PaulRFC1 115 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 LEE McCULLOCH is on track to feature in the final Old Firm derby of the season and play a part in the title run-in after a knee injury.The combative midfielder has not played since he had to come off in the first half of the 1-0 SPL win over Hearts on February 2.Lee McCulloch at trainingMcCulloch, 32, had been playing for much of the campaign with a cyst in his knee and got to the point where he could not continue any more.It was initially feared he may be sidelined for the rest of the campaign but Walter Smith has revealed he is making much better progress in his recovery than expected.The manager now anticipates he will have McCulloch back for the final month of the 2010/11 term and that means he should be back around mid-April.With the last league date against Celtic not coming before April 23 at the earliest, that means he is likely to be fit in time for the crucial championship clash with them at Ibrox.There is more good news as Kirk Broadfoot should be available for the team's next game at home to Dundee United on April 2.And Jamie Ness, who has not played since scoring against Celtic on February 6, has an outside chance of being available to face the Arabs too.Smith said: "Lee is a bit behind the other lads who are coming back but I would hope we would maybe get him back for the last month of the season.| 1 | 2 |By Andrew DicksonLEE McCULLOCH is on track to feature in the final Old Firm derby of the season and play a part in the title run-in after a knee injury.The combative midfielder has not played since he had to come off in the first half of the 1-0 SPL win over Hearts on February 2.Lee McCulloch at trainingMcCulloch, 32, had been playing for much of the campaign with a cyst in his knee and got to the point where he could not continue any more.It was initially feared he may be sidelined for the rest of the campaign but Walter Smith has revealed he is making much better progress in his recovery than expected.The manager now anticipates he will have McCulloch back for the final month of the 2010/11 term and that means he should be back around mid-April.With the last league date against Celtic not coming before April 23 at the earliest, that means he is likely to be fit in time for the crucial championship clash with them at Ibrox.There is more good news as Kirk Broadfoot should be available for the team's next game at home to Dundee United on April 2.And Jamie Ness, who has not played since scoring against Celtic on February 6, has an outside chance of being available to face the Arabs too.Smith said: "Lee is a bit behind the other lads who are coming back but I would hope we would maybe get him back for the last month of the season."As long as everything goes the way it is going at the present moment, that should be a realistic timescale."The specialist's reports on him are very good and it would be a big thing for us to get him back."Kirk will be fit for the Dundee United game but with the length of time he has been out, getting him games is going to be the difficult thing for us."We're going to have to try to get him a number of matches so that he can get up and running but he's a fit lad and takes pride in his fitness."I don't think it should take too long before we see him back again and Jamie will be close to being fit again too by the time we start playing again."We're going to need all three of them back because we've got 11 games to play now and it's going to be a big ask of everyone in our group to do well."It just keeps getting better. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirWalterSmithLegend 206 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Great news, hurry back big man! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peat1873 8 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 great news Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broxi1872 183 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 good news Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smile 26,610 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 We need all our players back to give us an extra edge but we have missed McCullochs steadiness in the midfield. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irwin Sparkes 97 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 A long injury layoff hasn't clouded my judgement on McCulloch. He's been awful all season but i guess offers marginally more than Edu at this moment in time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papa Sasac 164 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Good news. Would give us Davis, Edu, Ness, Lee and Hutton as real candidates to play in the middle. That's why I think we will go 4-5-1 in our games when we have more players back. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulRFC1 115 Posted March 22, 2011 Author Share Posted March 22, 2011 A long injury layoff hasn't clouded my judgement on McCulloch. He's been awful all season but i guess offers marginally more than Edu at this moment in time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
caseyjones 3,009 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 His knee injury has obviously made him a much better player. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irwin Sparkes 97 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Interesting counter argument. I fold. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan_1 1,136 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Great news We need all the players we can get and say it quietly, I'd love for him to go straight into the side in place of Edu. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SandyWATP Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Hopefully he goes in instead of Edu, and not alongside him.We also have the imminent return of Ness, which will give Walter a selection problem. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
H72 265 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Good news. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clemdog 39,389 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Another face to the squad is only good news. But I wasn't impressed by his performances before his injury and I most certainly won't be looking forward to the imminent Edu - McCulloch partnership on his return. If we were guranteed Edu would be dropped and Davis would be in the middle then I'd be delighted. But that's due to Edu's form than anything.I hope much more for Ness's return. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SandyWATP Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Wylde - Ness - Davis - Weiss Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
caseyjones 3,009 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Hopefully he goes in instead of Edu, and not alongside him.We also have the imminent return of Ness, which will give Walter a selection problem.Sadly, it won't be a problem for him. McCulloch will get the nod every time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joker69 60 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Good news about Ness & Kirk never been a fan of Jigs but anyone would be better than Edu at the mo... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulRFC1 115 Posted March 22, 2011 Author Share Posted March 22, 2011 Lee's injury has shown how much we actually miss him.His covering and protecting the backline has been missed greatly and his ability to retain possession and play a pass and also his bite in the tackle and aggressiveness in midfield.We have missed someone to anchor the midfield and its no surprise that since he has been injured we have seen Davis and Weir having their worst form of the season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deleteduser1 169 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Good to hear we should have Lee, Nessy and Kirk back for the run in. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirWalterSmithLegend 206 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Wylde - Ness - Davis - WeissThats the one Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
caseyjones 3,009 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Lee's injury has shown how much we actually miss him.His covering and protecting the backline has been missed greatly and his ability to retain possession and play a pass and also his bite in the tackle and aggressiveness in midfield.We have missed someone to anchor the midfield and its no surprise that since he has been injured we have seen Davis and Weir having their worst form of the season.He is a shocking midfielder who is keeping young talent out of the side. He either watches the opposition run around him or lunges in recklessly gets himself booked, which renders him anonymous for the remainder of the match. Still, if Weir leaves, he'll be captain next season, which will make him undroppable too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsidelad 34 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Great new, love the big man Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
caseyjones 3,009 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Wylde - Ness - Davis - WeissAbsolutely! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulRFC1 115 Posted March 22, 2011 Author Share Posted March 22, 2011 He is a shocking midfielder who is keeping young talent out of the side. He either watches the opposition run around him or lunges in recklessly gets himself booked, which renders him anonymous for the remainder of the match. Still, if Weir leaves, he'll be captain next season, which will make him undroppable too.Aye ok Amazing analysis of him mate, runs around watching opposition and gets booked all the time.Funny how anytime somebody talks about Lee's faults they always mention he gets booked all the time but nobody ever seems to mention Naismith or Bougherra who IMO are worse for it.Lets put it this way, who am I going to go with ? Walter Smith and the squad he plays with or someone who has an agenda against the guy ?What about his ability to pass a ball and retain possession ? what about his bite in the midfield and someone who isn't going to pull out of any 50/50s ? what about his ability to protect the backline ? How come Davis and Weir have suddenly played alot worse since Lee has been injured ? how come our defense has been alot more shaky and conceding easier without him ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulRFC1 115 Posted March 22, 2011 Author Share Posted March 22, 2011 Wylde - Ness - Davis - WeissWe can only hope I don't see Walter going with that tho.Sadly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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