Adam Idah

Griffiths was a * but a * deadly one. Agree

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Haha meant St Mirren.

But you can bookmark this for when we play Motherwell if Idah starts.

 

Idah is nowhere near as bad as is made out. He's also nowhere near justifying the fee we've paid for him. Given the nature of Celtic fans to absolutely destroy Irish and Scottish players - you see how overboard fans go on the likes of Scales, Ralston, Taylor, MJ etc in the past. All those players had shortcomings but they also had big games for us and all barring MJ were a major part of success we achieved in recent years? Can we do better? Certainly but at they very least all are capable of playin squad or rotation roles for us and are very solid at domestic level. The likes of Ralston, Taylor, Scales are also brilliant professionals who don't throw the toys out of the pram when they get dropped or get criticism from the fans.

We are extremely harsh on our own and that extends to the Irish player as well who I have seen numerous people allude to the reason Scales and Idah get picked is because they are Irish. Idah's problem is his price tag, it's not his fault our recruitment didn't insist on a buy option when he arrived on loan, it's not his problem our recruitment team dicked around and around and ended up getting their pants pulled down as the season started. We overpaid, not much can be done about that now. I'd like the criticism to be objective but I don't think our Irish and Scottish players will ever get that fair chance. If he was signed from Barcelona B for €4m, the narrative around Idah would be far, far more positive.

His form is a worry, if he is to remain here next season he is going to have to step it up from last season and Sunday he didn't show enough. Missed a big chance in the second half he has to be scoring. Again I thought his movement was very good but he's definitely a confidence player and at the minute his looks low. He didn't score in pre season, another start today another blank - he badly needs a goal to set him right. He needs to keep getting in the positions he does but be more aggressive getting across defenders and on the end of things. I think the way Tierney plays and his crossing ability is going to see Idah get plenty of chances this year. There will be a lot more crosses firing in from the byline this season and Idah needs to use his size and power to much greater effect getting on the end of those.

He will start at Pittodrie next weekend if he's fit and it's a huge game in the context of his Celtic career. The manager's patience has to be running thin.

 

No, i think he is even worse than made out to be in all honesty

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How does his GPM ratio compare with GG for instance?

 

No idea. Idah was decent when he was on loan, and for some spells but he have been rank rotten for a long time unfortunately

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I don't disagree with that, it's also been mixed with some spells of very good form. The issue for Idah is his pricetag though. He is more harshly judged because we paid big money for him, similar as to how Engels will be more harshly judged than Bernardo. The players don't set their fees though.

 

I agree with @Mr Shelby in regards to his fee. If we'd only spent £3/4/5m on Idah, he'd still be getting the same criticism. Regardless of the fee, his first touch is stinking, he's lazy and he has next to no game intelligence.

I'd expect a more refined footballer for even a fraction of what we paid for Idah. Some of the absolutely basics of the game are a struggle for him most of the time.

 

Yet he still scores big goals in big games, he still comes up with big moments for us. Sometimes GG looked like a carthorse too, he never scored against Rangers and missed some massive chances but he was still a very good player for us.

To say he has next to no intelligence show a complete lack of football knowledge, his movement along the channels is for me as good as I've seen at Celtic. He does it so well every game that if he can improve the other aspects of his game, he'd do unbelievable things here. He does it so well every game, it went down as an OG but it was his movement that got us past the league phase in the CL last season. To say he has no intelligence completely undermines any credible voice you may have.

His focus and his attitude are certainly things that can be criticised and that's where he needs to work on. Be more aggressive, be more ruthless. He doesn't keep getting into scoring positions without a sense of football intelligence.

 

Idah's GPM ratio for last season was a goal every 120 minutes. His goal ratio for all appearances for Celtic sits at 112 mins per goal.

Giakoumakis' GPM ratio for his whole time at Celtic was a goal every 96 minutes.

There's not too much difference and it's not a very helpful way to judge a striker by that stat alone. It misses out a lot of context, such as Giakoumakis being more closer to his peak age, Idah being younger, the type of system the team plays (was well noted that our system didn't create much for the strikers for a period of last season), the work players do off the ball, how important goals were in terms of the result of a match.

I liked Giakoumakis but a lot of fans overrate his time with us, he missed plenty of sitters and took a while to get going himself, only got one goal in Europe vs Shaktar, and he was never able to score against the huns. Giakousmakis also had double digit runs of games without scoring but didn't receive half the stick Idah gets.

 

Neither of these things are remotely close to being true.

 

How often he lazily gets caught offside, or caught on his heels when a cross comes in is all the evidence I need to say he has little footballing intelligence. He's never anticipating a break of the ball, or an early cross into the box. Just always ends up a second behind it. The game against St Mirren there was the prime example of it.

