[Pre-Season] Estrela v Celtic Saturday 12th July Kick-off11am Celtic TV

Good training session run out..

Bit surprised there was no change of system tried..

Good to see Hatate back and Nygren looks really composed.

 

Didn't exactly do anything wrong but for our record signing I'm still waiting for Engels to take control of games. Especially with Cal not on the pitch you'd except at this level an £11m player to run the show.

 

Poor showing overall. Hopefully that's the last of the '11 changes at half time'/'getting them up to speed' stuff and we now look to up our tactical game.

We have a good team there, albeit we need reinforcements. But tactically we're no better than our poorest form end of last season. Really need to be going up a few levels starting now.

 

Engels really needs to get his * together this season tbh. Rarely do you ever see him take control of a game and be a big presence in that midfield … games seem to just totally pass him by most times I’ve seen him.

 

Serious questions need to be asked about the youth development at the club and the standards of coaching. I don’t see anyone ready to step up to the first team. The standard of player is very poor.

 

Don't hold your breath .

 

That was a dire watch especially from defensive point.

Think if we dig our heels in and not look to improve squad, these next few friendlies against far better opposition might kick off a bad feel around the stands.

 

Every single young player has stood out today, for the wrong reasons..

McPherson done for corner and pish all in
Donovan ridiculous handball and pish all in
Murray done for goal and pish all in
McArdle gave it away loads and pish all in
I'll add in Osmand looked really poor as well

We badly need some depth, quality and pace in. We look very slow across most of the park and just lacking a lot of first team types..

 

Not just them, Engels and Trusty were miles off it today … again.

 

I know it's only a friendly but my main observations from what I saw are -
They must be further along their pre season than us because they looked a lot sharper.
3rd goal was poor as were another couple of breakaways and just general lack of pace throughout the team, again early days in pre season but it has been an ongoing issue.
Dane Murray has never impressed me and I can't see him doing anything here, what do people and the manager see in him? Same could be said for many of our youngsters.
McArdle looks a tidy player but also like a wee guy.
Inamura looks largely decent.

 

Engels * poor

 

Engels is not a 'take hold of game' midfielder - he's much more suited to Petrov box to box style.
Not a #6 for sure.
Still a lot to do to convince this season, regardless.

 

Genuine question and I asked the same when it was O'Dea but what the * is this pathways manager thing meant to achieve what does the day to day look like ? Seems like a nonsense to me and clearly hasn't had any positive results since we made the position up

 

First half was better than the second. Osmand looked ok at the start of the match. Tilio is hopless.

 

This really annoyed me, I know it's a meaningless pre season game, but at one point Idah ran to take a quick throw in and just threw it straight up in the air and their player headed it down and they had possession. Just found it pretty annoying.

 

It's harsh to single Engels out for me the same as it was last season. Every single centre mid at the club would look better if we signed an out and out holding mid

 

Stan played with aggression and purpose though.

 

2 attributes our midfield is sorely lacking atm