McGinn and McCourt

Could you not have said it like that the first time ,without the lingo been added at the end.

 

mcginn is totally murder imo , robson is much better player

 

I love how McCourt will show brilliance in games like Falkirk (League Cup) and St. Mirren and everybody on this forum will rave and rant that he should get more time because he is such a creative force, yet if he has one bad game it's McCourt is slow, out of shape, cant defend, etc.

 

absolutely correct.and saying he was left out because of falkirk is a cop out. He had a poor game yes, but no poorer than anyone else.you know what you get with paddy and youll never make him a box to box player or a back tracker.Personally i feel that in spl games celtic should be so far ahead that they play 4-4-1 and let paddy do whatever he likes.that way youll get the best out of him.unfortunately we are not good enough at the moment.this however deflects from our main problem which is our simple inability to defend. if you took our defensive errors out of the equation we'd be 10 points clear already.every last cent we have in jan must be spent at the back.our attackers are more than capable if they had the confidence of a good rearguard.

 

He will play on Saturday but only because we are playing St Mirren at home (no disrespect to them) but it's not what you would call a big game! Everytime there has been a "big" game this season where Maloney hasn't been fit i.e Hamburg, Dundee Utd etc Mowbray has never went with either McGinn or McCourt because he obvisouly doesn't rate them that much and let's face it, he see's them more than any of us! Mowbray likes to play both McGeady and Maloney in Europe as we have seen but he obvisouly didn't see McGinn or McCourt as a suitable replacement for the injured Maloney, otherwise he would have played either of them in these games!

 

That hasn't happened very much this season, every game seems to be a tough game for us these days! Don't think we can afford to let McCourt do what he wants, he doesn't do any sort of work off the ball and it would mean we would be playin with 10 men most games!

 

Robson is slow, not that great at passing and is a typical "hard" player football should be about players like McGinn, fast, direct,---> EXCITING<---- and a constant threat. As i have said before scottish football wont improve until we start to play genuine good football with a * defence that can defend(please someone ) and stop raving about the Robsons who are all blood and guts with no technique thats why we are p!sh in europe because we get rings ran around us by teams like Hapoel Tel Aviv

 

If he doesn't rate either of them then neither will play because St Mirren on Saturday is a big game (sad when we are saying this, but it's true) we have to win and win well, TM knows he needs a good performance and result to give himself some breathing space which is what makes it a big game.

McCourt is extremely skilful on the ball but he doesn't track back, his decision making at times is poor and his fitness levels leave a lot to be desired so when we can't defend as a team he's a luxury that we sometimes can't afford.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>

McGinn is harder to explain, he has the pace, is more direct and his decision making is better, he's also played extremely well in the international games I've seen him in, so I was surprised he wasn't in the team at the weekend.

 

I cannot explain for the life of me why Blackfish et al can say McGinn (and McCourt) is no more than average and hardly leaves players quaking in their boots.

McGinn got MOTM against a Serbia side who boast one of the best CB's in the world (Vidic), 2 Serie A regulars also in the backline (Lukovic, Kolarov) a Dortmund CB (Subotic), and various other top flight players (striker at PSV, Zigic from La Ligua, the £8m Tosic etc etc).

If McGinn can get MOTM against an experienced, talented and cultured Serbia then how can he not do it in the SPL? Average? I think not!

 

Im not saying for one minute he doesn't rate them but he has definately shown a lack of trust in them so far when a so called "big" game comes round! Of course every game is a must win game for us, it is for both Old Firm teams but it's not a high profile team we are playin! I personally was disappointed so see Robson on the right wing on Sunday when he can't run nor do anything with his right foot! I just wish TM would give either of them more of a chance in the bigger games just like he has always played McGeady and Maloney in all big games this season! At the end of the day, how are they going to get better if TM doesn't give them the chance! If given the choice id play McGinn over McCourt because he's more of a team player imo.

 

Let's be honest, the whole Celtic team are very average...

I personally tend to disregard this MOTM against Serbia as it was a Friendly but that's just my opinion! McGinn would be trying harder than anyone else in the NI team to try prove a point and well done to him for doing so but i don't read too much into it!

