I would drop Gary Caldwell for Darren O'Dea at the weekend

You cant drop a player when the only alternative is a rookie that (certainly IMO) is not anywhere near as good. It would be different if Heid continued his bad form for another few weeks and Mick was fit. Then I would rest Caldwell and play a Loovens-Mick pairing for a while. Its too early to panic though. Caldwell has a bad month every season or so and I think he will be OK soon. I though he played well against Arsenal until he got himself booked. In fact Caldwell and Loovens were excellent in the first half.

 

So how many goals and possible games would you be prepared to loss while you are waiting for Caldwell to regain his form?......What if he doesn't regain his form...Just keep playing him?

 

hate this strachan ideology about leting an off form player play his way out of bad form.

any player deserves a bit of time but ffs ****boruc last season**** alarm bells should be ringing!!!

are we really gonna let caldwell play * for most of the season just because we dont want to harm his confidence any further, or because his value will drop, or because he might not want to sign a new contract.

Off-form players get dropped! thats what happens end of!!!

 

aye a change is definetly needed. o'dea deserves a chance.

 

His form dip hasnt cost us anything yet IMO. Thing is he is actually playing well but just sudenly making split second errors. You could put all of Caldwells bad moments this season onto a DVD and it would only be about 2 minutes long.

Another thing is that right now we cant drop him because the replacement would be such a step down. If Mick was fit I would maybe consider it in a couple of weeks if Caldwell's form stays wobbly.

Remember too that new partnerships themselves often take weeks of shakeyness before the pairing develop an understanding so that would be a risk if we dropped Caldwell. Caldwell actually played well v Arsenal, as did Loovens. He is just not up to the lightening pace of the Arsenal players so he got himself booked but practically none of our players could handle their pace.

 

new CB partnerships will bring a lot of errors until an understanding is built up. So, its not worth breaking up a CB partnership unless you think the problem is fairly long term. As I said too, its not as though we have amazing alternatives.

 

IMO if any player has a few bad games then he should be dropped...in doing that it would show player that their position is up for grabs if they dont perform.

 

The thing is that fans judge O'Dea on basically a few appearances.

Tony Mowbray works with O'Dea (and Caldwell) every working minute in training.

It's amazing how much a players fan-rating goes up, simply by being on the bench while the first 11 loses. O'Dea is a prime example of this exaggeration of abililty. Heid played * against Arsenal so there HAS to be a better option? The simple fact is heid is better.

How fans can come to the conclusion that someone unproven like O'Dea *has* to replace Heid is beyond me.. Leave it to Mowbray and get behind whoever plays...

 

Heid has proven himself to be rather * this so far this season.

 

if these reserve players arent good enough whats the * point in having them at the club !!!

the point in having reserve players is so that you have backup for injuries and loss of form.

has odea ever played say 5 consecutive games for the first team or even 3 consecutive games

were oot of the champions league another CB should be given a chance in caldwell position and give big heid a rest

 

Seriously? He's been appearing off and on since 2006... and appeared in 16 matches last year.

 

I thinkt he only game he had a *proper* howler was the second Arsenal leg where it seemed he was taken off both for his own good (being on a yellow) and for being total balls.

He's got a lot of hard-time for other games, in the general way that he attracts a lot of criticism. He's a favourite for the negative type. Aside from Arsenal, his general play has been good save for 1 or 2 high profile errors.

O'Dea is not the saviour that people think he is.

 

No one thinks that. I'm quite sure most people in favour of O'Dea coming in on Sunday also believe Caldwell at his best is a better player. However, Caldwell so far this season has been nowhere near his best and deserves to be dropped for the upcoming match, whick would also send a bit of a message out to the rest of the team.

 

still a rookie at CB. He has hardly started any games at CB back to back. His appearances have been so patchy at CB that I think we still have no idea what he would be like on a regular basis. I just think the CD always feels like there is a huge hole in it when OD plays. There just seems to be so much space for attackers. That probably has something to do with positional instincts not being well developed. I am afraid its very very rare for a Celtic CB to be able to learn by trial and error on first team time. The only one I can remember in the last 15 years or more is Mick and with hindsight (and for all the criticism he gets) he did remarkably well and seemed solid right away back around 4 years ago. I think that is an exception. IMO, we will never know what OD can do unless he is loaned out and he is no longer all that young. If Mick is back I think he might get that loan next window.

 

I dont think OD has STARTED more than 2 games in a row at CB more than twice. He generally played a couple at CB then was out for months. The only time he has impressed me was as a defensive sort of LB last season. That seemed to suit him but I am not sure that sort of LB works in Celtics system which demands real flyers ar FB. I think he would work well as a LB in a team with a very flat back four but he seems to lack something to be a CB at a high level.

 

I agree,drop Caldwell!O'Dea deserves to play in the starting line up.
He is in better form than Caldwell for sure.

 

Im not sure.
If people are saying his poor form is due to the fact he has not received his bigger waged contract.......then maybe he should go.
Wrong attitude to have.

 

Someone mentioned giving him his new contract in order for him to get his head sorted! Aye, very good, "there you go son, your playing pish just now and costing us goals but hey! you are almost out of contract, here's 19 grand a week in the hope you settle down to having a no bad season like last season compared to the previous * ones and the nightmare just now" eh NAW !

as oft said before, he is an average player who happened to have an above average season last season (please remember he was an almost everpresent in the team that chucked away the league so he must have played some part in that) and if Caldwell is worth the kind of figures in wages being banded about in the press we should stop the game.

 

Wow, never heard of a player of the year described as having "an above average" season.

 

I think dropping caldwell would be a big mistake hes having a tough few weeks but with our next games mostly being tough ones I think he will step up to the mark. O'dea is a great player who I rate highly but hibs proved last season that they can beat us which will give them confidance and with yodi they will be on a high so I wouldnt risk putting him in.