von Fightin-Irish » Fr 3. Mai 2013, 08:47
Youth showing up Celtic’s top guns
A quadruple double. What an achievement for any team, at any level. This is exactly what the under 20 Celtic squad managed to do on 1st May 2013. They made history by becoming the only under 20 team to do so. The youth team have played magnificently throughout the whole season, and have won the league by a significant margin. The ‘win every game’ mentality of Celtic seems to be cementing a place in each of the youth players, something that has gone somewhat astray within the first team.
Callum McGregor said before the Cup Final: “At Celtic there’s an expectation to win every game and to play well and with a certain style. It’s no different for us, you need to have being a winner as part of your make-up. There’s a lot of excitement in the squad as we are going for four doubles in a row. We’re chasing history.” When I read these comments, I was very impressed with the attitude of McGregor, it’s great to see how important they see the results, even at the ‘still developing’ stage.
This is the attitude needed in the first team. In the SPL, Celtic have been dreadful, and anybody who says different is kidding themselves on. Yes, Celtic have had a successful season due to making the last 16 of the Champions League, and are still on course to win the double. But the form over the year in the league has been awful. Celtic will win the league this season with the lowest ever points tally to win the SPL. Celtic have only managed to pick up 28 points in away games from a possible 51. That’s a total of 17 games, of which we have won 8, drew 4 and lost 5. Less that 50% of games have been won.
I’m saying this because I think the first team should look to the youth team for some inspiration, and what they’ve managed to win throughout the last 4 seasons. 8 trophies in 4 seasons is not bad for a youth team. Obviously by saying this I mean looking to next season, and of course the Scottish Cup Final. Neil Lennon has told some players they can go on holiday, something which most of the players have jumped at. Fraser Forster, Emilio Izaguirre, Charlie Mulgrew, Gary Hooper and Georgios Samaras are the latest big names to be told they can take leave. Joe Ledley and Kris Commons are the other two players, who are currently in sunny Dubai.
With 3 league games left before the end of the season, Lennon should now be giving some of the youth players a chance. With all these first team players away on holiday, it’s the perfect chance. Bahrudin Atajic is the one player I want to see thrown in. He is scoring for fun in the youth team, and definitely deserves a chance to prove himself. He has already made the bench twice this season, but hasn’t been involved as of yet. I’ve only mentioned Atajic, but the whole youth team deserve a chance to prove themselves.
Of course now that it’s the end of the season, some players will have the transfer window in mind, especially Gary Hooper. Ever since being linked with Norwich in January, Hooper has been truly shambolic. But he is still a Celtic player, and is still being paid his wage by the club, Hooper should be putting in his best performance. Hooper is also only 6 goals off becoming top goalscorer in the SPL, with 3 games left, I don’t know why Hooper doesn’t try and chase this. Instead he has chose to take his holiday and go to Dubai. Saying this, it does now give Atajic a great chance of finally making his first team debut.
John Kennedy was full of praise for the youth team, he said: “It’s great for our Academy to go and win the league and cup four years in a row. It’s credit to the work that goes on from grassroots up. We’re here to develop players, but nights like this are about developing their mentality too.” I think it’s great to see that this winning mentality goes from the bottom, all the way to the top. It’s crucial to have this mindset and mentality as a Celtic player. The fans expect nothing but to win every game.
Attendances this season haven’t been great at Celtic, but with the £100 reduction in season ticket prices for next years campaign, the fans will be back in numbers. The first team must get back to this ‘winning mentality’, and completely dominate Scottish football.
For the remaining 3 fixtures, Lennon has stated that he is willing to sacrifice winning the games in order that the players are ready for the Cup Final and for the Champions League qualifiers. I’m not sure that I agree with this at all, we still have the Cup Final to play. Is letting players go on early holidays a good idea? I don’t think so. The players should be here until the last game is over, not 4 games before the end. Hibs are in the same position as us, as our opponents in the final, but do you see Pat Fenlon saying to Griffiths that he can go on a holiday if he wants? No, and correctly so.
Lennon has also said that he wants to ‘bring back the thunder’ and ‘make Paradise a fortress again’. For this to happen, the attitude of the players MUST change. The players know they don’t need to win every game to win the league, but Lennon must sort this. It is a huge problem among the top players. Getting the winning mentality into the players minds, in my opinion, is crucial for next seasons campaign. The youth team can certainly advise the top earners how to go about getting this mentality into their mind.
I don’t know if I’m being a bit too optimistic here, but for next season, I think the target should be to reach the group stage of the Champions League, and to win the domestic treble. Is that asking too much?
http://celticjournal.org/youth-team-showing-up-celtics-top-guns/