 

I wil simplify my point that I made earlier in this thread

apart from Aiden, Maloney and McDonald (when all are on form) I dont think there is any other team in the SPL who quakes in their boots at the thought of facing us on a Saturday, in fact they are now openly talking in the press about winning and "nothing to fear" etc

it used to be quotes about our quality and how they wanted to avoid a heavy defeat

given the wages paid at Celtic Park, one should expect the quality of squad to be sufficient to make these other teams not look forward to playing us

McCourt is a marvellous player, but we need a midfield and defence to allow a guy like him to shine and so what if he doesnt work hard. The same may go for McGinn, but right now we need a team who can win a battle first before we start the exciting flowing fast football we all crave

we need to start with defenders, who at the slightest sniff of danger, hoof it, instead of trying to play it about

we need midfielders who can tackle and pass to one of their pals in the same colour of shirt

and strikers who can put their foot or head through the ball in the general direction of the white wooden sticks

basics, I think they are called

once we learn how to do that again and the other teams dont look forward to a game against us, I, sadly, must conclude that we are average

 

Totally agree with this ,really that is the way it is just now ,basic football skills have gone to pot at Parkhead and with added pressure to perform it looks to me that most players dont want the ball incase its there turn to get it in the ear, It obvious that the confidence is lost in there and like Blackfish said they have to go back to basic football and gain confidence to move on to the next level ,it is sad to say but the Mighty Celtic are not that Mighty anymore and that is backed up with more or less every team in the SPL going for a win every week against Celtic instead of playing to keep the score down.

 

Hold on a jiffy, so this is about our inability to defend and/or boss games rather than the ability of McGinn or McCourt?

Apart from being off-topic this has been fairly obvious - our defenders have been poor and we're not dealing with set-pieces. Either of these issues have cost us ALL our points lost this season, and this has been entirely avoidable.

So while I agree our defensive play needs to get back to basics, typified with that shambles in the box on Sunday (although this is probably the wrong thread for it), I don't see the point in criticising our attacking talent like our 4 main wingers, who can excel in the SPL.

 

It is a bit off topic but the reason being is that most of the team [not all] have lost confidence ,McCourt hasnt or McGinn and maybe a couple more but its alright saying that the wingers are doing ok when its obvious to see that no one can score ,the wingers can play well all day long and swing in as many crosses as they can but if there's no one on the end of it there is something wrong ,do we have to rely on the wingers scoring ?.

 

sorry mmmikey

I had to go slightly off topic to make the point that I dont think our two substitute wingers, McGinn and McCourt are the answer just now and will be the solution given the other problems we have

No doubting the skill factor that both have but are they better than Aiden and Maloney? I would certainly agree that either one of them are better deployed on the right than Robson and whilst Maloney is out, I would play Aiden on the left and McCourt on the right (problem is he strays too much) so as an out and out right winger the more logical choice is McGinn

He should be given his chance, but I do stand by my comment that I dont think there are many teams who will think to themselves "oh no, we are gonna be up against McGinn today"

I am not attacking him, it is just an opinion but the same sentiment goes for most of our team/squad

I hope the bhoy is a hit, after all he is getting the opportunity to play for Celtic, and he runs rings around people and gets stuck in

 

Aye well really that was my point, of all the positions we're judging, we are best on our flanks and McCourt or McGinn haven't done too much to say they aren't good enough. On the contrary both have contributed hugely this season and I hope to see more. Don't drag the wingers into problems elsewhere on the pitch!

I respect that you maybe don't rate them but my argument is our wingers aren't the problem with our team, and in fact there is a lot more to come. I think teams * themselves against McGeady (I've seen a lot of doublemarking over the last 2 seasons), yet Maloney is the better player so more fool them. Going to 3rd and 4th choice wingers we have 1 guy who is a game-breaker (McCourt) albeit short-term impact only, and McGinn who we've yet to see the best of despite a couple of MOTM's for his country. I'm looking forward to him getting a real run and having a go at McGeady.

They may not be putting the fear into teams yet but all 4 wingers should be IMO. Just wish we had the same strength in depth in the core positions, CB, CM, CF.

 

The same could be turned around...they have done too mush to suggest they are good enough! Both of them have played well in parts of games but that's about it! McGeady and Maloney have both won POTY awards recently which shows their consistancy albeit not yet this season!

 

It's different for these 2 guys coming into the team trying to dislodge our 2 best players though! Pretty difficult to win POTY on the periphery. They have played well in parts of games because they are only getting on in parts of games! Contrast to McGeady over the last 3 years who has had infuriating spells of mediocrity that can span 10 games+.

What I'm saying is we know McCourt and McGinn are capable of excelling. That is why I don't understand people writing them off way before they've had a decent run of games? After a 10 game run, feel free to criticise if necessary; but there has been flashes of true brilliance that we must assume given the chance they can do again and again given the chance. Innocent until proven guilty (for want of a better phrase) not the other way round!

 

Yes well I agree that they are capable of excelling but at the same time it get’s laughable when people turn round and say that either of them are better than McGeady and Maloney when we have only seen flashes of brilliance from them! We have 2 guys who have been good players for us in recent seasons and you get fans saying that McGinn and McCourt should be in ahead of them when we haven’t seen what they are capable of over a long run of games and when we have seen what McGeady and Maloney are capable of when at their best! Wingers aren’t going to be brilliant every game and they will have what people call “poor games” and it’s because some fans expect them to produce magic every time they get the ball and it’s just not gona happen!<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>