Middlesbrough v Celtic Algarve Challenge Cup Thread

yeah i blame him for almost cosing us the league last season

 

Reading between the lines, what I'm worried about is how Strachan or the board sees our backups...

Will Wilson/Hinkel be used to deputise/compete with Naylor at left back? Is Mark Brown a genuine number 2 to Boruc? Before the Euros I was hoping both of these positions would be strengthened so....

 

Samaras is a strange one. At times last season he looked sublime and then the following week he looked as though he'd never kicked a ball in his life.

 

We were relying too much on Mcgeady last night. I know he's great, but in the first half the only tactic seemed to be 'pass it to Aiden'!
Still, I thought that the team that started is probably our best - with maybe with big Jan on instead of Samaras, and Boruc, obviously, the only changes I'd make.
There was some nice passing from the Bhoys but considering the attack-minded set-up of the competition it was disappointing that Boro's tactics were to stifle us.

 

It was O'Deas fault!

Brown couldn't have done anything else except try a fancy back heel or something similar.

Brown is * but he was not at fault for that goal.

 

True, it was a poor pass from O'Dea.

But Brown went in half hearted ala Regi Blinker


BTW,
i hear Riordan and Gravesen will play in under 19's tonight at Donegal Celtic.

 

Though Samaras played fairly well v Middlesborough when its considered how few games he has started and how few games he has had to have an understanding with Skippy. I thought he gave some mobility and played reasonably central for once. Problem was that Middlesborough defenders were right on top of them. I thought Samaras was the best of the pair last night. He has the potential to give us a lot more than JVOH but I think we would not see the benifits until he has played a handful back to back with a fixed partner.

 

A pretty poor game to be honest, only pass marks for four or five players.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
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Aideiniho looked sharp in the first 45 had the full back on toast, then tired after the break.<o></o>
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Mick looked solid and assured.<o></o>
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Bobo defended by himself after all the changes, he made one mistake but re-covered, if I was a manager of a mid to bottom EPL team Bobo would be on my wanted list.<o></o>
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Caddis impresses almost every time, great right foot on him and very pacey, not sure he’s a RB maybe RM is his true position.<o></o>
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Sammie looked decent up to a point, poor finishing was his only negative but if you’re a striker quite a big negative IMO.<o></o>
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As for the rest of them they were infective and disappointing. Only pre-season I know but I would like to have seen better cohesion and team play.<o></o>
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missed the game but it doest sound like i missed much

 

though the whole game was *, the referee was *.

But its just a preseason and they guys arent at full fitness, plus time differences in portugal etc etc

our squad is so much better then the huns its funny

 

McDonald was called off a couple of times when he was through on goal when he was clearly on.

I thought in the first half when we had mostly our 1st team out that we were by far the better team. I was happy with the performance. There is only any real indication of how we are playing before all the subs come on and we out played them. Remember, Boro are no mugs. They've been a comfortable mid table team for close to ten years now and have good players.

 

We kept the ball really well and passed it around well, they were super defensive man..

 

true there patto

 

WAIT TILL CELTIC PLAY ABOUT 8-10 GAMES THEN JUDGE THEM ,I THINK THIS TEAM WILL WALK THE LEAGUE THIS YEAR ,SORRY ABOUT THE CAPS