Why Celtic will ring the chances against Alloa: “Some guys need 90 minutes so we’ll get them 90 minutes,” Ange

The Celtic Star

·22 January 2022

Why Celtic will ring the chances against Alloa: “Some guys need 90 minutes so we’ll get them 90 minutes,” Ange

For Celtic the magic of the cup tends to occur in the latter stages, where late semi-final winners can bring joyous scenes or when the final whistle blows in the Hampden final and the trophy can be raised to the sky.

In the earlier rounds however, it rarely feels like there is a magic to the cup. Instead, it feels like a series of nervous encounters to be endured, the loss of which can bring great embarrassment and can sting for years to come. Something we’ll certainly be hoping to avoid this evening, as we start out on the road we hope will lead to to Hampden.

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Today’s venue in Alloa…

Celtic, to the outside world at least, cannot win these games. Emerge victorious and there is a collective national shrug, lose however and you could almost feel the earth move, as every supporter outside of the Celtic circle simultaneously leaps from their sofa and lands back on the living room floor – and journalists pen famous headlines that resurface every time we face a team home or away from the lower leagues.

The only real joy as a Celtic fan is travelling to grounds we’d normally not frequent, as we do today as Celtic take on Alloa in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup. Instead, we hope the manager can instil a professionalism in the squad that ensures the players in the Celtic dressing room are not taking it for granted that a part-time team of postmen, joiners and plumbers won’t be ‘up for the cup’ so much that their best exceeds our own taking the eye off the ball and any dropping of standards.

Celtic’s Artur Boruc is beaten by Clyde’s Eddie Malone (nr 10) shoot for goal 08 January 2006 at the Broadwood stadium during their Scottish Cup third round match. Roy Keane makes his long-awaited Celtic debut (Photo IAN STEWART/AFP via Getty Images)

Celtic have not been without their victims of Giant Killing moments. No-one needs reminding of Inverness going ballistic, or Roy Keane’s debut against Clyde, or Falkirk – after a replay no less. However, in recent times Celtic, as part of the Quadruple Treble run in particular, have avoided such shocks for a good number of years – in the Scottish cup at least – and if we have any concerns over a new manager underestimating lower league opponents, he too like Celtic has learned lessons the hard way, so there should be no concerns over Ange Postecoglou letting standards drop in any way.

Speaking at yesterday’s media conference Ange Postecoglou admitted losing whilst in Japan to a team from outside the football league meant he was sharp to the giant killing threats lower league opposition pose in such one-off encounters while adding the recent success in the League Cup has added to the hunger in the squad to add to that League Cup triumph over Hibs.

Anthony Ralston should be starting today, maybe James Forrest too. (Photo by Steve Welsh/Getty Images)

“I’ve been in cup competitions in different countries and I’ve had my troubles. My last cup game in Japan, we got kicked out by a team outside the football league on penalties, so I’m well aware of the potential pitfalls of not taking every game seriously. ‘It’s part and parcel of being at this football club that you want to succeed in every competition. This is another opportunity and we’ve already won the only competition on offer so far this season, so we’re looking to progress in the Scottish Cup. It will be a good challenge against a team a couple of divisions below but we know what the cup competitions are like.”

Celtic thankfully are in excellent form heading into this game, having returned from the winter break with a 2-0 win over Hibs and having strengthened a tired and injury hit squad with some impressive additions. Nonetheless history tells us we cannot take a team like Alloa for granted and the manager’s own experiences of embarrassing exits should ensure we don’t.

And today’s game will give Ange Postecoglou the opportunity to give much needed game-time to some of the players in his squad most in need of the 90 minutes, as the Celtic manager explained yesterday.

Ideguchi is likely to get his full debut today against Alloa. Photo: Andrew Milligan. IMago/PA Images

“Part of having a squad is that you use it. There’s no point having a squad of players but just relying on the same ones all the time. Tomorrow is an opportunity to give some guys game-time who need game-time. Between now and the international break there’s constant games – three a week – and we got really challenged prior to the (winter) break with that sort of schedule so I want ot be better equipped to handle it this time round. The way to do that is to try to get minutes into the guys’ legs so that when we need them they’re not coming in having not played for four or five weeks. Some guys need 90 minutes so we’ll get them 90 minutes.”

Giorgos Giakoumakis is likely to start against Alloa.(Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Expect to see Bain, Ralston, Welsh, McCarthy, Scales maybe Bitton (if he’s fully fit), a fully debut for Ideguchi, perhaps even Christopher Jullien (going by his green light message posted yesterday), Mikey Johnston and one or two others all getting their minutes up today. Today is also a great opportunity for Giorgos Giakoumakis to get moving through the gears with him likely to be the first choice striker over the coming weeks,.

For Alloa the magic of the cup comes with today’s visit of Ange Postecoglou’s team, for Celtic however that magic we hope comes at Hampden in May.

Niall J

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Why Celtic will ring the chances against Alloa: “Some guys need 90 minutes so we’ll get them 90 minutes,” Ange | OneFootball

Why Celtic will ring the chances against Alloa: “Some guys need 90 minutes so we’ll get them 90 minutes,” Ange

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