This article is about a player who a month ago I would never have predicted would currently be Celtic’s best player and one who seems to have a future with Celtic – Anthony Stokes.
People seem to forget how well Stokes has done for us in our bread and butter games – the SPL. His first season – 2010-11 – was probably when Neil Lennon’s team played it’s best football, and a big part of that was the Stokes and Gary Hooper partnership, between them they scored 43 goals, with Stokes chipping in with 19. His second season was even more productive as he scored 21 goals as Celtic won the SPL title. Sadly he missed the first half of this season through injury, but he has recently returned to great effect.
Stokes knows that his contract runs out at the end of the season, and as a result he seems to have a new dimension to his game since his return, he is far more of a team player. In his last two starts, against Dundee United and Motherwell, he has scored two goals and created four. It’s this creative side which has made him far more of a team player, and in my opinion he should start most games between now and the end of the season, I also feel that we wouldn’t have dropped so many points earlier in the season if Stokes had been fit, he has often chipped in with big goals in SPL games. He hasn’t started many ‘big’ games for Celtic, but manager Neil Lennon has to be impressed with his recent performances and as a result he should start against St. Mirren in the cup and I would also play him against Juventus in the Big Cup. We need to score goals that night to even have a slim chance of getting through, and Stokes is currently the ideal man for that.
Earlier in the season it seemed a forlorn hope that Stokes would get a new contract, mainly due to off the pitch issues it has to be said, but since then Stokes has knuckled down and has once more become a vital player. It seems likely that Gary Hooper will leave during the summer, and it would be a big mistake letting a player like Stokes who can be just as prolific go, the signals seem to be that he will get a new contract, which is good news for a player many thought was finished at Celtic.
When Hooper departs in the summer where does that leave Stokes I wonder, Stokes is at his best playing alongside Hoops, out of all the Strikers at the club its that partnership which brings the best out in Stokes in my opinion.
This summer we need to bring in at least 2 strikers, one that is best suited to partnering big Samaras with the other one suited to the type of partnership Hooper and Stokes have had these last couple of seasons.
In your previous article you highlighted some areas of Stokes’ game that have improved, I noticed that myself since he came back from his injury, in the past it used to frustrate the life out of me watching him because you can see areas of his game that are very impressive yet some other areas let him down badly at times and in my opinion it was probably the reason Lenny didn’t fancy him for those big games where he was either left out or stuck on the bench.
The other positive thing with Stokes which is important for the dressing room is he a supporter who knows what it means to play for the club and what it means to the fans, we need individuals like that around the dresser to teach the foreign lads, kick some bo bo if they slacking etc etc ;-).
When the Juventus game comes around, will Lenny go with Stokes in that game? Him and Hooper and leave Samaras on the bench as a last half hour calvary charge, personally I think it will be Hooper and big Samaras depending on the progress with his fitness/injury, sitting in soaking up the pressure an big Samaras’ pace to counter attack them on the break.
I agree with your point regarding the games earlier in the season where we dopped alot of points , most of those earlier games we didn’t play that bad, it was just the lack of goals where notable, like yesterday that was Hoopers first goal in something like 6 games, if Stokes’ was involved in those games his games to goal ratio tells you that he could have made a difference. So hopefully he keeps up his form of late and wouldn’t it be lovely for him, and us if he got the 4th goal for us in the 93rd minute against a tired and battered Juventus, after everything he been through the last few months with his injury plus having the media trying to make life difficult with that function issue..”well we can only but dream and have hope eh, 93rd minute winner against the Italians champions” 😉
HH
I never forget!! Stokes is Celtic’s true no. 10 with vision, passing and clinical finishing. He’s easily the most under-rated player at CFC and by far Ireland’s best striker imo.
Stokes saved NL’s managerial career as well as far as I’m concerned. I love the guy!
1AT #10 YNWA HH