Ange Postecoglou

I think moving McGregor upwards in midfield is still necessary, to bring balance to the midfield. Speed is less relevant for a DMF, so we can afford a slow guy.

 

Inverted fullbacks is a tactic that's supposed to create more channels for passing the ball in the middle of the park to facilitate a possession-based high pressing style. Dunno why we're doing it when there's literally no one in the midfield making runs or creating space for a pass.

It's also supposed to give you more bodies in midfield for closing down opposition players when you lose the ball, the hunting in packs style of defending that high pressure teams often do. Again, dunno why we're doing it because when we lose the ball our player normally * off and expects someone else to recover it for them, leaving our full team exposed.

 

Cringing looking at that. Against a top European side that is just mental. Your CB is now on the ball with no options ahead of him other than a RB in CM asking for the ball with his back to play and about 3 international class players setting the trap and waiting to pounce.

Of course our CB can't just lump it bcos he's been told to feed it into these guys. 2 seconds later their player says I'll have that cheers. Plays it in to the acres of vacated space and it's a goal. Couldn't have given them a bigger helping hand if we tried.

 

May have worked for him in japan, but it aint working here im afraid.
Asking tony ralston and adam montgomery to do it, against seasoned pros, * suicide.

 

Shuold probably post this in the controversial opinions thread really, but... Soro has got to start on Sunday. And Ange has got to tell him to keep the head - press, but don't fly into tackles.

With we have, ideally our midfield would be McCarthty in the DM role, with McGregor and either Rogic or Turnbull ahead of him.

But nothing is ideal for Celtic at the minute, so I'd put McGregor in the DM role until McCarthy is up to speed/we sign someone else, and give Soro a shot alongside Rogic or Turnbull. He will bring some tenacity to the midfield if nothing else.

 

Only effective when your opponents are utterly * at defending themselves and utterly * at attacking as well.

It's giving us the chance to play both Turnbull and rogic at the same time, but since almost every team we play against sussed that out after the first game, they know what to do to get a chance off us.

Against bigger clubs like betis and Bayer, they literally are picking us apart.

We can create all the chances we want, but when you leave yourself that exposed to a club that knows how to * play football, you're not going to get very far.

It may work in Australia or Japan where the opponent's are utterly * and a crazy style may throw a spanner in their plans, but it won't work against teams that know how to play the game a bit more sensibly.

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I agree that we need to move mcgregor forward. And drop turnbull.

But i cant trust Soro, Brown and ferguson are too cute and will lure him into a trap. Bitton or Shaw for me.

Also agree mccarthy should sit this one out

 

Not if we are wanting to play at the fast attacking tempo, or as high up the park, that Ange seems to prefer we can't. And as he won't adapt his style none of the players we have available are a close fit, so it is a case of going with the best of a bad bunch to fit it as closely as possible. That's not Bitton.

 

Someone has to stay put while McGregor goes up and offers sorely missed movement. Fast attacking tempo has another component Bitton may be able to fulfill: adventurous passing from deep positions. He might be slow as he is tall, but I do think his brain isn't slow- he is capable of seeing and playing through balls to runners.

I absolutely agree Bitton is far from ideal, but I do not want to see the current midfield lineup at the start of a match. It's excusable only if we're desperately chasing a game.

 

The problem is, as a defensive midfielder, he needs to be able to cover for the defence, and if he is at the half way line you can pretty much discount that ever happening. He's more likely to just foul a runner than chase back. Soro is the best of a bad bunch for me, if someone else has to play there instead of McGregor, but as I said before that is also a risk. At least he has some energy and pace though.

 

The theory is that the pressing midfielders + the front 3 force the opposition to punt it, and then ideally Bitton just has to mop up. I know, it's iffy.

Soro as a DMF has run into criticism about his positioning. An alternative to Bitton at DMF might be: keep CalMac there, but play Soro in front of him. We lose some attacking skill closer to the opposition goal, but the press from the midfield would be strong, and Soro would not be the last man, in case he presses at a bad time. I'll mention that I'm surprised that Ange isn't instructing our front players to foul early, whenever the ball is lost. Soro would be very much at home with this, killing the very notion of a counterattack. If he gets the ball cleanly, he has the ability to pass it to the front players, who would be unmarked during a ball turnover.

 

You know..

Ferguson and Broony will definitely play on our midfield. Ferguson has been swan diving it for year's against us..

 

Who has Ange made a pact with ? Hubble Bubble/Toil and Trouble.

 

Possibly, Soro did play pretty well further up the pitch in some of the preseason games. Admittedly though his decision making at times gives me the fear. Potentially that is something that be can be worked on, through coaching and experience, where Bitton is only going to get progressively slower than he already is.

It's worth a try if it means not having Turnbull and Rogic both there at least.

 

* me that's horrific

 

You need to question his judgement based on him thinking you can go into a European game against a top team with only a midfield 3 and 2 of those players being Rogic and Turnbull.

Madness really.

 

What did I just read?

In what universe is a 4-0 defeat at home in Europe and sitting mid table in domestic league a sign of progress?

I like Ange I really do, and want him to succeed so much. If he doesn’t start getting results, especially domestically then the * is going to hit the fan big time.

 

We had more possession though reminds me of the great ange who managed more possession against city

 

Did we really lose then? Not in my book.