WEMBLEY ROUND UP by Joe McHugh
What a great weekend that was, much better than anticipated with just about everything going right for the re-born hoops.
The trophy was a great reward but even if we had lost or drawn one of the matches there would still have been plenty to be encouraged by.
Who would have guessed last season that Lee Naylor, Massimo Donati and Chris Killen would all make telling performances in the same match?
The team selection for the Dinamo Moscow match is going to be very interesting, there is genuine competition for every place, there will be a few players left sitting in the stand who’ll feel with justification that they could have started.
Suddenly we have a squad fighting for places, last season you could pick the team in advance most weeks with everyone secure of their place with only the ‘heads I lose tails you win’ decision to be made between Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Georgios Samaras to partner Scott McDonald.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
There’s a recurring theme to all the post match comments and that’s that the Wembley Cup means nothing if we don’t carry the confidence from those games into the start of the season, or Moscow Dinamo as it’s better known.
The pessimism that accompanied the Champions League draw is clearing up but can’t be overtaken by over confidence, any sort of win will be very welcome against Dinamo taking a 1-0 or 2-0 over there with our keeper looking like his old self should swing the advantage our way.
RESERVES
As a keen follower of the reserves of the reserves it was great to see so many of them doing themselves justice against Spurs.
Paul Caddis was probably the most eye-catching and looks a reliable back-up to Andreas Hinkel as well as a potential match winner if used as an attacking substitute.
Seeing Paddy McCourt and Koki Mizuno starting together was unexpected and both made their mark without excelling.
Mizuno is lively and direct and would have benefited greatly if he had tucked away his early chance, with confidence and experience he could emerge into a squad player with benefits.
McCourt is an incredible enigma. No other player on the pitch could have put together the run that took him through on the Spurs goal at the start of the second half.
His skill and close control are fantastic but without a burst of pace I think that it’ll be hard for him to make the breakthrough at Celtic.
In a strange way he reminds me of Didier Agathe, if Agathe could cross the ball he’d never have ended up at Celtic or disappeared off the football map post Celtic. If McCourt had pace he’d have by-passed Rochdale, Shamrock Rovers, Derry City and Celtic and be picking up a fortune in one of the rich leagues.
CAPTAIN DARREN
After speaking out about this season being so important to him it must have been a great feeling for O’Dea to have been handed the captain’s role against Spurs.
Being in the team against Dinamo Moscow on Wednesday would mean more to him but the armband was recognition of his qualities as well as ability.
O’Dea plays the game as a captain with or without an armband. When he first came into the team he carried forward the leadership skills that have always been part of his game, organising comes naturally to him.
Patience has also been a quality. Most younger players would have moved on after being generally overlooked in the way that O’Dea has been over the last two seasons.
This could also be a World Cup season for O’Dea, if he joins Aiden McGeady in the international set up it would be a great commendation for the Celtic Academy with many hours, months and years put in to developing both players to their current status.
