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| Sunday Papers; 14/12/08 | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Dec 13 2008, 11:05 PM (61 Views) | |
| Jinty | Dec 13 2008, 11:05 PM Post #1 |
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Sunday Herald Driver delivers but McManus makes amends CELTIC 1 - 1 HEARTS Alan Campbell at Celtic Park AN AFTERNOON which had started perfectly for Celtic with the unveiling of Jimmy Johnstone's statue and Rangers dropping points at Tannadice ended in anti-climax. Despite a second-half revival, Gordon Strachan's side were relieved to escape from Hearts' clutches with their four-point advantage at the top of the league still intact. Instead it was Csaba Laszlo's side who left Glasgow disappointed not to have chalked up a sixth win in a row. Easily the better side for the first hour, they missed chances to put the game beyond Celtic's reach. Strachan is fond of using statistics to deflect criticism of an indifferent result, but even he didn't bother this time. It took his side 73 minutes to trouble Janos Balogh in the Hearts goal, and until McManus wiped out Andy Driver's first-half goal it looked like a second home defeat of the season. "They did well to drag themselves back from such a poor performance to give the crowd and themselves hope in the second half," said Strachan of his players. "We must be happy with a point today, given it was a nothing first 45 minutes." Worryingly for Celtic, Shaun Maloney pulled a hamstring in the first half and looks likely to miss the Old Firm game on December 27. He could be out for six to eight weeks. Strachan was unable to put a handle on his side's dreadful opening 45 minutes. "I'm not putting it down to the Champions League, though it might be a thought," he admitted. "We'll have to analyse it." As usual when the Old Firm drop points, little credit is given to the side which has thwarted them, but Paul Hartley said: "They came here with a good game plan and it work ed. We found it hard to break them down. In the second half we pinned them in and got our reward with a goal. We didn't get beaten - that was the main thing." Hearts, and especially Balogh, infuriated the crowd with time-wasting in the second half but as Strachan pointed out, his side had 90 minutes to win all three points. The truth is that Hearts, under Laszlo, have become hard to beat and are especially strong under the high ball and at set pieces. The Hearts manager, never one to give a succinct answer when a torrent of self-consciousness will suffice, said: "If you play at Celtic Park and you get one point you mustn't be unhappy - but I am a bit disappointed. The performance was good and I would like to compliment the players for working so hard in the last few months." His goalscorer is one of the players tipped to leave Tynecastle next month, but Driver said: "That's up to Hearts. I signed a new contract in the summer and I'm happy. I personally don't want to move - I don't think I'll be going anywhere. "Some of the boys felt we defended too deep in the second half and that if we'd pushed up we'd have got all three points. But it shows the spirit we've got at the moment that we turned up at Celtic Park expecting to win." Despite Robbie Neilson being booked after only 53 seconds, the game started in a sedate fashion and only came alive when Hearts went ahead in the 23rd minute. Scott Brown lost possession and was rolled over by Larry Kingston, whose low cross found Driver unmarked at the far post. The scorer later admitted he thought he was offside as he scored easily. Instead of responding, Celtic allowed Hearts to take a firm grip. Maloney was replaced by Samaras, but even with the extra height Celtic were impotent. Driver, whose pace was embarrassing Andreas Hinkel, nearly put Hearts two ahead but Boruc pulled off a fine one-handed save. Bruno Aguiar's set pieces were tormenting the home defence, and when Boruc flapped at a dangerous inswinging corner in the 57th minute the ball fell to Christos Karipidis but his shot crashed into Hinkel's body. The momentum only began to move in Celtic's direction when Hearts' two most creative players, Kingston and Aguiar, were substituted, Even so, it still took till the 79th minute before the equaliser arrived. Shunsuke Nakamura crossed from the right, Samaras headed it back across the goal, and McManus came to his side's rescue. Celtic had three clear chances to win the game - two of them in injury time - but although such sucker punches are their trademark it would have been a travesty had any gone in and denied Hearts the draw which was the least they deserved. |
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| Jinty | Dec 13 2008, 11:06 PM Post #2 |
