Arne Engels

we dont spend that kind of money and if we do we as fans expect to see something skill technique flair work rate goals but we are not seeing it

the fact is we bought a prospect an 11 million pound prospect, i think we all expected a young oriley and hes not that or hes not showed us that yet

 

Still waiting for the mythical Rodgers pre-season to work its magic on Engels and Idah.

We’ve been told for months that was going to make them both world beaters.

 

I was saying for months have we got Merlin coming in to do pre season?

 

Engels is a major problem, he's just not doing it.

His confidence has gone downhill fast, since his no show in the League Cup Final at Hampden against the Huns, and he simply has not recovered his mojo since. I would be sorely tempted to accept any decent offer this window for him. As it stands, Nygren is ahead of him, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

 

Interested to see how much he starts for us this season, especially if we buy another CM.....

 

That would be interesting.

It's getting increasingly difficult for Brendan to justify Engel's place in the team, and I sympathise with him there, because Engels has failed to kick on no matter where he is placed in the team, and his goals have long since dried up.

If I was unkind, he reminds me of the type we used to call a crap bag in the school playground, but I am not going to be unkind.

 

Doesn't look as if he wants to be here to me. Kuhn vibes the way he half-arses things. Thinks he is better than he is too.

Edit - but Kuhn did far more when he was on it. Far more.

 

It looks like he’ll be behind Nygren in the midfield for the moment anyway, not a case of justifying being part of the first team for me. He has his place.

He’ll kick on for me, and he’ll be the better for it because he doesn’t have many friends in the crowd at the moment, we’ve got the knives out for him and as much as I don’t like it we won’t change being like that as a fanbase. Due to the fee he won’t get any leeway in that reaction from the fans.

The shitebag patter I’ve aimed at him as well, but there’s stuff from him that makes me think it might not be the case and is him not knowing how to bring it together when the chips are down. HBu He has balls of steel from the penalty spot for one, Hun game at Parkhead him going in at half time I’d wrote him off as just a shitebag along with Kuhn but second half he showed a different side and corrected the way he played first half. Another game against them, was there one after that? May have been that game at Parkhead but not 100%, but he looked like he was trying to show an edge and steel, barging about, particularly against Raskin. He was doing it wrong though, wasn’t controlled, wasn’t effective. But that is a sign that it might not be just shitebagness, but learning how to develop as a Celtic player. We need to remember he’s young still, and adapting his game to our style, he’s always played in compact defensive minded midfields. Nygren coming in and him challenging for his spot, we’ll tell what he is mentally by how he reacts, does he push to win back his 1st team place or does he wither away

 

Too often an empty shirt

 

did he not play a lot of his football at rb before he joined us,maybe thats his best position

 

Im looking forward to seeing this 2nd season, its gonna need to be a belter.

Tbh him and Idah Id just take the hit, both are awful imho. If you could recoup half what we paid Id be all for it.

 

Something that I think might be a factor with Engels is the kind of team and role he was in before.

Augsberg were a relatively weak team in the league and constantly on the defensive. He was effectively playing as another DM, tracking back to make challenges and then beginning counter-attacks. Just turning and running or popping one over the top to the winger or striker. I don't think he had the opportunity to do much else there - they didn't have possession for long and they certainly weren't having to break teams down.

Celtic is a different proposition altogether. We're expecting him to play farther forward and be creative during long periods of possession, looking for ways to get through defences. Maybe that just isn't his game.

I think if he was playing at DM in an Ange team, pressing aggressively and starting lightning-fast counters, he'd be looking a lot better. As for a possession-based Rodgers team, I just don't think he has the skillset to thrive. He's a square shape in a round hole.

 

This is his make or break season for us.

 

That's how I see it pretty much, remember watching his videos when he was just signing for us and there was so much of him picking the ball up in deeper midfield areas turning a player and playing it forward, not receiving the ball high up himself, the way we use McGregor instead of a proper DM, then he arrives and we've basically plonked him into the slot O'Riley left and some fans expecting him to be banging goals, his style doesn't fit the front 2 or our midfield 3 in the current setup.

I really don't get why we never try him sitting as the deepest midfielder with McGregor pushed forward, when he's a proven goalscorer around the box.

 

£1m or £11m, he needs to do more as a Celtic midfielder.
I would bite the hand off the club who would offer us our money back on him. Don’t see enough in terms of his development or his mentality. He doesn’t impact games the way we need a Celtic midfielder to.

 

This

People will come back with his numbers but he's been a penalty merchant and a few of his assists have been from corners (which btw, his corner deliveries are bang average most of the time).

How many open play goals? How many killer passes through the lines, or to create a goalscoring opportunity? How many crunching tackles? How often does he pick the ball up and go past a player or two to get us up the pitch?

I just don't see what he does that's particularly good.

 

For me with Engels I think we need to nail down what his role is. He had a run of games where he stood out but then his form dipped again.

I think the midfield make up is another problem we have.

- Hatate and Nygren are good and creative players that can get you up the park but would probably benefit from playing with a defensive destroyer that covers the middle of the park and we don’t have one of those.
- McGregor is a classy midfield player but again would be a good 6 with two physical defensively capable box to box centre midfielders and we don’t have any of them.
- Alternatively McGregor and a destroyer in a double pivot with Nygren or Hatate ahead of them.
- Engels and Bernardo both have decent physical attributes but Engels needs to brush up his on ball game and Bernardo needs to show more attacking intent. To me neither really fit with what we are trying to do.
- McCowan is a capable creative player against bottom 6-8 teams in the league squad player.

Basically we don’t have the parts we need to get the best out of the ones we do have.

 

There's potential and a fair bit i like about him. He showed enough glimpses of it last season..

There's quite a bit I don't like, really don't like about his demeanour on the pitch though..

He's in big trouble if he doesn't sort out the slump from the second half of the season thats carried all the way through pre season..

 

Engels is the real issue in midfield. Both Brendan and the Board have determined by the law of finances, he must play in every game, either to justify his £11M tag and improve his developement or hopefully to attract a like minded buyer. Neither strategy has worked, and has only led to stagnation in our midfield, and blocked other midfielders like Bernado and McCowan from coming through, and no doubt has sown doubt in the Board's minds, as to future spending.