Scott McDonald facing Celtic exit after row with Tony Mowbray....so says The Times

anyone listening to the football phone in?

Euan saying Skippy said hes off to Davie weir after the match, well he guessed thats what he said, hopefully not

 

I assume there will be another striker ready to join us then. Don't think TM is gonna sell him and then look for a new one. a replacement must have already been chosen.

 

If he leaves and noone comes in we are going to really struggle, who is going to be in the box when he goes

 

exactly. that's why I want to believe there's already a replacement in line. if not, we can hand them the title already.

 

maybe olivier giroud is about to sign ?

 

The manager is boss, Mac Donald is working his ticket to Boro to be with WGS, Strachan's probably advised him on how to wind up the current Celtic manager, he had loads of practice at trying to put Mc Geady down in favour of his signing Maloney, we all know who one that fight, don't we Gordon !!!

 

we cant let him go yet
keep him until summer and if big offer comes in then, we'll have to consider it

 

There's been interviews somewhere in cyberspace (can't remember which sight now) which quote Skippy as being happy at Celtic and would like to finish out hiis career at Parkhead. I think if he goes it'll be Mowbray's choice, not his.

 

Let him go in the summer. Can't let your top scorer leave coz it could take ages for someone else to settle and its time we don't have

 

Thats one game ,he hasnt exactly done as good in games before like the rest he has been off form ,based on one game isnt exactly the right way to go about it and TM has said if he finds better players he will go for them ,i dont think he would move McDonald on without having someone lined up ,but again the press like to add things on to stories to make drama's.

 

Didnt know he was going in for op. Anyway its looking increasingly likely that McDonad could leave. IMO i think thats a very bad move especially when today were getting linked with Kitson who is no replacement for McDonald. His goal scoring record for us is brilliant and i know folk complain about his moaning but i couldnt give a dam as long he keeps scoring and hes the only one who is putting them in the net at the moment.

 

Well that's his job is it not?? Our downfall against Rangers was not being able to put the ball in the net and its not the first time this season that we have dropped points because of it! I have no doubt that if skippy had McGeady and Samaras chances he would have scored a couple!

 

One of the first things I said when I walked into the stadium on Sunday and saw the line-up was 'I can't believe McDonald's not playing'. So this isn't being wise after the event. The fact is that Scott McDonald has proven himself over the last 3 seasons to be by far the most likely of our strikers to score against Rangers. He's always up for it against them and has bagged a few important goals against them. For that reason, he should have started the game on Sunday.

In a way, Tony Mowbray has a point, Samaras and Fortune'e did both have quite good games but the fact is neither of these guys wants to be in the box where it matters and in Samaras' case when he finally did get his * into the box his finishing was atrocious. The number of times on Sunday he picked the ball up deep, waltzed past men to get into a good shooting position then failed to even kick the ball properly was ridiculous. He really is one of the most frustrating footballers I've ever watched. For me I cannot ever see a partnership of Samaras and Fortune'e working. I did a thread on this months back saying the exact same thing. Neither of these guys wants to be in the box so how the * are we going to score? As soon as McDonald came on he was loitering in and around the box and all of a sudden our play had a more direct quality and a bit of cutting edge to it. I know McDonald doesn't work as hard as the other two but work-rate isn't everything....especially not for a striker. At a time when Celtic are guilty of creating lots of chances but missing most of them I think it is pretty criminal to have your best finisher sitting on the bench.

Tony Mowbray has benched Scott McDonald six times this season and all six times we have failed to win the match. Read into that what you will. Samaras has had a really good run of form lately but I'm finding it hard to stomach watching him mis-kick the ball in front of goal so often. I think a partnership of Fortune'e and McDonald is the way forward for us in the short term.

If we sell Scott McDonald in January then Tony Mowbray better be damned sure he has a replacement coming in who WILL put the ball in the net. If he doesn't then we won't be winning this league. Simple as that.

 

So media bullshit what a suprise.

Will he be pushed though?

 

Celtics problem is all our front three are only part strikers....some can get the odd goal and work hard and some get more goals but do very little.
We just cant get along with front men like that,we need to offload at least two of them...wont be fortune as he is big tony signing.
With the lack of money in scotland and celtic we will most like have to sell to buy and thats fine if your out in front and can afford to lose a few games here and there while waiting for the new players to get here.
I think we wil be selling in january and not spending untill summer,now that might cost us the league but i am not so sure we will catch ranger anyway.
Our defence is going to cost us this year.
Sell skippy.....i'm on the fence with this one,he gets us goals but * * does he bug the * out of me the way he moans and stuff when things aint going well.

 

I'd rather we just bought someone better than him. He does score goals, but he's like a man down unless the ball falls to him in the box. His first touch is one of the worst I've ever seen.

The problem we have is we have 2 types of striker. The first is good in build up and helps create many chances, but can't finish and the second is useless in build up so relies on everyone else to take up the slack, but can finish well.

This means when we play McDonald he often breaks up our own attacks and we end up having only one or two chances all game, and when we don't play him we end up with chance after chance that no-one can stick in the * net.

My view on McDonald is that if we're going to buy a good striker this month, let him go, but letting him go without a replacement would be crazy.

 

It's strange that people moan that Samaras' finishing is dreadful and MacDonalds is some kind of Pele like beacon of excellence. This may have been true on Sunday but over the course of the season it simply has not been the case.

Hamburg being a clear example of Skippy getting 2 one on ones on the big stage and messing things up.

Scoring-wise they are both roughly on a par this season, the difference is Samaras does far more work, creates far more, and also has that little bit extra in his game to make a goal from nothing.

McDonald has a place in our team imo, just not as a starter - he doesn't do nearly enough to be on for 90 minutes.

 

In the big games who has delivered more goals for us McDonald or Samaras? It's a no brainer. Sunday was a big game and McDonald has a track record of doing the business against Rangers, Samaras does not. He had a good game Samaras but his finishing WAS abysmal. He couldn't even kick the ball properly half the time ffs.

I still say it is criminal to have your best finisher sitting on the bench at a time when we are missing chances by the bucketload.