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Sunday Herald Native skills are behind the big Pole’s blunders Tom Shields sees Scottishness at work in Celtic goalkeeper’s recent gaffe-prone form THERE SEEMS to be some debate about Artur Boruc's recent remarkable variations in form. Have the disruptions in his private life interfered with his ability to concentrate on the pitch? Has the Polish international got bored plying his trade in the Scottish Premier League and cannot maintain his attention span for 90 minutes? Or has he just spent too much time on the bevvy? I suspect the answer is that Artur is going native. The longer he plays up here, the more he turns into a Scottish goalie. His spectacularly inept attempt to stop that long-range effort from John Rankin of Hibs qualifies him for immediate entry into the Scottish goalkeeping hall of infamy. This tradition of an otherwise solid goalkeeper becoming accident-prone goes back to 1873 and our first away match against England. The Scot between the posts that day at the Oval was Robert W Gardner. Gardner had not conceded a goal in an entire season with QP. This quickly went wrong in a 4-2 defeat by England. For the first goal, he attempted to catch a pass from an opposing forward but the ball slipped through his hands. Minutes later, Gardner managed to get hold of the ball from an indirect free-kick. Unfortunately, he tripped over his own feet and fell over the line, scoring for England. One suspects that if, or when, Boruc commits further clangers, it will be in the egregious style of this early Scotland goaltender. Gardner and Boruc both merit the description "character". Legend has it that Gardner puffed at a pipe during quieter moments in the Scottish goalmouth. Boruc, as we know from the tabloids, is fond of a cigar but has yet to light up a Havana on the pitch. The Celtic goalkeeper has a long way to go, blunder-wise, to compete with the Scottish greats such as Fred Martin, Frank Haffey, pictured, and Stewart Kennedy. Martin had signed for Aberdeen as a forward but somehow morphed into a goalie. As a goalkeeper, he was apparently a pretty good inside-forward but still managed to be capped. He goes down in history as the man who conceded 18 goals in the 1950s in three consecutive matches: seven against Uruguay in the World Cup, four against Hungary, and seven to England. We need not re-examine the entrails of Haffey's hapless deeds in the 9-3 defeat at Wembley in 1961, except to say that rarely has a player so eminently failed to make the ball do his bidding. We will be kind to Stewart Kennedy, whose career took him from Stenhousemuir to Forfar via a day at Wembley in 1975 when he spent most of the match clattering off the woodwork as England won 5-1. I think Stewart got concussion the first time his head hit the post. On reflection, Boruc is actually more in the mould of Andy Goram, in that some of his shot-stopping verges on the miraculous. Unlike Andy, however, Artur has not restricted his gaffes largely to off the pitch. |
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| Jinty | Dec 13 2008, 11:07 PM Post #3 |
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Sunday Herald Mad cap Michael Grant weighs up Artur Boruc’s predicament after several high-profile blunders and wonders how he can dispel his recent aura of vulnerability IN THE burbling, stream-of-consciousness river of quotes that is a Csaba Laszlo answer to even the most routine press conference question - don't ask his thoughts on a game unless you've cancelled your engagements for the rest of the day and brought an overnight bag - the Hearts manager actually hit on something ahead of yesterday's 1-1 draw with Celtic. Laszlo has a bit of wild-eyed devilment about him and it was pretty clear he was being tongue-in-cheek about telling his players to take shots from the halfway line at Parkhead. Even so, the fact he said it at all was revealing. The context was clear. He may as well have said: "Artur Boruc ... well, he's a bit dodgy now, eh?" You know you've got problems when the newspapers don't just describe your mistake, they add it to a long list of previous ones. That's where Boruc is these days. That cock-up at Easter Road last weekend took its place among "Seven Boruc Boobs" in the papers and no-one could be confident that it will be his last. The huge reservoir of goodwill Boruc built up with his management, team-mates and supporters isn't about to dry up just yet and it was a certainty that Gordon Strachan would dismiss the notion of dropping his man against Villarreal on the basis of his woeful attempt to stop Hibernian hero John Rankin's dipping but essentially tame shot for the opening goal at Easter Road last weekend. Strachan will stick with Boruc and so he should. He is still a couple of big blunders away from the calls for him to be sacrificed becoming unarguable. The problem for Boruc is that he has lost more than his form this season. Gone, at least for now, is the formidable presence he brought to the Celtic defence. Where once a striker would have faced him