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wee_od_88

Vital Football Hero
Deila's first 12:30 Saturday kick-off away to Inverness!

Deila has said he may look to switch the team around a bit and use the squad a bit more in order to keep the players fresh for the Tuesday game against Maribor.

I expect we will see Biton start in midfield, Pukki and/or Griffiths up front and someone like Henderson could also get a game in midfield.

I doubt Wakaso will be involved at all while Tonev is still not ready and Derk Boerrigter sits out because of his ban. Forrest, Matthews and Brown are all injured.

Our options in defence appear to be quite limited in terms of changes, unless Deila sees enough to give O'Connell or Findlay a chance, Fisher or Herron could come in at RB and Twardzik is the only real option at LB.
Could McGeouch get a chance in midfield?
 
Ronny makes 10 changes...

Celtic: Zaluska; Ambrose, O'Connell, Mulgrew, Twardzik; Henderson, Bitton, McGeouch; Griffiths, Commons, Pukki


Subs: Fasan, Stokes, Berget, Denayer, Johansen, Kayal, McGregor
 
Not bad play considering it really is a B team. The passing is disjointed due to the odd combination of players, but still creating some good chances.
 
Disjointed as you'd expect with 10 changes. Front 3 poor. Little link-up play. Midfield leaving our defence exposed. Should still be ahead, though...

Twardzik gives me the fear
 
TicV"Establishment" - 23/8/2014 13:26

Disjointed as you'd expect with 10 changes. Front 3 poor. Little link-up play. Midfield leaving our defence exposed. Should still be ahead, though...

Twardzik gives me the fear

Johansen replaces Twardzik and McGregor on for Pukki at HT.

 
Johansen to LB, then McGeouch to LB when both Mulgrew and Ambrose were on the park ffs.

Our 'A' team aren't up to much & our 'B' team are merely underlining that. Tactical positioning & subs were still baffling, Though!
 
I don't understand Deila's choices most of the time and I' pretty sure he doesn't either. We created some chances but still can't really get in the box. Deila looks smart if the rest helps win against Maribor and gets the pounds 15 million from the group stage. Otherwise, it's just three points we need to make up in the league.
 
That was a fairly pish performance today! No energy, no creativity, no drive.

Commons was god awful today!

Twardzk struggled horrifically in the first half, things got better down our left flank once Mulgrew realised he had to get over and help or Pukki realised he had to come back and help. Not surprising Twardzik went off at HT, what was surprising was Pukki going off. One of the best performing players in the first half and he gets subbed off at HT....crazy!

Johansen to LB was a strange one but not altogether bad, he was the only player he really showed plenty of desire and drive and energy today, the lack of choices from the bench for our defence was the problem. Mulgrew to LB would be the obvious move but he didn't have the pace to stop the attacks either.

Biton was OK, but nothing particularly brilliant other than his shot off the bar. McGeouch couldn't seem to get into the game but there were a couple of occasions where he showed what he can do. Henderson tried his socks off but there wasn't enough movement from the guys in front of him. Henderson and Biton are probably a little too similar.

The system to begin with was weird, Pukki and Griffiths playing out wide with Commons through the middle. If Commons were the sort of player to go pressure the defence and run around all day then I could understand but he wasn't prepared to do that today, he couldn't even bloody control the ball! I'd hate to see his stats about completed passes either!

All in all, I think Deila learned a lot today. He learned that some players are just not going to cut it in his team/system and he learned that some players still have a long way to go until they are ready. Most are probably fine as replacements in the odd game due to injury, but there is a clear first team and second team now!
 
He switched McGeouch to LB shortly after the goal because Johansen was taken to the cleaners just prior to, and again in the lead up to, the goal.

Two absolutely bat-shit crazy decisions.

Agree with much of what you say, wee_od; Commons in particular being worse than a man down. Most didn't seem up for the physical challenges, with Henderson really struggling to cope and Bitton shirking that side of the game imo.

It's little wonder our midfield never got to grips with game far less controlled it.

McGregor about the only one to get pass marks and even he only shone in very brief flashes.

It's really not good enough. Deila needs to wise up. Our B team simply isn't up to it and, in case anyone feels sorry for 'em, be aware that that 'B' team are earning 5 or 6 times what those ICT players are getting.

I said last season there was a very good reason Lenny wasn't giving these fringe and so called 'young' players a game...




 
Deila has apparently admitted his mistake in changing too many players but also stated that some of the players he is now seeing are simply not up to it.

Twardzik looks to have lost some of his pace, whether that is down to not playing enough or partly down to the amount of time he missed through injury I don't know but when you consider what he did as a young lad bursting onto the scene in a pre-season friendly down in the Emirates arena.....he was taking the piss out of the opposition....that player seems to have gone! :(

I think this looks like it could be time up for Twardzik, McGeouch, Commons, Balde, and even Ambrose (who now appears to be our 3rd choice RB btw). Plus I'm sure there will be a number of other young players on their way too.

There are a still a number of young players we've yet to see in pre-season or the start of the new season. Jackson Irvine, Lewis Toshney (apparently he's still about), Marcus Fraser, Darnell Fisher and Paul George.

Plus I still don't know where the hell Tom Rogic is..............

Big question marks over what will happen with Bahrudin Atajic, Fridjonnson, John Herron, Stuart Findlay......

There's a lot of players there who aren't going to play in the first team, aren't going to even get that much time in the development squad and are too old for the U19s. Deila has a lot of work to do to either get rid of them completely or get them out on loans where they will play plenty and actually find it beneficial (like McGregor last season).
 
Wee Od, if you look at a lot of the names you just mentioned, it's basically a list that could field two mediocre SPL teams. For all of Lenny's hit signings, we have a lot dross like Balde, Pukki, Rogic, the Fridj, Atajic and more. That's part of the policy though. You go looking for youth and diamonds in the rough and you come up with crap sometimes.
 
At home against ICT, second time this season we've played them now. We're onto playing teams for a second time (with the exception of Partick who we are still to play).

It was such a crap game I don't even remember what the score was, looking back it looks as though it was a 1-0 loss for us after a very unfortunate O'Connell OG.

Tonev has appealed his suspension so he is in contention to play.
Commons could be fit again, he's been a maybe for the past couple of games.
Boerrigter is out for a couple of months after having knee surgery.
Forrest is still out and will be until they are confident he is fit and ready to return long term.

This team selection will have to be the right mix of resting players, getting the fringe players fit and ready but keeping consistency to provide a good performance and get the result.

I think we should go with something along the lines of:

Zaluska
Matthews - Ambrose/O'Connell - VVD - Mulgrew
McGregor - Brown - Bitton - Tonev/Wakaso
Scepovic - Guidetti

Subs: Gordon/Fasan, Kayal, Johansen, O'Connell/Ambrose, Lustig, Griffiths, Stokes/Commons
 
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