stewarty

Don't get me wrong, I agree. If he is prepared to come to us, then I assume he will give his all and be professional. But as we have seen many times, these are the sorts of things that are used as a stick to beat players, usually by those who are determined to make up their minds and refuse to budge despite any contrary evidence.

I wonder how this squares with his leanings towards the Hooped Hordes. He hasn't been shy in making clear his allegiances, by all accounts.

Or, at the very least, they progress with us and we get a fee that reflects their potential/ performance. Although given how the likes of Telfer and McKay have fared (so far) since leaving, you could argue we did that to some extent.

Take Morelos out of the team and we don't function as well based on how Murty has us playing. I'm less worried about him missing, albeit it is costing us a lot at the moment, but more concerned with the way he is so easily wound up and how that affects his composure.

Just when we thought the banter years were behind us... I felt worse yesterday than the 5-1 last season. I think it will take a few days for me to process my thoughts.

Oh I know full well that Lawwell and the moonhowlers would to try and stitch us up if they could but legally its not something that can happen. Perhaps I'm being generous but this seems to be an appeasement attempt being facilitated by Lawwell to keep the green pound flowing. Its going nowehere. Hence why nobody serious is taking this seriously.

The more exposure to top level players the better for young Elton. He's definitely improved since he joined us and plenty of scope for improvement and this hopefully gives him a confidence boost

They approved Paul Murray so appointing Johnson will be a formality, subject to the investigation referenced, although I'm not sure why its relevant other than to appease the moon howlers.

A much fresher looking squad, in fairness. Good to see Murpy and Cummings in there. More games to help them get back to up to speed fitness-wise.

You can see that he's just not cut out to play in our country. Might well be a decent player in his home country, or even in a slower and more technical league. A classic Pedro misjudgement.

Agree with this entirely. For me, Alves was sat too deep for pretty much the whole game. As he did last week. Weaker teams don't have the experience and skill to exploit the space between the lines as often as Celtic do/did. This was compounded by other basic defensive mistakes, such as letting the ball bounce for Dembele's goal, and not showing Eduoard the outside channel and forcing him to produce something really special. Thats not to take away from any of their finishes, which it would be churlish to deny, were very good. In the wash up for me, its frustrating that it was our own actions that lost the game, rather than an exceptional performance from them. We've a month to get Martin and hopefully Bates/Mccrorie fit, to look at an improved midfield combination with perhaps Dorrans/ McCrorie giving us more options to solidify against stronger midfield outfits. We are getting closer though. And they don't like it. Roll on the 15th April!

Absolutely. After seeing him in the flesh for the first time vs Hearts, I was very impressed. Impressed enough to go out on a limb and say I also thought he had the potential to be a superb player for us. Exciting times!

Hes a very fit lad. In fact, there's an article in the Sun today featuring some chat from Martin Canning talking about just how fit he is, saying he has 'muscles on muscles', stuff like that. Also mentioned he's a qualified PT, did athletics till he turned pro where he was a good 400M runner.

Additionally, Alves got 90 minutes on Sunday but looked rusty so I'd prefer Martin to play. Alves' experience will see him through the game should he be needed, though Celtic will fancy putting him under pressure to see if he's up to speed

Call it the centre half's union if you will, but despite not having had any game time at Norwich for a chunky part of a year, Martin's fitness held up well and each week he has played he has looked sharper and more assured. He's developed a decent partnership with Bates whose pace definitely helps Martin out. I'm kinda surprised folk haven't recognised Bates' pace and recovery skills - its two of his best attributes. Perhaps its his ginger hair and gangly looks... However, back to Martin.... he positions himself really cleverly. His distribution is good, he's calm and he rarely gets caught out. I prefer a defender who knows how to avoid making last ditch tackles all the time. They look good but invariably the risk attached is far higher. This is not to say that the step up in the level of opposition will not trouble him. There is clearly a reason he wasn't getting a game for Norwich and I'm certain that its likely he is on the downward slope in terms of form and fitness that you find with most players at his stage of career.

After Murphy, Martin would be the biggest miss of those who there are question marks against in my view. He's got a calmness that I think works well with Bates, and he uses his experience well to position himself and avoid having to make too many last ditch tackles.

Dare I suggest that this has the makings of another Gernset project, like the we deserve better series of a few years ago? Also an excellent subject matter for discussion on the pod once it gets up and running.

Fantastic piece. One that I hope others will follow up and assist. We have to own our history here and tell the story from our point of view. Otherwise the void gets filled by those who hate us.

Had it in for a service last week and its been ready to roll. It doesn't like the snow, but as soon as that clears its rolling up to the Kelpies to mock the wee metal horse things that everyone is talking about.

After last week, the bandwagon has been in for a service and is ready to roll.

Campari and soda for you, aye?

Ideal - I'll head there.

If we are to keep the bandwagon rolling then a win here is a must. Anyone around pre-match for a beer?

My optimism is firmly tongue in cheek, mixed with a little of big Marvin's "keep believing". If more results go our way, you never know. Though clearly it starts with better home form so am looking forward to Saturday

Yep, Hearts will be typically stodgy I have no doubt. The prospect of Naismith and Lafferty lining up against us adds a little extra needle.