on the goalscoring opportunity denying aspect of the dumping of Dargo. "He touched the ball away from goal and we had two defenders back so it wasn't a goalscoring opportunity. I've only ever seen Mark Hughes score from away out where he was." Meanwhile, Scott McDonald hopes Celtic will stay true to their attacking instincts when taking on Aalborg in a Champions League match that will see them seek to end a 17-game winless run in away group games. "What we know best is playing attacking football. The times we have gone away and defended, that has been our Achilles heel." The full article contains 1460 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper. |
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| Jinty | Nov 23 2008, 12:17 AM Post #5 |
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The Scotsman Celtic running out of excuses By ANDREW SMITH AS CELTIC directors chatted with their Aalborg guests following the scoreless draw between the sides in mid-September, the hosts became rather sheepish when the subject turned to playing costs. Inability to break the Danes down in that Champions League opener in Glasgow became all the more uncomfortable when they were forced to admit that the £4m Aalborg revealed as an entire yearly spend was around a 10th of the sum being eaten up by their own football operation. It might be said then that there are £40m worth of reasons why there can be no excuses for Celtic failing in the Energi Nord Arena on Tuesday evening. Gordon Strachan can only but concede the encounter represents "a great possibility" to end the club's winless run on their Champions League group travels now standing at 16 defeats, and one draw, eight of these under the present manager. "For all the propaganda we might come away with here, for all the talking that might be done, it will come down to players playing well on the night or managers and coaches making good decisions at the right time," the Celtic manager says. Every available indicator suggests the visitors to the Energi Nord Arena on Tuesday night should be capable of playing better and making better decisions than their opponents. Victory, coupled with a Manchester United success in Villarreal the same evening, is required for Celtic to take last 16 qualification hopes into a final game shoot-out at home to the Spaniards. Defeat for Strachan's side would see them lose out to Aalborg on third place in the section, and the UEFA Cup place that comes with it. Celtic's away record in Europe's most illustrious tournament is treated as an amorphous mass. In reality, there are only a handful of occasions when they might have been reasonably expected to achieve a result on unfamiliar soil. One of these was their last trip to Denmark, to face Copenhagen two years ago. Strachan is cautious of talking up his team's chances this week because they were downed so dismally in losing 3-1 in the Danish capital. Yet he accepts circumstances are very different from back then. "There was nothing (in terms of an edge]," he says. "I found it very strange. It kind of crept up on us 'we've qualified, how did that happen?' I am not meant to be sitting here in my duffel coat thinking 'no problem'." If Strachan wants to think positively, he could put together a raft of statistics to build a pretty solid case for saying that Aalborg should not be able to present his team with any insurmountable problems. By some margin the smallest club Celtic have faced in the Champions League their stadium will house 10,500 seated spectators Tuesday their status has been diminished by recent experiences. When Celtic faced Copenhagen in December 2006 the Danes were in the midst of successfully defending their championship; Aalborg presently lie eight in the 12-team Danish Superliga with a third of the games played. Indeed, going into yesterday's round of matches they were only three points off second bottom. A 2-1 win over anchor club Esbjerg a week ago not only provided some breathing space, but also marked their first league victory in seven matches, and only a second of the season. Their previous league success came prior to them last meeting Celtic. Then managed by Bruce Rioch, the alarming domestic slump that followed resulted in the Scot being shoved out the door a month ago and his assistant Allan Kuhn taking charge on a caretaker basis. Strachan detects a modified approach under the temporary coach. "We have watched them in the first half of last week's game and I think they have become a bit narrower in midfield, a bit more compact, though I don't know if that was just the team they were playing," he says. "They are a big team and when we are picking our team that has got to be a factor." The reduced circumstances Celtic find themselves in because of injuries to key performers will greatly reduce Strachan's options. He will certainly require to be mindful of Aalborg's capacity for scoring goals against Villarreal, whom they drew 2-2 with at home after performing valiantly before losing 6-3 in a game that marked Rioch's last stand. Yet for all that, there is no way of viewing Celtic's Denmark date in two days' time as other