Celtic midfielder Teddy Bjarnason has urged Gordon Strachan to give the club's key players a rest - so that he can take their place.
The Iceland international recovered from a broken metatarsal to take his place on the bench during the Old Firm defeat at Rangers last Saturday.
And the 20-year-old, who made his Celtic debut in the 2-1 defeat by Hibernian in May, is hopeful of getting his first game of the season as the club's heavy schedule continues.
Celtic suffered an energy-sapping late 1-0 defeat at Benfica on Wednesday and have Mark McGhee's in-form Motherwell to contend with at Parkhead in the Scottish Premier League.
And Bjarnason is waiting in the wings if Strachan feels his midfield needs freshening up.
"There have been loads of games and people must be starting to tire," Bjarnason told the Celtic View.
"That's when I'll be hoping to get my chance, when the manager has to use more players, and I'll be ready to take it. But I'll just have to wait and bide my time. The team is playing well this season and they have shown that by beating AC Milan, last season's Champions League winners. They have had a lot of difficult games and they have done very well, so I have to be patient."
Motherwell centre-half Mark Reynolds is also hoping to capitalise on Celtic's return from Portugal and tough 90 minutes in the Estadio da Luz.
The Scotland Under-21 defender said: "I do know from personal experience that doing a lot of travelling before games does take it out of you. They have a busy schedule so hopefully that will work in our favour, but at the same time they have a massive squad full of quality players that they can pull in who have fresh legs. We just need to concentrate on our game and as long as we turn up and put on a good show for our fans then hopefully the result will take care of itself."
The Steelmen last week followed up their CIS Insurance Cup win over Hibernian by foiling the Edinburgh side's bid to go top of the SPL with a 2-1 victory at Fir Park.
The Lanarkshire side have won three games on the road in the league this season as well as their 4-2 cup triumph at Easter Road.
And such form has convinced the 20-year-old that they should go to Celtic Park with confidence.
He told the club's official website: "The team is not scared of going anywhere or playing against any team at the moment and we know that on our day we can compete and beat anyone in this league, including the champions. Celtic are one of the top teams in Scotland and Europe so we are looking forward to going in against them and proving to everyone that we are a serious threat to be reckoned with this season."
13 October 2007
Scotland manager Alex McLeish wants reluctant hero James McFadden to grab the headlines again by scoring the winner against Ukraine at Hampden.
The Everton striker's sublime goal against France in Paris last month took the Scots to the top of Group B with only three Euro 2008 qualifying matches remaining.
The former Motherwell player has been in out of the Everton side since moving to Goodison in 2003 but is back in David Moyes' plans in time for the visit of the World Cup quarter-finalists.
And although the 24-year-old has been uncomfortable with the adulation received on the back of his Paris strike, McLeish encouraged him to become a hero again.
He said: "James is a humble person and he will not think he is a superstar all of a sudden. He is probably a little bit embarrassed about the whole thing but I would like him to embarrass himself again. He has a swagger but is humble with it and that is what you would want to see in young footballers. Sometimes they can change and become precious but James is a good type. It is for other people to say certain things and judge but I am sure his feet are firmly on the ground. McFadden has bundles of character and has proved time and time again he can come back from a setback. David Moyes has brought in a striker who cost £11million (Ayegbeni Yakubu) and it is difficult for him to leave players like that out. I can accept that and so it is good to see James is being picked on the basis of his recent good form."
McLeish added: "James has never let us down, regardless of whether he has been out of the Everton team or not. It is a bonus to have him scoring at club level because it hones his sharpness and keeps his confidence up. I know he only played for 45 minutes at the weekend against Newcastle but I can understand after a long trip (to Metalist) he was maybe a little bit tired. Davie has obviously done me a favour there and saved him for Scotland!"
McLeish insists his players are as keen as the Tartan Army for the kick-off to arrive at Hampden.
However, the former Rangers boss admits his side are not as wildly optimistic as the 52,000 fans who will pack the national stadium this afternoon.
He said: "To say the players are looking forward to it is an understatement, there is no doubt about that. You can see they have an edge about them in training, despite being told in the early part of the week to step off the gas and save themselves. There is a maturity about the squad which has risen since the start of the campaign. The players are handling things such as the hysteria of the last double-header well. I am not saying that means we will definitely win, because there has got to be a realisation that we may not. And if people do realise that, it can give the players a little bit of peace of mind in their approach to the game."
11 October 2007
Motherwell are running the rule over VPS Vaasa goalkeeper Henri Sillanpaa during a short trial.
The 28-year-old Finn is keen to impress at Fir Park and earn a more permanent stay, having been with his current club for almost a decade.