expecting his shot to be saved, now he is likely to think it will go in. This may be right or wrong - Boruc is still one of the best goalkeepers in Britain - but in the personal battle of wits between a forward and a goalkeeper, it means that Boruc once had an advantage that he has surrendered. Not being fearful of a goalkeeper means that a striker can be a fraction more composed in the execution of his finish, which increases the likelihood of him scoring. Managers don't tell their players to take shots from the halfway line against Petr Cech or Gigi Buffon and, a matter of months ago, they wouldn't have done so against Boruc. Now the perception is that he is fair game. It takes a goalkeeper months and months, years even, to build up the sort of reputation Boruc had. It hasn't taken long to crumble. What he is enduring is either a period of unimpressive form which now extends to four months, or else the permanent erosion of his talent and status as a result of turbulence in his personal life complemented by a swaggering belief in himself which has taken him towards the dangerous territory of believing that success comes easily to him and to Celtic. Boruc has been handed a league championship winner's medal at the end of every season he has spent in Scotland. That can make a man complacent. If he cares about Celtic and their supporters as much as he claims he will ensure that his professionalism can no longer be questioned. Mistakes are forgivable if a goalkeeper has done everything - in his preparation, his training and his diet - to reduce the risk of them. Can Boruc say he has done that? It's going to be splendid fun in 13 days when Boruc stands at one end of Ibrox and looks across at the only other man in the country who knows exactly what he's going through. One Old Firm derby, two goalkeepers under pressure. Allan McGregor's list of errors is not as extensive as Boruc's so far this season, nor have they been so loudly publicised, but the Rangers goalkeeper isn't the player he was last season either. McGregor is more vulnerable to being dropped because he has shown consistent excellence in only one season compared to Boruc's three. But, like Boruc, he has the mental strength to cope with the spotlight of being an Old Firm goalkeeper. We're not talking Ian Andrews or Lionel Letizi here. Recovering focus and form ought to be easier than the challenges they faced to build their careers in the first place. Goalkeepers have a tendency to over-compensate after big mistakes. They want to make showy saves, or come for crosses they would normally leave, to redeem themselves as prominently as possible. Goalkeeping coaches tell them not to fall into that trap. They say it is far better to put in two or three low-key, effective performances to restore collective confidence. McGregor, a quiet, undemonstrative presence on the field, might manage that. Boruc? Low key at Ibrox a week on Saturday? If he manages that one he can't have lost only his form. His entire identity must be gone. |
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| Jinty | Dec 13 2008, 11:30 PM Post #4 |
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Sunday Times Sluggish Celts slip at home Douglas Alexander at Celtic Park Celtic 1 (McManus 79) Hearts 1 (Driver 23) THE OLD Infirm. After Rangers’ draw at Tannadice continued their trend of struggling away from Ibrox, this was supposedly a chance for Celtic to move six points clear at the top of the Premier League. Yet it soon transpired that the familiar European exit hangover, which normally hits them in the spring, has perhaps arrived early this season. It took them 73 minutes to muster a shot on target and that was one flung in more in hope than expectation by Lee Naylor, a substitute at left-back. Nevertheless, Celtic roused themselves somewhat in the second half, gradually building up to an equaliser from Stephen McManus with 11 minutes left, but the momentum of 12 successive wins before last week’s defeat at Hibs was never recovered. “It was a poor start by us, the first time we have been affected by a Champions League game,” conceded Gordon Strachan. “We were too predictable in the first half. We built ourselves up to average in the second half.” Of course, with the stamina Strachan has instilled in them, Celtic can never be discounted from turning matches around in the closing stages. Yet their attempts to mount the familiar, frenzied siege were seriously hampered by the serial time-wasting tactics of the visitors. Strachan was so incensed by them at one stage that he was halfway down the touchline to retrieve a ball deliberately left lying there before being intercepted and returned to his technical area by Alan Muir, the alarmed fourth official. It seemed then that Muir was assuring Celtic’s manager that plenty of stoppage-time would be added, yet when the board went up there was only an extra three minutes, something