Greg Taylor

Nope, you're incorrect. He had to watch the runner too. Watch it again.

 

100%. He hesitates for half a second and is on the back foot, but a switched on player there who's confident in his defending goes in and wins it comfortably.

 

You can't have slow fullbacks in Europe. He isn't athletic enough. If we could merge him and Bernie we would have a decent LB

 

If someone is running towards the box you have to step forward, you can’t simply just keep walking backwards and give other opposition players time to get in the box

 

All due respect, it's madness to say he's not at fault for the second.

We'll agree to disagree I guess, but he's miles off the required level in the CL.

 

Utter * pish.

 

It's madness to say he is at fault. Folk are just desperate to have a go at him.

 

Did think he shoulda came out, but for me thought he was very good, some of his passing was superb.

 

It’s not pish at all. He’s absolutely favourite for that ball after Bernardo gets a touch and I’ve watched it back 3 times.

 

Then he'd have just slid the ball to the winger.

 

The runner is secondary. The ball was there to be won, quite clearly, and he didn’t go for it.

If it’s on the other side, Johnston deals with it.

 

It is utter pish. Do * not understand fullbacks have to be aware of runners too?

 

If he went for the ball Llorente would have just nicked it round the other side of him. At first I thought he should have got there, watching it back there’s no chance he’d have got there and then they’d have just been in behind anyway.

It was a great cross and header.

 

As someone has pointed out, the runner is secondary. The ball is there to be won. He’s not even attempted to make a challenge. Given Llorente all the time in the world to whip a ball in.

Accusing people of just being desperate to have a go is * madness as well. I’ve been one of his biggest defenders on here but he’s at fault for both goals.

As always, I thought his general play was actually pretty good but he’s cost us with two big mistakes.

 

You might always go for the ball when you're playing 5's with your mates but pros are more positionally aware than that and it's clear that Taylor having to do with two men at once is the issue for the second goal. If anything CCV could've potentially defended the cross and kicked it away as he was much closer than Scales was. And it's absolutely correct to say folk are desperate to have a go when morons are coming into the thread screaming 'get him to *'.

 

His pass for the second goal was * exceptional

 

He has his moments but he is still our weakest link and really should have been replaced during the summer

 

Every team has a weak link.

 

Caught out defensively far too often at this level. Need a serious upgrade at left-back either in January or next summer.

 

Been saving it on this guy for a while.

GT needs, at the very least, competition for his place in the side.

His best performances for Celtic have nearly all been when he was fighting for his spot under Ange, first when trying to prove he deserved to be first choice when he came back from injury and Juranovic was doing a job for us there while Ralston was flying at RB. He won back his spot, but what happened during summer 2022? In comes Bernabei and Taylor's spot as first choice is once again under threat.

Was it Ange's inverted FB system that made him thrive or was it when he is being pushed that he knows he has to be at his best? After all, there has always been glimpss there, and during Lennon's tenure when he first came in he was pretty decent while proving his worth to the fans as well as a few times this season where there have been glimpses, but mostly, it seems if he feels comfortable that he will be playing that he is always slightly off it, and when it's the difference of that 5% or whatever it is, even as a mental thing, that is where he needs to be to get the best out of him.

Do we need a new LB. Yes. Do we need to spend outrageous sums to upgrade? That I'm not so sure on.

Celtic have a number of LBs that have come through the Academy in the footsteps of Tierney. Adam Montgomery and Matthew Anderson are both out on loan - Montgomery was injured on debut at Fleetwood and think he is still out, while Anderson has been playing pretty much every week at Admira Wacker in Austria's 2nd Division, and has been doing great there, piling up a number of assists there. There is also another young guy at the Academy, Mitchell Frame, who has signed a new 3 year deal. So is it that the club are confident that one of these can provide the competition that Bernabei has failed to?

Or do we need to look elsewhere? If cheaper LB options are brought in, it might be a band-aid solution to spur GT better for a while but will it stay there? Will an upgrade make him have yto improve significantly on the training pitch to even get a game, is that then worth the price tag?

Whatever the answer is, so far as GT is concerned it's all about the mentaility as much as it is about ability and this comes down to man-management.

Some players need that edge. Not every player is the same. 3 examples are a case in point with our current defensive options.

Scales

LS was sent on loan last season. He had shown flashes of what he could do in 2021/22 when he filled in, but trying to break the CCV/Starfelt partnership or when Ange tried him at LB it was a little hit and miss. Last season was sent on loan, and was ok-ish but things really clicked for him (and for the Dons) when Robson took over and he was phenom for the last 4 months or so of last season, where he was settled on the left of a back 3. That experience and the confidence taken from it has seen him go from strength to strength. It is a little unfortunate that it took the injuries to all of CCV, Nawrocki and Welsh for Scales to get an opportunity of a run in the Celtic team, and has been immense ever since. It is like he has taken the challenge, made a declaration that the shirt is his now and is not giving it up without a fight.

Lagerbielke

The Swede came in and it really seemed like with every game that he felt as though he was just a placeholder and as soon as literally anyone else came back from injury that he would be straight out. This again, in contrast to Scales. Scales has leapfrogged both Lagerbielke and Phillips also (who was brought in as cover) and it's going to be tough for anyone to displace him considering the form he is in. I suspect Lagerbielke needs the confidence of knowing he is going to play to get the best from him where he feels like he is not constantly going to be dropped after one game. That he is not going to get at Celtic on what we have seen and with CCV back, Phillips and Nawrocki in and around the squad also. Think he really needs a loan to see what happens when he plays week in, week out without that threat, as he was doing in Sweden before his arrival here. It worked for Ajer and Scales. Could do Lagerbielke the world of good also. But it's the mentality that is needing to be managed there.

Taylor

GT as I've said, he needs that edge. He needs that competition for his spot. The comfort zone factor that I suspect Lagerbielke needs to get the best from him is not what works for Taylor, as I've argued at the top of this post, but it is imperative that we get some competition for him in January, at the very least.