Jos Hooiveld - I Could've Throttled My Team Mates Options

[MalkysLargeOvers...]

JOS HOOIVELD was so disgusted by the efforts of his Celtic team-mates in Braga he wanted to grab them by the THROAT.

If the Hoops back-line had done their jobs in the same manner Hooiveld summed-up their awful display this Champions League qualifier would still be in the balance.

Now, though, ragged Celts are odds-on to crash out of the premier competition and be left with a Europa League qualifier to salvage their Euro hopes.

A 3-0 first leg defeat has put Braga firmly in the box seat - and it angers Hooiveld, especially as all the goals were set-pieces.

The stopper was as much to blame as anyone else for Neil Lennon's disastrous bow as permanent manager.

Former AIK ace Hooiveld said: "If I had been still playing in Sweden, I am sure I would have broken something after the game.

"At this moment in my career at Celtic I have just come back from an injury and people don't really know what kind of player I am.

"I'm not in a position within the group yet where I can go into the dressing room and grab people by the throat.

"I felt like doing it. Of course I did.

"This is the first chance I have had to get into the Champions League and if we screw it up it would be so frustrating.

"It actually gets more frustrating the more I talk about it."

Belgian ref Serge Gumienny infuriated Celtic with a harsh spot-kick for Braga's opener.

There could be no excuses for Braga's second goal with Hooiveld and Glenn Loovens hopelessly inadequate at dealing with Matheus' corner as Elderson scored.

Matheus' 87th minute third was a killer blow - a 30-yard free-kick strike which left question marks against keeper Lukasz Zaluska.

It was only Hooiveld's third game in a so far injury-plagued Celtic career.

He added: "It was not a penalty for the first goal.

"I also felt the referee had started the game in a strange way.

"He gave a yellow card to one of our players after just four minutes for wasting time.

"When it came to the penalty decision you could say the linesman wanted to have his own participation in the game.

"He had his flag up in the air waving it before the ball hit the ground.

"These things can happen - but the goals were too easy for Braga to score and I can't stop thinking that.

"We lost the second from a corner and that is not good.

"The killer for me was the things that happened before the corner.

"There was a 50-50 duel and we lost it.

Advertisement
Quantcast

"You could say everything went Braga's way in the game, but we have to take matters into our own hands.

"If you can't go out and there and win games in a beautiful way, you just have to get yourselves out there and win them in a BAD way.

"You can kick the ball 110 metres out of the stadium if you like.

"I don't care how you win that 50-50, you just have to win it.

"We gave them a really easy corner.

"What happened after that when the corner came into the box was again too easy.

"There were people not jumping and the ball just went over them.

"When their guy touched the ball towards goal, we had no one on the far post."

Despite the humiliating loss, Hooiveld insists Celtic's pre-match game-plan was perfect.

He said: "We had everything figured out on paper, but if people don't do their jobs it is going to be hard. The main thing for us is we are going to have to cut these things out soon because they will really cost us.

"Braga couldn't get through us in open play throughout the whole game.

"Yet we have given the ball away at standard situations on three occasions.

"A corner, a free-kick and a penalty. It all makes me very angry.

"What bugs us the most is we now have to score three goals at least in the home leg and that is going to be one helluva task but I am sure we can still beat Braga."

Fellow Hoops stopper Glenn Loovens was also fuming at the 'joke' goals his side conceded in Braga. Loovens said: "It was just not good enough for the Champions League. We gave away an easy penalty, but I never felt we were in any sort of trouble, even at 1-0 down.

"In the second half, we continued to play badly on the ball, but hardly gave anything away.

"Then, two sloppy set pieces and you are 3-0 behind.

"It was already hard but the way we gave the last two goals away was a joke.

"We couldn't string three passes together, and it is hard to get into the game when you play like that.

"We still have a game to go, but three goals is a lot to pull back although strange things can happen in football. It's time to step up and quickly."

[Jimmie O']

It's a pity he didn't grab them by the throats, and shake some fecking life into them