Celtic vs KR Reykjavik - UCL Qualifier, Tuesday 22nd July @ 7:45pm

Could always play 4-1-4-1 with Mulgrew as holding midfielder and McGeouch and Johansen pushing higher up.

 

Of course it is better that Mulgrew is playing in midfield tomorrow night . Its not a coincidence that Celtic's best performances last season all involved Mulgrew playing in front of Virgil and Ambrose . If Deila is as good as we think he is he will employ different formations in different games . Our first important qualifying match is not one to try out rookies especially from the outset .

 

Ronny isn't daft, he's just walked in the door and he will mostly go with what has served Celtic so well over the last 4 years.

Now is not the time to be getting creative, just get the job done with the tried and tested.

Plenty of time for the McGeouchs and Hendersons to make their mark this season.

Forster
Matthews Ambrose Van Dijk Izzy
Kayal Mulgrew Johansen
Commons
Pukki Stokes

4-1 Celtic.
​

 

Totally agree. Can't see Ronny going mad and trying really different formations and tactics, not yet anyway. He will most likely ease his style into the team.

 

That is tasty - Kayal and Johansen tucking in, fullbacks and wide forwards providing the width. I'd go with that.

 

Change Pukki for Griffith & that's what I think we'll see now.

We need better quality up front though, hope to see some moved on & others brought in who can play in a front 3. Other than that I'm happy & optimistic.
We should certainly have enough to see off this lot.

2-0 would do me nicely, an away goal & a clean sheet is what we need.
Great to see the team playing under Ronny for real, now he'll see who can/can't do it - shame about Brown & Lustig, 2 first choices out.

 

This tie should pose no problems providing we have the right personnel and attitude.

Forster

Izzy
Virgil
Efe
Lustig if fit

Johansen
Mulgrew
Kayal
Mathews

Commons

Stokes

 

That is essentially a 4-3-3 I posted anyway, one of his favourite formations.

Pukki and Stokes will naturally go wide for the ball and hopefully that will give Commons space to work in the middle.

Kayal and Matthews feeding Pukki on the right because that has worked a treat in pre season and Johansen and Izzy feeding Stokes.

Could work really well.

 

What about Commons.. our most potent attacking threat!!

 

I would definitely play Griffiths, he can not only score goals but he can create them too. Probably our most underrated player, I can see him having an excellent season for Celtic.

 

Always seem to have a nightmare first game everytime a new manager takes over. Strachan with artmedia, Moybray I'm sure we got beat 1-0 at home off Dinamo moscow and Lennon we got beat 3 or 4 nil away at braga. Obviously these teams are of better quality than tomorrows opponents but I just hope we win avoid injuries

 

I have no idea why Ambrose is going to be parachuted in when this is the away leg of a first qualifier for us. We should have more than enough in the squad to deal with Reykjavik without rushing players into the team. I know that the quality of opposition means we shouldn't be tested too much but it didn't go well last time and he is hardly our best player so don't understand the decision.

As for the McGeouchs and Hendersons, Dylan has looked great in preseason thus far and it would be nice to see a slightly more attacking 3 for me than if he goes with Kayal, Mulgrew and Johansen.

 

It's not the same sort of rush. When did Nigeria actually last play a game? He has been training over Summer and now had a couple of weeks rest. He should be in great condition.

In the game against Juve, he really was rushed back but in all honest I'm not sure that it made a blind bit of difference. Ambrose on his best day would have gotten turned over by a team with much more quality than our own. No disrespect to KR but they certainly aren't Juventus.

 

Kayal has been very attacking in pre season, he's been instrumental in a few of our goals, lots of forward passes.

Johansen as we know can play a forward pass and get in the box.

Mulgrew can break up play and spray it about.

A well balanced midfield that actually.

 

Yeah two weeks is a bit of a break from training when I just don't think it is necessary to drop him into the team straight away.

He was absolutely shocking in that Juve game but I agree that this is nowhere near the same sort of match.

 

It's a fair point that we probably don't need to play him. But Ambrose and Virgil were mainstays last year and I suppose Ronny would want to start his tenure out with his strongest eleven.

Also our only experienced back up would be Mulgrew and I think he will be important in the midfield for Ronny, especially with Brown missing.

 

I think it is all a little too box-to-boxy without a clear creative edge going forward. Johansen has a great passing range but more often from deep rather than as an attacking playmaker, whilst Kayal can get forward but doesn't have the same range of skills as a player like McGeouch.

Just preference I guess.

 

Yeah that's all I'm really getting at. I'd move Mulgrew back but keep Kayal and Johansen in there as they offer balance. I'm not the manager though so just an opinion

 

Nor am I! We'll see what our glorious leader thinks is best tomorrow mate.

 

McGeouch is not good enough to be near the first team, I'd much rather see McGregor in ahead of him.