You can point the finger at the BBC furthermore; during the World Cup this summer, one very well-known journalist said recently that the BBC pundits did no research whatsoever for any game, and went into broadcast knowing barely anything about the up-coming games. Surprising, no. Pathetic, yes.
Given it’s the BBC, it’s the British tax payers money that pay these guys to show what they really are; incompetent imbeciles who know the square root of nothing about today’s game, despite playing it for the past 15-20 years.
How hard would it be for the BBC to reduce their annual pay by 10% and hire a proper researcher, who would give in depth analysis for the pundits to talk about? Or even better, get these guys off the television and hire actual journalists, who can talk an endless amount of time about the pros and cons about the 4-2-3-1 and why that team beat the opposition with a flat 4-4-2? I long for the day when we can get people like Gabriele Marcotti and Raphael Honigstein on. Oh, and don’t get me started on Neil McCann or Craig Burley…
It was pretty bad news that we’ll be most likely losing Fraser Forster in January, only just getting him in as #1 a few weeks back. The current Newcastle stopper, Steve Harper, is injured for 3-4 months and they’ll presumably take Forster back when the window opens back up again in January. So, what do we do then?
There are numerous options available; Try and persevere with Zaluska again (He shouldn’t even be at the club, but that’s for another day…), enquire about Shay Given at Manchester City, See if Artur Boruc is still on the bench at Fiorentina come January or most likely, start talks with Coventry goalkeeper, and Irish internationalist, Keiren Westwood, about a potential move to Glasgow, as he is available on a Bosman come January.
I do believe that Westwood would be the most viable option, as not only does he seem a promising up-and-coming goalkeeper (Only 25-years-old), but he has great potential and would have good sell on value.
Given that we have loads of haggis up here in Scotland, I’m sure Aidy Boothroyd will budge eventually…
Talking about goalkeepers, I see that Artur Boruc still isn’t getting a game for Fiorentina, which leaves me even more unhappy that the big man left this summer. He said himself recently that he wants to be playing regular football, so would it really be out of the question to try our luck with him again in January? Given that we sold him for a paltry million-and-a-half only months ago, it wouldn’t cost the earth to bring him back…
Then you have the exact opposite with Aiden McGeady; playing in the Champions League with his new team and winning games, he seems to be doing extremely well in Russia, even scoring the equaliser in their most recent game.
To make it even better for ‘McGeadski’, the Spartak fans have taken to him already, even though they protested the transfer in the summer and said he wasn’t wanted. With games against Chelsea coming up soon, his move away seemed the right thing for him, both mentally and for footballing reasons. Now, to spend the cash that we made from the sale…
I was overjoyed to see Gary Hooper score on his competitive debt in midweek, and more so to see all our strikers on the pitch get goals. Now, this has given Neil Lennon a bit of a selection problem, and possibly a slight tactical problem too.
Both Hooper and Stokes are penalty box strikers, and generally will get the tap-ins and such, and given that Maloney is playing some cracking football behind the striker just now, who do you leave out? Can you afford to put Maloney on the wing and try Stokes playing behind Hooper in the central role?
It definitely would be worth trying out, as Stokes seemed to float between being the poacher and then behind the striker at Kilmarnock last week.
The only danger, though, is that if both are playing, and playing badly, can you really chuck on Daryl Murphy in hope of a goal? Or an out of form Samaras (Granted, he isn’t out of form just now, but all hypothetical)?
It certainly should give Lennon a bit of a selection headache, but one that he would no doubt welcome.