Time for a Change? pt. 2

First, I’d like to thank Ian, Ryan, and Vini for some stimulating conversation in the comments on the last post. Some interesting stuff. Ryan brought up some good points about Massimo Donati. He was brought in essentially to replace Neil Lennon who, as previously mentioned, was not Pele by any means. He did not score goals, but could start a counter and trek back to help the defense when necessary. It was probably assumed that Massimo would do the same. The only problem was that Massimo spoiled us in the beginning by scoring some goals. Some important goals, such as the cracker in Aberdeen and of course the winner against Shaktar (might have been more right place at the right time with that).

Massimo played well offensively early and things were going good. But the troubles of December and, well now, changed the opinions of Celtic fans. If there is one thing that Celtic fans are, they are fickle. A drop in play and they want you transfered the next window. Many people are offering cab money, myself included, to the player de jour to hate. Massimo might be there, but as Ryan reminded us, he is a defensive midfielder. However, along with Celtic fans getting spoiled, I think Massimo let those goals go to his head and he creeps up to play attacking midfielder often. The only problem is the problems we discussed yesterday. He’s not the greatest on the ball and not the greatest finisher. He tends to lose the ball often in the final third. But that’s not his job. He is there to break up counters and get the ball back to the front. But when Massimo is creeping up he is not only not there to do that, the maligned back line has less support. Perhaps we can’t expect him to score goals, but he needs to track back more often.

Which brings us to a point that both Vini and Ryan brought up. Perhaps a change in formation is in order. The defense has played better the last couple of games, perhaps solidifying against the SPL (that’s all we got left anyways). So maybe taking a defender out and playing a 3-4-3 would be in order. While Gordon Strachan doesn’t have a history of deriving from the 4-4-2 or at least not from having 4 defenders, perhaps a change in who is in the lineup is necessary. Whatever it is, with the current form, there needs to be changes because Celtic needs to avoid a drought like it faced in December. It could play itself right out of the last competition it is in.

Category: Celtic

Tags: Celtic

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