which provoked outrage in the stands and Celtic’s dugout. The home manager was even holding out his watch to time substitutions by the end. Did he expect more? “I think we all did,” responded Strachan, “but we had 90 minutes before that to score a goal.” He was right and it would be wrong to focus on the more nefarious aspects of Hearts’ defiance when there was also much to admire in their display. While the home side were often slipshod in their passing and lethargic in their pressing, Hearts arrived, and played, with considerable confidence. Csaba Laszlo, their manager, may be prone to incoherent rambling in press conferences, yet his team play with purpose and make their points succinctly. With a January sale of their better players envisaged, perhaps they are sensibly squirreling away as many as they can for the second half of the season. Blackburn are the latest club to eye Christophe Berra, who again enhanced his growing reputation here, although any bid in January may depend on Paul Ince remaining in charge after yesterday’s hefty defeat at Wigan. Bolton are also watching the centre-back, although their scout here would also have noted the excellent performance of Andrew Driver, who scored Hearts’ goal and generally terrorised Andreas Hinkel with his pace. After John Rankin’s “squiggler” last week, which has already spawned a T-shirt, the goal here was not down to Artur Boruc’s incompetence yet still had a bizarre quality to it. Laryea Kingston’s miscued shot picked Celtic’s offside trap as a skeleton key would a lock and Driver sprang onto it. Boruc loomed before him but the winger was not fazed, staying calm and picking his spot after what seemed a surreal stand-off. “I thought I was offside, so that kind of calmed me down,” he explained afterwards. “I think the keeper slipped, too, which helped.” Driver might have had a second when Gary Caldwell and Hinkel collided pursuing the same high ball on the halfway line but this time Boruc came off best, pulling off a fine left-handed save from the shot the English winger tried to place across him, left to right, into the far corner. Celtic, meanwhile, were creating next to nothing. Robbie Neilson had been booked after just 53 seconds for catching Mark Wilson late but the home side became too obsessed with pressing at this perceived weak point, particularly with Neilson playing with such calm assurance despite his precarious situation. It did not help that they lost Shaun Maloney to a hamstring injury on the half hour. Scans will reveal the full extent of the injury, but Maloney could miss as much as two months and is surely out of the Old Firm game at Ibrox in a fortnight’s time. Georgios Samaras replaced him, yet offered little extra impetus until Celtic started to dominate in the second half. He caught a diagonal pass from Caldwell on his chest and was set to finish until Neilson slid in to deny him. Yet the Greek would eventually be integral to Celtic’s breakthrough moment, nodding Shunsu-ke Nakamura’s cross from the right down accurately for McManus to turn it in. Samaras might even have won it in the final seconds when Nakamura found him in Hearts’ box but, after switching his feet quickly, he swiped his shot high and wide. Despite the time-wasting which finally brought a booking for Janos Balogh, their goalkeeper, it would have been an injustice if Hearts had not emerged with something tangible for their efforts. CELTIC: Boruc 7, Hinkel 5, Caldwell 7, McManus 6, Wilson 6 (Naylor 65min), Nakamura 6, Brown 6, Hartley 6, McGeady 6, McDonald 5, Maloney 5 (Samaras 30min, 6) HEARTS: Balogh 6, Neilson 7, Zaliukas 7, Berra 7, Jonsson 7, Kingston 7 (Obua 60min, 6), Palazuelos 6, Karapidis 6, Driver 8, Aguiar 7 (Cesnauskis 64min), Nade 6 (Mole 90min) 26 |
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| Jinty | Dec 13 2008, 11:35 PM Post #5 |
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The Observer Sluggish Celtic saved by McManus Patrick Glenn at Celtic Park Celtic 1 McManus 79 Hearts 1 Driver 23 On the day Celtic unveiled a statue to Jimmy Johnstone outside the main entrance to the stadium, the present-day team came perilously close to insulting his memory. A performance that was sluggish, uninventive and, until Stephen McManus equalised Andrew Driver's opening goal, utterly bereft of any kind of threat, offered Hearts the opportunity to enjoy what was almost a carefree afternoon. Even the single point was gained only through force of will, the home players at least demonstrating a readiness to work to the point of exhaustion for the second goal that would have brought what had seemed an improbable reward. It would, however, have been hard on Hearts. That goal from Driver may have been touched by good fortune, but it had seemed for most of the time beforehand that such a break would be required to interfere with a match that was notable primarily for its blandness, pedestrianism