Celtic Sign Riordan

[Guest Inno]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/celtic/4768369.stm

 

Told you ages ago he'd rather play in green and white ;)

[Murph 93]

Good signing for Celtic, Strachan is going for pace up front.

 

Whether or not Riordan can cut it in the Champions League is what I'm interested in, though.

[Guest Christof]

In fairness, with him not being eligable until January its unlikely you'll find out next season :xyx

[Murph 93]

Ah, yes, I forot that key factor of the deal...

 

I mean, we'll still be in Europe then ! ;)

[Guest Christof]

I mean' date=' we'll still be in Europe then ! ;)[/quote']

 

Package tour to La Manga perhaps?

[Murph 93]

Depends on the prices.

[Guest The Crippler]

It's a good signing for Celtic. I think huge doubts were cast as to whether Rangers would still be interested in him after it was announced McLeish was leaving.

[Guest Russ]

Excellent news for Rangers in my opinion, I've never rated Riordan as anything more than an SPL quality striker along the lines of a Darren Jackson, Stevie Thompson or Billy Dodds. He's annoymous when playing against a competant defence, and his physical presence is so weak that he's always shrugged off the ball by bigger centre halves. I thought Gary O'Conner was a great player for Hibs and always rated him as the better player in regards to Hibs' strike force. Riordan will bag around 20 goals in the SPL against the Falkirks and St Mirrens next season, but don't be surprised when he doesn't make an impact in the Champions League.

[Murph 93]

Excellent news for Rangers in my opinion

Celtic get a forward, and it's good news for RANGERS? Odd.

 

 

I've never rated Riordan as anything more than an SPL quality striker along the lines of a Darren Jackson, Stevie Thompson or Billy Dodds. He's annoymous when playing against a competant defence, and his physical presence is so weak that he's always shrugged off the ball by bigger centre halves. I thought Gary O'Conner was a great player for Hibs and always rated him as the better player in regards to Hibs' strike force. Riordan will bag around 20 goals in the SPL against the Falkirks and St Mirrens next season, but don't be surprised when he doesn't make an impact in the Champions League.

 

I looked at Kris Boyd the same way, and he seems ready, so maybe playing for a bigger club will make Riordan up his game permantaly

[Guest The Crippler]

Boyd is better than Riordan. By quite a bit. Fact.

[Guest The Crippler]

Lol, in my drunken state, I put that a bit bluntly.

 

But he is far better. Boyd banged in goals at a far more prolific rate for Killie than the likes of the guys mentioned so there was never much doubt in my mind he was going to be a success.

 

Riordan will do ok for Celtic but I'd have Boyd over him any day of the week.

[Murph 93]

As would I, I'm just saying Riordan could prove to be a better player than we think.

[BRM 220]

His mum needs to get a few steaks down him and to head down to the gym and hit the weights, far to light weight.

[Guest Russ]

His mum needs to get a few steaks down him and to head down to the gym and hit the weights' date=' far to light weight.[/quote']

 

Exactly, that's how I feel about Riordan. I'd love to have a look at his scoring rate against the Old Firm, because as I said, every time I've seen Hibs play live on telly for 90 minutes (which is almost always against Rangers or Celtic), he's been muscled off the ball easily. When he's playing in the Champions League against competant defences which can organise themselves a bit better than Livingston or Caley Thistles, he won't get the chances. He's an SPL quality striker, and I'd say the very same thing about him if he was putting on a blue jersey next season.

 

Kris Boyd has a decent physical pressence and seems to always find himself in the right place at the right time. If you've got these attributes, you'll score goals at any level. Riordan can't rely on his strength to hold up the ball, a vital element relative to success at the higher levels (especially if you're playing on the counterattack or with one man upfront on his own, as Celtic will no doubt need to do against the big guns).

 

Will he score against Falkirk, Dundee Utd, Aberdeen and Motherwell? No doubt, I'm sure he'll score more than 15 goals in the SPL next season. Is he a top level striker that will add a new dimension to Celtic's play when they go up against Rangers or a top level team in Europe? I think not. That's why I think it's a good thing for Rangers. I think the Rangers defence next season will be a lot happier to man mark Riordan out of the game rather than contend with a strong player like John Hartson or Chris Sutton throwing their big frames around, creating chances for their teammates around them.