He told Well's official club website: "There are still three games left in the Finnish league and my team want me to stay, but hopefully something gets sorted out soon. I've been playing and have been the captain for VPS Vaasa for seven years and three years professional before that, so it would be good to try something new in Scotland."
Steelmen boss Mark McGhee added: "We are aware they want to keep him, but the lad is only here because he wants to leave, he wants to try something else. We have now seen enough to like what we see and we will watch him playing and see what we do from there."
10 October 2007
Keith Gillespie has been named in Northern Ireland's squad for the team's Euro 2008 qualifier against Sweden on Wednesday.
Gillespie was fined after an altercation with George McCartney prior to the team's flight back from Iceland last month and is named in a 19-man party, despite missing Sheffield United's defeat to Bristol City at the weekend through injury.
Luton midfielder Stephen Robinson has also been included by Nigel Worthington – Robinson won the last of his six caps against Azerbaijan in 2005.
After disappointing back-to-back defeats in Latvia and Iceland last month, the Northern Irish lie third in Group F, three points behind leaders Sweden and Spain.
The full squad:
Maik Taylor (Birmingham), Alan Mannus (Linfield), Michael McGovern (Celtic); Stephen Craigan (Motherwell), Tony Capaldi (Cardiff), George McCartney (West Ham), Aaron Hughes (Fulham), Jonny Evans (Manchester United), Gareth McAuley (Leicester); Keith Gillespie (Sheffield United), Steven Davis (Fulham), Sammy Clingan (Nottingham Forest), Grant McCann (Barnsley), Chris Brunt (West Brom), Stephen Robinson (Luton Town), Steve Jones (Burnley); David Healy (Fulham), Kyle Lafferty (Burnley), Ivan Sproule (Bristol City)
06 October 2007
Hibernian sprung a surprise with a 1-0 win away at Rangers to leapfrog the Old Firm side and go top of the SPL table.
Hibs' victory came courtesy of David Murphy who struck on the hour mark to give his side all three points and a place at the top.
Dundee United were 1-0 victors over Motherwell – a result which moves them up to fourth in the table.
The two sides started the day equal on points but The Tangerines are now three better off after Darren Dods hit the net with just over ten minutes remaining.
Hearts were the day's biggest victors after they beat Falkirk 4-2 at Tynecastle.
Andrius Ksanavicius, Marius Zaliukas, Andrius Velicka and Christian Nade gave the hosts a four-goal advantage but Graham Barrett and Pedro Moutinho both got their names on the scoresheet in the last five minutes to give the scoreline a degree of respectability.
Abime Koudou scored in the first minute of the 2-2 draw between Kilmarnock at Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
A Simon Ford own goal pulled Inverness level but Colin Nish looked to have given the hosts the win before Don Cowie struck to give Falkirk a share of the spoils.
06 October 2007
Dundee have bolstered their squad by signing Motherwell defender Martyn Corrigan on a month's loan deal.
Corrigan, 28, has joined the First Division club until November and is expected to feature in Saturday's league game against Hamilton Accies.
The defender signed a three-year contract extension with the Steelmen in May 2006, after recovering from a cruciate ligament injury.
Corrigan has played 272 games for Well, the Dundee website said.
04 October 2007
AC Milan accept the incident involving Dida at the end of their 2-1 defeat at Celtic did not affect the result and will therefore not make an official complaint, but UEFA could still act.
An 89th-minute strike by Scott McDonald gave the Scottish champions their first win over the Rossoneri in seven attempts but his late goal sparked off a controversial incident involving Milan keeper Dida who had pushed Gary Caldwell's shot back into the path of the former Motherwell striker.
A supporter rushed on to the pitch and appeared to brush his hand against the Brazilian who, after initially chasing the invader, collapsed to the ground in a heap.
After some medical attention, Dida was replaced by Zeljko Kalac seconds before the final whistle blew.
Celtic will carry out a "full investigation" but they will have to wait until Friday to find out if referee Markus Merk or UEFA delegate Andreas Akkelides have included the incident in their match reports.
Milan's vice-president Adriano Galliani confirmed the Serie A side would not be looking to reverse the result.
"It's a decision that I've agreed on with president Silvio Berlusconi," he told BBC Online.
Local police, meanwhile, are investigating the incident.
In 1984 Celtic were ordered by UEFA to re-stage the second leg of a European Cup Winners' Cup third round tie against Rapid Vienna at least 100 miles from Parkhead after a bottle had been launched at Rudolf Weinhofer who fell to the ground despite the missile landing several feet away.
The Hoops, down 3-1 from the first leg, had been leading 3-0 before the incident and they lost the replayed game at Old Trafford.
Celtic manager Gordon Strachan refused to let the incident spoil what was an amazing result for the Hoops and Scottish football, coming as it did on the back of Rangers' remarkable 3-0 win over Lyon in France the night before.
