Greg Taylor

He was doing what he was asked to do, marking his man. He was not detailed to mark Kane. He was in the 6 yard box, touch tight to his man.

 

As I said in the match thread it's hard to hammer him as he's just not good enough for this level and should not be asked to play at this level..

Major upgrade when KT arrives

 

We are all Hamman.

 

He is a left sided Ralston.

He should be used as backup only.

Tierney will be an incomparable upgrade on him if he stays fit.

If Taylor does end up at Zagreb, I hope we get them next season and just tell Kuhn or Jota to go at him.

 

As always people ignore the good work he does and pounce on any perceived mistakes. Absolutely pathetic.

 

Played well. Kane wasn't his man. First goal he blocked, and got unlucky with the bobble.

People are just * towards him. Can see why he's leaving.

 

The weak link in our side. Most of our issues are caused by his poor positioning. He’s had his 6 years at the club. Time for a parting of the ways.

 

He knocked the ball out the park 3 or 4 times in the first half trying to play it up the line on his good side to maeda. Constantly backing up, scared to put a tackle in like he always does allowing players to just waltz into the box.

Point in the second half aswell where the ball was played out to him on a counter attack, and he's that slow instead of driving forward like someone like johnston or Tierney would he had to turn back and completely kill the attack. He's such a weakness in so many ways, especially at this level.

 

By doing the exact opposite of what you’ve described in the rest of your post. He is literally taken out of the game by a cross field pass and bad touch, no matter what way you try and dress it up. Even ignoring the fact he keeps his man onside, his next job is to delay Olise so that his defence has time to squeeze around him, but he gets way too tight while the ball is still moving and takes himself out of the game.

It’s not the first time I’ve watched him turn his back to the ball for us either. Can’t even get the very basics of defending right in Scotland at times, so I’m not sure what we’re supposed to expect against teams like Bayern.

It’s impressive how willing some people are to make excuses for our players.

 

Never understand those that think Taylor just gets a hard time because they believe we need a scapegoat - it nonsense.

Taylor isn't a terrible player but I dont think he is of celtic standard either.

At CL level, Taylor seems to always stick out as a player that struggled most. That isn't because some kind of weird whitch hunt, it's because he isn't up to that standard.

For me, Taylor has been a steady left back that done overall a good job, particularly domestically. But he should have been first choice lb here, either back up or a stop gap.

 

I'd be happy if he stayed backup and tbh he's going to grt about 30 odd games, but if he wants to go then good luck to him.

But lets not kid ourselves on he was bought for £3.5m, not exactly the cheap left back from.another Scottish team, people co pare him to Ralston I get it, but Ralston cost us nowt.

I think.hes done OK, but we're losing him for nowt and it kinda tells its own story and he might be going to Zagreb.

He does seem to get pinpointed at home and abroad and that also tells its own story.

 

Simply not true, he isn't good enough at this level and that's just facts..

We've needed better for seasons..

Absolutely fine domestically but when you need to play him in games last night he can't make the step up..

Kicked the ball straight out the park numerous times and positioning for the goal was poor..

It's the right time for him to move on with thanks.

 

For me, it’s no coincidence that our best defensive display in Europe (this season, and for as long as I can remember) came when Greg Taylor was injured.

 

I disagree. His positioning was fine hence he made the block. * happens with footballs when they rebound off you.

 

100% this.

It's okay guys to acknowledge he isn't good enough for this level.

It doesn't make you less of a Celtic fan.

The fixation to not criticise Taylor is actually weirder and more mental than folk who often have to clearly state that he is good enough domestically and he does work hard, but simply isn't good enough for this level.

For the avoidance of any doubt, people saying he's the weak link does not mean we are saying he is *.


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It's not true that his good work gets ignored?

 

Our best spell in the game came after we took him off.

Having McGregor constantly passing the ball backwards is enough we don' need 2 players doing it

 

I mostly agree with this, mate; but I don't think his positioning is poor for the goal. He's marking a much faster player and there was no pressure on the ball, he was right to drop a bit deeper IMO. And he was close enough to push back up as soon as there was pressure on the ball. For me, it was his positioning and anticipation that allowed him to get back against a much quicker player. IMHO the problem is his size and speed.

Compare him with AJ on the other side. It was a good-but-not-actually-amazing pass and a taller player like AJ simply heads that clear. Even if we reduce AJ‘s height to Taylor's, a faster player like AJ probably mops that up. Even if he doesn't, then when the ball took an unlucky deflection, Taylor's lack of a solid physical frame meant that he couldn't "accidentally" block off Olise's most direct path, whereas AJ always has that option if he's not already on a yellow and we've all seen him use that before. Finally, Taylor's lack of acceleration meant that Olise could take his shot under no pressure with Taylor stumbling. I don't think even AJ gets back to make the block there, but a bit of physical pressure can make all the difference when it comes to how saveable the shot is.

I hate criticizing Taylor, as he's a good player and his flaws are things he can do nothing about; but we need better at this level.

 

He barely blocked it, he barely knew anything about it. You can see him react to the ball after it hits his knee, which is the movement/step that makes him completely lose Olise. End up miles away from him. It’s horrific defending, especially over committing and letting him go inside.

 

His good work definitely gets ignored and has done for years. The guy is the literal definition of a scapegoat for some fans.

That being said, he was * brutal yesterday. As has been said, the one thing you cannot do is allow Olise to cut in on his left foot. It's a World Class finish and he probably makes his own luck with the bounce off Taylor but for me, he has to be far stronger there and he has to completely shut off Olise cutting in on his left hand side. As has been mentioned above, 3 or 4 times when we had the opportunity to get the ball down the line to Maeda, he completely kicks it out of play.

I'm not going to be too hard on him because I think that he's been a great servant but you're looking for him, with the experience he does have, to stand up and be counted and he went completely missing last night. Schlupp was a massive upgrade when he came on, both defensively and offensively.