Callum McGregor

I was * livid at this.

 

Looked more like he was leaving some ither * to deal with it. Never entered his head for one second that the guy might be running into space behind him.

 

I think he's taking his line from Scales, except that Phillips doesn't hold it but unilaterally drops deeper to track his man. McGregor deserves some criticism for not scanning behind him, but the bulk of the blame lies with Phillips for me.

That's how I read it anyway.

 

Would need another look at it with this in mind to see if I could see your point, but I was screaming at him before that guy even received the ball as I seen the run and Cal not even bothering to look behind him. Horrific goal either way though

 

He's definitely not scanning enough and not aware enough of what his man is doing or what Phillips is doing; but for my money, he is tracking him more or less and stops just as he gets level with Scales (or actually a little bit deeper) in order to let him run offside. I'm not saying he's blameless, I remember Broony's head spinning round like a spinning top at times when he would track back; but Phillips just shouldn't be there IMHO and if he isn't, the scorer is offside.

I'd say McGregor's role wasn't good enough but not a truly awful error. Phillips was the one who totally screwed up for me.

 

Gets an easy ride compared to others. Been rubbish most of the season but will have a good 20 mins here and there and get all the over the top praise. Was decent under Ange but most players were. O’Riley stepped into his place when he was injured and you wouldn’t have noticed. Him and AJ could do with a spell on the bench, they are too comfortable with zero competition.

 

Callum McGregor has brutally told some of Celtic's critics that they have 'too much time on their hands'.



The club captain responded to a question about the Hoops' record in Europe this season and over the recent past as a whole.

Celtic will play their final Champions League group stage game against Feyenoord tomorrow evening in Glasgow. It's been a difficult campaign for Brendan Rodgers' side, having amassed just one point against Atletico Madrid from five games so far.

Despite not being able to qualify for any form of European football post-Christmas, the Scottish champions will be aiming to go out on a high with a victory over the Dutch giants on Wednesday.

Should they manage to earn all three points then it will be the first time the club has won a Champions League group game since Rodgers' first spell seven years ago when Celtic defeated Anderlecht.

McGregor is keen to put any thoughts about the club's European record to the back of his mind, as he insists the focus simply has to be on getting back to winning ways after a bitterly disappointing loss at Kilmarnock on Sunday.


He said: "I think people like to have too much time on their hands and they come up with these statistics and I've said it out there as well that you can't label that at this year's group or last year's group. It's a longer-term thing.

"Even before that, the club haven't even been in the Champions League for the last four years, so it all starts to add up over the years.

"We understand we want to be competitive, when we get to this level we have to make an impact. Everyone at the clubs know that, knows the position on it. If we win tomorrow night everyone stops talking about, it gives you that belief and hopefully we're back here next season and can kick on from there.

"It's important we keep everything internal, we know the messages we're trying to set, the standards. The performances, we believe we should've had more points but we have to prove it on the pitch."

 

There was a lot of relief in his voice in that on pitch interview there. Absolutely delighted for him.

 

There were times tonight where you could clearly see he hasn't lost his speed, just hadn't been using it as much prior.

Excellent tonight either way

 

Had a mixed game, but he made a goal saving block and hit the bar. Pity Iwata went off, so he had to drop deeper.

 

Aye it wasn't vintage but when we needed him late on, he came alive and was everywhere..

Should've scored first half
Gave it away or overhit it a few times
Unlucky with that long ranger
Was pulling strings late on..

 

We’d be a far worse team without him that’s for sure. Could really be doing with Hatate back in alongside him and Matty.
What a trio, three technically gifted players.

 

I thought he was pretty poor for most of the game tbh. Defo got better in the later stages though.

 

A real captains performance. Scales, him and AJ were excellent

 

Played well. Covered the pitch well. Helped at both ends. Unlucky wi that better at the end. Genuinely buzzing at the win there.

 

I'm not ready to write him off yet, but for me he's still a * poor defensive midfielder. He did it well enough domestically under Ange but he's still far better as an 8.

Priority in January or next Summer is to get a proper DM in. Then we can play him in his natural position and actually rotate him more often. The amount of games he's played in the last 5 years is unsustainable.

 

Good and bad tonight. When Iwata went off thought we really struggled. In particular McGregor struggled for 15 - 20 mins.

Papering over the cracks if we think McGregor is our lynchpin in Europe next year.

 

Some fans have this weird obsession in this day and age that players must be on it for 90+ mins every game or else something must be wrong.

It’s something that only exists now because every minute of every game is readily available to watch whenever anyone wants.

Never happened when you only got the odd highlights or had to listen on the radio. No forums to disect every move. Yet the players back then are rightly idolised. Larsson had dips, tough periods in games, bad games, mistakes.

McGregor hasn’t been at his best. But that’s a ridiculous standard to consistently reach. He’s still incredibly important and grew into tonights game, it was awkward when Iwata went off because his role changed. Trying to slander him after that win is strange behaviour.