[Official TC Thread] Anderlecht v Celtic, Champions League, 27th September, Kick Off 19:45. Live BT Sport

Great minds, eh?

 

Retaining possession is an excellent time-wasting tactic, yes. But no side can have 100% of the ball. Tackling, intercepting and covering are skills that are necessary for a holding midfielder of European class. Ntcham's skills lie in other areas.

 

Depends what clothes you've got on..

 

You can't build an attack unless you have the ball, possession and retention of the ball is everything in the modern game. Brown is a ball winner and Ntcham looks to have a bit of everything..

So let's not write us off defensively or tactically before the game!

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Well, Lennon showed the exact opposite against Barcelona. Twice actually, it's just that we were unlucky once. Possession can be useful, but a poor defense will get exploited.

 

It's a balance, mate. No one would want, say, a midfield of Vic, Ledley, Lenny and Kayal, for example: they'd be * tough to break down, but our strikers would be totally isolated and the ball would just keep coming back at us. Football tactics is a complex matter, mate, you can't just take a "more is better" attitude to defensive players; you have to take into account your strengths and weaknesses, the opposition's strengths and weaknesses, your injuries in other parts of the field (an injured CB can change your midfield game plan totally!) likely fatigue levels, what exactly your overall game plan is, how the game is going (even when I was young, tactical substitutions were a "thing")...

Tactics nowadays are so complicated that it's an absolute nightmare to try and figure out what the best plan is. Luckily we have one of the best managers in Europe to do it for us!

 

Hopefully we can give ourselves a chance by not conceding the first goal.

I'm just gony enjoy this game with no expectation. CL has just felt pressured for the last few seasons.

 

He's the best at attacking, but apparently, defense is something he just doesn't like. If your opponent is at the very least on par with you in quality, more defensive cover is better. I just don't count Ntcham or Armstrong as true defensive cover. They help out, but I don't trust either of them to stop good players from getting to the backline.

 

i got wasted after the game on the bevvy unlike some who obviously dropped an acid before it!! you're not very good at this. Yeah, maybe we are a bit suspect at the back but you can't judge that from saturday.....hardly broke sweat. Think that was more comfortable than last season.

 

My head hurts and I only have one hat.

 

That's why I like the look of Ntcham so much... great range of accurate passing, pops up in attacking areas and has a level of physicality. He's the player BR has spoken about adding to the squad for Europe. And I reckon we'll see what he's all about on Wednesday. Whether he plays Rogic, Armstrong or McGregor is down to BR...

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Also a significant investment has been made on Eboue who is a DM bought to develop and with Europe in mind. He's just been unlucky with injuries or we would have seen more of him...

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Ntcham is great on the attack. But what about interceptions, defensive positioning and marking? Not his thing. We're * lucky Brown has been uninjured this season. But even he alone, can't do everything.

Eboue, from what I've seen of him when he played, and what the Russian sources said of him, is not a destroyer. He roams a lot, and doesn't even look buff. I have no idea how will he turn out, but he's more similar to Ntcham than Brown.

 

Ntcham positioning and awareness is spot on don't think we've being watching the same player!

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Hi Mark..

 

my team would be(below),with Roberts Rogic and Dembele coming on if we need to chase the game,think Forrest offers more protection to Lustig than Roberts does,we need to be solid from the start and work our way into the game,instead of being all out attack imo.

Gordon​

Lustig Boyata Jozo Tierney​

Brown Ntcham​

Forrest Armstrong Sinclair​

Griffiths​

 

I see Brown making interceptions Ntcham never does.