Saturday 4 October 2008

[Crosas] Celtic Glasgow-Hamilton

Celtic played this afternoon their eigth league game of the season. The Scottish champions defeated Hamilton with 4-0.

Former Barcelona midfielder Marc Crosas (20) started the game as central midfielder in a 4-4-2. He completed his first official game as Celtic player.


Marc Crosas joined Celtic Glasgow in 2008. Since Barcelona can buy Crosas back in the summer of 2010 for two million euro (read more here), this blog will follow the performances of the midfielder over the next two years.





Sunday 10 August - League game 1: Celtic Glasgow-St Mirren 1-0
Non-selectable. Crosas has signed his contract and is presented to the fans before the match.

Sunday 17 August - League game 2: Dundee United-Celtic Glasgow 1-1
Bench.

Saturday 23 August - League game 3: Celtic Glasgow-Falkirk 3-0
Substitute. Crosas replaces Brown in the 73rd minute (3-0).

Sunday 31 August - League game 4: Celtic Glasgow-Rangers 2-4
Bench.

Sunday 14 September - League game 5: Motherwell-Celtic Glasgow 2-4
Starter. Crosas starts the game and is replaced by Nakamura in the 80th minute (2-4).

Wednesday 17 September - Champions League group stage game 1: Celtic Glasgow-Aalborg 0-0
Bench.

Sunday 21 September - League game 6: Kilmarnock-Celtic Glasgow 1-3
Starter. Crosas starts the game and is replaced by Hartley in the 74th minute (0-2).

Tuesday 23 September - League Cup 1/8 finals: Celtic Glasgow-Livingston 4-0
Not selected.

Saturday 27 September - League game 7: Celtic Glasgow-Aberdeen 3-2
Starter. Crosas starts the game and is replaced by McDonald in the 72nd minute (1-2).

Tuesday 30 September - Champions League group stage game 2: Villareal-Celtic Glasgow 1-0
Bench.

Saturday 4 October - League game 8: Celtic Glasgow-Hamilton 4-0
Starter. Crosas starts the game and plays for 90 minutes.




Table
1. Celtic 19
2. Rangers (7) 19
3. Kilmarnock 13
4. Hibernian 13
[...]

7 comments:

pep said...

Reading some comments, he had an excellent game.

Anonymous said...

I'm just back from the game and he was absolutely outstanding...

crosas and nakamura linked together so well in midfield and that understanding will be key in Celtic retaining the title.

listening to our manager after the game.. he said that he has tired in the previous outings as the pace of the scottish league is so intense.. but that he was excellent overall and is a fantastic player.

still cant believe we managed to buy him (albeit possibly temporary) for such a small amount of money.

is he in a spain u21 squad by any chance?

pep said...

We appreciate your comments a lot, Doffen. Very interesting.


Checked the U-21 list but he's not there. There are two players who are not playing in Spain: Xisco (Newcastle) and Daniel Parejo (Queens Park Rangers). If he keeps playing like that, he probably will be called-up for the European U-21 next year.

He has been youth international in the past but for those central midfield positions you always have a lot of competition in Spain. Remember that Arsenal's Cesc wasn't a starter at the Euro in June.

pep said...

Some quotes from the live report at the Celtic website:



06:00
Crosas tries from long-range after good work from Nakamura. The ball is deflected wide

18:00
Crosas fires in a sharp cross to Samaras. His flick is saved by Cerny

28:00
Crosas wins the ball in midfield and sends Samaras racing through on the Accies defence. With McDonald and Crosas at either side, he elects to shoot and Cerny saves

45:00
McGeady chips a pass to Crosas but Swailes denies him with a saving tackle

Anonymous said...

But Pep, strange situation for us, but we now have overload of defensive midfielders. Yaya and Keita (in Sevilla) were hailed as one of the best in their positions last year. And now we have Busquets, who seems to have suddenly come out of nowhere. Additionally, Marquez is versatile enough to play DM. So i dont see much chance for Marc Crosas.

pep said...

Personally I think Crosas (in our 4-3-3) is more a player for the two positions before the defensive midfielder, Sid. Certainly now that the concept is such that we're really looking for a "defensive" midfielder there, whose main task is to recover balls.

It has always been said that he's "the new Guardiola" but that was really more because Crosas grew up as "pivote" (the position Guardiola played) and because he physically looks like Guardiola.

For me, he's a mixture of Xavi and Iniesta (two players who also grew up as pivote but are now playing higher up the pitch), with a lot of ressemblance with the former. Basically a passing guy but in general more dynamic than Xavi.

In that perspective in two years time he could be a perfect back-up for Xavi, who will be 30 by then. Although it could be difficult to make him accept such a role. In case of course he really can become a regular at Celtic and keeps on developing. There can happen a lot in two years time.

Anonymous said...

Agreed. Lets keep our fingers crossed for that

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