Anthony Stokes (F free agent b.1988)

[geysir]

Isn't Ystad Wallander's town?
you're lucky to get out of there alive, Stutts, that's a depression black spot and murder capital of Sweden.

[Stuttgart88]

Yes, we took our chances and got away with it. I nearly committed the odd murder myself down to how they control the sale of wine there.

Anyway, I think Charlie made the key point above, Stokes was injured a lot last year. It's up to Stokes to make a compelling case for a recall and if he continues current form through the year then he'll be on the plane to Rio.

I haven't seen a lot of Madden although the way he met that half volley in Wales showed a bit of class. His haul in League One last year was impressive and I'd say the SPL probably isn't that much ahead of League One.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Agree with the many questions about his attitude but seems a very mood-driven player? Anyway, Ireland's third best forward after RK & SL.
But even If Trap suddenly started playing all three in all the remaining games, pretty sure there won't be any 'plane to Rio', sadly.

We have a massive creativity void. Which all winds back to central midfield. Someone has to feed the forwards which just doesn't happen.

[Junior]

Tbh I think Stokes has to almost just make a standout impression in the 6 CL Group games (assuming he gets game time, which is by no means assured even with the existing Celtic squad putting aside the fact Celtic will probably/hopefully secure the signing of another striker before the window shuts) for Trap to waver from his current standpoint - He would struggle to ignore that. Stokes' SPL performances could be super all season but I doubt that would make one jot of difference to Traps thinking nor indeed a large/majority of the fanbase.

Personally, I really hope he does perform well in the SPL for the season, stays injury free and gets an opportunity in the CL games and grabs that opportunity with both boots and progresses onwards and upwards.

Ireland would definitely benefit from having a 'Head screwed on - Focused - Anthony Stokes' in its squad. As Ardee says, football ability wise he is up there in our top 3 or 4 strikers in my opinion. His assists ratio often gets overlooked but he creates a lot too as well as being able to finish.

[geysir]

Madden and Sammon are there in our top 6 with no compelling case existing for their inclusion. Stokes didn't turn up to take his chance when it came. I don't have any axe to grind with Trap about not picking Stokes and he's been injured most of last season.
But still I'm looking at Sammon and think wtf?? Neither him nor Maddon would get near the Celtic first team. Murphy looked an absolute donkey in a Celtic shirt, one of Lennon's most bizarre and failed signings and he's had a few. Championship standard doesn't mean anything by itself.

[Charlie Darwin]

Madden and Sammon are there in our top 6 with no compelling case existing for their inclusion. Stokes didn't turn up to take his chance when it came. I don't have any axe to grind with Trap about not picking Stokes and he's been injured most of last season.
But still I'm looking at Sammon and think wtf?? Neither him nor Maddon would get near the Celtic first team. Murphy looked an absolute donkey in a Celtic shirt, one of Lennon's most bizarre and failed signings and he's had a few. Championship standard doesn't mean anything by itself.
Clearly they're all sleeping together.

[Junior]

Madden and Sammon are there in our top 6 with no compelling case existing for their inclusion. Stokes didn't turn up to take his chance when it came. I don't have any axe to grind with Trap about not picking Stokes and he's been injured most of last season.
But still I'm looking at Sammon and think wtf?? Neither him nor Maddon would get near the Celtic first team. Murphy looked an absolute donkey in a Celtic shirt, one of Lennon's most bizarre and failed signings and he's had a few. Championship standard doesn't mean anything by itself.

Me neither, the Carling Cup issue, injury and a couple of off the field incidents in the proceeding couple of years have meant it was neither here nor there for me and I dont think he particularly deserved a squad place. The season he had with Hooper (which you have mentioned), he played well, linked up play well and scored 20 or so goals from memory plus the assists. He has started this season looking fairly bright, hopefully it continues. Footballing wise there is nothing Cox, Madden, Sammon can offer that Stokes can't do and much better. I ommitted Walters purely because he offers something a little bit different - though i'd put my money on Stokes before Walters to score a pen! If he wants it enough, he can force that door open once again. I doubt there is enough games/time in this campaign though for it to happen ahead of the EC16 qualifiers.

[paul_oshea]

The bank Job.

