Kris Commons

Commons has been a great player for us and I think can be for another season or two.
The one thing I would like to say is that Kris didn't score 32 goals for Celtic last season as a midfielder . Kris often moves into a striker position and that is where he is most dangerous
On the downside , Kris doesn't play enough of the midfield and that left Brown and Johannsen over, run and too much pressure on the defence .
So it's a matter of balance .

 

Everyone still blaming Commons for slowing the play down? What I saw the night is we need Commons to * quicken it!

 

I don't think he's been great this season so I can't say we missed him, he might have been a good player tonight but I suppose we'll never know.

 

Maybe missed an attacking midfielder but no Commons

Johansen had freedom to get up the park against Ross County but the night he never really left centre-mid him and Brown remained more in the middle.

 

I didn't hear anyone say that he was missed on Saturday, and we lined up with the same midfield last night.

 

But he played it totally differently on Saturday, also, 1 game against the lowest team in the SPFL who have been shocking this season?

Is that the game you judge how Celtic play without their current POTY?

 

Did Deila set them up differently? Nobody really knows that for certain. I just can't understand why he would either. After you have just put in your best performance of the season, why change it. The only change he made was a forced one, with Scepovic for Guidetti, who was a big miss. Every other position was filled with the same players though that looked a million times better on Saturday than we have for a long time. One thing Deila can't control is the players distribution though, and last night, we were abysmal in that department.

Look, Commons is a good domestic player, nothing more than that in my opinion. Against Zagreb, even taking his goal into account, he was arguably the worst player on the park. I feel sorry for Deila when picking Commons and when not, as I don't think he will ever please everybody, fans and pundits alike. We all know that we are going to set up with wingers, so that leaves Deila with a decision to make, go with Commons and play with 2 central midfielders, or drop Commons and play 3. Now, I've heard all too often how we can't play with only 2 as we get overrun.

Commons has played in the games against both Salzburg & Zagreb, and our performances in both games were very similar to last night's one.

 

Don't think we'd have been any better with Commons in the team. Couldn't have been worse either to be fair.

 

Unlesss Brown suddenly decided to change his game completely differently last night, Mulgrew as well then it came from the management. Are you surprised he would change it? Did we change it after Dundee United? Have we changed it going into every game so far this season?

Can you honestly say the way the midfield was set up was the same as it was against Ross County? Yes, it was the same personnel, but that means * all if you change the system. It was vastly different.

Commons isn't the problem here mate.

 

Defo missed a player like Commons last night but for me hes no the answer. I fully appreciate what hes done for Celtic but feel he thinks hes a bigger part of how we play than he actually is.

As a lot of folk say, he can go missing for a full game and pop up from nowhere wae a goal, and to be fair he does it a lot but we need players who never go missing especially when they see themselves as a vital first team player.

1st season was a revelation, last season he saved us. But hes not the answer.

 

Our use of the ball was also far better against Ross County to be fair. We couldn't string two passes together last night. Nobody will know except the players and coaching team whether we altered the system last night, we are only guessing from that point of view. I would like to think that Deila could see we played probably the best football we have all season on Saturday, and sent out the team exactly the same way last night. If he didn't then serious questions have to be asked, but as I said, we are only guessing there.

I'll be honest mate, when we are playing with a 4-2-3-1, Commons doesn't fir into that system in my opinion. It just doesn't work. Would you play him that formation, and if so, where about? Serious question.

 

The passing was much better against Ross County because we actually set up to have Mulgrew and Brown operate in midfield, I keep banging on about this but we were definitely instructed to play like that last night, I’ve watched Scott Brown play in a * of a lot of games and he was ineffectual last night because of the role he was playing, now what did he actually do wrong? One bad pass and that was it, his role was outwith his normal midfield duties, he was further up the pitch, as was Johansen, while Mulgrew was dropping back being another centre back.

Players don’t change habits of a lifetime without specific instruction. There’s also the fact we had a variation, a much better used variation, of this formation against Maribor. That was more successful as the midfielders ahead of Mulgrew actually operated in midfield.

Commons does fit for me, if you play a 4-2-3-1 properly, which we haven’t been doing so far, do you think he didn’t fit into the system against Dundee United? Because that’s been the performance of the season, better than Ross County against a better team.

I’d play Commons behind the one striker but not in the same manner Deila has been since he’s came in, he’s trying to make Commons operate as a playmaker, that’s not his best role for me, he’s receiving the ball with his back to goal far too much and it’s hindering his and our game, play him more as an attacking midfielder. Fill into the midfield when required and get right up and beyond the striker as needed, as he was doing last season.

Play him so he’s getting the ball in spaces where his back isn’t to goal, where the game is infront of him and he can do the damage, some of the play, even this season, when he’s facing goal is exactly what we are missing, look at how many times you’ve saw him play quick one two’s with Stokes, with Hooper before him. That’s what he does with his face to goal, quick incisive play. It’s exactly what we need at the moment.

The system hasn’t worked so far except in two flashes against Ross County and Dundee United, regardless of who’s playing there. Commons has still scored five, has still assisted a few, despite this. I find it baffling that Commons so far this season has been bearing the brunt of the frustration of Deila’s poor tactics. We’ve had this conversation before but Deila really does need to adapt and quickly.

 

Fair enough mate, but I stand by my opinion that Deila will never win on whether Commons should play or not. When we lose and Commons plays, we hear our fans saying we get overrun and need an extra central midfielder, when he doesn't play, and we are poor, he is the missing link. Hindsight is a great thing.

Our fans have also moaned about Deila chopping and changing the team, yet last night when he plays 10 out of the 11 players from Saturday, which would have been the same team if he could, I've no doubt there, fans are then moaning because they want to see changes. Chris Sutton kept on going on about wanting Wakaso to start, who would have dropped out for that? It would have had to be a player that played well at the weekend. It couldn't have been a staright swap for Guidetti with Stokes going up top, because we know he can't play that role, and fans would have moaned about that also.

You can argue about the way we set up mate, but there is no excuses for some of the passing last night. Charlie Mulgrew nearly gifting them two goals wasn't down to our formation, and to suggest it is, would be utter madness. It was down to a lack of concentration, and poor decision making The one first half, he didn't even look before he played it. He was an accident waiting to happen last night.

 

Neil Lennon on Talksport with Alky Brazil saying it is very unlikely that he will be getting Chris Commons.