Weaker than we were in December, YET I

It feels a bit net neutral. Not the end of the world but the whole planning and process side of things looks like a shambles from a distance.

 

Said it in the Schlupp thread, I don’t think we are worse overall. Schlupp will play more than Valle did plus add depth in a variety of positions and Jota will add more goals & assists than Kyogo did first half of season.

Bigger issue is that we should be building from a position of strength and not waiting till players are out the door to scramble for replacements. It’s going to be a big summer and recruitment will need to be done early.

 

I just think it's too big a gamble not to have made a couple of signings to ensure we win the league and cup this season. I'm a great believer in the saying that it's not over till the fat lady sings and I don't want to give the huns any hope whatsoever. I do accept the Bayern game is just a bonus even if we had made a few signings though

 

Weaker.

 

Are we stronger ? No. That's the main take.

Is Schlupp a better left back than Taylor or Valle ? Is Maeda now out of the picture on the wing since it looks like Schlupp's main position, even though he's been one of, if not, our best player this season in that position ? I know we needed a winger but a right sided one was more required I would have thought.

I still think a RW, a battling midfielder and a solid left back were the main improvements needed. Maeda backing up Idah I can live with because he can be as good as Kyogo on his day, in my opinion.

Hopefully we have enough to see us over the line in the league and win the Scottish Cup as well. Not getting absolutely humiliated off Bayern would be great as well.

 

Fully agree but we’ve had the same issue in the wide areas since Forrest got injured, even McCowan playing wide. We’ve just shifted the issue elsewhere.

It’s definitely a huge risk and I’m sure the board will be reminded of that several times over next few months. BR presser will be interesting.

If we don’t get it right in the summer I doubt Rodgers will stay beyond the 3 years and we’re back to the same cycle.

 

Before the window if someone told me we would sign...

Jota

Tierney (yes on a pre)

And a high quality backup that can play equally as good in many positions then I'd simply called you a liar and we would never manage that. A big * strong * aswel, just what we've been missing.

Yet here's folk moaning because we never got 1 more singing over the line. Sure we lost kyogo, but let's not sugar coat it, he's been pish this season. His goals were a disgrace for a no1 and the amount of game time he's had.

So personally I can see the plan. Left side will now be the strongest we've ever had in years, and in time for the qualifiers.

The only position we can say were short on is striker, yet we technically have japan's striker. So due to that, I'm willing to wait for someone great. No more palmas or yangs because we never managed our target. That was why we used to always be burdened with a load of pish filling the squad.

 

Play sevco on the 16th of march at Celtic park but a few days later Japan have 2 world cup qualifiers will we have to release meada and even hatate for those games not bringing a striker in could bite us in the * big style if this is the case ..

 

To try and defend not signing a striker even on loan after Kyogo left and having heard the managers comments is putting lipstick on a pig.

Schlupp as much as it is a mehh signing is only a stop gap the same as Valle was so for me that's passable but the situation with the Striker is just sheer negligence losing one of your best players and main striker with absolutely zero lined up to replace him

 

Was a bit meh for me, don’t think we’re any weaker tbh but we’re also not stronger.

Kyogo hasn’t been replaced in the sense we’ve signed another out and out striker after he left but Maeda is more than capable of playing there and based on the form of both players over the past 18 months you could actually argue that might end up being an improvement tbh.

Schlupp for me will be a more useful squad member than Valle was.

Ideally another striker would’ve come in, either a long term signing like Kvistgaarden or someone short term to buy us time to get someone in the door start of summer (no laughing at the back) and KT in as well, but the likelihood is we were never going to fork out the millions he’d be due from Arsenal for a few months and realistically 2 games.

The striker situation is far from ideal, but I don’t think it’s the disaster that some people seem to think it is albeit it leaves a lot of work to be done in the summer as we’re likely to lose 1 or 2 who are starters at the moment.

 

It’s amusing to see those defending the transfer window including Tierney as if he’s been signed in January to prove it’s a successful window.

Hes on a pre contract for June/July. He is not in the conversation for me. We have stood still again that’s the problem.

People also using the fact we won’t beat Bayern as a reason not to try to improve? So do you just go through life accepting that as your fate or do you try and improve as best we can and give it our best shot, we lose then we lose but at least we can show we tried to progress and then it sets us up nicely for summer qualifiers.

We will again leave ourselves with too much to do in the summer and we will hear again this player we have been tracking for 2 years is too expensive etc do we think players prices will just become more affordable because it’s the summer? More than likely our targets become out of reach as more clubs from bigger leagues will take the chance in the summer and have the money.

We are one of the few clubs with a huge cash balance, we should have been able to take full advantage of a very inactive January window by being proactive and getting deals done.

 

At best we’ve stood still. Given our financial situation and relative CL success that’s pretty poor. A winger and an untried kid as back up to Idah is criminal

 

I think you're a bit harsh on Kyogo; but apart from that, I totally agree.

Man, we just agreed deals with 2 quality players on their prime! When do we ever do that? Maybe Kyogo was the last one. If we buy real quality, it's always a young player we need to develop. We also paid a substantial fee for Jota! This guy from Crystal Palace looks like a smart signing too: physically strong, fast, versatile. Just what we need. For a January window, this has been very good.

 

It's about the structure of idahs minutes.. everyone will defo know by May now if he has it in him to be a big player for Celtic and what we will need in the summer (whether a player to develop behind idah or someone to come in and take over from him).. like I said I'm not saying this was in anyway intentional by the club but I think that maybe going a half step back now will benefit us going into the summer and beyond

Sent from my Pixel 8 Pro using Tapatalk

 

Bottom line is the club failed to deliver what the manager wanted yet again during this transfer window. Pretty much the only one and certainly by far the most important one that matters

 

Is it really that risky, though?

We're not getting past Bayern over two legs and neither our first choice (this Danish guy) nor our second (Iheanacho) moves the needle on that.

In the league, we have 14 games left. Even if Rangers win both derbies, they still need to win every single one of their other games and hope we lose 3 from the other 12 games. This concatenation of circumstances seems unlikely.

So were we supposed to move on to our 3rd choice, something that has previously bloated our squad with players we rarely use, just in order to have a slightly better chance in the cup?

I don't see that it's all that risky TBH.