2016/17 Pre-Season Discussion Thread

Disappointing if true, playing the English champions in a prestigious tournament along side some big teams I'd have thought tickets would sell well. £20 for me isn't that much to ask for when you consider tickets for the Barca game in Dublin are £80 a pop.

Brendans first game at Paradise will hopefully be a sellout, would have been good to see the likes of Vardy, Kante and Mahrez as well but don't think they'll be there.

 

It's not his first home game. His first home game will be against Lincoln or Flora

 

It's his first friendly home game. :icon_mrgreen:

 

http://www.snspix.com/20-06-16-celtic-pre-season-training/photo/155149.html



Pre Season Training gets underway

 

For me definite starters without question this coming season should be Sviatchenko, Tierney, Bitton, Rogic and Roberts. All other positions up for grabs and it's fair game for everyone.

 

I'd agree except rogic. Personally he's good cover but that's a massive position and I'd want us to sign real quality for there to open up defences in Europe.

 

Dafabet will be chuffed wi the training kit

 

Griffiths???

 

I thought we played them away, then Leicester at home and then one of those two at home, must have got my dates mixed up.

 

I'm sorry but we need to strive for better imo, like imagine someone saying to you the day we beat Hibs in the SC final a few years ago when Hooper got a brace that in a couple of years our number one striker will soon be that guy playing for Hibs up front Griffiths, be honest you would have laughed and said no chance. I know it's controversial and he scored 40 goals last season which was a tremendous achievement but then Commons once got 32 goals from midfield and not a lot of people want him in the side anymore. I just don't trust him in the big, big high pressure difficult games.

For me we need to be aiming higher now, we need to aim for a Hooper type striker again who takes their limited chances more often than not or better and I've already suggested in another thread someone of Jonathan Soriano's calibre.

For me Griffiths needs maybe 3,4,5 chances a match to finish and he gets those chances no problem domestically against your Kilmarnocks, Ross Countys, Partick Thistles, Hamiltons etc but when it comes to the crunch in tight games against harder opposition where chances are more limited I just don't trust him to take it. His record of 4 goals in 20 European games shows that and one of those goals was against Icelandic part timers.

He's also for me not a great FK taker, a terrible penalty taker and his one on ones with the keeper aren't good enough either. Like when he was one on one with the Ajax keeper last year you've just got to bury that and he didn't hitting it straight at the keeper. He'll maybe score something like 4 or 5 times out of 10 one on one whereas we need someone who will score 8 or 9 times out of 10. In Europe he also shows a lack of composure snatching at a lot of chances for me also, we need a cool head up front.

For me I view Griffiths as like an upgraded Stokes in attack, he'll get you goals against the dross domestically and have some other decent moments but he just doesn't have it in the end for the bigger, important more difficult opponents to be relied upon. Don't get me wrong he's a much, much better striker than Stokes but this is just how I feel about Griffiths just my opinion.

 

20 quid is ridiculous for a friendly mate. I'm a season ticket holder and there's no chance I'm paying that considering I've just shelled out 450 for my renewal and will be paying another 50 or so before the end of August for the qualifiers.

It's on the telly as well so imagine that's probably behind lower sales.

 

Find it so strange that Griffiths isn't rated by everyone. Tell me who we can sign who would be better than Griffiths, who should we be aiming for?

Crazy to think we have a guy who has been out scored only by Suarez, ibrahimovic and ronaldo but still isn't up to par.

 

It's against the current English Champions in a prestigious International friendly tournament with some of the worlds biggest names included, fair enough if it was against someone like Plymouth but we've got Barca, Inter and Leicester in our own group but in other parts of the world you've got Man Utd, Chelsea, Tottenham, Man City, Real Madrid, Bayern, Liverpool and others taking part in the same tournament we should feel privileged to be invited. It's the most glamorous friendly tournament in the world with decent money involved for taking part. Look at Sevco, having to travel to USA to take on University and College teams for practice in comparison.

And best of all you couldn't ask for a better venue in Paradise to host it, I personally think it's a decent price and I'm sure the sun will be shining also. Everyone has their own opinion but I'll definitely be there and looking forward to it don't forget these tests will be vital for our players to prove themselves against decent opposition and they'll be playing out their skins to impress Brendan so we may surprise a few in this tournament.

 

Some people are never happy.

Lone striker scores 40 goals in a season....nah no good enough

 

Oh come on you've got to be taking the mickey with that last line? We play in the SPFL, Adam Rooney is hitting nearly 30 goals in all comps every season for Aberdeen who create even less chances than us per game. By that logic Griffiths is better than Aguero, I do appreciate Griffiths and his contribution last season but I don't think it's unfair to be asking for better.

I've already mentioned Soriano as a possible replacement who would be much better but there are others out there too.

 

If you're talking league goals, then Higuain and Zahavi also scored more

Messi, Lewandowski and Zahavi all scored more in all competitions too... but I agree with your point :smiley-laughing002:

 

You love Soriano don't you? :smiley-laughing002:

 

If you read my post fully you'll understand what I mean I do appreciate the amount of goals he scored but I still feel we need better at a higher level, Commons got 32 goals from midfield one season, do you want him in the first team?

 

I do, I would chop off my balls to guarantee him here for our first friendly pre season. :icon_mrgreen:

 

Theres no magic formula for a great striker though, we cant just say 'we will pay x amount of money and they will score x amount of goals'.

I know where youre coming from but we should be grateful weve got an inform striker banging in 40 goals last season, that suggests to me progression in his game and hopefully more goals next season.

And if it was last season commons had bagged 32 goals, youre * right id have him in my team next season.