Mackay-Steven for the injured Forrest and Lustig back in for Gamboa.
Gordon;
Lustig, Boyata, Sviatchenko, Tierney;
Brown, Bitton;
Mackay-Steven, Armstrong, Sinclair;
Dembélé.
Subs: De Vries, Touré, Izaguirre, Gamboa, Henderson, McGregor, Griffiths.
GMS really doesn’t convince me anymore. He was sort of effective at the weekend but he never looks like a real goal threat. I prefer McGregor and Henderson, even playing out of position.
Yeah, he’s been unconvincing in the vast majority of his intermittent appearances since returning to fitness in December. I don’t think we’ve any development squad wingers with immediate first team potential so it’s an area Celtic need to strengthen in the summer, especially if Roberts returns to Manchester City. I expect they’ll make another attempt to sign Henry Onyekuru but he’s now commanding interest from La Liga and the EPL according to reports.
Commentary please gents. Particularly about whether they’ll be covering - 1 in the first half.
Quiet start but upping the pace now.
I’ve backed Celtic - 1 in the second half now as well so keep it up
Bit sloppy with the ball but they’re not doing anything and Dembele is beginning to look threatening. Just too causal in midfield so far and think we lack a couple of threats when Armstrong is the #10 instead of being deeper and when GMS is one of the wingers.
Think we’re playing the 4-1-2-3 with Armstrong to the left and Brown to the right more than a typical #10. Armstrong, Tierney and Sinclair have been linking up a good bit down that side but not much coming from Brown, Lustig and GMS.
Yeah Armstrong is certainly more left sided. It’s an odd looking formation. Well on top now anyway.
Unreal. Siiiiinnnnccccclllllaaaaaiiiiirrrrrrrr.
Sssssiiiiinnnncccclllllaaaaiiirrrr
Smashing goal. Good feet, great strength, sublime finish.
That was beautiful, magical.
Half time. Got better as that went on. They’ve been zero threat, just scrapping in front of their defence but I think we’ll pick them apart easier now that they’re behind.
Did you listen to the Chris Davies podcast with the fans? He mentioned that most teams are now playing (and I quote) “5-diamond-1”* against us. It’s a case of taking your poison and teams are now basically choosing to defend en masse in an attempt to keep the score down. Teams who’ve tried to push forward have conceded 5 or 6 goals in games. It’s sometimes taking us a while to break down these packed defences but it’s incredible the amount of goals Celtic have scored this season in the last 5-10 minutes of each half. We patiently move the ball around, build up the pressure, drag players out of position and eventually get the breakthrough.
*I’ll be using 5-diamond-1 in day to day conversation from now on.
Deeeeeemmmmmmmmmmmbbbbbbbbbbbbbééééééééééllllllllllllllllllééééééééééééééééé
Haha. Ddddddeeemmbbbeelllleee
Yeah I listened to us. I was going to casually drop on 5 diamond 1 later! He seems like a smashing chap.
People say these games mean nothing. I broke my glasses jumping up for that goal.