[Guest Inno]

I'd love to have a look at his scoring rate against the Old Firm

 

02-05-2006 Scottish Premier Hibernian 1-2 Rangers Goals: 0

16-04-2006 Scottish Premier Celtic 1-1 Hibernian Goals: 0

12-03-2006 Scottish Premier Hibernian 1-2 Celtic Goals: 1

18-02-2006 Scottish Premier Rangers 2-0 Hibernian Goals: 0

04-02-2006 Scottish FA Cup Rangers 0-3 Hibernian Goals: 0

10-12-2005 Scottish Premier Celtic 3-2 Hibernian Goals: 0

27-11-2005 Scottish Premier Hibernian 2-1 Rangers Goals: 1

18-09-2005 Scottish Premier Hibernian 0-1 Celtic Goals: 0

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

21-08-2004 Scottish Premier Rangers 4-1 Hibernian Goals: 0

19-09-2004 Scottish Premier Hibernian 2-2 Celtic Goals: 0

14-11-2004 Scottish Premier Hibernian 0-1 Rangers Goals: 0

04-12-2004 Scottish Premier Celtic 2-1 Hibernian Goals: 0

12-02-2005 Scottish Premier Rangers 3-0 Hibernian Goals: 0

06-03-2005 Scottish Premier Hibernian 1-3 Celtic Goals: 0

30-04-2005 Scottish Premier Celtic 1-3 Hibernian Goals: 0

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

3-08-2003 Scottish Premier Rangers 5-2 Hibernian Goals: 0

27-09-2003 Scottish Premier Hibernian 1-2 Celtic Goals: 0

30-11-2003 Scottish Premier Hibernian 0-1 Rangers Goals: 0

18-12-2003 Scottish LC Hibernian 2-1 Celtic Goals: 0

27-12-2003 Scottish Premier Celtic 6-0 Hibernian Goals: 0 *Sent off

10-01-2004 Scottish FA Cup Hibernian 0-2 Rangers Goals: 0

05-02-2004 Scottish LC Hibernian 1-1 Rangers Goals: 0

21-02-2004 Scottish Premier Rangers 3-0 Hibernian Goals: 0

21-03-2004 Scottish Premier Hibernian 0-4 Celtic Goals: 0

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

02-03-2003 Scottish Premier Celtic 3-2 Hibernian Goals: 0

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

26-01-2002 Scottish FA Cup Rangers 4-1 Hibernian Goals: 0

02-02-2002 Scottish Premier Hibernian 1-1 Celtic Goals: 0

 

Courtesy of http://www.soccerbase.com :D

[Guest Wolverine]

2 goals in 27 games against the Old Firm. That's quite a shocking record. Looks like Russ is right about him then.

[Guest Inno]

To be fair this year and last year were the only years that Hibs were a force against anyone, and that Riordan wasn't "a young boy" starting out. I'd agree it's not a great record, but it does show that he is improving - both his goals came this year is a good sign.

[Guest The Crippler]

Rangers were mince this year though. ;)

[Guest The Crippler]

Thats a good site by the way Tony. Anoraks like me love sites like this. :)

 

To be fair to Riordan, I was just looking at Kris Boyd's record against the Old Firm and it's not exactly smart either. 3 goals in 30 games. Kilmarnock have generally been pish mind you and it's a totally different proposition playing against the Old Firm in Scotland than playing for them. Most forwards (barring Ivan Sproule) probably have horrendous records against them because most teams play in quite a negative fashion when it comes to offense in games against the Old Firm.

 

Celtic are the only team Boydie hasn't scored against in the SPL. Hopefully he can put that right next year.

 

But it just goes to show you, their records against the Old Firm aren't much different. I'd be willing to bet anything Boyd will outscore Riordan by at least a ratio of 3:2 next season though.

Edited May 15, 2006 by The Crippler

[Guest MojoPogo]

Although i dont like the wee nyaff, i hope he DOES get a place for Celtic, because i sure as hell like the thought of him Maloney and Boyd up front (or just off the front two) for Scotland!

[GENE 86]

I'm glad he's gone because now it's really only going to be Scotty Brown left from The Hibee's best four players (from the start of last season) and i can't see him sticking around much longer especially if Mowbrey goes back down south.

[Murph 93]

2 and both recent, a good sign that he is improving, but if we're looking for a scorer to be a goalscorer in the big games, Riordan seems not the correct man...or boy.