Rotation Is The Word, The World Gone Mad

Midweek LoTW, goals, crap rumours, madness and bawbaggery. Let's start wie the bawbaggery.

Jim Jeffries, bawbag and greeting faced, has decided that Celtic players need to live wie getting slapped after winning penalties. He also moans that wee teams are treated differently while polishing the wee team chip on his shoulder.

No mention that it's a sending off if any player strikes another player, like the Kilmarnock player did, and no mention of, what oor manager was trying to highlight, that Setanta have not mentioned the incident and you can bet yer bottom dollar that the next time a Celtic player banjo's someone the biggest Kangaroo Court since Skippy (the kangaroo not the player) was done for koala porn on his laptop will be called. Nasty business.

Let's not let auld fannybaws get us down. Celtic marched into the quarter finals of the Diddy Cup last night wie a 4-0 victory against Livingston. Goals from Glenn Loovens, Scott Brown  and another double from Georgios Samaras. The goals are here, here, here and here.

The manager decided to make changes wie rotation being the new buzzword at CP. Make no mistake, the proof that we now probably have the best squad options, attacking and midfield wise anyway, at CP under GS and we really do have 'quality' to come on from the bench to change the games or to rotate when needed. Whether he makes the right decisions is another question.

For the game last night the manager made 7 changes from the team that won at Kilmarnock. In came Aiden McGeady, Glenn Loovens, Paul Hartley, Paul Caddis, Scott McDonald, Massimo Donati and Andy Hinkel who still didn't impress.

These changes could have disrupted the team but it didn't. The new found pace in the final third that team 4 has developed was too much for Livingston, just as it has been for Motherwell and Kilmarnock, wie Samaras, Scotland's top goalscorer, McGeady, McDonald, Donati in the first 65mins and then Scott Brown having a field day wie the movement and pace in this area.

Aiden McGeady can be pleased wie his nights work. He was as rampant as a rabbit on viagra and one 70 yard run in the 2nd period, which ended up wie him hitting the post would have surpassed Sammy's goal on Sunday. Samaras, again, is looking like a player and at 22 I'm sure the board are sniffing a sell on value. Scott McDoanld should have scored a few but looks to be a bit crusty round the mince pie mid-drift. Shaun Maloney came on and won the same penalty that he has won in the last 2 games. The M.I.B's must be questioning this as that's 3 games in a row we have been awarded a chance to miss from 12 yards.

So all in the manager was pleased. He was pleased wie Scotland's top goalscorer- who must be a stick on for the Player Of The Month award- and praised Aiden while hiding his dislike for him. So things are looking good but why does the urge comeover LoTW to bottle these moments of contentment and smugness to sniff at a later date when it all goes pear-shaped?

Things don't look to good for Livingston. After having a mad Irishman in charge who nearly run them to rack and ruin they now have a mad Italian called Angelo Massone in charge who states that Celtic have the budget to win the Big Cup. Wie this grasp of reality I'm sure the banks are waiting eagerly for the 'For Sale' sign to appear once again at Livingston but Massone probably thinks Livingston could win the UEFA Vase wie a budget that affords him, the delights of loaning out Rocco Quinn from us.

In another example of the world going mad, the usually spot on Channel 4 Football Italia website has run a story written in never, neverland that Hernan Crespo is considering a switch to Celtic after being given the cold shoulder from the not so special one for the 2nd time in his career. We are nowhere near the transfer window opening and all ready the 'Bullshitometer' has had an outing. It's as red as Jim Jeffries greeting face, which means never will happen.

Can you really see Hernan taking a £100,000 per week wage cut to be a sub? Is this another Sharp Suited Man 'Moonbeam' to be filed under Pavyulchenko, Razen Rat and Darren Bent.  

One that hasn't got the 'bullshitometer' turning as red is this rumour regarding Dominic Cervi an American keeper who based himself on Sly Stallone in the famous fitba film "Escape To Victory" a game, which much like The Huns ECWC Final in 1972 never got finished due to a pitch invasion.

Anyway, oor man in the USA, Rudyflyer, has posted a scary picture and some background on this 'Soccer Jock'. One things for sure...he is uglier than Mark Brown!!!! What this means for Mark Brown remains to be answered.

But enough of rumours and ugly goalies. The Celtic 2nd XI beat The Thugish Reserve Huns 3-1 yesterday despite an increase in reported assults in the Airdrie area yesterday afternoon. Celtic had one player carried off after 1 minute and Joe Doumbe decided that he had, had enough after 44 minutes. Sounds like Koki Mizuno, Ben Hutchinson and Paddy McCourt came in for some hefty treatment, which proves that thugishness is inbreed when it comes to Huns.

Nice to hear, that skill won over brawn.

That's it. Midweek LoTW is over. It was free and no I won't post Nacho Ratboy's address and phone number but thanks for the e-mithers and the texts anyway. So, Friday will see a preview of the visit of The Sheep and hopefully a chance to laugh at Tango and Sash.

Forza.