A super Sammy strike and a penalty from captain Scott Brown were enough to take holder Celtic into the quarter finals of the Scottish Cup in Inverness today.

Lenny chose to shuffle the pack a bit with Kelvin Wilson partnering Thomas Rogne in the middle of defence, moving Charlie Mulgrew to left back and Adam Matthews returning at right back at the expense of Cha.

Also missing from the starting line up was Anthony Stokes, who dropped to the bench, Lenny favouring Sammy up front with Gary Hooper.

And that change in selection worked for the manager. With the game in a stalemate around the half hour mark, Georgios Samaras latched on to a Ross Tokely mistake to fire an unstoppable swerving shot from 16 yards to put the Bhoys 1-0 up.

The goal was no more than Celtic deserved having dominated most of the possession up to that point and seemed to settle the Hoops, although ICT very rarely threatened.

Although Celtic didn’t add to there lead until the second half, the Bhoys were never in danger.

And the game was put beyond doubt when man of the match Gary Hooper robbed ICT’s Procter on the touchline only to be scythed down by the defender for a stonewall penalty.

Up stepped Scott Brown to score his third goal in as many matches and and take the Celts safely into the next round.

As the game petered out, Sammy Hoops both missed chance3 to make the score a bit more convincing. Still, a victory over Terry Butcher and his men is always nice and made even sweeter with the way the game went.

Well done Celtic and well deserved!

When Celtic were huffing and puffing earlier on in the season, around about AGM time, Lenny described Georgios Samaras as a player who ‘could get me the sack’.

Neil then went on to add so “could the rest of the players.”

I think it would be fair to say the manager has really went out on a limb for the big Greek and today Sammy paid back some of that faith with a goal and a great display in Celtic’s 5-0 drubbing of St Mirren at Celtic Park.

The big fella ran at at the Saints defence from the word go and gave the Paisley side a tough time of it. He really put in a shift.

There’s no doubt when he’s in the mood Sammy ccn be a real handful for most defences, that’s what annoys The Faithful more than anything else….his inconsistency.

Obviously Gary Hooper with get most of the plaudits with his fine hat-trick. Add to that the superb solo run and finish of young Dylan McGeouch, then Lenny has plenty to smile about.

But he did single out Sammy in his post match interview, as if to say I told you so!

*Our condolences go out to The Mulgrew family after the sad loss of Charlie sr.

After only 100 seconds of last nights Europa League tie against Rennes at Celtic Park there was not one Celtic fan who could have predicted the turnaround in fortunes of Lenny’s makeshift team.

Why? Well we’d already conceded a goal to the French side from a corner, just like we did in Madrid and just like the one gave away at the Bigotdome.

All this after yet another week of rumours and training ground unrest. (Don’t let the Commons thing kid you!)

Amazingly, the Bhoys dug deep, got on the ball and started to get a foothold in the game. The change in attitude and application in the team was easy to see. Not one player let his head go down despite the poor start.

And to be honest, recent indifferent form suggested the Hoops could crumble.

But they didn’t. They rolled up their sleeves and found a way back into the game after 30 minutes when young James Forrest took responsibility and made the Rennes keeper make a save, when a short pass to McCourt would have been the easy option.

His shot was spilled by the goalie and Anthony Stokes was on the spot to knock the ball home from eight yards out.  The relief was tangible.

Suddenly the Bhoys believed the game was there for the taking. And that belief was proved correct two minutes from half-time when Sammy headed a long ball onto Stokes who smashed the ball into the bottom left corner of the Rennes net.

Half-time: Celtic 2 Rennes  1.

The start of the second half sprung another surprise. Glenn Loovens didn’t reappear having aggravated an existing injury meaning Lenny had to throw 17 year-old Marcus Fraser into the fray. Now, a debut at Celtic Park on a European night is frightening for any youngster, but when you’re asked to play alongside Dangerous Dan…..

Anyway, as expected, Rennes tried to get back into the game and had a couple of decent chances in the second half but they found the Celtic defence more than a match for them.

Having weathered the storm, Lenny introduced Commons and Hooper to add a bit of stability and firepower to the side.

Both contributed to the finale of the game in differing ways.

First Hoops ran on to an inch perfect Sammy pass, (yes you read that right) to slot the ball home and effectively seal the game for Celtic. The delight on his face showed just how much it meant to the player.

Then with five minutes to go Commons was hacked down by French golden boy M’Vila who saw red for his second yellow card.

As the game drew to a close Celtic Park was rocking.

The support once again were superb and the players deserved the accolade they received for putting in a shift.

So what was the difference? Attitude, commitment and of course taking your chances. But as Neil said, let’s enjoy the victory and not get carried away, we’ve a habit of following a good result with a bad one…

It’s up to the players now to show they can go to Murderwell and put in the same commitment. The more you put in, the more you get out, last night proved that!

Full-Time: Celtic 3 Rennes 1 

If  you had asked me three weeks ago who would be the player I would like most to keep in a Celtic jersey there’s no doubt I’d have chose between Kayal or Izaguirre.

Obviously those assumptions were made largely on last seasons performances considering Emilio has been out for most of the season and Kayal has had a few injuries this term.

There is no doubt Kayal is a quality player but both his attitude and his contribution this season have been shocking. Whether he thinks he is better that he really is will be open to debate but playing for the team comes first in my book, and that’s something Beram hasn’t been doing.

