Craig Gordon

If he played like that all the time (ie. solid and dependable), I wouldn't care as much about replacing him. I still think that for all the credit he gets as a shot stopper, he lets in goals he shouldn't a lot of the time. Today he made great saves, as well as saves you expect a European quality keeper to make; which is something I don't think he's done much in Europe. I hope he can keep these types of performances coming.

 

Outstanding save in the first half.

Thought he was shocking with the ball.

 

Good save

 

Some good saves and some ropey kicking. The usual then.

 

Crucial save after 2 minutes, had that went in it would have been a very long night for us.

 

I don’t rate him in general but he did really well tonight.

 

the man kept us in europe tonight.

 

The simple solution to that is stop * passing the ball to him!
There are 10 other guys on the park whose job is to kick the * ball.

 

Celtic goalkeeper Craig Gordon feels he answered his critics last night by making a vital contribution to the club’s qualification to the Europa League, despite the 1-0 defeat to Anderlecht.

Gordon could do nothing about the own goal from Jozo Simunovic that separated the sides, and was otherwise solid throughout, with his early save from Anderlecht attacker Sven * particularly crucial towards the outcome of the evening.

Gordon admits he has found it peculiar at times that he has been questioned, but he was pleased to have answered back in his own way with his showing last night.

“There have been a few [critics],” Gordon said. “I just keep playing.

“I’ve found it quite strange at times – but that’s football. Playing for a big club, everyone’s going to have an opinion. I have to get on with it, keep playing and do my best for the team.

“I’m pleased to have contributed tonight, I think I’ve made some good contributions over the last few weeks – and we’re still going strong.

“It was important to make a few saves, especially early on. We didn’t want to lose a goal and the one early I was fortunate to be able to block it with my legs.

“It was vital at that stage as it would have given them a lift. I managed to make a few saves in the first half and stem the flow to get to half-time at 0-0.

“It gave us the chance to make a few changes and apart from the goal I thought we contained them a lot better and got the job done.

“It’s always good to make saves at vital times when momentum is swinging, and I was pleased with the one near the end.

“They were starting to tire but if they were searching for one goal it might have given them some energy.”

Gordon says that his confidence wasn’t affected by the hidings that Celtic took at times in this season’s Champions League group stages at the hands of Paris Saint Germain, as 12 goals flew past him in just two games.

“It’s not really been a problem,” he said. “I feel I’ve still been doing a good job for the team.

“As a goalkeeper, you’re going to go through stages where you lose goals. You just have to keep playing. I’ve been at it long enough now to realise that these times come.

“On the other side of that, I could now go seven or eight games without losing a goal. We’re good enough to do that.”

As satisfied as Gordon was with his own contribution on the night, he is under no illusions that the overall performance of the Celtic team was below the standard expected. And if they didn’t realise it, manager Brendan Rodgers wasn’t slow in pointing that fact out.

“He wasn’t happy,” admitted Gordon. “And I think we all realised that. He wasn’t happy at half-time and wasn’t happy at full-time.

“But he did remind us that the bigger picture was to qualify. There were just a number of things he wasn’t happy with.


“There have been a few occasions when he’s been unhappy with us. Not too many. He wasn’t over the top. He wasn’t happy and we realised that.

“We know that, if we’re not performing at the top levels, then at this club you are able to be replaced. Because the standard has been so high over the past couple of years – and he’s not going to accept anyone dropping those standards.

“We have to make sure we maintain those standards week in, week out, to stay in the team – and stay at the club.”

Once the dust has settled on the disappointment of this defeat and the manner of Celtic’s display, the cold, hard fact is that they have met their objective with qualification for the Europa League, no matter how they got there.

And Gordon feels that the high standard of their section will set them in good stead come the last 32 of that competition in the new year.

“The Champions League prepares you for the Europa League,” he said.

“Now we’re back to knock-out football, like the qualifiers. That changes the dynamics of the tie.

“We did well in the qualifiers, the knock-out football needed to get to the Champions League, in the last two years.

“So, hopefully we can get back to that and progress. Let’s see who we get.”

 

Credit where it's due. Man of the match last night

 

* * here we go again

he did his job

what was expected of him and the outrageous salary he gets

70 percent of his saves where bog standard saves youd expect an spl keepr to ake

As i said previously if Anderlect had have had an actual striker on the pitch CG would have been caught out for half of those crosses that came in the first half and he would have flopped at it like a big *

we would have been turned over and spanked

 

30% then most spl keepers couldnt save therefor he done very well. Credit where its due, your spl keepers would have let 30% in, that percent btw is enough to put us out of europe last night.

 

Has anyone met Gordon? seems to come across arrogant in some of his interviews, like the one the other week there where he said it wasn't his fault any of the 7 PSG goals and he won't lose sleep over it. He had a good game last night, but as Lecters said most of the saves were easy apart from the 1 in the first half where the guy made an * of it. Credit to him but posters on here saying he saved us from going through?! Anderlecht's poor finishing was why we went through.

 

Seriously? This is the sort of bullshit that's doing my head in with the current fad of criticising CG.

EVERY 'to feet' pass he attempted was completed successfully.

