Callum McGregor

In your opinion. And your opinion is that of a halfwitted imbecile.

 

You seem confused, I was talking about you, not to you. Away back under yer rock, cretin.

 

Talking absolute nonsense but with absolute certainty is quite a thing to behold..

Well done

 

Comparing him to probably the best midfielder in the world is madness.

You know who has the most passes per 90 for Man City this season? Rodri? Nah, John Stones. Arsenal..Zubimendi? Rice? Nah, Saliba. Real Madrid? Surely it's Tchouameni or Ceballos? Nah, Huijsen. Some of the top teams have the same situation as us.

Ofc there are exceptions, Pedri, Kimmich, Vitinha all tend to get on the ball alot. But this is likely due to managerial style and the extreme low block we face compared to even alot of top teams..

This season CCV has made the mode passes. Before that it's been Scales, Scales, Starfelt, Starfelt. Under 2 different managers and during seasons where McGregor was excellent. The only season of the last 6 where it wasn't a centre half making most passes was under Lennon, where McGregor was the one with around 72 passes on average.

This seasons average? 72.

 

The one thing I am curious about is not McGregor necessarily but the single pivot, he is basically marked out the game in most cases which then can lead to Scales or CCV looking for one of the 8's centrally which is just simply a harder pass, but that's a build up issue in terms of team structure more than anything.

With Ange and inverting full backs it always felt slightly smoother going vertically through the build up cause there was a fullback there in DM and McGregor could push on one without the same level of fear behind him.

 

It's not madness. It's very very relevant. We're comparing sides who dominate their domestic game and have over 70% of possession routinely. So if Pedri is able to be the dominant player on the ball in the Barca side and Vitinha the dominant player on the ball in the PSG side, why is it the Celtic sides dominant players are the two centre halves?

Can you answer the below questions

Why is it when our CBs get the ball McGregor's instinct is not to take it off them but to point at somebody else for them to pass to?

On the occassions he does get the ball from them, a lot of the time he passes straight back to them, he doesn't like to take the ball on the half turn, he doesn't like to drop in between the two centre halves and take the ball from them and turn. He wants the defenders to make the play. He is extremely hesitant on being close to his own goal and taking the ball in with his back to goal.

If we face a low block more than PSG and Barca then McGregor should be getting on the ball a lot more than Vitinha and Pedri as we build from the back and if we are facing a low block then McGregor will have much less engagement deeper in the pitch. It's hardest and most dangerous to play that role when you are facing a high press as the risk of being disposessed leaves you far more exposed.

The role McGregor is entrusted to play is the pivot, he is there at base of the midfield, he plays the deepest of the two, he made his name as a box to box midfielder so he is clearly being used there to get the ball from his defenders and build attacks. I'm calling him out on shirking that responsibility and I think Rodgers has to move someone into that role who has the mentality to want to get on the ball and has the bravery to not be afraid to make mistakes there. Right now McGregor is putting far too much pressure on our two centre halves to make the play by shirking his repsonsibility.

 

That's a very valid point and I do have some sympathy for McGregor in that its not an easy role to play and its not his natural position.

At the same time though, the lack of character and bravery he is showing in that area of the pitch can not go uncriticised. A lot of the time we are string passes right across our back 4 and when McGregor does get on the ball he passes it back to whoever passed it to him first time. As you said it nearly always ends with CCV or Scales driving forward with the ball or them tyring to play a 20 yard pass into the feet of a midfielder or attacker and that's not an easy thing to do - particularly for a defender. There the balls McGregor should be making and needs to be brave enough to take it on the half turn and add the spark to the play. He's the deep lying midfielder so its far more his responsibility than it is Scales or CCV to bring us up the pitch.

 

I'm not one bit confused which is why I am able to substantiate and articulate my points quite clearly whereas all you can offer out are inane insults with absolutely zero substance or context.

If I asked you to explain how McGregor builds our attacks you can't as you don't understand, if we have a discussion about this you will resort to insults as it's all you have in your arsenal so maybe keep your nose out of things that quite clearly you don't grasp.