[DannyInvincible]

I see Celtic have signed Finnish striker, Teemu Pukki, from Schalke: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23832031

If Lennon's comments are to be taken at face-value, he'll first have to work his way past the likes of Stokes in the pecking order.


The 23-year-old joins the Scottish champions from German side Schalke, who he joined in 2011, having previously featured for Sevilla and Helsinki.

Manager Neil Lennon confirmed after Celtic's Champions League play-off win against Shakhter Karagandy that a fee had been agreed for the player.

"The carrot of the Champions League might be a bigger draw for a lot of players now," he said.

"I think it puts us in an excellent position but they will have to play well to get into that team."

Meanwhile, Celtic have also signed Israeli midfielder, Nir Biton: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23869184

Biton is certainly under no illusions regarding the task ahead of him...


"I am at Celtic, one of the best clubs in Europe," said the player who had two trials for Manchester City in 2012.

"When you come to a club like Celtic, you expect to win leagues, cups and to go far in the Champions League."

[ArdeeBhoy]

Hmm, they won't have to be that great to get into that side.

[Charlie Darwin]

Last-minute winner for Celtic today from a free kick, and immediately booked for celebrating too much.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNI7MtMHhS0

[elroy]

As Liam Brady more or less summed up the other night, bags of talent, not enough hard graft and right attitude. Maybe with a little maturity, he may fulfill potential this season. Given recent departures, he has a chance to establish himself as the 'main man' at Celtic.

[Junior]

Continued his good start to the season with a decent performance against Hearts at the weekend. Hopefully he can feature against Milan tomorrow night, though I'm not sure he'll start.

The 5 minute highlights show glimpses of what he can do with regards to creating, scoring and even taking a decent corner (something we can't seem to do at the moment!). Nicely taken goal (around 2:50) his fourth of the season and a lovely assist for the third goal (around 4:00).

No doubt he will feature in a squad soon enough once the new manager is in place and hopefully he can take it from there and let his football do the talking.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ-MqJoTiac&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PLAmNSUlUap5sNWgDy9_dL5HkD7mwHgEII

[rebelmusic]

He's actually probably the only decent finisher we have besides Robbie. Long is great and all, but he's not exactly prolific. More of a Kevin Doyle type player with more pace.

[DannyInvincible]

Stokes starts up front for Celtic against AC Milan in the San Siro.

[Fixer82]

playing well

[DannyInvincible]

He's just after hitting the cross-bar with a free-kick. Good effort. Still 0-0 going into the last ten minutes.

Edit: Ouch! Milan score with a wickedly deflected shot that was otherwise going wide.

[tricky_colour]

Celtic so unlucky.

[tricky_colour]

No reason why Celtic can't win at home though.

[Junior]

I thought Stokes did okay last night, not brilliant but more than decent. The service in to him wasnt great to be honest but you could see plenty of moments of a good first touch, good vision with flick ons to team mates etc. Whilst Samaras was supporting him from wide and Commons from in the hole - He was kind of up top on his own - a position which isnt best suited to his attributes. It will be tricky for him to nail down that starting spot, certainly for away european fixtures but tonights overall good team performance of which Stokes played an important role will do his chances no harm whatsoever.


At 0-0 he capitalised on a mistake from the Milan defence and left the Milan FB on his ar$e by going outside then cutting back in, looked like he skewed the disappointing shot wide but a defender actually managed to block it and Celtic won the corner kick.

Again at 0-0, after a few disappointing freekicks from team mates, Stokes stepped up to take one and curled it over the wall and hit the junction of crossbar and post with the keeper well beaten - agonisingly close.

He hasnt had many opportunities to play against this quality of opposition and whilst Milan were certainly no great shakes on the night (Celtic should have at least got a point, possibly all 3) he more than held his own.

Hopefully he continues his good form in the SPFL and gets his chance at home against Barcelona in a couple of weeks - Though based on Celtic winning last time around, Barca will be gunning for revenge coupled with their thumping of Ajax 4-0 last night, I fear it could be a 'feeding off the scraps' type of night for whoever plays up front.

Lets get him in an Ireland squad whilst his confidence is high and the games left are dead rubber.

[tricky_colour]

Would have been a totally different game if his free kick had gone in, then there was the deflection.
Must be disheartening to end up losing 2:0 when with a bit of luck they could of won 1:0.
Maybe they can get some justice in the return leg, but the face Barcelona next which is going to be tough, but not impossible!