and lack of urgency. Having seen Rangers drop two points at Dundee United before they kicked off, the Celtic players might have been expected to concentrate on making a high-tempo start to the match, assuring their visitors that they had come to a hard place. Instead, there was a tameness about both sides, even allowing for the booking of Robbie Neilson for a late challenge on Mark Wilson inside the first minute. In the circumstances, Hearts' goal could be regarded as an authentic, not only for its arrival, but for the manner in which it was scored. Laryea Kingston had shown good skill just outside the home penalty area as he moved past defenders and into space, but his scoring attempt was clearly miscued. The ball, however, slewed across the area to the left, where Driver, quite isolated, took possession and exploited his luck with a convincing finish, driving the ball past Artur Boruc from 12 yards. What was less surprising was that Driver, showing more pace and punch than anyone else on the field, should also produce the next threat. This one came from his own power, the winger hurtling down the left and away from challengers before hitting a low, left-foot drive that would have found the far corner but for Boruc diving to push the ball out to the left. With Celtic so cumbersome in their movement and unimaginative and out of touch with their passing, it was no surprise that Hearts should continue to place the emphasis on containment, rather than entertain any potentially dangerous ambition to press forward in search of a second goal. Their five-man midfield had been the more authoritative since the start of the match and there was no reason to make alterations. It was not until the referee, Charlie Richmond, unaccountably failed to order off Kingston after an hour that the Hearts manager, Csaba Laszlo, removed the midfielder. Kingston had actually been warned twice in the first half before finally being cautioned for a foul on Scott Brown. When he followed that two minutes later with a challenge on Aidan McGeady that seemed much more serious, the referee, strangely, took no action. Kingston was replaced by David Obua. Gordon Strachan had been forced to remove the injured Shaun Maloney and send on Georgios Samaras in the 30th minute, but Lee Naylor's arrival in place of Mark Wilson midway through the second half seemed merely to betoken the latter's bad day and the hope that a substitute would improve matters. As it happened, it was the earlier sub, Samaras, who set up the equaliser, rising to Shunsuke Nakamura's cross from the right and heading the ball back across the six-yard line. It fell perfectly for McManus, who had a simple header. |
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| Jinty | Dec 14 2008, 12:14 AM Post #6 |
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The Independent McManus saves 'awful' Celtic from Boruc's ongoing frailty By Nick Harris at Celtic Park Celtic 1 Heart of Midlothian 1 Celtic's manager, Gordon Strachan, said after this fortunate result that he would prefer not to list all the things his side failed to achieve in the first half because it would take too long. "It was a poor half for us," he said. "The worst performance for a long, long time." He said that it was not the first time Celtic had been affected by a Champions League game, they beat Villarreal 2-0 in midweek, but did not use that as an excuse. "We were poor, I'll leave it at that," he added. He was right. In the first 45 minutes his team's passing was woeful and creativity absent. Hearts thoroughly deserved their 1-0 lead at half-time, achieved when the industrious Andrew Driver netted after one of many diagonal balls from Laryea Kingston. That pair caused the hosts trouble time and again. "They were spirited and we must be happy with a point after that first half," Strachan added. Celtic's equaliser was scored by Stephen McManus, supplied by Georgios Samaras's head-on following Shunsuke Nakamura's cross. It was a rare piece of connected play from Celtic, who also suffered when Shaun Maloney was substituted in the first half with what Strachan says is a "hamstring problem". Strachan's counterpart, Csaba Laszlo, said he was "a bit disappointed" with just one point but accepted that leaving here with anything at all should be pleasing. The half-Hungarian, half-German coach deserves credit for some fine recent results, five wins in a row before yesterday, in tough circumstances. The club remains in financial trouble, with wages late more than once this season, some bonuses still outstanding, and question marks over the futures of players and management staff alike. A January sell-off has been mooted to clear some of the debts. Bolton sent a scout yesterday to watch the Scotland defender, Christophe Berra, while Driver and Kingston will have done themselves no harm and could attract Championship interest, as could midfielder