Hinkel

of coarse its whats needed, nearly every player has a dvd of them self playing, just need to get guys in to analise them, the best guy i think for spoting players that fit in with our style is david hay he has got us some gems when in charge

 

I'm sorry mate but the FACT is what is going on south of the border has a direct influence on Celtic's signing policy. A bottom of the range Premiership player is on around £20-30,000 a week. A squad player £30-50,000 and your top players are £60,000+. Henrik Larsson was the highest paid player ever to play for Celtic and he was on around £40,000 a week. Which he deserved of course but the point is his wage was just a standard Premiership wage. That's the gulf.

The point is this, if there is a player in Croatia who is showing enough potential for us to be interested then there is a good chance there will at least one or two Premiership teams aware of his existence too. If they decide to bid for him and offer him £25-30,000 a week then that's us out of the running before we've even started. Celtic aren't going to give that sort of money to a player unless they feel he is almost guaranteed to be a success. Basically we have to take chances on players that Premiership teams have decided aren't good enough or aren't sure enough about to make a bid for them. Sometimes we'll get it right and sometimes we'll end up with a dud.

If you look at Celtic's whole squad right now it's full of players who have some ability but also have flaws in their game. That's just where we are at the moment and the Premiership is part of the reason why.

Anyway back on topic...........

I'm not as big a fan of Hinkel as many people are. He is however the best right back at the club at the moment so for that reason alone we'll have to plough on ahead with him in the team.

 

Nobody thinks the players you mentioned are world class or high quality but they are solid for the money paid and the competition from clubs in bigger and better leagues.

Considering the financial restraints of the club vs Europe, the quality of the SPL vs Europe, UK Immigration Laws vs. Spain/Italy/Portugal/Belgium/Netherlands/France, weather, etc etc ETC

What exactly are Celtic not doing to try and improve the quality of the squad? They are trying as hard as possible within the financial constraints unless they are omitting something that you know and they dont. Please enlighten everyone please!!

 

hinkel has become a celtic fan himself. and this you can see in his game, he is always giving his best for club and supporters. And by the way he is the best right back in scottish football. So what are you moaning about?

 

I think now they are trying to improve the squad....

I think under Strachan it went down hill,

people accepted that Hinkel was our best right back....and then summise that we cant do any better than him

The fact is we can do better....and so we should!!


Strachan signed Pressley, Hartley and Robson....they werent trying to unearth gems...who we could sell on at a profit

They were trying to thread water in the SPL....sign players that were proven at SPL level, but never good enough/ too old to be sold on to EPL.

O'Neill us money and brought in talented players...the likes of Viduka and Petrov

I think Mowbray will do the same

Signing talented players and selling on to the richer EPL would generate funds for the team....

Where as Strachan signed Riordan from Hibs and he went back to Hibs
Hartley went to Bristol City.....

These are the type of players we signed....Hibs and Bristol City standard

Players like Ki...young and talented can do well for Celtic..increase their value and be sold on for a profit.....

Signing older players like Robson and Hartley wont generate a profit...meaning we are stuck with "financial constraints" in the transfer market

My point is Strachan didnt spend wisely in the transfer market, most signings had no sell-on value

 

Boruc and probably Brown too!

 

We arent looking to sell players a la the Argentine League. That has inbuilt instability. Celtic have stated that they want to hold onto their 'core players' whilst trying to add quality & experience to the core players. Thats the clubs strategy, not your idea.

Pressley, Hartley and Robson

Manager looking for experience and leadership in the dressing room and they have it in spades. They didnt cost alot either. Also they were signed in the January window, a very contricted time to buy players. Celtic knew exactly what they were buying and its not a good idea to have a dressing room full of young talented players without leaders to show them what it takes to win.

Nobody is accepting that hinkel is the best right back possible but there are other positions in the team that should be strengthen before looking at the RB position again. I dont see the point in strengthening a strong position unless Hinkel has talked to management about moving on. Which hasnt happened.

Currently CB is where all the criticism is aimed, that is the weakest point of the team and management either get the current players performing or get in players who can.

 

He is not the best right back in Scotland, you are kidding yourself if you think that. I recognise that people have entrenched positions on players like Hinkel and I can accept that. My entrenched position is that Hinkel cannot defend, which to my mind is a pre - requisite of a full back. The assists are neither here nor there as far as I am concerned, they are just bonus points. We need to stop the horrendous leaking of goals first and foremost in our backline if we are to win the league. And that to me is where Hinkel
and the Three Stooges have been letting us down. I am willing to give Danny Fox the benefit of the doubt as he is still a comparatively new signing and is still bedding in, but I accept that he has to do better too.

Here is what Peter Martin wrote about Hinkel in todays 's Evening Times

PETER MARTIN: Triple test will show Bhoys the SPL gap - Evening Times | Sport | Editor's Picks (ignore)

 

Then who is?

 

Has any other right back in this country managed 17 caps for their country?

Never mind a country the qaulity of Germany.

 

Who better than Hinkel in Scotland??