[Grafter]

As a ten year old, Ruud Gullit for me was the most fearsome sight with those dreadlocks and mostashe - I thought he was a lion!!! Anyways an older and not nearly as impressive dreadlockless Ruud is not so impressed with Celtic strikers....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24215615

[DeLorean]

No treble for Celtic anyway this season. Lost 1-0 aet to Morton at Celtic Park. Stokes came on after 65 minutes.

[back of the net]

Starts against barcelona tonight

[tricky_colour]

They seemed to be doing OK even down to 10 men. Stokes off on 70 mins and Barca socre 9 minutes later.
Celtic had been going forward and had a chance them selves, but that got hit by barca after that, maybe it
was barca's plan to lure them out to hit them on the break.

[Fixer82]

Tough game for him living off scraps.
Forget about Samaras passing to you

He was kind of on his own up front.

Celtic had a couple of chances in 2nd half but that gob$hite Scott Brown kicked a Barca player when there was absolutely no need and got a straight red

[Junior]

I was up at the game.

Stokes put in a really hard shift but was basically chasing shadows. I've not seen the stats but I'd imagine Barca had 70%-75% possession whilst Stokesy was on the pitch. He was dropping in to midfield (so it was more of a 4-5-1 than a 4-4-2) and doing a lot of harrying and closing down but getting very little time on the ball. Its a fairly soul destroying task at the best of times but Stokes is not a midfielder and his qualities are further up the field on the ball. Perhaps having Kayal or someone on from the start might have been better (not for Stokes obviously). Having said that Lennons gameplan overall was working but for the silly kick out by Brown (as soft as it was). To keep up that level of workrate for a whole 90 minutes was going to be hard with 11, almost impossible with 10.

Samaras was a better outlet for Celtic, he has pace to burn (Stokesy doesnt really) and can hold up play with his head/chest really well (again not so much an attribute of our guy). Pity he can be blinkered/selfish on occasion as there were a couple of opportunities to play Stokes in, if only he had lifted his head.

Still, Its another CL start for young Anthony. The double header versus Ajax over the coming 5 weeks are critical to whether Celtic finish bottom of the pile or can try and get in to place for a Europa spot and European football after Christmas which would be great news for Celtic and Stokesy of course!

Pikku came on for the last 5 or 10 minutes a showed a couple of glimpses of decent play - Its imperative Stokes keeps up his domestic form and nets a few between now and then otherwise he may drop down to the bench.

[Duggie]

I was up at the game.

Samaras was a better outlet for Celtic, he has pace to burn (Stokesy doesnt really) and can hold up play with his head/chest really well (again not so much an attribute of our guy). Pity he can be blinkered/selfish on occasion as there were a couple of opportunities to play Stokes in, if only he had lifted his head.



:rolleyes:
samaras is easily one of the worst players i have ever seen. ok he can hold a ball up but hes 7ft tall so its easy for him. every time i see him i get annoyed that someone is actually paying him to be a footballer. brutal player. And as for having pace to burn?????? sorry are we actually talking about the same player :confused:

[Junior]

Samaras has frustrated me in the past (still does actually) but you would have to have been living on another planet if you couldn't appreciate his performances for Celtic over recent seasons, particularly in Europe. He was outstanding last night. An Outlet, holding up play, back on the edge of his own box making challenges and winning back possession, lifting the crowd, taking on the captains responsibilities when down to 10 men. I have been his biggest critic in the past but he has certainly stepped up to the plate. I remember stutts posting a few years ago that 'he could see a player in there somewhere' but I just scoffed - I really thought he was a headless chicken. I am big enough to accept I was wrong....Duggie, I think its your turn to hit the confessional box......

[Duggie]

he makes dirk kuyt look like messi, thats how bad he is.

[geysir]

he makes dirk kuyt look like messi, thats how bad he is.
If you don't get Samaras, you don't get football.


