Callum McGregor

Well, to create chances you kind of having to play well, don't you think? They didn't fall from heaven. Obviously we haven't been great but also not as bad as some people want to make out.

 

The player takes the blame for playing on. Physio can only go with what CalMac tells him and he's obviously wanted to keep playing on and hopefully run it off

 

Their player that went in on him was ironically rolling around on the floor clutching his foot, not a thing wrong with him while Cal is belting up the pitch wae a gubbed knee. Paul Lambert and supporters talking about him needing to take a yellow and haul the guy down need to give their heads a wobble.

a) He tried and wasn't able to.

b) Hauling a guy bigger than you down isn't easy at the best of times especially so when your being out run and your knee is * and you can barely take your weight never mind somone elses.

Fine to think like that in the moment, but Lambert still saying that at half time knowing that Cal was badly injured making that run is a joke.

 

Some people on here are exaggerating massively

Yes, he hasn't been at his best and caused two goals. But people might also want to check the tactics in which McGregor often is left alone being responsible for two players. To then only blame him for basically not being world class and doing this faultless in every game is unfair. Ange should give him more support on the field, i's obvious for some games that against good opposition our midfield is far to easily overplayed.

 

I was only joking..

Both have to take some blame there though. He was immediately concerned when sitting down and telling Williamson..

No way should he have continued though..

 

To be honest him belting down the pitch chasing after the runner immediately after injuring his knee will have done him more damage than him staying on to limp round the pitch for a further 10 minutes.

 

You run those type of knocks off most of the times, so can't blame him for playing on. Hope it's not to serious.

 

The worst thing about it for me was that he caused the injury himself by having that shocking touch on the edge of box.

At elite level you can’t be taking touches like that and losing the ball when everyone is in attack.

Still so * of at that, first goal was absolutely crucial.

 

Players have bad touches, it happens all the time to even the very top players. Being injured in the follow up trying to rectify it is incredibly bad luck and yeah wouldn't have happened if Callum had just went oops I lost the ball and shrugged his shoulders like most footballers. But it's that mentality of never giving up that makes him so important for us both in terms of how we play and in the tone he sets for the rest of the team.

 

Seen those touches from him plenty tbh. Just doesn’t get punished for them in domestic fitba.

Once he gets back he’s got to be pulling Silva down to let the defence get back into position, rather than setting up Nkunku.

Still would have been injured either way due to the shocking touch.

 

Too many people not paying attention to his new role, he sits deeper now! Some saying he is ghosting games due to his lack of goal creation/scoring, he's not that far up the pitch any more. Its pass completion and Interceptions that need looked as in his position. And there always TOP NOTCH.
Up until he lost the ball for the 1st goal I though he was having a Great Game. We were clueless in the middle when he went off.

& He lost the ball on the Leipzig 18 Yard Line... So its not ALL his fault for the goal.

Sorely missed, hopefully not too long.

 

He tried to pull him back but couldn't. He was running at full pelt in agonising pain, I wonder how easy you would find hauling a bigger guy to the ground while sprinting with a bust knee that is struggling to hold your weight never mind yours plus someone elses.

We lost ball deep in their half. We should have had good cover to prevent the mistake costing us, we didn't, that isn't all on Callum.

 

I would bring Hatate back and play him in CMs position. Our players need to step up. We cant be so reliant on one player.

 

I think he is yet to find anything near the form he has achieved in previous season. Even for the national team, i think he hasnt been on it. But he will undoubtably be a miss

 

Youve actually highlighted the problem.

Youre right his role is to sit deeper now and yet he lost the ball on their 18 yard line.

Away from home in europe our deepest midfielder shouldn't be on the opposition 18 yard line.
Their offside goal in 1st half comes from him playing a poor pass to oriley. He's on the right touchline about 20 yards from the corner flag at that point.

Both times they break and have acres of room bcoz the guy who's ment to be sitting deep is in the oppositions final 3rd losing possession.

He needs to be far more disciplined in these type of games.

Over the years how many times did you ever see Scott Brown make those kinds of mistakes??

 

Plenty of times to be honest. But he wasn't an elite level midfielder and neither is McGregor and I'm fine with that. Its a cliche but they wouldn't be playing for us if they were at that level. We'll get a Van Dijk every now and then but a season or two later and they're off. Tierney was the closest thing we had to that standard and we couldn't even keep hold of him for more than a few years.

The trouble is we tend to vastly overrate our favourite players. It's the same for everyone including Jota and Kyogo. McGregor gets smoke blown up his * for basic things yet makes his fair share of errors and they get glossed over by the support. I've seen him give the ball away and shirk out of challenges often, especially in Europe. He did against Shakhtar, did it for Scotland recently too and they nearly scored from it and done it again yesterday.

Our issue currently is that we have no one else to play the role adequately. He was pretty rubbish yesterday but we looked even worse when he went off. McGregor is the best we have there but realistically we need better than him. It's the harsh truth that many of us need to face.

 

Some * on Facebook saying he's out for 12 weeks, say it ain't so.

 

6 weeks to world cup break. I'd be very surprised if we see him before it

 

Interested to know where you think our deep sitting midfielder should be positioned for a freekick if not the 18 yard line which is pretty standard set piece positioning for a CDM.