Stuart Armstrong

Amazing turnaround. i'm ashamed to say I had written him off but I'm happy to eat humble pie.

Would it be amiss of me to liken his transformation under Brendan to that of Petrov under Martin?

Both players played out position in their first season. Both struggling for form and struggling to cope with the expectation of playing for Celtic, only for a proper manager to come in and spot their potential.

 

petrov was in a new country alone and had nobody it's a bit different

Although I think his studying gets in the way maybe that's the reason for his on field play

 

Based on what ? Has he missed training , been late for a match? No , he trains and plays spending the same time at work as everyone else . What he does in his spare time is up to him . Does playing Fifa, going shopping and watching box sets 4 hours everyday " get in the way " for most of the other payers ?

 

Aye well i deliberately left out the new country bit. The rest is correct though. An inferior manager playing a player out of position and it takes a new man to come in and spot his potential in a different position and get the best out of him.

 

Finally he is emerging into the "successor for broony" role we had in mind when he first signed.

has been brilliant for us in the middle does most of the things that broony does and can also score goals too.

He is not quite at broonys level when it comes to the snapping into tackles and being aggressive but he is far better at it than anyone else we have. Bitton is slow, mcgregor is not very defensive and the rest are not that type of player they are ball players and attack minded.

A Scotland call up is near for Stu and he is in the running for top player this season.

 

a think petrov was regarded as one of europes top youngsters,when we signed him 2.8 million was a lot of money back then for a boy at 19.he was signed by john barnes but think it was jo venglos that recomended him.

 

Great to see Armstrong playing like the guy we all thought we were signing - long may it continue.

 

If he continues his form he could end up being an upgrade on Broony as he already has better shooting technique.

 

Bit early for that kind of talk.

Broony has scored more worldies for us over his time here as well as being superior in every other way to Armstrong.

Stuart is heading in the right direction though.

 

I don't really see the comparisons between him and Brown. Very different players.

 

I think the comparisons to broony are way off. 2 different players.

 

What about defending?

 

I think he's a bit like Brown in his younger days, though a lot less aggressive. He's been bombing about the pitch getting stuck in to everything, I didn't think he had it in him.

 

Similar in ways but different in others.

Brown when Armstrong's age was faster but both are as fit as you'll get and do a lot of running. Brown a more skillful dribbler but Armstrong also runs with the ball well, not quite the trickery of Brown but still as effective. Armstrong is a lot better at timing runs into the box, is a better passer, crosser and striker of the ball. Brown probably slightly better in the air and Brown also a more aggressive player who liked a tackle defensively although Brown wasn't really a defensive midfielder either when he was younger he developed into a good defensive player over the years, no reason why Armstrong couldn't do the same although you feel he doesn't have quite the same steel and will to win and gallousness Brown had to show up and get tore into everycunt wether it was Europe, a Cup final or midweek home game against Hamilton he always played the same, Armstrong will need to prove that.

 

I am talking long term, of course, as I think he'll be able to improve for a couple of years yet, then hopefully hit his peak while still at us as we lift 10 in a row and win the CL.

There's been a couple of examples this season, of this aspect of Armstrong's game. Always room for improvement but he'll get better.

 

I actually could see the transition in a few years.

 

He's gonna finish top scorer at this rate