I was up at the game.
Stokes put in a really hard shift but was basically chasing shadows. I've not seen the stats but I'd imagine Barca had 70%-75% possession whilst Stokesy was on the pitch. He was dropping in to midfield (so it was more of a 4-5-1 than a 4-4-2) and doing a lot of harrying and closing down but getting very little time on the ball. Its a fairly soul destroying task at the best of times but Stokes is not a midfielder and his qualities are further up the field on the ball. Perhaps having Kayal or someone on from the start might have been better (not for Stokes obviously). Having said that Lennons gameplan overall was working but for the silly kick out by Brown (as soft as it was). To keep up that level of workrate for a whole 90 minutes was going to be hard with 11, almost impossible with 10.
I'd say it was far from a soul destroying experience for Stokes to be playing against Barca at Celtic Pk.

[Junior]

I'd say it was far from a soul destroying experience for Stokes to be playing against Barca at Celtic Pk.

No the experience Im sure was memorable, a proud moment. Lining up in the hoops alongside the best team in the world over the last decade, the champions league anthem, a 60k frenzied crowd - a fabulous experience.

Chasing shadows with barely a touch of the ball, is soul destroying I'd imagine on that stage or in the park on a Sunday.

Still, he'll be better and more experienced for it though....

[Stuttgart88]

I thought Celtic did well. I'd love to see the ROI play as accomplished a game as Celtic have in their last 3 European ties Barca, Milan and Karagandy (home - not away obviously!). One might point that the results are all that counts but I think if we had it in us to play a more modern game against good opposition we'd win and draw more often than lose.

OK, so Forster was superb at the end but I think if ROI were to play a top team like Germany, the best we could hope for is to contain and wait for the one or two chances that will inevitably come. That's what Celtic did. I think there's a lesson for Ireland in how they approached these games.

[Duggie]

If you don't get Samaras, you don't get football.



oh well if you say so it must be true then.:loser:

[Stuttgart88]

I think Samaras is great value. Skillful, great feet, good pace and direct running, decent finisher and above all else, utterly erratic.

[paul_oshea]

I think Samaras is great value. Skillful, great feet, good pace and direct running, decent finisher and above all else, utterly erratic and ...

...as soon as he gets the balls from defense, he runs a bit with it and loses possesion either down a blind alley or because he holds onto it for too long.

He offered relief in the sense he took some pressure off the defense for a while, but he would inevitably give it back just after a slighly longer period of time.

I'm talking about last night btw. Its the exact same reason people got so frustrated with McGeady. Having said that watching lustig last night, i was thinking, Mcgeady could have done serious damage to him, or at least offered something compared to walters or wilson did. Whether or not he did anything after that is another point completely though :D

[DeLorean]

Yeah Samaras obviously has his attributes but I think he'd be well served by understanding his limitations.

[Fixer82]

Samaras showed how good a player he can be last night. Holding up play, holding off players and showing good feet.

But he is so frustrating because it's as if he tries to beat the whole opposition team on his own every time he gets the ball.

Which for me makes him a good player but not really an intelligent one

[geysir]

Samaras showed how good a player he can be last night. Holding up play, holding off players and showing good feet.

But he is so frustrating because it's as if he tries to beat the whole opposition team on his own every time he gets the ball.

Which for me makes him a good player but not really an intelligent one
Intelligent enough to be one of Celtic's and Greece's most important and effective players, with a long list of motm awards for club and country at the highest level. Intelligent enough and with enough bottle to be given and take on one of the most difficult roles to play in football, like last night, collect the ball and run at Barca.
Who the fck has ever done that without getting ambushed after 2 seconds? :)
He was the only player Barca really had to keep an eye on, he was Celtic's 'out' and yet he caused them problems time and time again. Stokes was useless at that role, probably no current Irish player could have managed 1/4 of what Samaras managed.
Definitely more than good enough for the Irish team.

[tetsujin1979]

Samaras was the difference between the two sides in the friendly last year, surprised at some of the reaction here to him

[Fixer82]

Intelligent enough to be one of Celtic's and Greece's most important and effective players, with a long list of motm awards for club and country at the highest level. Intelligent enough and with enough bottle to be given and take on one of the most difficult roles to play in football, like last night, collect the ball and run at Barca.
Who the fck has ever done that without getting ambushed after 2 seconds? :)
He was the only player Barca really had to keep an eye on, he was Celtic's 'out' and yet he caused them problems time and time again. Stokes was useless at that role, probably no current Irish player could have managed 1/4 of what Samaras managed.
Definitely more than good enough for the Irish team.

