Glenn Loovens set to return

Crocked Glenn Loovens close to Celtic comeback - The Daily Record

It's good to have another fit centre-back to choose again. The question is....will he really make much of a difference to our wobbly back four?

 

no he won't be much of an improvement at the back

 

he'll go in ahead of odea for sunday if hes fit odeas been playing injured from the ross county game onwards

 

I think he's much better than O'Dea but our Glenn wills till never be more than 3rd/4th choice for us - which is fine. You've got to look at some players and just say, yeah, not first 11 material but perfect cover.

I've got much higher hopes for Hooiveld and Rogne. Thompson and Loovens for 3rd/4th choice.

 

£3million for a guy who's only ever going to be good enough for cover was an almighty boo boo then.

 

Loovens / Hooiveld will - if still here - be first choice next season i would think, with Rogne then Thompson. Putting head in lion's mouth here, but a just don't rate O'Dea. Has a great game, then two average (at best) games, but for some reason on here i predominantly keep on hearing about the 1-out-of-three good game.

 

True, although it was £2.5m if I'm being picky.

The thing is at the time you have to consider a few things - was he an improvement over what we had? (Yes, only Caldwell was better so at the time Loovens would be 2nd choice), is a second choice CB worth £2.5m (a bit much but yes, probably about right) and lastly all signings are a gamble - especially the less you spend (pay peanuts get monkeys and all that).

So all in all he's been a bit disappointing and we probably paid over the odds but it was the right signing at the right time. He's certainly not as bad as a lot of people make out.

 

me too mate , if we can get naylor to play the way he did 1st season and since lenny came in hes been no bad beter than normall

hooiveld and rogne will be like new signings next season anyways sooo i really think they can tighten up the way we want it

 

Although I'd love Naylor to regain his form I just don't think he can ever redeem himself in the eyes of the fans. He is too easy a target and Samaras is going that way too - no matter how well they play.

I'm thinking for left-back it's about time we gave up on an attacking minded player - we're needing someone solid and consistent, like (dare-I-sayit) Papac at Rangers. Unspectacular, but a good engine and solid defensively. Papac was essentially a CB before Smith took over so that's what we should be after - a converted CB.

I remember when Givet signed for Blackburn for £3.5m we were missing out on that exact type of player - there must be more out there!

 

Picky bassa :icon_mrgreen:

I'm actually not totally convinced that Loovens was the 2nd best centre-back we had at the time. I think Stephen McManus is just as good as Glenn Loovens. Neither of them are particularly great in my estimation.

I just find it so strange(and frustrating) that Rangers wanted Loovens then we swoop in and offer him more money and he turns out to be average at best. Rangers then go off and sign Bougherra who, it has to be said, has turned out to be a big success. Why couldn't we have spotted Bougherra and just gone and got him and let Rangers have Loovens?
Although something inside me says if that had happened then Bougherra would have been a dud and we'd be sitting here now saying what a good defender Loovens was. In recent times it always seems to work out that way with the defenders the Old Firm buy.

 

When on his game Loovens can play ,lack of pace is a concern though,but if he played with someone who could compensate him with a bit of pace Loovens would be fine.

 

They don't call me the * for nothing

Fair do's, in a way though it was almost irrelevant just how much an improvement Loovens was over McManus - in the eyes of the fans McManus had to be dropped and we needed a capable replacement, I think everyone knows O'Dea is/was not that!

I can't understand where Rangers get their quality CB's from. Is it our scouting that's flawed, do we have poor defending coaches? Or are Rangers just lucky?

Boumsong, Cuellar, Bougherra have all come in and been the best CB in the SPL with zero fuss. There are others over the years as well!

Bougherra is an interesting one as you've pointed out because him and Loovens have a lot of parrallels - average/strong Championship players who may or may not make the step up. How did we end up with half the player?

The thing is Loovens had a spell in his first season when he looked strong and solid, perfect partner to Caldwell. But that form quickly disappeared. If he can do it for 5-6 games (and the same goes to all our players) why can't they do it over the course of a season. Bad players don't come good overnight and good players don't turn bad overnight! Is our behind the scenes coaching the common cause???

 

Maybe all our centre backs are not good because we are not a defence minded team- wheras the huns focus on this area- thus get the best out of their defenders- would Weir be as good with Celtic? I don't think so!

I want to see Rogne and Hooiveld at the back- but I am worried about their lack of fitness- are they made of China just like Maloney?

 

i'd go for that lee wallace he doesny attack an awful lot

 

Yep this is exactly what I'm talking about.

It's not a one off event we're talking about here. Rangers consistently pull out good goalkeepers and good centre-backs while we are notoriously weak in these positions. Take Artur Boruc out the equation and we haven't had a good goalie in nearly 20 years, meanwhile Rangers have had Woods, Goram, Klos, McGregor and even Waterreus wasn't bad! Like you say, they've also had Boumsong, Cuellar and Bougherra at the back while we've had the likes of Caldwell, Loovens, Scheidt etc......

There must be some explanation for this and I'd love to hear people's theories on what it is. The most obvious answer would be scouting I suppose. If that is the case then I suggest we go and poach Rangers scout who watches centre-backs :icon_mrgreen:

 

Loovens is decent. Gives his all but is prone to too many mistakes

 

Let me see now, Caldwell had no pace, could not header the ball, and had no physical presence, (unfortunately for him Caldwell is basically a midfielder who was too immobile and converted to CB as a result). So how on earth does that make him a CB never mind the best CB that we have had recently? Now for macManus. He also had no pace but did present a physical presence of sorts as he could tackle and won his fair share in the air but sadley still not enough. But as CB's go he has better attributes than Caldwell but suffered a loss of form, maybe due being made captain. The other newer CB's, Loovens, Rogne, Hoovied appear to be better equiped in all departments than these two were. All can run, all can head, all can tackle and all are 6+ all of which is necessary for a modern CB. Hopefully we can make a decent pairing up!

 

Sorry C.B. can't agree.

If you don't know that Caldwell was our best centre-back during Mowbray and Strachan's reign then you need help! Yes he had howlers but McManus, Loovens, Balde (Strachan era), O'Dea, Kennedy (injured sadly), nobody came close.

 

Great name for the thread got my hopes up only for it to be dashed ,thought he was finally going back to the championship the guys a total donkey .

 

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He has the edacity to come out after a defeat and say things like the lads where unlucky tonight knowing full well he was the culprit for the defeat with the mistakes he just made on the park.
I am all for self belief but I think he goes well beyond licking his own *.
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You ask any forwards who has player there football in Scotland over the last 10 years who they most feared when facing Celtic and the over whelming answer would be big Bobo. Now that is not an opinion, that’s a fact.
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I am getting very frustrated with a large section of our Celtic fans who think they know what they are talking about. I was reading a post a couple of weeks ago going on about a player who they thought was great and wanted him back and a reply was talking about having the memory of a gold fish.
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I am beginning to wonder if this can be said of a vast amount of people on this forum, I know we all have different opinions, but sometimes I wonder if people are just following the bandwagon or just trying to wind us up.