Callum McGregor

Fair enough mate, you answered my question.

I think he's looking laboured and slow (not unfit) so that's a consideration, for me this has to be his last season as a probable first pick or we are definitely going backwards quicker.

 

I simply can't hate a club legend who has brought us so many great memories, his legs are going but who is offering support in midfield? Who is stepping up? Where is the evidence of club planning for this very obvious inevitability?

 

That’s what * me off.

Undroppable, and untouchable in the eyes of the manager and large chunks of the support.

That was a * embarrassment of a performance from him tonight in normal time (didn’t see beyond that).

 

Planning? Celtic? LOLZ

 

He was so poor again, but somehow it’s not his fault it’s because nobodies helping or some bullshit.

 

Still not a holding mid. Still don't look like ever actually properly addressing it

 

Was slightly better in extra time. Snapped into a couple of tackles and made a couple of good passes but was 180 mins too late.
He should be running a game like that over 2 legs. They shouldn’t be getting near him.
100% deserves critics. Very rarely gives CCV and Scales an option. No support. Getting bullied at 50/50’s. Awful over the 2 legs

 

“We need to go there and win. Not a problem” going over there to win.

i love the guy but that’s the arrogance the board operates on

 

Mad reaction for me. He wasn’t good, aye. Worse than in a long long time infact.


But it’s maddening the manager sits and watches him being smothered on the pitch, and he knows the style requires him to control it, and keep just watching.


Is Calmac a player that isn’t adaptable to more than one position? Are those around him? Nah * bullshit. When the passes to him are being choked out, and he has a guy glued to him. Then do something else that doesn’t require every single * thing we do to be going through him.


It * me right off last season this, but last season doing so required to pin GT to out wide and not come in to help.

This season it’s going to be too easy

 

I love McGregor but he was awful last night and over the two legs.

Starting to remind me of Browns last season where he was clearly slowing down, needed support and didnt get it, and was basically forced to play every game until he ran himself flat.

 

This is exactly what's happening...there needs to be proper planning for his replacement..he can't go through the season again playing every game...if we actually tried to find a proper sitting midfielder it might actually free McGregor up in the forward areas...it's just so typical of everything Celtic do just now with planning for the future.

 

Really loosing pace rapidly, sick of the sideways backward passing, only once did he make a forward pass run and that led to our best chance. He just seems programmed to pass backwards, never gets his head up and sees if there’s anything on. Look at the way he bursts a gut to take a quick free kick just to get it back to the center half, pointless. And that pointing gig, half the time I am like “well why the * did you not play it to where you’re pointing” And this is not just knee * reaction to last night, been ongoing for past year. That back pass to Kasper, FFS

 

This is our issue and why we are regressing as a club.

All of those great memories you refer to are domestic success.

Domestic success has been a formality for us for a multitude of reasons. Huns dying, auto entry to CL, rest of league being utter garbage and so on.

Yet we are still judging players based on that.

McGregor regularly goes missing in Europe. This is where the manager asked to be judged and it should be the same for any Celtic player.

If we continue to judge our own levels on a domestic scale of just being a fraction better than the Huns then results like last night will keep happening as they have done for the past 20 years.

 

I've seen worse performances from him but he gets isolated without support in Europe in some games and it's a tactical issue for us. Tierney is clearly an upgrade on Taylor, but Taylor's inverting helped support McGregor often, and taking that out of the team and not doing anything to rectify it has been an issue. McGregor sitting and the other two midfielders playing and attacking role isn't working.

The patterns of our passing were completely bypassing our three midfielders so often yesterday, and that's because Kairat had more bodies in the centre of the park. Why we don't play a double pivot is beyond me, because even when he was younger, McGregor wasn't ideally suited to the deep sitting role in defensive terms.

 

His last season imo. Love him and he is a fantastic servant but he has lost so much of his qualities. Would love to be proven wrong as we are notoriously * in the opening part of the season.

 

Hes not a deep lying playmaker, or CDM never has been, was shoe horned into the role in order to replace Brown.

Will never happen as we've been asking for it for years.

But we need a real CDM so McGregor can play more advanced and rotate with Hatate.

For years hes done fine domestically as the CDM but we've wasted his abilities for way to long now.

 

We won’t ever get a player who can be the deep playmaker of McGregor whilst being Victor Wanyama.

Baffles me why we all keep thinking change a player rather than a system.



Everycunt saying he can’t play the role is wrong as well btw. Straight up wrong

 

He can't be the lone defensive minded midfielder in Europe. The system leaves him isolated. Even Kante would struggle at times with how our midfield is set up.

 

He was * awful by his standards last night. If Maeda buries the chance 86 mins in * would be raving about him assisting though

You’re last point there is what concerns me most though.

Again Br refused to change anything at all, 3 mins in my brother said to me what to expect from the game. Exact same as the first leg.