He put in a few hoofs up the park, and out of play clearances (which, incidentally, is apparently what a number of our support want him to do), and each time was successful in neutralising the ball, or landed it in the area of one of our players. It's not his fault that the outfield player in that area wasn't winning the headers, or strong enough to take possession. That's just the nature of the big hoof... I often describe it as a 50/50 ball, but the reality is that it most likely favours the opposition as they are facing the ball and have more time to read it and adjust.

Seems he just can't win. Some 'support', eh!

 

EASTER Road may have been enemy territory for Craig Gordon for many years but it’s still somewhere that holds many special memories for him.

It was the ground where he achieved a lifelong dream and made the first of his 52 Scotland caps when he played against Trinidad and Tobago in 2004, and it was also a place where he enjoyed many epic Edinburgh derbies, coming out on top more often than not.

Remarkably, it’s been over 10 years since Celtic’s No.1 featured at the home of Hibernian, when he helped Hearts to a 1-0 win over their city rivals in April 2007. That summer Gordon headed south to Sunderland and the English Premier League.

By the time the goalkeeper returned to Scottish football and joined the Hoops in the summer of 2014, Hibs had been relegated and started a three-year stay in the Championship.

With his strong Hearts connection, Gordon knows he won’t receive the warmest of welcomes at Easter Road, when the Scottish treble-winners go head-to-head with Neil Lennon’s side in Sunday’s SPFL showdown seeking to extend their domestic unbeaten run to 68 matches. Nonetheless, the 34-year-old is relishing a return to one his favourite stomping grounds as he explained in an exclusive interview with this week's Celtic View.

How much are you looking forward to returning to Easter Road?
I made my Scotland debut there so it’s a place that holds some good memories for me. I managed to do fairly well there in my time at Hearts when we did well against Hibs. We didn’t have too many defeats, it was a good rivalry and I enjoyed playing in those games. Easter Road is a good stadium and you get a good atmosphere. They've built the new stand so it should be a good crowd and a good game to play in. Scotland played Canada there and I was on the pitch for the warm-up but I didn’t play in the game so it will be quite a while since I’ve played there.

As someone who grew up in Edinburgh, is it always a bit more special to go back and play in your home city?
It is, and I’m sure I’ll have a good reception! But it will be good to go back there and play. I’ve had some good games there and I’ve never had any problems with the Hibs fans. It was always a good rivalry and a game I always looked forward to growing up. That was the one game you wanted to win and I managed to do it quite often in my time at Hearts, with a few big wins, including a semi-final win on the way to winning the Scottish Cup. Those are the ones I will remember from that and hopefully we can go there this weekend and get a result.

How difficult a test do you expect from Neil Lennon’s men?
They are a good team and a difficult side to play against on their day. If they get it right then they have a lot of players in their team who can win matches and score goals. It’s one we will have to be at our best for, especially away from home, to make sure we play our game and impose our game on Hibs to make sure we come out with the win.

Where do Hibs rank in terms of the toughest teams you have played this season?
There are a few difficult ones we have played this season. Aberdeen and Motherwell who are also at the top end of the league have also been tough. There are no easy games, especially away from home and it’s always going to be difficult. We have to impose ourselves and battle to win the fight to make sure we have the right to play our type of football and the way we want to play. This one is going to be no different, and they have run us close on a number of occasions so far this season and given us good games. The games against Hibs always seem to fall after a European game and it’s up to us to make sure we come back and recover in time to play the next match.

 

CG: "We want to try and win every game and keep our run going. Easter Road is a difficult place to

CG: "We always seem to get Hibs after a European game and they have given us two hard games up until now and we are expecting another one this weekend."

CG on what Brendan Rodgers had to say to the players about the Anderlecht performance: “He spoke in the changing room afterwards and he wasn’t particularly happy with aspects of the performance."

CG: "We set out at the start of the group to try and qualify and get European football after Christmas which we did do. We did go into the group as fourth seeds and finished third."

CG: "I think perhaps a little bit was read into the final result. It was like a two-legged tie and we had to do the job. We were already 3-0 up if you like from the first leg, and the situation was we had to get the job done."

CG: "Even though we were a goal down in the second half, we didn’t go chasing the game like we would have done if it had been the first game of the group."

CG: "We didn’t have to win the game, we had to make sure we were getting through to the next round and, at times, that dictated how we played.”

CG on focusing fully on domestic duties: “We have seven games between now and the break, and we have to try and keep our run going. It’s a busy month and we have a big squad and we are going to need everyone to play at some point."

CG: "It will be a good time to get everyone on the pitch to try and press home our advantage and get a lead in the league."

CG on atmosphere in the squad: “We are a good group of players. No matter what happens, we stick together and the training is always good. Everybody puts in 100 per cent, day in, day out to try and make the team


CG: "The ones not in the team are preparing the guys who are playing and are pushing for starts themselves. That’s never a problem."


CG: "We always go out there and give our best to make sure we are in the team do the best for everyone else that is there."

 

Can hold his head high after Tuesday. I do think we should look at Joe Lewis to play as back up and push him though. 30 years old, so coming into his prime and he's impressed me whenever I've seen him. Won't break the bank either.

 

Oy vey. Do that in the last 32 and the opponent scores that chance (like Inter did in 2015). Kicking was off again today as well I thought. Woof.

 

Has lustig to thank for not * the unbeaten run dreadful mistake sooner he's replaced the better

 

Needs replaced in January.