Folks, last season like most fans, I was very impressed with Gary Hooper. He made 36 appearances and scored 22 goals.
Unfortunately, I don’t have the stats to show the number of assists but most would agree that his contribution was above expectation for a young guy at a new club with all the pressure that is placed on a Celtic player.
Watching him v Aberdeen, I thought he had a shocker. Now after the game, I was talking to my mate Andy who (quite rightly) pointed out that footballers will have bad games and they are allowed to do so. Who am I to say otherwise?
For me, the big problem is whether or not he’s happy at the club? Recently, I read an article from another website, stating that Hooper has stated that he wants to leave the club.
To be fair, that was just one website and the majority of the comments seemed to be having a go at the author of the story on the basis that the story had no quotes from either the player or his agent.
Now, I am not a journalist, but I do understand that proper journalists cannot reveal where their information comes from. So I am beginning to wonder is it the case that Hooper has just suffered from a loss of form or is there something more deep rooted than that?
I felt that against Aberdeen his movement was poor, when it looked like he could have had a shot at goal, he seemed to prefer to pass to someone else. He never really created an awful lot and never won very many balls.
Now, I do suspect that other people will have a different opinion and I respect that – that’s why I love football so much. There are so many different opinions from different people on the same event.
Another problem that I have with Hooper is his tendency to be injured before European matches. Does he perhaps not have the mind set to play in Europe for us?
Is it just unfortunate that he’s picked up some injuries? Or is it convenient to be injured instead of playing against players that he perhaps knows that he can’t play against?
Based on the above two points – passing instead of shooting and not playing in Europe, I would have to suggest that if I am correct on them then it must be a confidence issue. So that’s down to whoever looks after him at the club to work with him.
I sincerely hope not but I just find it bizarre that he has not played anywhere near his best this season. Maybe tomorrow, I will have a different opinion but I just felt today that he really let himself down not to the mention us fans and the rest of the team.
The chance in the second half where the ball came across the face of goal, Hooper stood and watched it go by him. I feel a player on form or with confidence or even the Hooper of last season would have thrown himself at that ball and who knows, he maybe wouldn’t have scored but at least he would have had an attempt at goal.
Can you imagine the abuse that Georgios Samaras would have got had he turned up and played in the same manner?
I am not defending Samaras but I think that all players, including Hooper really have to get a grip of themselves and start performing better. Yes, it’s much easier for me to sit on my couch with my feet up and the TV on in the background to type that than it is for the player to find him form. There’s just too many players off form and the guy is not doing himself any favours.
As I mentioned before, I could well sit and re-watch the game or read match reports but from my cold rain soaked seat in the Jock Stein stand, that’s my view of Gary and his performance today and this season. If I am wrong, please do tell me and I will be happy to hold my hands up and admit my erroneous views.
On another note, does anyone have any idea why the ref wouldn’t allow our player back on the park until Kayal booted the ball out? That has to be one of the strangest pieces of refereeing that I have ever saw.
CLICK HERE for STV rescue Craig Whyte
CLICK HERE for Video Celts TV
Follow Video Celts on Twitter, Facebook
In the interest of keeping this piece fair, I should acknowledge that it was Hoopers pass that made the 1st goal yesterday 🙂
Hooper like all others, except Mulgrew, hasn’t got close to last season’s heights.
He’s not been the same since Bougherra raked his studs down his calf with Calum Murray booking the Rangers for that.
On the referee incident I think he called it right! A player can’t come back on the park if the ball is close by, if Kayal has swung the ball over to the left Matthews could have came back on without instantly being involved in the play- reg got it right!
what a load of nonesense, every player gets injured, and if hes not fit then lenny shouldnt play him, players dont blame others because they are not playing well,theres something just not right with hooper, and its not past injuries
the ref was right not to stop play as it was a blood injury as he has to check it stopped he has to wait till it out play
He has been poor all season, but then, so have a lot of others. Something definitely wrong in that dressing room.
As a big fan of Hooper’s I note he was left at home to get treatment raher than travel to Rennes. So was surprised to see him thrown straight bakc in v Aberdeen. Now I read that Bangura has been sent for a scan…so maybe like Loovens v Rennes he was asked to help out the team before he was really fit again.
