McLeish Has Given The Mooch Advice About A Celtic That Doesn’t Exist.

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.