than a once-in-a-decade opportunity for them to emerge victorious in a Champions League away game. Strachan, nevertheless, is wary. "You don't get any mentally weak teams," he says. "They have been tested by having to win their championship, tested by having to play knockout games in the qualifying campaign to get to this stage." There is a mentality in football that if you win you have performed acceptably and if you lose you have performed unacceptably. Such logic does not follow for Strachan, who rightly points out that criticism of Celtic's display in the frustrating blank at home to Aalborg overplayed their inability to craft openings. "We actually played better and made more chances against Aalborg than we did at home to Copenhagen, but we scored a penalty against Copenhagen and people think it was a good result. It was, but not a good performance. The actual performance against Aalborg was better, we made far more chances, but missed a penalty. That is how thin the dividing line is." Strachan spoke to Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson about "one or two things" concerning Aalborg during the pair's post-match drink at Celtic Park earlier this month but expands no further than "he said the pitch was fantastic" and to "watch where I was spilling wine". The identity of the spectators who fill round the pitch will make Tuesday's occasion a peculiar one for Celtic's players. With the club receiving only an 800 allocation, it will represent the smallest Celtic crowd for a competitive match by the club since David Murray banned away fans for the Old Firm game of April 1994. Georgios Samaras, now clocking up game time from the bench following two months out with a knee injury, admits facing so partisan a crowd will be a new experience for him in Celtic colours. "It doesn't matter if we play at Celtic Park or away in the Scottish league, Champions League or even friendlies the support is always there as our 12th man trying to push us on to win," he says. "But as players we can do nothing about the situation and only focus on bring happiness to the supporters even though they are not there." With the striker's 10 goals in 11 matches before succumbing to a knee problem, it seemed inconceivable Celtic wouldn't find themselves pining for him during his lay-off. But Cillian Sheridan's emergence offered surprising compensation for the absence of both Samaras and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, though not to the Greek. "Maybe you are surprised but I am not because I know the lad," he says. "We worked together in pre-season and he has real talent. He has the ability to be a striker for a long time at Celtic. He's a natural and when you see a kid with his ability you are just waiting for when he's going to explode." The wait for the moment when Celtic explode the theory they will never win away in the Champions League group stages has also come. AWAY DAY BLUES CELTIC'S game on Tuesday against Aalborg will be their 18th away match in the Champions League group stages. They are still searching for their first win. 2001-02 (manager: Martin O'Neill) Juventus 2-3 (Petrov, Larsson pen) Porto 0-3 Rosenborg 0-2 2003-04 (O'Neill) Ba Munich 1-2 (Thompson) Anderlecht 0-1 Lyon 2-3 (Hartson, Sutton) 2004-05 (O'Neill) AC Milan 1-3 (Varga) Shakhtar 0-3 Barcelona 1-1 (Hartson) 2006-07 (manager: Gordon Strachan) Manchester United 2-3 (Vennegoor of Hesselink, Nakamura) Benfica 0-3 Copenhagen 1-3 (Jarosik) 2007-08 (Strachan) Shakhtar 0-2 Benfica 0-1 AC Milan 0-1 2008-09 (Strachan) Villarreal 0-1 Manchester United 0-3 How the managers compare O'Neill's away record: P9 W0 D1 L8 Strachan's away record: P8 W0 D0 L8 Total: P17 W0 D1 L16 |
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| Jinty | Nov 23 2008, 12:18 AM Post #6 |
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The Scotsman Caldwell positive that lessons learned can pave way for win By Moira Gordon GARY CALDWELL knows all about waiting. In the past three years he has done his fair share. He had to wait half a season before he could swap Hibs for Celtic. He had to bide his time to earn a settled berth at the heart of Gordon Strachan's defence and he had to show real patience as punters veered from giving him pelters to offering plaudits. Which is why he is not too perturbed by Celtic's ongoing plight away from home in the Champions League. He knows good things come to those who wait. For vast chunks of the past two seasons, he was the target of the supporters' ire, while reporters and pundits struggled to see why Strachan was so full of praise. The European lapses against Benfica did not help engender deep-seated faith, while his manager did him no favours by utilising him out of position at right-back and he struggled to turn opinion in his favour. Until this season. Now, having formed a settled and formidable partnership with captain Stephen McManus, he has produced one accomplished showing after another to become one of Celtic's most consistent performers and silence the critics. The last couple of seasons have been a learning experience in the international arena as well as on regular