He said: "I never see anything. I'm like the fourth official, I never see anything at any time."
AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti played down the incident involving Dida saying: "I didn't see it at the time, I have only seen it on a replay. "It had nothing to do with the result. I don't know if we will be appealing to UEFA but I think not."
It was a night of high drama which began when out-of-favour midfielder Jiri Jarosik was named in the Celtic side for the first time since last April.
The former Chelsea star played his part in a game that only came to life after the interval.
Hoops captain Stephen McManus gave the home side the lead in the 62nd minute but six minutes later referee Merk adjudged Lee Naylor to have grappled too enthusiastically with Milan skipper Massimo Ambrosini inside the penalty area and Kaka stroked home the spot-kick.
But McDonald's late goal sealed Celtic's first victory of this campaign and set them up for their next match against Benfica in Lisbon.
Strachan claimed that "McDonald deserved his goal" while stating that Jarosik was "excellent" but the Parkhead boss will be hoping that all his side's good work will not be undone by UEFA and one over-exuberant supporter.
04 October 2007
Scotland manager Alex McLeish believes Lee McCulloch has come of age for both club and country - and reckons Rangers got him on the cheap.
The 29-year-old has gradually established himself as a key component in McLeish's plans as Scotland continue their quest to qualify for Euro 2008, and played a key role in last month's stunning win over France.
McCulloch has now gone one better by bagging the goal that set Rangers on their way to a shock 3-0 win over Lyon in the Champions League.
Eyebrows were raised when Walter Smith opted to splurge £2.2million of his summer transfer budget to take McCulloch from Wigan to Ibrox but McLeish insists he has more than justified his price tag.
"I saw it in the France game," said McLeish of the skill and confidence the former Motherwell man now possesses.
"We walked out on to the training ground between the Lithuania and France games and big Lee said: 'I owe you a performance.' I said: 'How do you know you're even playing?' He said: 'Of course, if I'm playing gaffer!' I told him I had no worries about him and I knew he would perform in France because big players come good in big games. I thought he was exceptional in France. He's taken that into his domestic form in the last few games culminating in the fantastic performance and fantastic goal on Tuesday night."
As for McCulloch's summer switch from the Premier League, McLeish added: "The Rangers chairman Mr Murray was moaning at me for putting his price up in the papers. Sir David said: 'Stop telling the world that these players are great!' But I think Lee has justified the praise. I was thinking, in Premier League terms, he was worth a bit more than £2.2million. The chairman got a bargain there, he owes me some dinner."
Having named his squad for the Euro 2008 double header against Ukraine and Georgia, McLeish will also benefit from the services of a player who opted to move in the opposite direction.
Kenny Miller quit Celtic in search of first-team football at Derby and is now back in contention after a hamstring injury robbed him of involvement against Lithuania and France.
"Kenny's an experienced player and he has gone down to Derby as a bit of a leader believing he can help them stay in the Premier League," said McLeish.
"Kenny will have to be the guy who is either making or taking the chances. He's playing every week which is good for us. He's playing with the confidence he's show in these last few games. You've got to hand it to him for not letting his head go down after the rotation thing at Celtic. He wasn't happy with that. He was out of the team more than he would have liked. It didn't seem to affect his Scotland performances and it didn't stop Walter Smith picking him and it didn't stop me picking him."
Ukraine had been seen as the outside bet to challenge France and Italy in Group B when the draw was made but have now almost given up hope of qualification after dropping points against Georgia and Italy in the last round of matches.
McLeish said: "I don't know if they feel they have an outside chance but Oleg Blokhin has indicated that he may play younger ones, take a look at younger players coming through the system. I know he hasn't been happy with the amount of foreigners in the Ukrainian league. That is something that had haunted Scotland over the last ten years or so but is not so prevalent now."
McLeish added: "I don't want to start talking about the opposition and giving them motivation. We know we have to do our bit, as we have done in recent games. We are at Hampden and we are expected to win. We will look at the Ukraine game and try to get the tactics right and we will be looking for the players to perform again."
01 October 2007
Jean-Claude Darcheville could feature for Rangers against Lyon on Tuesday, despite originally being ruled out by boss Walter Smith.
The Frenchman played just eight minutes of Saturday's 1-1 draw with Motherwell as he was forced to leave the field with a hamstring problem, with the Gers expecting him to miss the trip to his homeland.
But after working with the medical team over the weekend, it appears the problem is not as serious as first feared and the manager is hopeful that the hero of the win over Stuttgart will be available.
Walter smith admitted: "Darcheville has surprised us all with his overnight improvement. But we will wait and see how things pan out over the next few days before making any decisions on him."