He missed a bit of pre-season I am sure and think that players always struggle thereafter, expect the same with Izzy….difficult to catch up.
As ever, people can make up any rumours to suit particular situations, sooner or later they will get something right and ignore all the ones they got wrong.
Is Hopper being targeted by the boot anything that moves brigade, think he’s carrying an ankle injurie which ain’t helping any. The referee,s Iam at the stage with Scottish officialdom now I don’t trust any of them, untill Rearangers start to lose points due to honest mistakes, then I might believe in there honesty.
Hearts have now questioned the refs integrity can we exspected strike action or is it just when Celtic question there integrity strike action applys.
if hes carrying an injury he shouldnt be playing and his manager is the one to blame,,, no one else
Who else do you play? Bangura? Has not scored yet. Samaras? Lenny would be lynched for dropping Hooper for Sammy. We don’t have many options, so an injured Hooper starts.
Young James Keatings or Paul George?
Hoops is in a bit of a rut just now but will be back.
Take him to score against Hibs in the League cup this wednesday
There is something not quite right inside Celtic Park. The performances since the second half capitulation to Rangers have been woeful. Today was no different. No spark, no enthusiasm and the defence is an accident, not just waiting to happen, but happening continually. Action needs to be taken sooner rather than later. Ki, Kayal, Hooper, Forrest are having a very poor spell which must be turned around quickly.
At the moment no one fears Celtic and its our own doing. Lennon always says about “doing more with the ball in the last third” which in the case of bangura’s header against Hearts at 0-0 and Stokesy’s miss against Killie at 0-0 tells us things could of been alot different.
Confidence is a massive factor in any walk of life but I guess especially in sport. The goals will come again for Hooper and co. and Commons I feel has a big part to play this year for our come back.
I do believe things will come together and hopefully right around the time we play the orcs at Parkers this december.
However after winning all their away games so far this season including yet to concede a goal (which i must say is a total disgrace on behalf of the wee hun team wannabe’s scattered all around this Nation of ours) it looks like we’ll have more than we bargained for in doing it all ourselves.
Good luck Lennon, we’ll need it.
HH 1NL YNWA 😀
This is my first posting for a while, so can i first say that on Thursday i sat down to watch Celtic play Rennes in Europe, feeling we were going to get another thumping. My spirits were lifted as the teams took to the field for 1 very good reason.Celtic came out wearing the famous Green & White hoops that everybody around the world recognises. I was not watching, or about to watch some team called Celtic who wear Yellow bumblebee shirts. So to the powers that be at Parkhead, can we play in our famous traditional hoops whenever possible please.The performance that followed was a fighting Celtic show. Thanks for that.
he had 2 great seasons the last one with us & i think the problem is he is getting too big for his boots. Talk of a call up for England when i can’t remember him having a good game (just in short spellls)for us this season. he’s got to get his @rse in gear or he’ll end up back in the english championship.
ps. great to see Darren O’Dea having a good season especially when we can’t find a defensive pairing.
At the end of the day its the managers job to get these guys to perform and there are too many of them not performing for Lennon. Once that happens there can only be one out come.
Matthews couldnt come back onto the pitch when the ball was in that area, if kayal had of played on the ref would have waved matthews back on. sadly our players dont know the rules of the game they get thousands to play.
To many players not playing well we need players getin back to form can’t wait for izzy coming back
Hooper is in good company with his loss of form. Very few players are cutting it at the minute, first half Saturday was simply awful.
More worrying is the apparent lack of fitness and mental attitude shown week in week out, Ki & Kayal being worst but by no means only offenders.
Sadly the manager needs to shoulder the responsibility and there are very few signs of improvement.
Paddy McCourt was the only bright star on Saturday though he’ll likely be consigned to the bench ( if he’s lucky) for next few months.
At times Hooper drives me nuts, we seen his ability against Rangers at Ibrox with a tremendous finish. However recently and I noticed this in particularly against Motherwell at home that he seems to wait on things happening rather than to move before things happen.
The amount of times you see him going for a ball and stopping half a second later with his hands out is frustrating. Yesterdays example where he seemed to duck out of a header 5 yards from goal is at the moment typical of his “surprised” look when opportunities present themselves.
