Soccer Football - Scottish League Cup - Final - Rangers v Celtic - Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Britain - February 26, 2023 Celtic's Alistair Johnston, Greg Taylor and Carl Starfelt celebrate winning the Scottish League Cup Action Images via Reuters/Lee Smith
I read today with some amusement the advice The Mooch has been given by Alex McLeish. For openers, it puts more pressure on the Ibrox boss because McLeish has gone out of his way to point out that he arrived at Ibrox when a title was beyond them but two domestic cups remained, and of course he won both of them.
Which, of course, The Mooch has already failed to match.
But McLeish’s central point – aside from being that not winning the Scottish Cup is nearly unthinkable – is that The Mooch needs to build the kind of team that will compete with Celtic. And what’s his blueprint for that?
Well, he thinks we’re a “physical team” and they are not.
Do you ever get the impression that we’re dealing here with an idiot? With someone who doesn’t actually watch much football anymore? He certainly hasn’t watched our team playing. How many of us commented, when we signed Oh, that at last we had a player up top who looked imposing? Who looked like he had the physicality to rough defenders up?
The idea that we are that kind of team … it’s hard to conceive of how that conclusion could have been reached by anyone who has actually watched us play. If he’s suggesting that we’re more physical than the team from Ibrox, well I think he’s been reading too much of the nonsense which bubbles away on their fan forums.
Previous Ibrox bosses were overly reliant on tit-bits of information and suggestions from Walter Smith. If they are now relying on assistance from McLeish then they are in more trouble than we think. Even if whatever wisdom people like this have wasn’t rooted in ideas which were old 20 years ago, Celtic has changed too much for them to be valid.
This is a Celtic side which more than any other I’ve watched is built on pure skill and not the sort of stuff which was beloved of teams and managers back in the day when this clown had ideas which were still seen as relevant (although every other league in Europe would have profoundly disagreed with that.)
Back then, in the O’Neill era, even our team was built on having that physical edge; look at players like Mjallby, Balde, Sutton, Lennon … enforcers, hard guys who could intimidate the opposition. We prefer to rely on different skill-sets these days.
His answer, that Ibrox should built a team on the basis of brute force is hardly original. It’s not even particularly surprising as you can tell that it’s exactly the route The Mooch intended to go down in the first place. His style of football is absolutely based on that sort of thing with its big high punts up the park and its balls whipped into the penalty box.
And for most teams in the SPL it might very prove effective, although if he tries it in Europe any team which can play is going to take them apart.
As a system designed to counter Celtic it’s a bust. It’s a joke. Ibrox would have been as well just hiring this guy again in the first place if he’s going to provide the solution to their problem, or anything like it.
We have nothing to worry about there.
Big Eck is a bit of a sleverer these days, he is no longer anyone to be taken seriously and I doubt even if anyone Ibrox listens to him. More to be pitied than scorned.
What else would you expect from your thick hun prick.
Pep brought a whole new dimension to football with his Barcelona team, with the high press and technically gifted players to take the hatchet men out of the game as such.
Ange has finally bought that approach to Scottish football even when the hatchet men are still allowed to hold such a place in such a backwards approach to the modern game.
Even ourselves have to still improve for European football still as teams have generally improved upon beating the press and able to set up strong counter attacking football but yet to see teams try to play that way within Scotland as setting up the anti football approach is still seen as the preferred option still.
Yes there still remains a physical aspect to the game something Ange has also improved this celtic team upon where we did lose to many duels especially in Europe which were so costly for us and believe that aspect of our game will improve next season and be better prepared for the challenge ahead.
If Scottish teams want to stick with there anti football and thuggery approach then let them as we have shown for 2 seasons now that it stands very little chance of success either.
Ange won’t and don’t need to change his approach to today’s game, yet for 2 seasons now no one has been able to get close to stopping it, so isn’t it about time other managers changed there approach than listening to a long streak of ginger piss
Has he also suggested they run up sand dunes in Gullane during pre-season training?! Trying to ‘clog’ their way to success is about as relevant to modern football as following the blueprint of ‘the scotch professors’ from the early days of professional football!
Big McLeish was a very decent player. Now he is a jakeball working his way thru the tax free cash he got from the original rangers.
He is adding much needed revenue to the alcohol industry, so doing some solid work there. I wonder who his ghost writer is to interpret Jakey-language.
There must be 10 of these old rangers pundits to every ex-Celt. Wonder why that is.