Brendan has identified our midfield as the problem area. Would have been great to sort it out in the summer but would rather we waited for the right player instead of throwing €2m at the problem, like we did with journeymen strikers for years.
Celtic were good but BMG were very very average .
I think Armstrong and McGregor have had enough chances, they’ll be in the team until January as we have limited options but when the window comes we should have two lads in and let these lads go.
I’m happy with our defence, we were missing our starting left back, two centre backs (one or both of our first choice centre back pairing depending what way you look at it) and had our first choice right back playing in the middle. They all had their iffy moments tonight but were decent in a very unfamiliar backline.
Forrest has really gone off the boil since the Man City game. I think Brendan should start Roberts from here on in. A couple of midfielders and another wide option in January is what we need.
Very good display by Celtic there. Two smashing passes by Roberts for the penalty and the McGregor chance - I think he deserves a run in the team now. Dembele was impressive again with his pace, power and hold up play. The makeshift defence stood up fairly manfully too notwithstanding a few hairy moments.
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Armstrong was mixed tonight - sloppy in possession, full of endeavor - but Rodgers seemingly rates him and has been talking him up quite a bit in the past 7-10 days. I think he sees him as part of the squad long term. He’s definitely shown an uplift in performance levels (from admittedly a fairly low base) and had two good cameos against Rangers and a couple of other decent displays. I’m happy to defer to Brendan on this one if he feels there’s a player in Armstrong.
How much would City want for Roberts ?
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“Very much a case of Xhaka can” - lovely stuff from Moooooiiiiicheal McMullan in his report on Granit Xhaka’s goal for Arsenal.
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He was fairly shit mate.
His endeavour is basically going through the motions, he’s not aggressive, he loses the ball easily and his technical play, particularly when taking the ball with his back to the goal is appalling. His running is tokenism, it’s not a work rate that is really inclined to do anything other that gesture to his manager that he is trying.
[quote=“Nembo_Kid, post:89, topic:23334, full:true”].
He was fairly shit mate.
His endeavour is basically going through the motions, he’s not aggressive, he loses the ball easily and his technical play, particularly when taking the ball with his back to the goal is appalling. His running is tokenism, it’s not a work rate that is really inclined to do anything other that gesture to his manager that he is trying.
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Well, whether he’s good enough in the long-term or not, he’s probably good enough for now. Henderson might be worth a go, though he hasn’t played regular SPL football ever even and McGregor is too static and Bitton the same. Wouldn’t write Bitton off but I’d be as happy for Armstrong to get the same number of chances as Bitton.
I think you’re underrating his running - there’s more to it than huffing and puffing. He gets ahead of the ball and makes good runs into the box. He needs to be better on the ball, but to be fair he wasn’t alone tonight - Dembele struggled to hold onto it first half and Gamboa had terrible touches on the ball too. That’s not to say he played well or anything, but I’ve seen Brown have games where he’s been really poor on the ball, we all have. And you wouldn’t have thought it looking at him tonight.
The bit of nous to get into good positions and to link up the play is probably uncoachable and that’s obviously what Brendan sees in him. He’s definitely a project but a project worth a punt.
I didn’t see any of that in him tonight, all I saw was a lot of token running, a real lack of aggressiveness in his play and some dreadful passes.
He completely fucked up a great chance at the start of the second half where he just have to slip in Sinclair with a simple slide rule pass. He butchered it. He nearly cost us a goal when he miscontrolled a straight forward pass to him. He’s a nothing player for me, he’s not aggressive, he’s not technical, he’s not quick or strong, he’s not smart, he’s not a leader. There’s nothing in his game that is good and he’s the type of player who seems to think he will get a pass with token running.
Tonight Armstrong was a liability, he’s almost like a poor man’s Stephen Pearson.
The TV3 highlights package on the player omitted one of the Man City goals 
big game tonight in turners cross
cork city and Roma, uefa youth champions league, first time ever we have a club at this stage
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Missed all of it last night, just got Griezmann’s goals there. It’s such a shame he doesn’t have a major tournament to his name this year, because he’s outperformed everyone really.
Might watch the full City vs Barca game in a while. Barca look in poor nick but it is only the group stages which seem a bit of a foregone conclusion anyway.
Seems all the games tonight are shite enough.
tottenham leverkusen has potential to be be decent
@Rocko
whats the crack with hakan cahanoglu, a potentially brilliant midfielder but i see he regularly isnt doing it, eg turkey dropped him against the czechs in june in a game they needed and nearly got 4 goals and he was taken off against spurs at HT the other week
Yeah you’re right to be fair, the last game was a good watch.
Yes indeed. That scoreless draw had me on the edge of my seat for the full 90+ minutes
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A screamer from Bale after 57 seconds against the fascist Poles.
Good start to this game. High tempo with Leverkusen forcing Spurs back and looking sharp. Spurs look quite dangerous on the break though.
Falcao scores for Monaco. Good to see him back