Whats your thoughts on Keane so far? Did well on his debut considering he'd only just met his team mates, was up past midnight the night before etc. Didn't take too long for him & Fortune to learn what the other likes to do & started complmenting one another well. Came off the bench against Dunfermiline & turned the game by having that extra bit of quality we've lacked in the last third. Good to see him get a goal the fact it was a penalty was great as we've not had a penalty taker in ages. Could be the difference between one point & three which is vital in the run in. Last night I thought he did well too. Always looking to get on the end of things, providing an outlet & looked dangerous whenever he got on the ball. In Keane we have a player who can play for 90 minutes. McDonald was great for us but would always have a 20 minute spell where he would get the huff & drift out the game. Samaras must have the shortest attention span in history, can be great for 20 minutes but then all of a sudden you don't see him the rest of the game!!! The attention Keane gets from the opposition is already helping the likes of Fortune, Kamara & McGeady get in to extra space. McGeady last night in the second half was unplayable We had that much quality on the pitch Hearts did not have enough players tocope with us!! McGeady has been having 2 players on him all season, last night Hearts were forced to to have Wallace alone with McGeady & the guy got skinned everytime in the second half. Would he have been able to do that if it was Samaras partnering Fortune? A few folk will no doubt point to Keanes missed chances again. I would point to the fact that those chances came about due to keanes intelligent runs or his techincal ability to beat a man in tight spots in the box. Would Samaras, Rasmussen & co have been able to get in that position to have a shot? One negative I have noticed is that everytime he gets the ball he is trying to do something special, like he needs to impress us with each touch. I'm not sure whether he is being cocky & thinking he can waltz through games or if he's simply trying so hard that he's not his usual composed self. Some of the tricks he tried to do yesterday made me think he was trying to hard. Personally I think he's bringing the best out of the team. Fortunes celebration appeared to be him signing on his hand & pointing at Keane, perhaps showing the board Keane must be signed up in the summer?
Did well on his debut considering he'd only just met his team mates, was up past midnight the night before etc What the **** differance does that make, it not like he was in work at 6 in the morning? I think he'll make the differance finishing teams off once were ahead , he'll be watch heavily during games but less so when teams are chasing the game but more concrened about him making the differance in the big games ie them bastards, that's what he's here for.
I think havin a striker that actually operates off the shoulder of the defender makes a hell of a difference It gives our midfielders more options than having the likes of Samaras and Fortune running down the channels. Saying that I thought Keane and Fortune played very well together. I was surprised that Mowbray didn't throw on Rasmussen last night. I thought Sammy was poor when he came on.
He may not be up at 6, but his job does not involve sitting at a computer pretending to work......he runs about for 90 minutes. It was the more the combination of not having really trained with them or anything plus the late night. Him & McGeady look like they are forming a decent partnership too. Aiden knows the runs Keane is looking to make & trying to sip him in, a few over hit passes & poor touches let us down but soon this will click in to place.
Mr G - I think Mowbray is trying to keep them all happy as best he can. Not sure he would have got Kamara had he knew Keane deal was definitely on so perhaps he has an extra striker than what he would have liked. I too would be throwing Rasmussen for the last 20 minutes/half hour of each game to get him up to fitness as he'd be straight in if there are injuries, but we need to make sure he's 100% fit first. At 2-0 I can only think he was hoping Samaras would keep his morale up by getting on the pitch & you can always say to Rasmussen "we didn't want to risk you out there with the game won" to keep him sweet. Keane was left on to try & grab him a goal to kick him on.
You could be right about Mowbray not expecting to sign Keane, however I think that could be a blessing in disguise as Kamara could be a class winger if he could just cut out the way ward passing. That guy has speed to burn which could prove useful to us on the counter attack. It will help people like McGeady that he will have more support from the likes of Kamara and Keane when we break forward. Sammy was back to his frustrating best last night. I think he's trying too hard to impress in that every time he gets the ball it seems as if he has to beat 2 or 3 men before he look up for a pass or shot. Is Rasmussen injured or is he just rusty from the Danish winter break. Wasn't he playing with the Danish league over in Thailand before Christmas?
Rasmussen hasn't played in a while due to the Danish closing for the winter break, he played in a Danish League 11.....so apart from being rusty needs to get used to Celtic, the SPL, new team mates etc. Mowbray has a hard task juggling them all, keeping them happy, keeping them fresh & fit & using them at the right time. Another forum were quite critical of Mowbray announcing Fortune is his first team striker at the moment. I thought he was spot on, the guys been in fine form the last 6 weeks & proved it again last night with his goal & all round performance. Kamara is a striker really, but with his pace he can be used behind a lone striker or outwide. When playing upfront he hangs on the left like Henry did at Arsenal. He's not really a winger hence his passing & crossing is not the best!!!
