Craig Gordon

Second half he was superb. No saves to make? But his passing, coming out and coming for crosses..

Impressed..

 

Looked like a real sweeper keeper tonight.
He's so much calmer in possession now

 

People are quick to give him a hard time when he makes a mistake so have to give credit where it's due. He looked calm, composed and confident on the ball tonight. At least 90% of his passes were bang on, commanded his box well...pleased with that.

 

Felt like applauding at my computer when hw raced out, beat Hayes or whoever to the ball and instead of hitting Griff's weans in the main stand.....passed it so cool to KT..

From the freekick they needlessly got. He made his mind up early and beat everyone to it on the edge of his box..

Excellent second half, and not down to keeping us in it with saves..

 

Yes the pressure was intense, stay or go?

 

Had a good second. Love it when the 'keeper comes off his line to catch the ball from a free kick. So simple but brilliant to see.

Sometimes though he needs to just leather the ball up the pitch. He was surrounded by 3 sheep at one point and tried to be fancy, ended up with a throw in for them in near the corner.

 

Great performance by gordon tonight, delighted to have kept him and feel he has a good few years in him yet and will be better appreciated come europe next season

 

Some extra crispy passing tonight

 

Conte revealed that he never wanted his club to try and sign Dembele, though he did admit interest in Celtic stopper Craig Gordon

Conte tried to sign the Scotland international in order to let deputy goalkeeper Asmir Begovic leave for Bournemouth. Celtic retained a firm not-for-sale stance and the deal never got off the ground.

With Gordon we tried because we tried to help Asmir Begovic to satisfy his request to go and play every game. But I always told him that if we were able to find a right solution, he could leave.

For sure Gordon was one of the goalkeepers in the list to try to bring in here. We tried, but when the club told us it was not possible to sell, we finished.”

 

Hopefully the Chelsea interest works in our favour, and gives Craig a bit of a confidence boost that he really is the top 'keeper he should have been for 10 years, but for the injuries.

As for eventually replacing Gordon, I don't think someone like Joe Lewis is what we should be looking at. Don't get me wrong, he's a good goalkeeper, but we should be looking to improve upon Gordon when he leaves, not take a backwards step.

 

Celtic have opened talks with Chelsea target Craig Gordon over a lucrative new Parkhead contract.
The Scotland No 1 was the subject of two bids from Stamford Bridge in the January transfer window as Antonio Conte sought a replacement for Asmir Begovic, who was wanted by Bournemouth.
With Gordon promised a pay rise if he remained at Parkhead, his agent was in Glasgow last night to begin negotiations.



The 34-year-old former Sunderland and Hearts keeper has 18 months left on his current £12,000-a-week deal. Celtic can’t match the reported £50,000-a-week that Chelsea were prepared to pay for his services, but the Scottish champions will look to ward off a fresh bid from London in the summer by placing Gordon amongst their higher earners.

 

His distribution on Sunday was horrific, chipping it out to St Johnstone players etc.

 

And there could be good news on the horizon for supporters with the club looking to conclude a new contract with goalkeeper, Craig Gordon.

“I’ve made it clear from when I first came in and how I want to impose my style and the importance of the goalkeepers within that,” the manager said. “I look at him (Craig) now seven months on from coming in and he’s a totally different goalkeeper both in character, personality and output in the team.

“To have that assurance over the next few years is very important for the club and another sign of players committing to here because they believe in what we are doing. Hopefully we can get that sorted and then we’ll look forward to seeing Craig performing to level he has been.”

 

Gotta agree with what BR is saying here.

The improvement in all aspects of his game are huge- most notably his weaknesses kicking and commanding the box. He is at his peak or close to it we need to keep him running at this level.

On current form a better option than old FireFox, who had similar weaknesses

 

He was excellent today in all areas. Love when a player looks out the picture and makes a comeback like Boyata and Griffiths (twice so far)

 

Craig Gordon's contract talks have been shelved until the summer after negotiations between the players' representative and Celtic reached an impasse. (Scottish Daily Mail, newspaper edition)

From the BBC.

 

He's definitely not the long term plan for Rodgers regardless of how much he talks him up in the press.
We need a more confident, assured keeper. Someone that will take a bit of responsibility.