What I'm saying is he did all the hard work so often and so brilliantly, showed great strength to hold on to the ball....but never played the simple pass when it was on. He is a very frustrating player because he has so much talent

[Serb]

Are you guys seriously arguing about Georgios Samaras? Let's try and keep the thread at least a little bit on topic and talk about Anthony Stokes.

I'd love to see him get a start against Kazakhstan — I think he'd be well suited along side Robbie Keane for a game like that. I'm not sure about the Germany game though. I think I'd rather pack the midfield for that game, but we don't really have anyone who's effective at the lone striker role.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Stutts has it in essence about 'Jesus'. And is relevant, as it directly impacts how Stokes plays his game...

Probably too similar to Robbie, but might be our only consistent scorer in the future, well more than Long, Walters, Doyle, who can barely buy an international goal...

[Stuttgart88]

OK, at this stage would people here prefer Stokes to Long? I think he deserves a look.

Long has frustrated the **** out of me in recent games. Careless finishing, bad decision-making, suspect temperament. He needs to do an Aaron Ramsey and stop living off his potential and actually start delivering.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Would definitely give him a go, but ultimately with a view to being Robbie's potential replacement...

[Charlie Darwin]

OK, at this stage would people here prefer Stokes to Long? I think he deserves a look.

Long has frustrated the **** out of me in recent games. Careless finishing, bad decision-making, suspect temperament. He needs to do an Aaron Ramsey and stop living off his potential and actually start delivering.
He's almost 27. He's reached his potential - he's not going to get much better and I don't know why people keep expecting him to become this dominant centre forward.

Stokes is the new flavour of the month and I think would offer a lot more than your Sammons or your Walters, but I wouldn't expect miracles either. If King is going to carry forward his U21s formation for these games, it would be interesting to see if he can accommodate Keane and Stokes in the team, assuming Long or Doyle will almost certainly be the central striker.

[Fixer82]

I definitely see Stokes as Robbie's most obvious successor.
He's a natural goal scorer and a good poacher. Not as good a poacher as Robbie but few are.
I think he's better in other areas than Robbie.

For me the order of Irish strikers (excluding Robbie) would be:

Stokes
Long
Walters
Doyle
Cox (though we've rarely see him play up front for Ireland. When he has he's done well)

[OwlsFan]

I definitely see Stokes as Robbie's most obvious successor.
He's a natural goal scorer and a good poacher. Not as good a poacher as Robbie but few are.
I think he's better in other areas than Robbie.

For me the order of Irish strikers (excluding Robbie) would be:

Stokes
Long
Walters
Doyle
Cox (though we've rarely see him play up front for Ireland. When he has he's done well)

Stokes was an abject failure in England - yes abject. 4 goals in 51 games. He's playing in a very poor league and up to recently had been warming the subs' bench for Celtic behind Hooper and Samaras. If we're placing our hopes on him, then we're in trouble

[back of the net]

I definitely see Stokes as Robbie's most obvious successor.
He's a natural goal scorer and a good poacher. Not as good a poacher as Robbie but few are.
I think he's better in other areas than Robbie.

For me the order of Irish strikers (excluding Robbie) would be:

Stokes
Long
Walters
Doyle
Cox (though we've rarely see him play up front for Ireland. When he has he's done well)

I think Stokes is a long way off been Robbies Successor. He did shockingly in England and as Owlsfan has said is playing in a very low quality league. But in saying that, playing in the SPL seems to have grounded him somewhat and he now seems to be focussing on his football rather than the other nonsense he was involved in previously. So in that sense the move to SPL may prove to be a blessing if he decides to return to playing in a higher level league and from that theres no reason as to why he can live up to some of his potential and do better in England second time around. But that is all if and buts...


Absolutely agree with you Fixer though on your Cox point......dont understand some of the abuse he gets. When played out of position he offers little but thats not his fault. Think he be a gem for us upfront where he belongs though

[Stuttgart88]

I don't think playing in England is everything. Geysir was making the point that Samaras is a key part of a Greek team that is better than we are. If Stokes is good enough a player he'll do well for us, if he's not he won't. I think Long has left the door wide open for a Stokes right now.

I don't see anyone ever being Robbie's successor. 60 goals and half of them in a period when we had our worst ever central midfield. In future we're going to have to spread the goal scoring around the team. A more fluid style might accommodate that.