Who would you play in defence against PSG?

Faint praise.
I will be very surprised if Gamboa ever features for Celtic again.

 

Lol..

 

23 games ? You don't say ?
Bit part games ? When the league was done and dusted, to rest other players.
He was horrendous in the Champions League.
He's not played this year has he smarty pants ?
Don't be offended Hammer. Just sharpening my craft.

 

Scott Allan + 3 others.

 

Wrong.

Wrong.

 

I'm torn between moving Lustig to centre-back, and bringing in Gamboa or Ralston at right-back; or playing Lustig in his natural position and risking Bitton alongside Jozo.

Maybe it's a good job BR is the Celtic manager and not me.

 

If we go for 4 at the back its Gamboa all the way. Ralston looked terrified to me when the * hit the fan last European game. Biton is just asking to lose heavily also. Gamboa could also struggle but is slightly less of a risk. 3 at the back might work but it would have to be executed perfectly.

 

I think that, whatever we'll be playing, it'll be thoroughly rehearsed through match preparation.

If we're realistic, even if we had signed another quality CB in the summer window, we'd still be struggling to contain PSG. We'd still be wondering whether or not Lustig should start at RB (think he'll start regardless, Gamboa isn't match fit), and we'd still be having doubts over whether or not our CBs could cope.

I can't see PSG failing to score against us. The fact that C.Ronaldo and Messi are as good as they are skews perception of how good their squad is, in my opinion. Neymar is world class and if he's on his game, he'll be able to cut our defence open.

 

I don't think Brendan has given too much away about what defence he will play.

He played 3 at the back on Friday against Hamilton. But I don't think we'll do that against PSG, considering we played 3-5-2 against Barca (0-7), Beer Sheva (0-2) and Astana (3-4) and it didnt go well.

I think he'll almost certainly play 4 at the back. I don't think Gamboa is even on Brendans radar as he hasnt given him any game time this season. Ajer hasnt had a game since Astana I don't think. So it's probably between Ralston at right back with * in the centre. Or Bitton at CB with lustig right back.

But in reality none of us have a clue what formation or who he'll play which is good because PSG won't have a clue either.

 

In regards to Bitton, what he does have in his favour is great technique on the ball. If you rewatch the home game v Man City, you'll see how good he is on the ball. We all have a worry about him playing in defence, but I reckon that's who will start alongside Simunovic. We should be looking to utilise one of his best attributes. Perhaps he'll ping a lovely long through ball to Sinclair or Paddy, who will square it for Griff for our opening goal. Here's hoping.

 

Has anyone thought about playing a midfielder at right back??? Brown, Ntcham, Armstrong or even Biton himself? Could any of these guys do a better job than Ralston or Gamboa?

 

I doubt it. There's no reason to take such a risk when we have 3 natural right backs ready to play.

 

I don't think there's much to be gained by playing people out of position.

However, if we are to stop PSG tearing us apart, then we need to defend with all 11 players, not just the back four and keeper.

Obviously we don't know team selections yet, but .........

Griff has to put pressure on their back four and not give them time and space to build from the back.

Sinclair/Roberts/Rogic/McGregor/Armstrong/Forrest have to track back and help close down their midfield. We can't allow Rabiot, Verratti and Motta to dictate the game.

And of course, Brown and Ntcham have to provide cover in front of the back four, whilst Sinclair and Roberts/Forrest also get back to assist our full-backs.

It will be an exhausting and difficult evening's work; but if we can prevent them "getting at" our back four, then we have a chance. Defensively they are suspect; a young, inexperienced goalkeeper; full-backs who like to get forward and can be caught out of position. If we can keep it tight, we can catch them on the break.

 

Don't know why but I completely forgot about ajer until someone posted a picture of him earlier
Lustig ajer jozo tierney

 

I'm not comfortable with Lustig at RB, he's fine domestically but Neymar or Mbappe would destroy him

 

Whats your backline then AJ?

 

Lustig hardly gave neymar a kick the last time they were up against each other and neymar was in a far better team

 

Honestly, I don't think it matters who we pick in defence

Whether we get anything from the PSG/Bayern home games will depend on how they deal with the Parkhead atmosphere and whether we take our chances

Defensively we'll struggle regardless

Going to have to batten down the hatches as best we can and make the most of any attacks we can get