Callum McGregor

He has it in the locker but for whatever reason he is constantly going sideways and backwards .callum if your reading this drive forward mate.FORWARD. I would rather you lost the ball driving forward than * backwards passes

 

Biggest problem is not being risky enough with the ball. He passes it right back too much and doesn’t get on the half turn and drive forward.

The way to beat the block is to take it in with two players on you and turn away from them. He just doesn’t seem to want to do that and it makes it so easy so play against and easy to mark him out the game.

My fear with McGregor is once his pace goes more he will turn into a Brown but at least Brown had physicality and a decent tackling/screening ability as he got older.

I’d like to see his assists/goals stats and defensive stats compared to our other midfielders, does he actually offer enough as part of a midfield 3?

 

Every midfielder at the club should be doing that.

 

You’ve been wrong all that time too.

 

Hatate has been our best midfielder since he arrived at the club. There's a reason we play our best football with him in the team and our worst without him.

 

He hasn’t. McGregor is in poor form but we’d have seriously struggled without him and would notice he was missing much more than the inconsistency of Hatate.

 

He needs help in there, the balance of our midfield is wrong at the moment, he's easily swamped.. don't get me wrong he hasn't played well either..

But, even with a fit Hatate we need another CM..

 

Yep. He's been well below par on and off the ball but the system is killing him/us..

Got a couple of immobile 8's attacking, the fullbacks wide and he's there on his tod. He can't cope..

Hatate is a massive help, you could see instantly at Pittodrie when he was on that he slotted in next to him and had that energy and composure to dictate the game with McGregor..

We've known for ages but take Hatate out and there's nothing like him in reserve. We need quality in there.....been evident for a while..

 

Aye 100% get another and slowly feed Holm into the team too, got high hopes for him.

 

We didn't struggle when McGregor was out for 7 games last year. We won every game, scoring 23 goals and conceding 9.

When Hatate is out we are noticeably less fluid and lack creativity. If you can't see that then I think you're not wanting to.

 

We did struggle when McGregor was out. He was a loss in half of our CL games and of the domestic games you referred to, we struggled to beat St.Johnstone and Hearts with late winners in both. O’Riley did a decent job filling in for McGregor. I rate Hatate but to say he’s our best midfielder is so far off the mark. For the past two seasons McGregor was consistently one of the best if not the best player on the pitch. Hatate fades in and out of games and drops off late in the game.

 

For me Calmac is our best midfielder but he isn’t a CDM

 

I love Cal and think he's arguably our best midfielder, but playing devil's advocate for a second, he was out for an extended run of games last season and I don't think we dropped a single point domestically during that period.

Having said that, I do think our performances suffered to some degree without him, as the speed with which he could receive and progress the ball in that pivot role in Ange's system was really important.

I think the reason we miss Hatate when he's out almost has more to do with the balance of our midfield than any tangible thing he provides, like goals, assists or consistency of performance. He's our most mobile and agile central midfielder and probably the most press-resistant, being the best at running with the ball and getting out of tight areas. Plus we just look a whole lot less dynamic when he doesn't play IMO. The same could be said about Jota.

 

I agree with this kept waiting on him to take the ball and drive forward with it on Saturday but never happened. One of his best attributes as a player for me.

 

I see a lot of people calling for him to drive forward with the ball, the main issue I see with that just now is he is a single pivot in a system that offers very little protection if he loses the ball the opposition are through on our centre backs.

The second is McGregor for all his strengths is not good at getting on the half turn and to play as that deep lying pivot whilst being man marked as he is being you need to be. If he has a man close to him he more often than not gives the ball straight back where it has come from. That’s not new he’s been doing that ever since moving back there.

I actually think the Scotland midfield set up where he is either in a double pivot with a more defensively minded but energetic powerful player like McTominay or a flat midfield 3 with Gilmour or McGinn added to the other two.

McGregor is one of those players to me what makes him good is doing all the simple things well and efficiently. His one trademark thing that stands out for me, is arrive late either on the left side of the box or around the edge of the box and find space for himself as the extra man. As a single pivot especially with no inverted full backs but ones who are high and wide he doesn’t get any cover to allow him to do that.

He is off form just now but I don’t think those playing around him really compliment him either.

 

Can't find anything to add on that totally agree we used to have ajer and even starfelt to push the ball forward through midfield but non existent so far this season

 

My captain. * incredible

 

Much more like it today.