Our Midfield

Dont know why he dropped Engels


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On paper its strong and its more than good enough for SPL.

But I think Hatate and McGregor are regressing while Engles is far from the finished article.

Bernardo is slightly unreliable for me. Prone to drifting out of games and get the impression Rodgers feels the same which is why he doesnt get more starts.

Hatate potentially should be sold and replaced by a more physically imposing midfielder to add some bite to the midfield.

 

The sports scientist told him

Joking aside we need to rotate CalMc as well as the other midfielders. We have the resources to pick and chose whem to unlesh a prime McGregor.

I fear for KT if Brendan hasnt taken note

 

I don't think this packed fixture schedule is helping at all with the team selection. Playing every 3 or 4 days and having to rotate players to keep them fresh for key games is always going to be difficult. I honestly think we made a mistake selling Iwata as for me he was the only one who looked a natural defensive player and should have been providing cover for McGregor this season. That point aside, I don't think Rodgers knows who to start in his strongest XI. My guess is he sees it as McGregor, Engels and Hatate but inconsistent performances all round aren't helping.

 

Think McGregor is the elephant in the room here.

I'd love to see him rotated much more. It's incredibly annoying to know that he'll play every single game and the full 90 minutes regardless of form. He isn't Messi or Ronaldo to have those privileges.

Need to be less sentimental and start having serious conversations about his role moving forward. That doesn't mean he's entirely to blame btw. I don't think any of our midfielders have been consistent this season which feels crazy to say. I've been disappointed with all of them.

We badly miss O'Riley and badly need to reshuffle the pack in the Summer, starting with Hatate. Get a fast, powerful midfielder for Christ's sake and a CDM who knows how to protect the backline.

 

Been saying it for ages, this Midfield just isn't working. Doesn't score enough goals and doesn't protect the defence.

Hatate has chucked it for me, be seriously looking to offload him this window

Bernardo is way too inconsistent and one paced and doesn't score enough or contribute to goals

Calmac is on the slide, ran into the ground like we did Broony.

Luke is tidy but seems to run out of steam..

Engels has been poor too most of the season after a bright start...

We are playing with two wingers that are good enough all season..

Midfield needs shaken up drastically. If the battering the midfield took off the huns wasn't a sign I don't know what will be

 

It's long been the story that McGregor plays that role and always plays bcos we dominate the ball for 90% of our matches and don't really need a proper CDM......until we do.


This need always comes to the fore in European games & the occasional Hun game but it's never been to the extent that recent managers have wanted to spend significantly on that position and drop/rotate someone with McGregors influence.

I think the make-up of this current midfield though has really exposed McGregor. There's young guys learning their trade and very inconsistent & then there is Hatate who is a man down too often.

It seems mad but we need two new players in the midfield. A proper CDM that can break up play and be a physical presence and a more attacking player that can take the ball on the half turn and be a goal threat.

Hatate needs to move on. That would leave McGregor and the new CDM to cover the deeper position. Engels and Bernardo for the box to box role and McCowan and a new CAM type player for the more attacking role.

Can't see it happening tho.

 

Adding to this thread, once again....

Tonight was so frustrating....we have a great performance in us and carry real attacking threat - just be feckin braver on the ball and more aggressive in midfield.
Too passive off ball and too negative on it for first 65mins.
We had the ball several times 25 yards from goal but ended up.back at Kasper.
Calmac is worst offender.

Last 30 mins, with a bit of ambition, aggression and bravery - we were excellent.
We can do it, if we want to and are brave enough.

Stan Petrov saying similar, and he knows what he's talking about.

 

What the * has happened to Cal Mac?

I remember when he 1st played that number 6 role in Rodgers final season when Brown was out injured. He was a breathe of fresh air, he was so positive on the ball and was constantly moving it forward.

Now it's sideways and backwards.

We also use to talk about him playing with his head on a swivel and having great awareness. Guys are regularly running off of him and was a point tonight were he was robbed of the ball on edge of our box bcoz he had no idea Musiala was behind him.

 

He still has great awareness. Even Rodri is caught cold sometimes.

I'm not saying he's that level of course and i dont think hes in his absolute prime right now, I think he has regressed slightly but he's still made some of the best Champions League performances ive seen from a Celtic midfielder against Leipzig and Young Boys.

He's still capable. Players like Musiala will always be capable of ghosting away from us, he's a top operator.

 

Tbf it was a poor ball to him when he was under pressure I thought.

 

It's something I've said for a while as well pretty much all our midfielders want to do the same thing we don't have an out and out playmaker like we did with Rogic and we don't have a big monster like Wanyama what we do have are very good players but I just feel at this level they are far too similar in what they are wanting to do. I include McGregor in that as well as for me he just isn't a holding midfielder

 

If we had another capable option at left-back, I’d say play Schlupp in midfield to bring that physicality.

 

Way too often, Cal receives the ball and instead of taking a touch, getting his head up and seeing if there is something on, he instinctively just strokes it back to CH. Fine if there is a man on his shoulder but you can see it coming before the ball reaches him.

 

Gonna be unpopular as * on here, but if Taylor had put in the performance level CalMac did, he’d be getting slaughtered on here.

It isn’t just that he’s lost a yard of pace - he’s simply not a CDM cut out for CL level, and never really has been. That isn’t even a criticism of him either, because at his peak he was absolutely capable of playing on this stage (probably still is) but shouldn’t be tasked with protecting the backline.

 

Other than a striker this is the priority for the summer.

Running with only 5 midfielders for a full season isn't enough for the volume of games we play or the intensity we play at.

As soon as 1 is out it's an issue as you are only left with 1 on the bench with when reality is you have 3 tiring players. Seen it in cup final too, when Mccowan was cup tied.

We deserved extra time last night, no doubt about it but both Hatate and Engles looked out on their feet and 1 of them would have likely of had to play another half hour.

Likelihood is Hatate will be away this summer so we are gonna need 2 new midfielders, ideally strong, powerful runners with good ability on the ball. Hopefully we are also able to keep Schlupp, which would give us a bit extra depth

 

Midfield depth is a problem, we have one injury to Bernardo and didn’t make any changes last night despite the starting three being out on their feet.

It is telling McCowan remains on the bench in situations like that last night.