Controversial Celtic opinions

We were just clinical finishing away from what would have been our most successful championsleague ever. Was the most chances created in a championsleague ever. I think personally would have started giak and brought on kyogo and maeda late on when we were knackered.

 

Huns blew it the year we stopped the 10 in 1998. We weren't great that season. Would of lost the league with that point total near enough every year since

If Marci Negri played all season they would of won the league by some distance

 

Celtic should shrink our goal posts at Celtic Park making it harder for the opposition to score.

 

Brendan Rodgers is an honest man.


lol only joking

 

I think setting a playing style for the whole club is a path towards inflexibility. Imagine we get a youth player who has excellent positioning and tackling for his age, but is really poor on the ball, to the extent that he can become average at best when he grows up. Barca would bin him. We aren't in a position to do so.

 

It’s what all the big clubs do, you don’t play route 1 in the youth/B teams and then play expansive passing football in the 1st team, that’s a recipe for no youth progressing up the chain.

Celtic don’t do average either mate.

 

I reckon we've let some Scottish players slip through the net that we ought to have taken. Guys like Porteous and Doig could have been picked up on the cheap and developed, on loan if need be. Given that we have European football every year that carries certain demands for home-grown players, not accruing the best young Scottish talent available is an oversight.

 

We certainly do buy players that are no better than average in some areas. Hatate is great at most things, but is merely OK at tackling. And that is fine now that we have Iwata. Overreliance on one type of player or playing style is bad.

 

Hatate isn’t a great example, besides he wasn’t brought in to progress from juniors/B team football. He was brought in to develop in the first team.

Ajax is another example of a club who has playing style.

From the moment they bring in their juniors, they are taught and coached to be first team ready.

All the big clubs do it, we are starting to think like a big successful club, we want to have our kids come through and be able to progress into first team football, if they know the first team style, it takes one more thing off the table.

It’s the modern way.

 

Ajax have a bigger pool of talents available than Celtic, thus they can afford to have one playing style and discard youths who don't fit it. Scotland is small, and thus,if the next Wanyama or Hooper came through the ranks, we would be daft to exclude them from consideration just because they suck at passing.

 

The vast majority of footballers are average in some areas.

 

What’s the point in putting round pegs in square holes? Kids leave academies and join others all the time to find the right club for them and still go onto be a major success. For those we lose we will get other kids who blossom later, in some cases late developers joining directly into our 1st team.

The best up and coming clubs are combining excellent recruiting with youth/B team style players. Brentford and Brighton are probably the best examples south of the border. Next manager in is recruited to play the style the club wants.

 

Yes I note the vast majority of footballers are average in some areas, but that’s not what LNF said originally. I would not call our players, especially in the pyramid of worldwide football, average.

I would probably call the SPL average, but our players are the elite in the SPL.

 

I actually was referring to a player being average in certain areas, while excelling in others. In modern football, players are forced to be jacks of all trades. I think it's a wasteful approach at any level, especially youth.
Tactics should adapt to player flaws and strengths, and be realistic. Ange doesn't require Taylor to bomb up and down all day. Good decision.
But he insists Hart should participate in recycling possession. Bad decision. We may buy a keeper that's better at it, but we saw in Champions League how risky involving the keeper in possession can be.

 

Well that’s not what you said first time, you said an average at best player. So now we’ve established what you mean, I’ve acknowledged that the vast majority are average in some areas.

The whole idea is player development in our lower teams, it’s about developing a player that fits our system. I think Dawson is a great example of a player that needs development but will eventually fit our system and hopefully become a natural replacement for Oh.

On the issue of keepers playing out from the back, two of the best at it made a mistake and it cost them. Rare to see one let alone two keepers make a mistake in the same game lol. While Hart isn’t the best at it, he isn’t the worst either. I can’t remember him making a mistake that cost us a goal directly. Yet his play at the back is instrumental in our build up play and sometimes crucial with a quick controlled release and counter attack.

 

A playing style doesn’t necessarily mean that happens, like you pointed out yourself, we have the one playing style in the first team with players that are good at different things and are different styles. Even those in the same positions, Maeda’s far different than Jota, Haksa and Abada are different, Kyogo and Oh are different. They all fit within the style.

 

Red Bull

 

The most useful Hart has been in build-up for us was when he does a long throw with his hand. That actually can start counterattacks. Passing the ball back to the keeper kills momentum.

 

Agree it kills momentum, that’s why we’ve only ever seen Ange going ballistic on the sideline when we’ve seen consistent back passes to the keeper. My take is Ange wants us to play with forward positive possession, with an outball to the keeper as a last resort and Hart also there to mop up.

 

He unfortunately also went ballistic at Hart a few times for punting the ball in risky situations. I wish he praised him for sensible decision-making.