Alistair Johnston

A better player though all round is what I’m saying

 

Looked lost last night

 

In bad form at moment, but sell?????? Jesus wept, lol

 

Yeah that would be jumping the gun, to sell him just now. The fact he had an injury at the end of last season was rushed back, then got hurt again and had no preseason could be a big factor in his form this year so far.

Hopefully he can turn a corner and pick up soon.

 

Yeah, he has no really obvious weaknesses; but he doesn't really have any obvious strengths either. Lustig was a better crosser, better positionally and read the game better, El Hamed was faster, much stronger and a better tackler, JJ was faster, had better control and could break lines with his running, Frimpong was more creative, faster and had more skill.

He's a bit of an allrounder. I'm OK with that, though. He wouldn't be at Celtic otherwise.

 

He just needs to do more in attack for me. Plays some nice passes but I feel his balls in the box rarely beat the first man, and he cuts back and passes backwards almost anytime he has a chance to take his man on.

Aye he didn't have a great game the other night but I'm not woeried about his abilty to defend. As soon as Maeda went off he was exposed. Infact as soon as that happened you could see Griezmann drifting out to the left way more. Hard night for AJ. Generally he's solid defensively and a reliable passer of the ball.

Most complete? Not sure. I think Juranovic might edge that. But he's up there. Truthfully he haven't had a complete right back in a while. Could argue Elhamed if he'd been here longer.

 

Really think he's gone off the boil this season.
Yesterday, he was neat and tidy-but offering * all in attack, totally cannot go by a man and sometimes, he has acers of grass in front of him to gallop into but he passes the ball way too early.
And never a goal threat from him.
Just feel he needs to up his game.

 

Agree with the two posts above. He's offering nothing going forward.

We're not really getting much in attack from either full back.

 

2 points brought up recently in this thread, comparing to Lustig and AJ strength being more defensive than offensive.

If we go back to Brendans first spell at the club. Lustig used to tuck in at times creating 3 at the back and enabled KT to bomb on down the left and our midfield to play slightly higher up the pitch.

Having GT as left back doesnt give us this option, but AJ would be a great 3rd CB when we are attacking. Id love to sign someone like Izzy first time round. Would really compliment AJ in a Brendan style of team.

 

He's no been bad. Still been solid and dependable. Just hasn't hit the heights he did last season.

 

I think if you look at out current team there are a lot of similarities to Brendans previous team that would allow us to play a very similar style.

Johnston - Lustig
Ccv - boyata (Ccv far better but both strong, physical cbs)
Nawrocki - Ajer both comfortable on the ball and able to bring it forward.
Mcgregor - brown.
Hatate - Mcgregor
Oriley - rogic
Abada/Maeda - Forrest
Palma - Sinclair

Kyogo a very different type from Moussa but outwith that a lot of very similar types.

The 1 obvious downgrade is Taylor. I think that's the main area that's holding us back from allowing us to truely play that way Rodgers wants

 

I don't think he's been 100% match fit.

Hopefully this is the AJ, we see for the next huns game

 

I’d argue he’s the best tackler we’ve had a right back, of any of those mentioned.

 

Random but the mention of last season reminded me that he hasn’t even been with us for a year yet.

 

Where I agree there are some similarities to Rodgers first time around there are a few differences. Johnston to Lustig is definitely one, an ageing goalkeeper with a mistake in him Gordon to Hart another.

As you note left back is an obvious one we could do with someone with an engine, pace and an attacking threat. Taylor is nothing like anyone we had where his main strength is moving infield and trying to pick passes.

I would also argue our midfield is vastly different, Rodgers 16/17 midfield had a lot of physicality in there with Brown breaking up play but also breaking forward at times and Armstrongs driving runs to get to the box being a big factor. For me Rogic was more akin to Hatate in that team and was often left out for McGregor to add further legs to the midfield 3 as the season went on.

Where as we have a lot of technical players now there aren’t really any of them with the sort of physicality that Brown and Armstrong have. Out of the squad Iwata is probably the only one to show that in his short cameos.

Agree on the striker aspect, Dembele was more like a much higher ceiling Oh than a Kyogo in terms of style, Kyogo is a much better version of Griffiths really, a goal getter capable of all kinds of finishes.

On the wings there are similarities as you say.

I would say we look in a better place at centre back this time around Jozo, Boyata and Sviatchenko were the main 3 centre backs then and none of them were close to CCV levels. Obviously Scales has been a surprise and I have high hopes for Nawrocki despite his injury hit start.

 

Yeah I agree about Iwata, think we should be looking to give him a few starts to see if he can add the physicality that we lack in there. He's shown it in flashes on his brief sub appearances.

Think the make up of the midfield will change over the next 6 - 12 months. Turnbull, Bernardo, and at least one of Hatate or o'riley will all likely move on which will hopefully allow us to bring in a more physical midfielder or 2 that would better suit Rodgers way

 

He's definitely not been at the same standard as he was last season however, I don't know if it's down to him playing in a different role under Rodgers than what he did under Ange. Still, he's solid as * and has a great engine in him and has been a great signing

 

ElHamed was for me.