 

Holding on to "core players" is fine....if we're talking about hanging on to the top four or five or six players in the squad , to maintain the squad at a high level

But what Celtic seems to do is sign players who will be at a certain level, and wont attract much interest from outside...making them easy to hang on to....like we're hanging on to make up the numbers..

What I mean is...we arent hanging on to them to maintain a quality squad...because our squad is full of average or mediocre players

Boruc, Brown and McGeady are the only ones with real interest in them time after time....
and we have done well to keep them I think.....

But most of the rest we are "hanging on to" because they are not good enough for the next level....(with a couple of exceptions)(also our two CM's atm are on-loan)

In reality we are not hanging on to the core of our squad...we are stuck with them...

Any top side will be able to loose any one or two top players and still have the squad or be able to make the odd signing to maintain a certain level of ability and to maintain a core squad good enough to compete at the top...

Ronaldo would have been one of uniteds "core player", Henry one Arsenals...they would have liked to hold on to them but had a quality squad that meant it wasnt the end of the world if they left

The fact is we struggle with the quality in the our squad

We need to build a core with quality until we can talk about hanging on to it....
It's easy hang on to players who there's no real offers for or not been actively pursued and chased by top clubs with more money....

So I think we need to strengthen the core of the team as a whole

I dont think Hinkel is of high enough quality that we should be hanging on to him...our squad should be good enough that someone of his standard is easily replaced

Experience can be over-rated, what you really need is strong character and drive in the squad...which creates a winning mentality

I mean the majority of experience coming from Hartley, Pressley and Robson is how to achieve mid-table in the SPL...

Roy Keane came with experience...but a fat lot of good that done us..coz he was finished when he came

we should only be hanging on to players of good quality...and only trying to sign players of good quality...(experience can be a bonus in signing players / but it can also turn out to be a negative)


I wouldnt see anyone in our defense as part of a core team that we should be hanging on to ...and building our squad around (exclude fox as he's relatively new)

The fact is we have 3 RB's (4 if you count Caldwell)...Its time to chop off the deadwood (from what I have seen none of them are of high quality...but Caddis is the only one with potential)

Hinkel is crap in defense and ok going forward...that doesnt mean we should relieve him of defensive duties and ask him to score more goals

It also doesnt make him good enough to be "hanging on" to..especially with too many players for that position in the squad

 

As a right back?

Caldwell, Wilson and Caddis for starters....


based on defensive capabilities...

in an attacking sense...you could put McGeady at right back and he'd be as good in defense(if not better) and better in attack

 

Yea, every club is like that. The players that take us to the next level aren't lying around hidden from the world, they are important players at other clubs that have long contracts and the clubs dont want to sell and probably the player doesnt want to come for the quality of the league or the money on offer.

This illusion that every player wants to come to Celtic and play in the SPL is what has fans expectations all messed up.

Our ability to upgrade the quality of our squad is limited by the financial muscle of the club and the quality of our league, neither are good at the moment.

 

Nonsence

 

I think Hinkel is the best wing back in the league, but when you attack you have to jettison some of your defensive responsibilities you know.

I think Caddis is a better defender, and that's what we need at the mo, so he should get the run of games he needs!

 

Why do people assume Caddis is a better defender? He is more of a winger and against Vienna was getting brushed aside with worrying ease.

And saying Caldwell is a better right-back is laughable - better defender yes, but painfully slow and dire crossing which are fairly essential attributes of a full-back. I've said before if we're facing an onslaught from someone like Chelsea, it might be an idea to play Caldwell at right-back tucked in essentially as an extra CB (Waltenaccio) - but to me it just highlights how low people are willing to go to disparage Hinkels ability.

 

I have stated it before and will state it again for the uninitiated.
Craig Thomson is the best right back in Scotland just now both offensively and defensively IMO. It is all about opinions of course on a messageboard, and I respect and appreciate everybody's opinion.

As to the question of Hinkel's caps, in context they mean absolutely nothing just now as Jigraptor has already expanded upon. Experience dozen't necessarily translate into positive results. Only those players who consistently work on improving their game at the highest level, can be equated with excellence. Hinkel's has not worked on improving the defensive aspect to his game in the three years he has now been with the club, perhaps he is incapable of that, and if that is the case then he is not good enough for Celtic. We can do much better like Thomson for example.

And remember that Hinkel is not winning international caps now for his country. They have dried up.

What does that now tell you about Hinkel ?

 

Craig Thomson, maybe he can become a better player but currently, not a chance.

I dunno what your idea of a fullback is, maybe you are taken in by his dead ball skills but he's not a better full back than Hinkel, nowhere near it currently

 

wake up m8. it´s all about money in fitba. you like dani alves? he would join celtic only if abramovic would give us his dirty money to pay him wages poor families in russia are dreaming of.

would you identify yourself with a team dominated by the ones of ibrahimovic or anelka? they are talking about how much they love their clubs week in week out and if someone gives them a few quids more they shift their allegiance to any other "employer"

people like you were the first shouting when gary CALD"not so"WELL was dreaming of maximum money for minimum skills.

Hinkel, Fox, Loovens, Crosas, Samaras, Robson and Wilson are not the best footballers in the world but they all wear the hoops with proud.

I LOVE CELTIC - NO MATTER WHAT