At the weekend he was lucky to stay on the park, it was just as well Lenny took him off before he got himself sent-off.

Well, today Celtic gave Kayal a new four year deal keeping him at the club until 2015, in theory.

Now that he’s got the contract he wanted, will we see a rejuvenated Kayal? The same Kayal who bossed the midfield in many games last season.

Or do we have another Samaras on our hands….

The ‘international break’ was supposed to be a time for Neil and the management team to ‘sort a few things out’ in our bid to get our title hopes back on track.

A time to get any grievances out in the open and a time to pull together.

Unfortunately for Lenny, that hasn’t been allowed to happen.

First Kayal refuses a scan prior to the game at Swinecastle and rules himself out of the game, yet somehow manages to recover in time to meet up with his team mates at the Israel camp ahead of a meaningless Euro qualifier against Malta, next Tuesday!

All this despite Celtic wanting him to stay for treatment to make sure he doesn’t aggravate his injury whilst in Malta.

Then we have new Bhoy, left back  Badr El Kaddouri sent home from Morrocco’s international squad with an injury during the week, adding to our ever growing list of casualties.

And to cap it all off……Sammy goes and scores for Greece against Croatia last night!

Bhoy, could it get any worse?

I’m not one for slagging off any player that has the good fortune to wear the Hoops, but the persistent use of Greek Georgios Samaras is going to contribute to a lot of the support turning on manager Neil Lennon.

The frustrating thing is on his day Sammy is a really good player.

Unfortunately, Sammy’s good days are like hens teeth. And Celtic can’t afford the luxury of carrying any passengers if we’re serious about winning back the SPL title.

When Sammy was handed his new three year deal, it was basically in the hope that he’d reproduce the form of ONE GAME!

His two goal show at the Bigotdome in January was a one off.

He hasn’t reproduced or is likely to reproduce form like that since. He even declined a loan move with higher wages, to Sunderland in the recent transfer window.

I’m afraid his selection is causing more bother than he’s worth.

Despite the fact that Celtic have accepted a bid for the player Georgios Samaras is staying put.

First Sunderland,  then French clubs  Rennes and St Etienne made concrete moves to prise the player away from Paradise but Sammy has refused to budge.

If he’s still at Celtic Park this time tomorrow he runs the risk of finding himself banished from the first team and alienated like Bobo Balde did a few years back.

And that’s just from the management.

The fans, who for a long time now have had enough of the big Greek throwing his hippy head in his hands at every missed chance will made their feeling known should he get back into the first team squad.

His reluctance to move is a real slap in the face to Lenny who helped him secure a three-year deal just a few months ago, in the hope that he could come up with some sort of consistency, and has given him ample opportunities to show his worth.

He could have a change of heart, but I fear he’ll dig his heels in.

P.S. When are UEFA deciding on the FC Sion debacle?

Getting players to sign for Celtic is always easier than getting players to leave, especially if they are on good contracts and are going to lesser clubs.

And this transfer window is no different.

With Lenny trying to bring in new faces to freshen things up and hopefully improve the team, the need to move players on is being somewhat undermined by the reluctance of Georgios Samaras to leave Celtic Park.

Apparently a move to Sunderland in the Premiership isn’t what the bold Sammy sees as a good move. Whether that’s true or not the fact is the big Greek isn’t for shifting his ass away from Glasgow.

Neither it seems is Shaun Maloney.

Wigan have made a move for constantly injured player but haven’t met the valuation Celtic have on Shaun. God knows what that will be!

On the flip side, we did get a new player in today, on the recommendation of the King of Kings. Mo Bangura put pen to paper on a four year deal to ply his trade in Paradise after signing from AIK Solna in Sweden.

A fee of around £2m was reported to have changed hands for the Sierre Leone striker.

With just over 24hrs to go until the transfer window closes I’m sure we’ll see at least one other face coming to Glasgow, let’s hope a couple go the other way!

It’s true what Lenny said after the FC Sion match on Thursday night that every team has a whipping boy, and ours is Georgios Samaras.

With only three goals to his name last season and none so far this season is it any wonder the fans are having a go at the big Greek tragedy?

For a striker/forward his return rate is shocking, although it’s rarely that he plays as a striker. His saving grace over the last two years was his double at the Bigotdome in January, although even he managed to feck that up with a penalty miss in the last derby match at the same ground.

Lenny has stuck his neck out this week and there’s no doubt that should Gary Hooper fail to make the return leg then Sammy will be asked to play the lone striker in Switzerland. Similar to the role he played at the aforementioned venue.

One way or another, it may prove to be the last throw of the dice in Sammy’s Celtic career…

For some reason Celtic took a European night to put in their worst performance of the season so far. There was very little resemblance to the team that knocked five goals past Dundee United last weekend.

That may be down to the enforced changes Lenny had to make or down to the system the manager deployed in a bid to breakdown the Swiss defence.

Once again Anthony Stokes was moved out to the left, then brought into the middle, effectively swapping places with Samaras in the second half. Both eventually got the hook from Neil.

There was also the disappearance of Ki.

The South Korean has been in great form recently, but didn’t seem to get to grips with what was asked of him. Then there’s Kris Commons, obviously not 100% fit, Kris was another who looked a bit bewildered.

Of course the loss of Kelvin Wilson before kick-off upset Lenny original plans but surely one player missing shouldn’t throw the whole plan off.

This time the result, although not a disaster and the performance might not be down to the players……

This time next week we’ll all know who’s responsible.