Bruno Aguiar. Before Driver's opener, he had already needed close attention from his former Tynecastle team-mate, Paul Hartley, to steer his runs away from goal. The visitors' Marius Zaliukas had also shot powerfully, marginally over the crossbar. The goal highlighted again the recent vulnerability of Celtic's Polish goalkeeper, Artur Boruc, who stood stock still instead of reacting to Driver's surge, and could only fall backwards as the striker tucked the ball past him. Boruc did make one terrific save later in the first half, from Driver, who unleashed a shot under pressure from Scott Brown. Boruc dived to his left and pushed the ball away for a corner. That almost led to a second goal but Ruben Palazuelos's downward header hit Kingston. Driver continued to press on in the second half but the hosts at least started to get forward with the ball, albeit on route one. Samaras was the obvious target, and Nakamura found him late on, allowing the knock-on assist that McManus converted to save Celtic's blushes. Or some of them, anyway. |
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| Jinty | Dec 14 2008, 12:19 AM Post #7 |
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The Scotsman Celtic 1 - 1 Hearts: Hearts' assets show their value By Paul Forsyth at Celtic Park McManus 79 Driver 23 HEARTS' long-suffering supporters lead a melancholy existence these days. Here was another rousing display by their revitalised team, further evidence that their manager, Csaba Laszlo, might just be the man to break the Old Firm stranglehold, and yet it was tinged once again with regret, not just because they were denied by Celtic's late equaliser, but because the more they play like this, the more painful it will be when circumstances off the pitch conspire against them. They have been through it before under George Burley, and all the signs are they will go through it again, especially when their most valuable players continue to present Vladimir Romanov with a solution to the club's cash-flow problems. Andy Driver, who gave Hearts the lead, admitted that the team had been arguing in the dressing room afterwards, unsure as to whether they should have protected their advantage or gone for the jugular. "Normally when you come here and get a point, you are not too disappointed, but I am today," said Laszlo. Driver, a persistent menace down the left, said it showed how far they had come. This was a sixth consecutive league match unbeaten, another of the courageous performances they are wont to produce in Glasgow's east end, but it could have been a sixth straight win. Although they were hanging on for dear life at the end, when Aiden McGeady fired wide, and Georgios Samaras turned a shot over the bar, this was nearly a notable Old Firm double for the side who beat Rangers a fortnight ago. Stephen McManus rescued Celtic during a frantic finale. Gordon Strachan's side, who had enjoyed barely a shot at goal all afternoon, needed substitute Samaras to meet Shunsuke Nakamura's cross at the back post. When the big Greek returned the ball across goal, the Celtic captain stuck his head in where it hurts. A point saved, perhaps, but a missed opportunity to capitalise on Rangers' draw at Tannadice. With Shaun Maloney sustaining a hamstring injury that is likely to keep him out of the forthcoming Old Firm game, Strachan has had better days. "We were too predictable in the first half, our worst performance for a long, long time," he said. "We built ourselves up to average in the second half." For all the uncertainty at Tynecastle, where tales of deferred wages, unpaid debts and January firesales continue unabated, Laszlo has somehow managed to create a degree of stability on the pitch. Consistency of team selection, and a nucleus of Scottish players to boot, have coincided with a sequence of results that has prompted comparisons with the Burley era. Here, Laszlo settled on the same formation that so upset Rangers a couple of weeks back, with only Eggert Jonsson coming in for the suspended Lee Wallace and Janos Balogh replacing Jamie MacDonald in goal. The three-pronged support of Christian Nade bemused Celtic who seemed incapable of dealing with Hearts' wide men, Driver and Laryea Kingston. Kingston is one of the many players expected to be ushered out of Tynecastle next month in exchange for a hefty wad. A slippery customer prone to the odd eccentricity, he revealed the full repertoire in his creation of the game's opening goal. Out on the right touchline, he nutmegged Aiden McGeady, whom he had twice fouled without punishment by the referee, only to then lose possession. Undeterred, he won it back, eluded a challenge by Scott Brown, and swiped clumsily at what was only a half-chance. What looked suspiciously like a hopeless shot, somehow slid across the penalty spot, behind the full-back and into the path of Driver. Without so much as a single claim for offside