 

Hey fucknuts you're the one that replied to me and now it's the 'dont respond to me cos you don't know anything'... get yerself to *, yer a clueless * looking for attention.

 

I responded to a sneaky comment about me from you.

I'm merely concluding that the only engagement you are offering here are insults and abuse, which is because you don't possess the knowledge or civility to engage in the subjecct with sincerity.

You clearly are a very insecure little man who likes to act the hardman on the internet and fucknuts, clueless *, get yerself to * will somehow intimidate me into not making completely valid and substantiated contributions that are actually relevant to talking about our captains peformance.

You have nothing of value to offer so why don't you keep your abuse to yourself and those of us who want to actually talk about football can be saved from King Ned and his hard chaw talk.

 

The easiest answer is that those teams are much much better than us. They have better players and are much more adept at moving the ball into and through the midfield. But for all of these teams, after the likes of Pedri or Vitinha, the top 5 players in terms of passes are made up mostly of defenders. It's just how the modern game is.

McGregor could easily drop deeper than his man marker is willing to go, between the centre half's and take the ball. But what happens then? You have one less player to play a forward pass to and our movement and rotations aren't at the level of a Barca to easily circumvent it effectively. He's clearly not instructed to do so.

There are clear problems and I don't dent that McGregor in alot of games recently has been too negative. But i don't think he's hiding from the ball

 

We're an absolute doddle to scout, analyse and then setup against.

Rodgers never changes the system and if you can nullify McGregor then it can certainly disrupt us. There's also no Taylor to invert and act like another 6.

Rodgers hasn't adapted to that yet. We're still bedding in a few new faces too. And the midfield isn't really functioning.

McGregor may be starting to decline but he never hides, thats an assault on his character which is completely pish, one of our best ever Captains and Leaders

 

Maybe so but it's Pedri and Vitinha who play the same role for those teams that McGregor does for us. All 3 play a 4-3-3 and it's McGregor, Vitinha and Pedri who sit at the base

Barca and PSG have very similar possession stats in their domestic leagues as we do.

Yet its Pedri and Vitinha who dominate the ball for PSG and Barca but it's actually usally the centre halves who dominate it for Celtic so that's the difference. Pedri and Vitinha do that role with authority and responsibility - McGregor doesn't do it to the same level. It's all relative, you can say they play in better team but Celtic play worse opposition. With those possession stats you would expect everything to go through McGregor but he's far too passive for my liking and I think that criticism is both entirely fair to have and I also think its substantiated.

As for McGregor to drop deeper, he can carry forward, he can play a forward pass. The whole thing about it is that his range of passing is far above that of Scales or CCVs, he's a central midfielder, he's meant to be be good on the ball, he's meant to be able to pick a pass and make them. That's not where CCV and Scales skillset lies, they are there to break play up, to defend their box and to offload the ball to the players who make things happen. It's unfair to ask them to be be responsible for building our attacks.

 

On the ball he certainly hides. If you can't see that then * help you.

The passage of play I posted back earlier from the Scottish Cup final is a classic example of him hiding. Jogging about and pointing at the centre halves to pass elsewhere and immediately unloading the ball back to the centre halves when he gets it is showing a lack of character. To deny that is showing a fundamental lack of knowledge on football and the role McGregor is entrusted with playing.

 

Absolute pish.

 

You're entitled to your opinion no matter how wrong it is.

A deep lying midfielder who is in the team to take the ball from the defenders and launch our attacks, who is routinely seen running into blocked passing channels, pointing at the defenders to pass to others and not pass to him and passing the ball instantly back to a centre back who gave him the ball is certainly an example of a player abdicating their responsibility and it is the opposite of leadership.

I have subtantiated the above with examples of it and if you can't see that then I'm afraid you just don't get the fundamentals of the game.

Pointing your fingers telling your centre back to look elsewhere for a passing option is not leadership, its shirking responsibility. I also know I'm not the only person on here who sees that too.