Misfiring Celtic midfield suffering from full back and forward changes

There was an excellent article on The Celtic Star last night by Conall McGinty titled
“Time to sort out Celtic’s midfield, Hatate and Nygren together don’t work.” If you haven’t read it, it’s certainly worth your time…  

Much of the headlines across the summer have centred on Celtic’s attack, understandably so, given the club left it too late to recruit replacements for players who departed in January, never mind those who left in the summer.

It will take time for those late arrivals to bed in. New signings such as Seb Tounekti, Michel Ange Balikwisha, and Kelechi Iheanacho joined too late to impact the Champions League qualifiers, and it could easily be the middle of next month before patterns of play and full fitness are learned and regained.

But we also need to consider the knock-on effect these late arrivals have had on the players operating behind them. And here, I find myself agreeing with Conall, the midfield is certainly not clicking at this time.

Yet while it is understandable to look at Reo Hatate and Benjamin Nygren and question their partnership, there may also be wider reasons for this apparent malfunction.

Either side of the midfield is as much an issue as the players ahead of them learning their roles.

On the left, the arrival of Kieran Tierney has triggered significant tactical changes, shifting Celtic away from the inverted full-back system to something that plays to Tierney’s natural strengths. Tierney, however, cannot yet play ninety minutes—an ongoing issue.

As a result, Liam Scales, Hayato Inamura, and most recently Marcelo Saracchi have all been tried at left back. That is four different options used already this season, each with a different profile.

One isn’t comfortable playing inverted. Another is a central defender filling in when required but is no natural left back. Hayato, arguably the one with the ideal skillset to play inverted, hasn’t been utilised much because the manager doesn’t think he’s ready. That is the manager’s choice. Saracchi looked good against Killie and even grabbed an assist, but his game had more Bernabei vibes than Greg Taylor’s.

Four options, four different styles—some will invert, others won’t. That inconsistency is far from ideal for the midfielders who rely on predictable patterns of movement beside them.

Ahead of those left-backs, the winger situation has been equally chaotic. Yang, James Forrest, Seb Tounekti, and Balikwisha have all been tried on the left wing, while Daizen Maeda has also featured there. That makes five players for one position, all at different stages of preparation and understanding of a Brendan Rodgers system.

The right side tells a similar story. At full-back, Celtic have already used three players, Alistair Johnston, Tony Ralston, and, making his first competitive start on Sunday, young academy graduate Colby Donovan. All have played at different times, with different skillsets, and at varying stages of development and tactical understanding.

Ahead of them, right wing is the glaring example of a recruitment misfire. The only natural right winger in the squad is James Forrest, now thirty-four years old. Others have been shoehorned into the position—Nygren, Balikwisha, and Yang, but none are specialist right-sided attackers. Up front, the churn continues as Maeda, Adam Idah, Kel Iheanacho, Johnny Kenny and Shin Yamada have all rotated through the striking roles.

I’m not making excuses for Celtic’s midfield, but it’s important to look at the context. Reo Hatate and Callum McGregor know Celtic’s patterns of play inside out, both in and out of possession. Benjamin Nygren, however, is still absorbing that tactical framework, which may explain his hot-and-cold start to the season.

When the midfield look left, right, or ahead, they are playing with teammates of varying styles, differing fitness levels, and different stages of tactical understanding—not to mention players who have barely formed on-field relationships with one another. Much of these problems stem from summer recruitment, the timing of purchases, the fitness of those signed, the positional profiles of those players, and the lack of time for them to bed into Brendan Rodgers’ philosophy.

It is worth remembering that Celtic’s central midfield remains the most secure area of the squad, alongside central defence and goalkeeper. You can take five out of six of our central midfielders—excluding Nygren—and all of them know their jobs. It was an area of the team where we had two good players for every position, most of whom were bedded in. That hasn’t changed.

There are still debates about profiles however. Do Celtic lack creativity in midfield? Possibly—but Luke McCowan, Hatate, and Nygren can all bring that spark when fit and firing. Do we lack physicality when defending transitions or the long-striding power needed to counter-attack? Possibly again—but Arne Engels should be able to add that dimension. It is hard not to conclude, then, that the midfield’s problem may not be the midfield themselves.

If Celtic were to rotate all three midfielders against Partick Thistle this weekend, those coming in could fit seamlessly, yet we might still see some familiar problems to the left of them, to the right of them, and ahead of them. I know some supporters want answers, some want players dropped, and some simply want someone to blame at times.

But the hard truth is that this will take patience. Celtic have good players and depth in every position now—bar right wing, a recruitment oversight verging on criminal for a Brendan Rodgers team so reliant on creative, incisive width.

For the rest, we simply need to wait. The penny will drop. Relationships will knit together. Tactical understanding will seep in. It will take games—lots of games perhaps—but thankfully, over the next few weeks, to coin a Brendanism, “we’ve got hundreds of them.” It may just be a wee bit of a bumpy ride as we go.

Niall J

CELTIC IN THE EIGHTIES by DAVID POTTER – OUT NOW! 

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