Celtic v Aberdeen
Bank Of Scotland SPL
Wednesday 27th October 2004
Celtic Park
Kick Off 7.45pm
For those of you with short memories, Aberdeen were the team who stopped our unbeaten run of home games, when they beat us 2-1 at Celtic Park in April. Tomorrow night is payback time.
Our injury problems seem to be getting worse. Today it was revealed that Henri Camara will not be fit for the game, which is a blow. Camara has been playing well recently and we sure could have done with his pace up-front for the Aberdeen game. This leaves a space to be filled up-front, and Craig Beattie could be the one to partner John Hartson up-front, providing Chris Sutton plays elsewhere.
Yes, we do have a big injury list, and it probably is the worst Martin O’Neill has seen it since he has been at Celtic. But if we are to win this title again, we should be able to cope. We have just about enough squad players to handle SPL teams but just about enough.
Aberdeen are officially Scotland’s “third force,” i.e. they are third in the league. The goes for nothing, really, but under Jimmy Calderwood they have a new self-belief in themselves and even took two points off of the huns! Their fans are even turning up for games.
I’m looking forward to the game, as Aberdeen should come and have a go. Unlike other teams like Hearts and Rangers, they like to attack and will hopefully attempt to play a bit of football. This will allow us to counter by playing football and hopefully Juninho will take the stage.
If Sunday’s game taught us anything, it was that our defence isn’t even up to scratch for the SPL. We have serious problems in our defence at the moment but I am sure it is only a sticky patch. Varga is fit for tomorrow and hopefully he and Balde can learn to understand each other quickly – or we will find ourselves in serious trouble.
We now have the luxury of being seven points clear at the top of the table. Without sounding too pessimistic, it allows us to drop points and still be cruising.
Enjoy the game, it should be a good one.
Come On The Hoops!
Prediction: Celtic 2-0 Aberdeen