Strachan hints at dropping Zurawski

POSTED ON CLUB WEBSITE: Looks like Zurawski is getting dropped against Rangers.


Gordon Strachan has dropped his biggest hint yet that the form of Shaun Maloney and Craig Beattie could force him into making an imminent change to his starting XI.
The Celtic boss has thus far opted to keep faith with mis-firing Pole, Maciej Zurawski, in an attempt to afford the £2.2 million summer signing time to adjust to the Scottish game, but with Beattie having scored in three of his last four substitute appearances and Maloney continuing to offer boundless energy and invention, Strachan admits that Zurawski could soon find himself on the bench.

He said: "Maciej is showing us he has a good brain and a good attitude, but things are not falling for him. We will work at that to make sure we see the player I know he is.

"But we are fortunate we have Beattie and Maloney who have done really well when they come on, and time will tell if they can get a regular situation. The way they are playing, that might happen reasonably soon."

 

Take it that he is not being dropped as such - just a tactical switch - at Ipox we need early goals and cant afford to wait for zuraw to settle in to the game we hope he has.

I would be more than happy to see Maloney or Beattie in against the hunsand then persevere with zuraw against the rest of the pish in the SPL where we can afford to be patient

 

when zuraw appeared in the last NT game on monday against Bosnia&Montenegro in 70th min (or little later, cant remember) our team (very second squad it was, btw) was mostly defending result (3:2) and during those couple minutes performed really well

problem was, he was only forward at that time in our team and he was the one who initiated counterattacks, wasnt the guy who wait for the ball upfront...
*!?!
and btw, he made 3 great passes from our side of the pitch that made midfielders run and set them in very good positions in counterattack..
this was more than our so called playmaker Mila who was brought in at 46. min...


anyway, i would let him start with the huns, i think this is the game when he will break through
if not, he wont make any harm to his teammates for sure
then if he wont show nothing interesting, i would let him rest in the next game and start maloney or beattie

tomorrow we have final against israel in this mini-competition (ukraine lost with israel due to penalties in the end, and will play against serb&mon for the 3rd place)
and zurawski is supposed to play from the start, so is boruc, who didnt play against serb&mon
ill keep u up to date with their performace if u like

 

GS looks like he wants to lose the first ofg of the season

 

i wouldnt mind givin beatts a chance he is due a turn against the huns he's had a lot of bad luck against them

 

i agree he is in form atm

 

Strachan hints at Celtic changes

Beattie has been in good form for Celtic this season
Celtic manager Gordon Strachan has suggested that youngsters Craig Beattie and Shaun Maloney are pressing for a start against Rangers on Saturday.
Polish striker Maciej Zurawski has yet to impress for Celtic and could drop out for the visit to Ibrox.

"

We are fortunate to have Beattie and Maloney who have done really well," Strachan told the club website.

"Time will tell if they can get a regular situation. The way they are playing, that might happen soon."

Beattie has scored in three of his last four appearances as a substitute and Maloney has caught the eye when given the chance.

The Celtic pair will lead the line for Scotland's Under-21s in Austria on Tuesday night.

But Scotland coach Rainer Bonhof was cautious about their chances of immediate first-team action at Celtic Park.

He said: "I am not sure but as long as they keep their shape I believe they will put Gordon Strachan under pressure.

"From what I have seen this season, when they have come in they have either scored or put in a great performance.

"When Maloney comes in he makes things run differently. So as long as Gordon has the opportunity to have them on the bench or try them in the starting line-up."

 

Both the Bhoys deserve chances at the moment, but id give Zurawski this last chance to make amends.

 

Zurawski plays a similar game to Bergkamp for Arsenal. He drops deep to recieve the ball and requires intelligent runs and movement ahead of him. Unless you play him with a pacey striker it's not going to happen for him. (not his fault)

 

If he cant score against Dundee Utd or Falkirk he has no chance against the scum,Beatie and Maloney must have there chance.

 

Beattie scored twice the night in the Scotland u-21 game against austria, i think he is on form at the moment and either him or Maloney should be starting. I'm not sure if magic being benched would be such a bad thing, he'd be a very good player to have available later in the game, and being a sub the pressure on him would be reduced immensely.

 

to right , put maloney on and beatie , these are the two hungriest players we have at the moment . i still think zura will come good , strachan just has to adapt the midfield to bring out the best in him. i hope he can do this , if not zura will be wasted here at celtic.
remember the first time maloney came on against the huns as a sub , he rattled the crossbar in the first min.
maloney and beattie are not just celtic players , playing for celtic is in their hearts .

 

I believe he's not the only offensive player that didn't score against Dundee or Falkirk, is he?

However, i welcome this news as it means... there's no place for Hartson Maloney and Beattie upfront with Nakamura and Petrov in the middle, I'm already excited

 

didnt want to make separate thread for that one, but wanted to share it with u guys
interview with Zurawski from gazeta wyborcza www.gazeta.pl

 

yet hartson scored twice in the last 5 goals celtic have scored... i think he will want to pummel the huns so id start him.

 

He could still come for the second half i things went wrong. I'd just love to see this team performing with two quick forwards, they could use some of Nakamura's low through-balls.