Ibroxblue 122 Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 Celtic lose Jarosik for Old Firm clash but Rangers make light of Strachan's mind games Ewan Murray Monday December 31, 2007 The Guardian Gordon Strachan's midfield options for Wednesday's Old Firm match at Parkhead have been limited by a hamstring injury sustained by Jiri Jarosik which will keep the Czech player out for about a fortnight. With Aiden McGeady suspended and Shunsuke Nakamura injured, Jarosik would have started against Rangers but the Celtic manager may now have to field Derek Riordan on the left of his midfield unless, improbably, a deal to sign Barry Robson or James McFadden is completed over the next 48 hours. Robson would cost £1.25m from Dundee United and McFadden, who is also a target for Birmingham City, is valued in excess of £3m by Everton, who are unwilling to let the Scotland international join his boyhood heroes on loan. The Scottish champions have also been offered Barcelona's Santiago Ezquerro but have denied reports that Nakamura will move to Yokohama Marinos in his native Japan. Celtic hold a two-point advantage over their oldest rivals at the top of the Premier League but Rangers have the same number of games in hand, which Strachan has said makes his team the underdogs to clinch a third successive title. The manager said he "didn't enjoy" Celtic's 3-0 victory over struggling Gretna on Saturday, in which Scott McDonald, Scott Brown and McGeady supplied the goals, and they now face a Rangers side who have won the past three Glasgow derbies. But Stephen McManus, the Celtic captain, has insisted his team remain relaxed. "I don't think we feel as if we are under as much pressure as people make out," he said. "Three Old Firm defeats in a row is obviously great ammunition for the press to make headlines out of but we've been taking it a game at a time." The Rangers captain, Barry Ferguson, has revealed that tactics will be the last thing on the agenda in the visiting dressing room on Wednesday. Rangers cross the city in fine fettle after producing arguably their most convincing performance of the season on Saturday in defeating Hibernian 2-1. "To be honest there's not much of a team talk," said Ferguson of his manager Walter Smith's preparations. "It will be his shortest team talk of the season. It's down to how strong you are inside. I'm positive that all the guys in our squad know what it's all about. There are no tactics - it is a battle from start to finish and whoever wins that battle will win the game." Ferguson also dismissed Strachan's suggestion that Rangers are favourites to win the championship. "We've not won the games in hand yet so we're still behind in the league. It depends whether we win the games or not, whether we will have the upper hand. "You're always anxious to get to pole position in the league. I'd rather the games that were called off, the St Mirren and Gretna games, hadn't been. I'd rather have got them out of the way, got the points and hopefully have been sitting on top. But we're not on top, Celtic are still in pole position. We've got two away games against two teams who are fighting at the bottom of the league so they're going to be two difficult games for us." Steven Naismith handed Rangers an early lead against Hibs and Daniel Cousin fired home from 18 yards to double the visitors' advantage. Merouane Zemmama scored a late consolation for Hibs, who hope to name John Collins' replacement as manager this week. http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/...=rss&feed=5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jelle1880 225 Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 Aye, and then all of a sudden he'll make a mircaulous recovery by wednesday. Strapon, your schemes are too obvious. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trueblue87 0 Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 Aye, and then all of a sudden he'll make a mircaulous recovery by wednesday. Strapon, your schemes are too obvious. i kinda see that coming as well... a ridiculous little bastard he is.... we'll beat them whoever they may field Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark_ni 12 Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 hes pish anyway, hope he does play. Just be another excuse for them when we hammer them. We had players injured, suspended etc etc Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperRangers 2 Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 This may be a bit of good news for Burkes chances of starting as if Jarosick was starting i would have expected Walter to put big Lee on him like he did in the 3-0 game. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craigy 0 Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 Yes they are going to pretend hes injured and unleash the might Jiri Jarosik on us Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlippinEck 3,680 Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 thats the only way riordan will play, because my mate said riordan kicked the wee crate thing with all the lucozade in it right at strachan as he got taken off and went in a strop down the tunnel Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muff 245 Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 I'd be more worried about Riordan starting than Jarosik. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart_RFC 41 Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 Yes they are going to pretend hes injured and unleash the might Jiri Jarosik on us Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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