He's scored some big goals, aye. Mostly in his loan spell which was 12-18 months ago. He hasn't improved a lick since then. In fact, I'd say he looked better during that spell than he did last season. And he wasn't particularly great during that time anyway, save for a couple of games.

We're 18 months down the line with him and I still couldn't tell you anything he excels at. He's not slow but he's not necessarily quick. He's got a big frame but gets often gets bullied. His first touch and close control is poor. He looks stiff when he's trying to run with the ball. His finishing leaves a lot to be desired. He's lazy. He'll get goals because the standard up here is so poor and we are utterly dominant in the vast majority of matches. But he's never in a million years a first choice striker for Celtic.

 

They are.

Again, that game at the weekend sums him. Caught on his heels a few times because he's not reading the game. Caught offside a few times because he was too lazy to get back onside and help the team out.

 

Pippo Inzaghi was one of the most intelligent strikers of all time. Alex Ferguson said he was born in an offside position. He gambled, Idah like good strikers gamble.

Football intelligence is movement, it's decision making. Idah has it, sometimes its his touch or composure or hesitation or lack of urgency that lets him down but I think his movement is superb but sometimes his focus and his concentration is not there. His striking instincts are very good, his physical attributes are very good - its more the technical and mental aspects he needs to work on. His finishing, his concentration levels and his aggression all need that extra bit of work. He has all the attributes to make it as far as I'm concerned but does he have the drive? That's the part I'd question.

 

Nah, it's absolute nonsense. He could be sharper but he worked hard against St.Mirren, just didn't put the chances away. Being caught offside happens to every striker. His first touch is often poor, I agree with that but the other two criticisms about being lazy and having no game intelligence is laughable. One of the things Idah is good at, for example, is making runs off the ball to help create space for other players. Players with no game intelligence don't do that.

You don't rate him, that's fine. But the criticism being aimed at him at the moment is bordering on scapegoat territory already.

 

There's a difference between being offside because you've made the run a split second early, and being offside because you're too lazy/switched off to get yourself back on to an onside position when the ball leaves the box.

Twice in the space of 10/15 Idah was offside at the weekend when the ball was cleared by St Mirren and he was casually walking back. We won the ball, played it into the box and he was called offside. Not because he moved too early, but because he never bothered getting himself back onside in anticipation of us regaining possession.

We'll agree to disagree, but I think he's miles off it in almost every aspect of his game.

 

Aye, and when it's through laziness they get called out on it.

Again, pointless debate because I (and many others) are obviously seeing a different player.

 

I fully agree that his concentration and focus are an issue, that's about getting his mind right. All strikers can get offside, if you are too eager to get back onside you don't have the run on the defender, lots of forwards can seem to be "lazy" but it's not a case of that at all, forwards can gamble on the defenders dropping deep again, they can loiter in offside positions and hope they will be played on. That's not neccessarily being lazy.

His movement for me is top class, the way he runs the channels and drags defenders about the place is very important, the goal against Young Boys a prime example, he makes these runs regularly to great effect. You mentioned offsides earlier, how many times was Kyogo flagged offside in the same game last season, was it 4 or 5 alone in the first half? Finishing and getting that bit more focus or concentration and that extra bit of aggressiveness in his game is what will be the difference between making it or not at Celtic for Idah.

He definitely has shown he has the football intelligence and instincts to make it here, whether he can address the other areas will define him.

 

I don't know how you can accuse us of under appreciating home grown or Irish players.

Idah is just *. How much stick does CalMac get? Forrest? Before that Mcgeady. Then there's KT, etc etc.

Home grown and Irish players don't get stick for any kind of racist issues.

Player get stick because they're *. Regardless of race, religion, or any other made up issues.

Idah is *, it's as simple as that.

 

The defending of Idah on this thread from a few people is genuinely mind boggling. He has done NOTHING since preseason started. "First class movement"? Give me break its one of the worst aspects of his game. The timing of his runs is garbage. Praising him for opening space because of a badly timed run is a stretch. He's crap in the air for his size. His first touch is like volleying a ball off a brick wall and his decision making in the final third is awful. Putting the £9M fee aside, what he's producing on the pitch isn't good enough. He absolutely is lazy as well. He was caught offside because he wasn't paying attention to the defensive line shifting up after the previous phase of play. Its not like he mistimed a good run and just went a second early. He needs to develop a killer instinct in the box if he wants to be number 1 striker here. Stop the frantic first time passes to team mates, stop taking stupid touches and having to run wide. We've seen he can have good technique when striking a ball. He needs to take responsibility and find the target. The amount of times against St Mirren he was in the box and wasted a move by not having a shot was ridiculous.