"Alex Valle? Barcelona might be his parent club but he can't defend." Keevins is at it again, writing people off after one game...

Today at 06:16 AM

This man Keevins never learns, does he?

In fact, he doesn’t learn because he’s not interested in learning.

If he was, Hugh Keevins wouldn’t keep doing and saying the same kinds of things again, and again, and again.

This thing he does time and time again, where he writes people off in this game, after they’ve barely kicked a ball in anger.

He did in 1998 with Lubomir Moravcik.

He did in 2021 with Ange Postecoglou.

And he’s doing it again today in his Sunday morning article in the Record and the Mail.

This morning, it’s Alex Valle who’s being written off.

The 19 year old left back on loan from Barcelona, who made his debut last Sunday against Falkirk.

Apparently, he can’t defend.

Keevins has made this judgement after just one appearance.

In the same article, he hasn’t quite written off Auston Trusty.

But says “he’s Trusty by name but worryingly unsteady at first glance”.

With regard to Valle, it was a baptism of fire for the young guy, but I saw promising things from him.

I took more positives than negatives from his performance.

He had some nice touches, and he provided the assist for our first goal from Bernardo.

He may have been out-muscled for the first Falkirk goal, but I guess that was a case of welcome to Scottish football.

He’ll learn from that, and I certainly wouldn’t be writing him off after one game.

As for Trusty?

The defence he played in last night kept a clean sheet.

Alex Valle also came on last night, and played his part in keeping that clean sheet.

And while Borussia Dortmund will present a much sterner test than St. Johnstone, if Trusty has to play, it will either make him or break him.

Playing in games like that is how you find what you’re made of.

Keevins, though, is hilarious with his “there was so much reputational damage done during the Premier Sports Cup tie” comment.

See below:

There was so much reputational damage done during the Premier Sports Cup tie eventually won against Falkirk last Sunday Rodgers must have developed repetitive strain syndrome clicking his pen on and off to write down the names of those who were suspect in his pocket notebook.

If Keevins paid any attention to the game he actually writes about, he would know that Falkirk were coming into that game having not lost a competitive game in 42 outings.

Any team, regardless of the division they play in, who goes that long unbeaten, should be respected.

They didn’t come to park the bus either, they came to play.

And they did, until they were spent, which is to be admired.

I can tell you one thing for sure, that Falkirk side is better than at least 3 or 4 sides in the Scottish Premiership, and they would easily hold their own in the top flight.

What’s even funnier about Keevins article, though, is that he believes we’re now lamenting the loss of Gustaf Lagerbielke after his performance against Man Utd for FC Twente in the Europa League.

The fact that he would suggest Brendan Rodgers would choose Lagerbielke to replace CCV over a defender we paid £6 million for in Auston Trusty, is farcical.

But this comment regarding out trip to Dortmund, which belittles our win against Slovan Bratislava is typical Keevins:

The game is about levels and Celtic are not yet at the level where they can approach Dortmund with anything resembling unarguable confidence regarding the outcome of the game. The five-one win over Slovan Bratislava in Celtic's opening tie of the competition was a high water mark for Rodgers and his players, but they need, first and foremost, to avoid drowning in Deutschland.

Drowning in Deutschland?

Look, I’m a realist, and I know it’ll be a tall order to get anything out of the Dortmund game, but how can we not be confident heading into it?

We’re unbeaten so far this season.

We have a right to be confident.

What does Keevins expect us to do?

Go there expecting to get a hiding?

Regardless of the level of Slovan Bratislava, they were traditionally the kind of side we used to slip up against.

We didn’t, so conversely, we should approach the Dortmund game with cautious optimism.

We do, after all, have a midfielder in our ranks in Arne Engels who has played at this level, and at this venue before.

And he wasn’t over-awed by it either.

Keevins finishes the article by basically stating that we will lose in Germany without Cameron Carter-Vickers:

On that basis Cameron Carter Vickers becomes just as important as Arne Engels against Dortmund. If the defensive mainstay plays there is greater security at the back. When he doesn't, such as the game last Sunday, there is an inclination towards nervous anxiety. It's one thing to be tentative and error prone against Falkirk, begging manager John McGlynn's pardon.

Being jittery in Germany is another matter altogether.

Of course, I forgot, he writes these articles on a Saturday, therefore he has no analysis of yesterday’s game.

Which was exactly the kind of performance we needed in advance of the Dortmund game.

As for Keevins’ ability to write off Celtic players and managers?

You can expect now that Alex Valle will turn out to be a fantastic acquisition for Celtic.

Because whenever he writes someone off, they prove him utterly wrong.

Alex Valle will be no different.

The post “Alex Valle? Barcelona might be his parent club but he can't defend.”Keevins is at it again, writing people off after one game… appeared first on Read Celtic.