Hearts have lost twice.
Forgot they lost the other night. Only had one defeat when I was looking at the table last Sunday.
The maverick Nygren almost made a game of it there. Heās a bit like Luis Garcia 20 years ago with his ability to infuriate and inspire in equal measure.
Hogh gives away some amount of frees.
Lennon incessantly calling Carter Vickers, Vickers is really grating.
Awful from Nygren.
Idah used to get it tight at Celtic but he never played as bad as Hogh has tonight.
Youāre being very harsh on the former First Lady there, even in her current state sheās more mobile than MacGregorš¬
Maybe Glasgow Celtic should go all out and try and get the Ferencvaros manager.
Booked to go over for the Besiktas game. Maybe I shouldnāt have done that. Fuck me thatās dogshit.
I genuinely fear for us in Lisbon under this coaching setup.
I fear for Sunday.
Covid season vibes tbhā¦a win against the huns on Sunday could avert that but there are really worrying signs. And weāre a very educated support & have been expressing these concerns since the early domestic games when the wins were being racked up. 3 tests so far this season & 3 abject failures - weāve looked a rabble each time.
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Their board have a thing for flirting with Ferencvaros managers to be fair. Nearly as close as the former Ferencvaros manager came to some Sheila in the Anvil in Saggart cc @Spidey.
Caught the last 15 mins of Bournemouth win. Their keeper pulled off some saves.
The midfield is the disease here. We donāt have a midfielder except for maybe Oxlade who is comfortable taking the ball in a deep area under pressure. Scales had a horrific game tonight but I felt sorry for him as he was hung out to dry by his captain, nothing unusual about it. No team wants their centre halves on the ball - if this is happening then itās a system failure.
If you pause the screen at any time during the game youāll spot McGregor pointing at the two centre halves to pass elsewhere, he will run into channels where he canāt receive the ball, the odd time he does get it he will rarely take it on the half turn and look forward and play a line splitting pass. He will generally pass back to his keeper or centre backs or sideways to his full backs and this is the cancer within the squad.
Off the ball then we have nobody taking responsibility in that midfield area. The amount of times this season we have been caught with overloads. McGregor was again endemic of it, he is the opposite of a leader, he is a coward. He tries to pass players off to others rather than deal with them himself, he cost us the second goal tonight.
The video of him saying no more goals at the weekend sums him up. Heās all about protecting himself, he doesnāt want the ball in tight areas in his own half as he doesnāt want to be the one pinched or giving the ball away - it doesnāt matter that he is better technically equipped to do that. He doesnāt want to be the one who plays the line splitting passes as they are generally less successful so he will pass the ball off to inferior players on the ball and tell them to make those passes.
Himself and Nygren are two players who play for themselves and not the team. Sorenson looks utterly hopeless, he canāt secure a ball, everytime he gets it he is wide open to be dispossessed. Baur is tidy and energetic but so weak, I think heāll be a good player with the right players around him but in this set up will be dragged down with the rest.
A manager worth his salt would be going at this point with a midfield 3 of Oxlade, Baur and the Dutch lad at the weekend. OāNeill wonāt have the balls to drop McGregor though. Itās like the Covid season with Brown being played when heās finsihed.
Yangās energy has been a collosal loss. I think itās no surprise Duran has looked out of his sync since Yang has departed as his pressing greatly helped Duran.
Bit harsh on McGregor? Sure wasnt a coward through his career.
Heās been a coward for 2 or 3 years now, pretty much since heās been deployed as a 6. Once teams started pressing him in this role, he cowered. Spends his days now pointing elswhere rather than doing his job. A guy who is engaging his self preservation rather than leading his team.
I fully agree that Sorensen looked lost but the Hogh for Sorensen half time substitution & switch to 442 reminded me a little of MONās Ireland-Denmark home play off disaster when he emptied the midfield at half time chasing the game & we got opened up on the counter. I donāt think we can play a 442 with McGregor &, at the risk of repeating myself, I wouldnāt imagine it has been prepared for or coached in training. How to build out with a midfield 2 rather than 3 etc etc. The movements, the positions, the relationships.
Iāve wavered on McGregor over the years. Heās had plenty of good games & a fine Celtic career overall but his limitations & lack of bravery have been exposed as the levels go up. He passed the buck to Scales to a large degree tonight, although Scales repeatedly coughing up the ball by playing the same straight pass into midfield was very annoying. Again it was alarming because it showed we didnāt have a clue how to progress the ball forward & it doesnāt seem to be coached. Unhelpful indeed to have your centre midfielder & captain screening himself behind the opposition & not making himself available but pointing a lot instead.
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At this stage I feel sorry for McGregor . He shouldnt be playing , hes getting completely overran
Aside from Glasgow Celtic, a good night for British clubs in the UEFA Cup. Crystal Palace beat Lech Poznan 4-0 and Bournemouth win 1-2 at Real Sociedad.
MON post match: āThe club has been used to 4-3-3 for quite some considerable time, for quite a number of years as well. I think that if weāre going to try and get the best out of our best players, then weāre going to have to find another way.ā
Fine. But these are more throwaway type comments similar to his previous ones about the side needing to be more direct. Itās grand to say it but thereās no evidence a new system/formation has been trained. The game has moved on from just doing it on the fly in a match, even the best sides in the world are coached to the nth degree.
A wider point - were players signed this summer with a change in formation &/or style in mind? Or is the mooted change in formation driven by another failed transfer window & a realisation that the scattergun approach has left us with an unbalanced squad? Either way, if you want to get the best out of a team when thereās a significant squad turnover then you really should get your transfer business done early. Allow the new players to bed in & let the manager & coaching staff work with them & conclude on how best to utilise them.
Weāve now been thumped by LASK, the huns & Ferencvaros & the manager doesnāt seem to have a clue who to pick or how to set the team up. Itās an absolute mess from top to bottom. Celtic, having won all their six league games so far, are in crisis & the fans are mutinous (cc @ChairmanDan).
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