from the home side's confused defenders, the Hearts winger waited until Artur Boruc had committed himself, before calmly slotting it past the goalkeeper. It was a finish of some maturity by another of the Edinburgh club's prize assets. On a day when a statue of Jimmy Johnstone was unveiled outside the main entrance, the visitors' crouching, jinking wide man was the most adventurous player on either side. Quick, clever and composed, he was Hearts' main outlet during a first half in which they did all the running. When Gary Caldwell gave away possession on the halfway line, the winger showed strength of mind and body to run with the ball, deep into his opponents' penalty area. His low shot across Boruc was heading for the bottom corner until Celtic's goalkeeper palmed it round the post. Typically, Driver was up and after the ball to take the resulting corner, which caused more mayhem. A header by Marius Zaliukas might have crossed the line had one of his own players, Christian Nade, not obstructed its progress. Add to all that a Zaliukas shot that whistled wide, as well as a blocked Nade effort, after the big striker had spun smartly just outside the six-yard area, and there was no denying the merit in Hearts' half-time advantage. Not once in that opening period was Balogh even called upon to do his bit, with Celtic barely threatening, save for a shot by Andreas Hinkel that was high, wide and mighty sloppy. Celtic raised their tempo after the interval, but could not for the life of them extract much change out of defenders Christophe Berra and Marius Zaliukas. And all the while, Hearts continued to threaten on the break. A succession of corners by Bruno Aguiar induced an outbreak of panic in the home defence, the last of which Boruc could paw only as far as Karapidis, whose shot was blocked. And Kingston's curiosities, which do not begin and end with the ball, carried on. He had been guilty of persistent fouling throughout the first half, but found his way into the referee's book only after a relatively harmless offence early in the second. Seconds later, he was responsible for another reckless challenge on McGeady, as if he hadn't ridden enough luck. Again, referee Charlie Richmond turned a blind eye, but Laszlo had seen enough, and hauled him off before someone else did. MAN OF THE MATCH Andy Driver deserves the accolade, not just for his goal, though he kept his head in the scoring of it, but for the direct running that frightened the life out of Celtic. The winger's value will have increased on the back of this. QUICK FACT Hearts are now unbeaten in six matches, although they came within 10 minutes of claiming a 100% record during that period. TALKING POINT Laryea Kingston was fortunate not to be sent off for his challenge on Aiden McGeady, just minutes after he had been booked for persistent fouling. He was roundly booed by the Celtic support when he made way for substitute David Obua. |
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| Jinty | Dec 14 2008, 12:21 AM Post #8 |
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The Scotsman Hartley playing percentage game to land new contract By Andrew Smith TIMING IS everything. For Paul Hartley, it just might be perfect. The midfielder is enjoying the best form of his Celtic career. In recent months he appears to have rediscovered his old zip and it should be enough to fasten him to the club he loves for the foreseeable future. The 32-year-old's length of stay with Gordon Strachan's side will not be up for debate should he play a certain number of games in the next six months. If his first-team involvement continues at its present level, then a one-year option will automatically be triggered – extending his stay beyond the two and a half years for which he signed when Celtic paid Hearts £1.1m in January 2007. Hartley is coy about his future. There have been no discussions about a new contract, he says. He is "just enjoying every game" he plays and prepared to "wait and see" if that provides him the platform to remain with the champions. "From a personal point of view, there is no better place to play," he admits. Hartley is more expansive about the nick he is currently in as he bids to notch up the outings to take him over the extension threshold, believed to be in the region of 50%. Presently, his ratio is around 85%. "I've spoken to a few people and it's been the fittest I've ever been since I came to Celtic," he says. "It's working with the manager, and the training that we do. Thanks to both, I feel as good as I ever have." Strachan has never made any bones about how good he feels having Hartley around, both as a player and personality. Not even obliquely has the midfielder questioned his rotating status, or being a square peg hammered into the round holes of full-back slots when emergencies have demanded. Hartley has grown into playing for the club when more glamorous signings