Further the game today...

Which I watched all of... it could not be more abundantly clear how much Celtic require a Moravcik/Nakamura etc -type number 10, who can make the difference in games such as these. With no Forrest, and missing Charlie Mulgrew's deliveries and without this type of player, we can have no complaints about going down 1-0 in the capital today. We had a lot of possession but * around with it 80 percent of the time with minimal end product. Nothing knee * here, I have been saying it for a while: despite all the positivity this season, we are seriously short of that player that can be our playmaker.

May I also say this:

1. Hooper is a striker, not an SS: no matter what he or anyone else says, he needs to be in the box;
2. Lassad looked lost today, and him up top with Samaras, who was incredibly bad today, looks like two men short.

Raging.

 

I can't agree about Hooper. But if no one else is in the box...he NEEDS to be there. He's more than just a poacher. Can't wait till Stokes is back.

But we defo need a creative spark in the centre, or even in the wide areas who will take players on.

 

Very true, we have relied in the past on deliveries from wide areas through izzy/matthews/lustig.

Today the final product just wasn't there, Izzy was disastrously bad, couldn't pass/defend or beat a man.

Really lacking a maestro in midfield, someone to really link the midfield and strikeforce, our front three do make good runs but no one in our team has the quality to make the final pass and through ball.

Also our players can't seem to shoot.

 

You mean a No.25??

 

None of them know what to do with the ball. When they are not making stray passes, they pass it around, pass it back, pass again eventually losing all momentum.

 

That type of role was Traditionally associated with a number 10 ie a playmaker. Even though they didn't wear that number at Celtic I think it is obvious what he means.

 

Aye, quote the first sentence of my post, and not the rest, very good.

The truth is they didn't know what the * to do with it, they could have played for hours more and still not scored.

 

What we need is Tony Stokes back fit.

 

Which Nakamura ever played for us.

 

Yeh, 10, 25, * it... any number but what I mean is of course a playmaker, a midfielder to link some of this together, like: Lubo, Naka, etc. It has to be priority number 1 in Jan. Has to be. We're crying out for it.

 

We are at the moment but I'm quite happy when Commons or Stokes is playing that kind of role. Both of whom are injured.

 

Commons hardly ever plays in that position anyway though when fit, Lennon plays him out wide more often than not. We need someone sitting right in front of the midfield and behind the strikers. Lennon tried to do this today with Hooper and it just doesn't work.

We need Hooper in and around the box not 40 yards from goal. Hooper's primary aim is scoring a goal. There was a time in the second half when Lustig fed a ball across the 6 yard box and Lassad almost got there, if that was Hooper in the box going for that its a goal, but no where was he outside the box because thats where he was told to play.

 

To be fair, with few honourable exceptions, that would be a good description of TC after any match.

 

Your not the brightest are you?

 

Not this year, Commons has sat just behind the strikers more often than not this season.

 

Commons hasn't got half the playmaking abilities of Naka/Lubo. Definitely need to bring creativity into the middle and pace out wide in January/the summer.

 

Desperate for a playmaker.

Also feel today will surely squash these myths that Mulgrew is being squeezed into the team ahead of superior players. The guys deliveries were missed today.

 

I suspect I'm the only person who thought that McCourt served us a great playmaker role today.