The good, the bad and the Broadfoot

What a week for our Gary and what a time for him to be hitting top form with a trip to Spartak on Tuesday.

His goal against Motherwell was just dripping with confidence, instant control, looks up and goal.

Five goals in two games and more importantly smiling again, he really is a terrific player. His goals came from only nine attempts. We really need him to stay this clinical if we are to progress in Europe. Well done Gary, keep up the good work.

Efe Ambrose
Has there ever been a more assured debut week in the Hoops? I know it takes time to bed in new players, they have to develop an understanding, but Ambrose looks like he has been a Celt forever. In three appearances now he has had significant time in Centre Mid, Centre Back and Right Back and looked classy in all of them. Big, strong, fast, cool on the ball and intelligent, I am very impressed with him. How invaluable could he end up being for us? He has set the bar incredibly high for himself, let’s hope he stays consistent. 

Top of the League
Back where we belong. It has been a little bit of a stuttery start in the league but we have made it to the top. It was a great win at the weekend against probably our greatest challenger and we dominated them. Now we have the lead let’s not relinquish it and start putting some distance between us and the rest.

Defence
Dare I say it, but our defence is actually starting to come together. In the two games last week our goalkeepers had zero saves to make, not much Zaluska could have done about the Raith goal, but credit has to go to in the defence. The Motherwell game was brilliant for us and in Ambrose and Wilson we have something at centre back we have not had in a long time, pace. I cannot see why that pairing would be split up against Spartak, maybe too big a game too soon for Efe. I would play them though as they have just shut out the second best team in our league with ease. We have been missing a solid defence for about a decade. Fingers crossed we might have one. 

Return from Injury
Good to see a return to action this week for Georgios Samaras and Joe Ledley. Two very important players and are sure to make an appearance against Spartak Moscow.

THE BAD

Dangerous Turnovers
We were fortunate in these games that we were not punished for silly turnovers in our own half. Emilio Izaguirre was the main culprit, caught on the ball a couple of times and had a couple of poor clearances when he had a bit of time that kept us under pressure. Kelvin Wilson also had a bad clearance in the box that he recovered well from, but we have to maintain concentration for the whole game. These mistakes will be punished sooner or later and if it happens in Europe it will be adios.

Missed Chances
Ok, so we won both games with and created 37 attempts on goal with 22 of them on target and managed 6 goals, which is good. Now let us take Hooper out of this equation we had 28 attempts with 16 on target and no goals scored by anyone in Hoops. That is far too many missed opportunities by the rest of the team. There is no way we will get close to 20 attempts in Moscow, so we need the rest of the team to find their shooting boots as well because if Hooper has a bad game, we might struggle.

Penalty Kicks
It is scandalous that we miss so many penalties. No excuses for it, we need to be scoring 9 out 10 of them. Since Lennon became manager I think we have missed more than we scored. Not good enough. Scott Brown has missed two in a row, time to switch kickers again. My opinion in it is that it should be someone who scores frequently like Hooper or Commons, but I don’t really care as long as someone please starts scoring them.

THE UGLY

Zaluska Kicking
I don’t know what he has been doing with all his free time but it has not been practising kick outs or clearances. There had to have been six or seven times were he did not make the halfway line against Raith. I am hoping this is just a bad game for him and luckily it was not a huge game for us, but after it my first thought was I hope Forster stays fit or we are in trouble. 

CLICK HERE for BBC hit back in Sallygate row

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