Champions League duty and Caldwell has been a studious pupil. "We want to test ourselves against the best so we can learn from it and try and get better" says Caldwell. "If you play big games against the best players in the world then I think you will always learn. For example, as a centre half you pick up on the areas they want to take you and where they will try and hurt you. You learn maybe not to go looking for them, when to get tight and when to drop off. "They are decisions you have to make and you have to get them right or you know you will be punished." Still only 26, he is speaking from experience. Naivety in big matches has proved costly on more than one occasion, but this term he has been resolute against the might of Manchester United at club level while the experience of playing against the likes of France, Italy and Argentina on the international stage has bolstered the self-belief. "You have to think about what you are up against and how you are going to handle it. You have to get in a mindset before the game and then go out and try and dominate whoever you are up against." Sometimes that is world superstars, at other times it is a side Celtic know they could and should better as they seek to end their run of Champions League away games without a win. The trip to Aalborg on Tuesday represents their best shot in a while and, allied to the fact only a win will keep them in contention in the group, Caldwell is feeling positive. "Next week we are going to be in a battle and we have to be ready for that. Aalborg's players are a lot more physical and I think they will try and get in about us more." He admits the first group game against Aalborg, a draw at home, was the biggest disappointment of the season so far but rather than wallow, he says there is still a chance to put things right, provided Manchester United beat Villareal and Celtic finally conquer their travel sickness. "This will be our ninth away game in the group stages and the record is not all down to us. We are only accountable for the games we have played in. Next week is a big chance for us and we will be going there to get the three points. "This year I think we have improved. We have shown that we have learned from previous experiences where we were maybe out of the game before it even started. In the Man United game (at Old Trafford] the first two goals were offside, albeit we were up against it but if they don't go in then we are still in the game. I think we can take confidence from that and the Villarreal game and go into this one believing we can win." Having belief and learning from experience are what matters. Caldwell can vouch for that. |
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| Jinty | Nov 23 2008, 12:21 AM Post #7 |
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The Independent Bhoy wonder: Boruc keeps on stealing show Celtic remain four points clear at the top of the Scottish Premier League this morning after winning yesterday lunchtime in controversial circumstances at St Mirren, where their goalkeeper Artur Boruc again took centre stage for all the wrong reasons. The Polish international was splashed all over the front pages of the tabloids earlier this week back in his homeland, where he was enjoying a few days' break on a date with an unidentified woman who was not his estranged wife. What caused greater concern was that he was photographed drinking, smoking cigars and then falling asleep in a cinema. His manager, Gordon Strachan, said his player had broken no rules. Boruc's return to action was, if anything, more eventful than his time off, and he might well have been sent off early on against St Mirren for rushing 10 yards out of his area and blatantly fouling Craig Dargo, who was bearing down on goal with the score at 0-0. However, instead of dismissing Boruc, the referee Willie Collum merely booked the keeper. Celtic went on to win 3-1 with goals from Georgios Samaras, Shunsuke Nakamura and Cillian Sheridan, with Jim Hamilton scoring the late consolation for the hosts. The win briefly took Celtic seven points clear at the top of the SPL table but Rangers then won 2-0 at Ibrox against Aberdeen to close the gap to four points again. Jean-Claude Darcheville and Kris Boyd scored for Rangers. St Mirren's manager, Gus MacPherson, was furious that Boruc had not been sent off for his "crude" challenge on Dargo at a time when a goal for the hosts "and/or a dismissal for Celtic" would in all likelihood have altered the outcome. "We are not complaining about goal-scoring opportunities or it being the last man, we are only talking about the challenge," MacPherson said. "If a centre-back or outfield player makes a challenge as crude as that, I think there would only be one outcome we would all be expecting a red card," he added. "Just because it's a goalkeeper, it shouldn't be any different." Elsewhere in the SPL, Dundee United needed a late equaliser to avoid a shock home defeat to Hamilton. There were away wins for Inverness at Kilmarnock, 2-1, and for Hibernian at Motherwell, 3-1, while Hearts beat Falkirk 2-1. |
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