such as Thomas Gravesen and Jiri Jarosik could not. The Celtic manager's regard for one of his archetypal pros suggests that a one-year deal will be foisted upon Hartley even if game time alone was not to guarantee it. Yet, as long as he prolongs his stay at the club, the Scotland international cannot expect greater security than 12-month deals. Celtic do not table longer contract offers for players over 30. They had their finances burned with Alan Thompson and Paul Lambert. Neil Lennon, however, signed new deals in three consecutive summers to take him into his late 30s at the club. And Strachan's own playing experience also offers inspiration to Hartley. "The manager played at the top until he was 40 and it shows what you can do if you look after yourself and stay injury free," he says. "My contract situation makes it a big six months for me. Avoiding injuries makes it more important." Injury has worked in Hartley's favour so far this season. Marc Crosas was recruited in the summer as his natural heir in the holding midfield role. But a hamstring pull suffered by the Barcelona youngster two months ago provided an opening and the Hartley glimpsed since has seemed a less inhibited, more constructive performer. He earned his Celtic spurs in last season's title run-in when grafting displays alongside Barry Robson were pivotal to the seven straight wins that claimed the title. In these winter months more Hartley craft has been evident, not least in two important strikes that have doubled his entire Celtic goal tally. As with the team overall, Hartley could look back with regret at a European sortie that ended with a largely meaningless 2-0 home victory over Villarreal on Wednesday. His curious omission from the side that crumbled in Aalborg might have impacted on the club losing out on a UEFA Cup place. "I didn't start every game but the manager makes decisions and I've been okay with that," he says. "The older you get the more enjoyable the big occasions and you try and relish any opportunities. The manager went with a system in certain games and you have to go with that. We can still take positives and when the Champions League starts again it won't hit us because we will be too busy concentrating on the league." Hartley wants another tilt at the Champions League next autumn and he refuses to rule out the possibility of Shunsuke Nakamura, pining for a return home to Japan, being along for the ride. "Playing alongside Naka you realise he's sheer quality," he says. "Who knows what will happen, he might stay? Everyone is saying he will leave but you never know, he might be persuaded to stay again." Hartley took 30 years to get to Celtic. He will need no persuasion to stay as long as he is wanted. |
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| Jinty | Dec 14 2008, 12:24 AM Post #9 |
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The Scotsman Football news: Maloney out of Christmas Old Firm clash after sustaining hamstring injury CELTIC midfielder Shaun Maloney is out of the Old Firm clash at Ibrox on December 27 after suffering a hamstring injury during the 1-1 draw with Hearts at Parkhead. The champions were trailing to an Andrew Driver goal when Maloney limped off to be replaced by Georgios Samaras, who set up Stephen McManus' late equaliser which maintains Celtic's four-point lead over Rangers at the top of the SPL. Celtic manager Gordon Strachan seemed resigned to seeing the former Aston Villa player on the sidelines well into the new year. "He just pulled up. It's a hamstring and not very good," Strachan said. Meanwhile, Celtic chairman John Reid claims the Parkhead faithful have come to terms with the club's inability to compete financially with Europe's elite. The champions ended their interest in Europe for this season despite beating Villarreal 2-0 in their last Champions League game on Wednesday. Strachan stated on Friday that the financial disparity around Europe would lead to the top teams continuing their domination. Reid, who helped unveil a bronze statue in honour of Celtic legend Jimmy Johnstone before the clash with Hearts, claimed the Parkhead club will continue to battle away despite the disadvantages of playing in Scotland. He said: "I think we are still prepared to spend money when we have money but what we can't do is spend the money that Manchester United or Barcelona have got. We don't have the £70m income from television that they have every year and quite frankly, I think our fans understand that. "They have been extremely understanding of that, they know that we still retain our ambition domestically and in Europe. It was disappointing this year, I think we deserved to still be in Europe but we didn't have the luck. The last couple of seasons we had the skill, the character and a wee bit of luck, this year we have maybe been lacking in the luck." |
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