First half apart from the first 10-15 minutes was poor again, 3 at the back not working, midfield 2 of Brown and McGregor all over the shop, the amount of times they slipped the ball into the middle of the park in our half and had 6/7 yards of space was frightening, the defending for both goals was comical, 3 centre halves and not one got anywhere near a cross in to the 6 yard box
The McGregor and Duffy running into each other for the 2nd, hopeless.
Fair play to Lennon he changed it, Christie and Elyounoussi made a difference as did Rogic when he came on but the second half performance is the least I expect off a Celtic team at home in Europe, Milan were always going to just shut up shop in the second half and I expected us to have more of the ball but we still arent creating nearly enough.
The decision to take Laxalt and Ajeti off baffled me, Ajeti you could tell was raging, he was just starting to link up well with Christie/Rogic/Elyounoussi and when you're replacing Laxalt with Taylor when you're pushing for a goal you're as well admitting defeat
he wouldn't of made those changes if there was a crowd there
Sunday is massive, there's small positives to take but I think we're in a very precarious position
Celtic 1 - 3 AC Milan
posted on 23/10/20
Barkas needs a save big time
he's getting absolutely no help at all by the men in front of him mind you
posted on 23/10/20
that's true ghod, neither of them are helping each other.
defence isn't making it easy on him and he isn't bailing them out.
Silver - as i said last night its tough to tell with Italian teams, so well organised it's unreal.
they were happy in second half to defend their lead and when the opportunity arose they punished us again.
we most certainly do not have the same level of organisation and defensive discipline they do.
Welsh can't play again, 2 games and twice he has been drawn out of position and left big gaps, he isn't ready.
posted on 23/10/20
Kessier was outstanding btw. Reminded me of Wanyama.
posted on 23/10/20
Welshy should have a career in the game. Tough to break into Celtic as a young CB - look at the route Ajer took. He’s decent at everything though outstanding at nothing and that may count against?
Our shortage of CBs has meant we had to cut his loan last year and didn’t go out again this year which is probably what he needs? Maybe just as well given the Covid crap but come on, being thrown into OF and AC is pretty scheite.
posted on 23/10/20
two massive games to launch him into unfortunately.
should have changed to a back 4 when we were short of options.
posted on 23/10/20
Only have 2 fit centre backs
Play 3 centre backs
Mental
posted on 23/10/20
comment by Joe-ny Stokes is my da (U15888)
posted 18 minutes ago
Only have 2 fit centre backs
Play 3 centre backs
Mental
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yep.
TBH I think we only started experimenting with a back 3 because we'd no decent RB (Lustig era, when we thought we could then "get away" with Jamesie at RWB) ... then latterly no decent LB (post-KT, when we thought Taylor at LWB, or even Ely, would be less of a liability).
As I've said repeatedly though, it's hard to slate any particular defensive formation or choice of personnel, when we haven't had the same one for more than 2 games running this season.
Based on last night's 2 halves though, it looks like we SHOULD certainly revert to a back 4 in the meantime ... Laxalt Ajer Duffy/Jullien Elhamed (once available again). Lenny's a stubborn cant though, so expect 3 at the back again this weekend.
posted on 23/10/20
Everyone gets too excited about formations. As you say, there were shovels of serendipity about the change to 3 at the back and ditto the change last night to a 4.
The bigger issue is the malaise. Probably a mental thing though let’s not rule out physical either. Would be interesting to know what is going on in the inside? What are the discussions? What really is being done to resolve it? What help is needed? What is being sought or offered?
My suspicions are next to SFA but hey, it’s football.
posted on 23/10/20
the problem Lennon has is our summer signings were based on playing a 3-5-2
posted on 23/10/20
There's a disjointedness about us just now.. and we don't appear to be very well drilled. That comes from the coaching staff/management.
You can excuse the occasional defensive error but when it's happening several times each game, then there has to be change as the current situation isn't sustainable.
Said pre-season that I though Rangers would win the league this year as they look really sharp on the ball, hungry to get back into shape and win the ball back when it's lost, and they just look like they want it more just now.
Could be a long season.