Equally when a ball is played to him and it is not quite to his feet, he seems reluctant to chase it, again standing with his hands out.
Its not the player I recognise from last season and I hope he gets his form back soon because like every other part of this team he is showing absolutely no improvement from last year, hence the reason we trail Rangers by 10 points.
I was with some friends and our sons yesterday in the No.7 Restaurant and our lads were given “Hooper” and “Commons” scarves as gifts, I do hope when we take them back that they can hold those scarves up in the knowledge both those players have returned to last seasons form.
I agree with previous post. Hooper hasn’t been same player since Bougherra tried to finish his career in Scottish Cup replay ( he did the same with Robbie Keane in a game at Ibrox ) Hooper looks scared to someone coming through the back of him, hence his holding up of the ball is terrible. Also he looks like he has lost some pace.
In the US we have a term in collegiate athletics called the “sophomore slump”. It is basically used to define a player, in their 2nd year, who was outstanding as a freshman, rookie, 1st year (what have you) and then struggles in their 2nd year of competition.
A few things play into that notion. Pressure to perform, pressure to live up to their personal standard/standards of other people’s expectations, and the big one, in my book, everybody now knows what to expect.
Hooper started his time at Celtic as basically an unknown commodity, “the wonder kid from Scunthorpe that Celtic found”. Although he was very influential in our performances last season he was fresh to everyone (our fans, our opponents, his teammates).
Now he’s not really that same entity, we expect him to score goals as easily as he did last season and it’s not coming as easily. Probably for a mix of unrealistic expectations and a struggle for consistency.
It’s no secret that backlines target him and look to take him out of matches (i.e. Jacks tackle on him this past Saturday). And that’s bound to make his job a little more difficult.
It shouldnt be terribly surprising that Stokes is finding more joy this year than Hooper, last season was Hooper’s 1st season with a major club. Stokes has been around longer, he’s used to the pressure of consistency.
It’s not all about what Hooper is doing right now that will dictate how important he is to the club. It’s how he impacts the entirety of the season. If he’s scoring goals against “them” and winning us the remaining 3 Old Firm matches this season I doubt we’re still having this conversation.
If he’s shocking throughout the entirety of the season then we have to ask ourselves, did we get a little ahead of ourselves in how good of a player we thought he was?
But the fact remains, you can’t claim a striker or any player for that matter, to be rubbish when they’re in what could very well just be a slump.
Give him some time and then we can make a more accurate assessment on what his role is in the club.
I know what happened with kayal on the touchline. Graham Mcneilley, the linesman on the far side is my computing teacher, and i asked him about the incedent today. He said that the Player being treated had a blood injury, and wasn’t allowed to come on the field of play til’ the ref had checked the flow of blood had stopped. The ref isn’t allowed to go over and check this until the ball is out of play, and kayal wanted the ref to let him on, the ref couldnt do this and kayal punted the ball for a shy so the ref had to let him on. Kayal was basically being a bit of a kn*b and trying to be smart when he didn’t really know the rules
Ciaran I was with one of the other teachers from your School on Sunday, I’ll not name her/him but she/he got a text just before the game to tell them McNeilley was the linesman and I am reliably informed he is a right currant bun! That said not sure I can recall any honest mistakes from him.
Aye, im always askin him who he supports and he never tells me. I thought he had a decent game agaimst the sheep but he basically was telling me kayals a complete tosser. I do think hes one of the govan mob though. Which seems unusual in a catholic school but hey ho.
Agree with Joe on the refereeing incident with Ki (I think) not being allowed back on the pitch. He was too near the action and Referees are under instruction not to allow players back into the vicinity of the action. Kayal, stupidly in my opinion, kicked the ball out because he was trying to make a point, luckily for him Aberdeen were in a generous mood and gave us it back when really they did not need to because the ball was not kicked out because of injury.
I must be honest, i was at the game on sunday and Hooper was quite clearly a yard off the pace. He looked awkward on the ball and reluctant to pull the trigger.
If he aint fit then play Bangura.
Mibbie he needs to lay of the drink, stopping going on a jolly to spain during international week and get fit!