The Left Flank

What he lacks is the ability to go past a player with the ball at his feet. He has no trick and is therefore easily marked.

 

need to give him a bit more time to work on this coming from killie where they attack nowhere near as much as us. He is bound to not be as far forward in that aspect of his game. My opinion is a defenders 1st job is to defend which he does pretty well.

 

Lee O'Connor shouldn't be discounted at left back or pref filling in at Right back if frimpong can play left. I'd also bring in hickey, can't see Ely back so if okoflex isn't ready (which I don't think he is) i think we need to invest in a left attacking wide player that can compete with Mikey who I think could have a serious season if he can stay injury free

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If we're serious about playing 3-5-2 next season we should be forgetting about Mo and spending that money on a proper wing back.

 

The left side is definitely our problem area. Think Bolingoli is done here, and I'm not keen on Taylor as a wing back. He's not quick and powerful enough.

I rate MJ but he's still majorly inconsistent and injury prone. We really could be doing with a left back and left winger.

 

If we’re playing a 352 then we need two wingbacks who can eliminate players one on one.

Too many times Taylor has a one on one and turns back and kills our momentum. He’s better in a 4 with someone infront of him to link up with.

 

yet had 4 assists in 8 games in a 3-5-2 formation I don't get the negativity give him a chance ffs

 

I understand the caution with Taylor as an attacking player.

But given he was just in the door, he's likely to want to play quite safe and not give the ball away, rather than risk taking a man on. I think the more confident he is he might push on more. I'm not going to get too carried away with a couple of assists against St Johnstone but well done anyway.

Personally, still view him as a full back.

 

ok, perhaps i phrased it wrong. How many crosses did he put in? far too often he would not take on his man and decided on a safe pass ..and he managed to * that up sometimes.

maybe being a new face he wants to opt for safety first approach.. understandable. I know his offensive game is not why we bought him but if he wants to stick around the first team then i want him to be fearless going forward..

my memory of his games is not fresh or clear , i just remember being frustrated with him at times ..not defensively, only that he seemed to slow up the game and ended up playing a short safe pass ( which just allows teams to get organised ). He will only get better .. but Boli, well i think he will always be prone to mistakes and reading the game/ concentration are not easily learned. One thing with Boli.. maybe it was a language learning curve coz speaking English and understanding Scots is not quite the same thing. Also maybe settling in to new country etc. More than happy to see him get a short run of games then decide.

 

Neither Taylor or Bolingoli are good enough imo.

Seems to be this narrative that Taylor is fine as at LB. Fair enough it may have only been a few games but the games he did play at LB he was every bit as poor. Home to St Mirren and Hamilton before Christmas come to mind.

Bolingoli would probably be better suited to LWB than the LB role he played but hasn't been given chance. Don't think he's good enough but would rather see him at least given a chance in that role.

If sticking with 352 then a LW is way down list of priorities

 

And also needs to bulk up, too lightweight at the moment.

Agree

 

If we rely on Taylor to be our wide left source of width it won't work. He doesn't have the ability to go by people, it's not his strength, Hayes played more because it was HIS strength. Bolingoli is maybe more attacking but his confidence seemed to be knocked out of him after the defeat by the zombies, by the way he wasn't the only player * that day but took the can for it. Mikey is a great talent but I think he's more suited to just behind 2 strikers and his early season form last year was in that sort of role. He was scoring and making chances in Europe and at home and the pity was doing his Hamstring at Ibrokes, out till December, then doing his knee at St Johnstone. As for Frimpong on the left, we will force him to cut inside on to his right side meaning his ability to get to the bye line like he was doing will be curtailed. We need to have one out and out winger to supply genuine width, Forrest isn't going to be that, so if we don't get Moi back then maybe Shved might get time or we bring someone in.

 

One of Hayes' biggest weakness at Celtic, in my opinion, was his unwillingness to take players on by himself.

 

Sorry but disagree. Just remember he was asked to play at left back because the 2 players we spent 5.5 million quid on weren't either good enough at the time or had went right out of favour. Watch back the games he played and the amount of times you see him in the last third offering up width or a pass was unreal. His work rate was second to none and just to watch his display in the League Cup Final showed what Celtic meant to him and what he offered and the courage he showed despite a bad shoulder and an ankle knock that most other players would have wanted off . When Brown came out and said he would be sorely missed that said it all. Fantastic pro and vastly underrated on what he offered the squad.

 

Lol.

 

He was * in the cup final. Just because he tried doesn't mean he was anywhere near good enough.

He's going back to Aberdeen for a reason. That's his level.

 

Well your opinion is yours mines is mine. Imo he had a good game and stepped up in a game were the likes of Moi, Morgan, Forrest offered nothing and Hayes played his part in defence. Imo he was NEVER played in his correct position by Rodgers, one reason why he never got game time, and under Lenny it was quiet apparent by him playing the likes of the Cup Final how much he trusted him so I think I will stick with my opinion. He's 32 years old now and out of contract that's why he's away to the Sheep. He will play most weeks, after playing a lot less but winning medals with us, and at his stage of career, like Sinclair, that's the most important part for him. He will be missed as experience in the squad, something hard to replace, in the biggest season for over 40 years is going to be vital. I already said that the likes of Gordon, Hayes, Sinclair, Jozo, Lustig may not have either played loads of been peoples favourites but they have been over the course more than once and know the pressures. The likes of Taylor, Bolingoli, Klimaya, Soro haven't so we haven't replaced like with like so far. I just hope we get some experience in, especially at the back were we are particularly short, same as last season.

 

We 100% need to do a bit of work on that side..

Left back/wing back is a must. Left winger to compete with Mikey also..

Also need a left sided (and preferably footed) centre half as well..

 

I agree that left side needs to be looked at which really should have been sorted after spending 5.5 million on 2 players last year. We can't keep replacing guys after 1 season and spending more on the same position. Imo it's either poor recruitment or poor choices made. Tbh Taylor won't be the players to use in a 352 formation, that needs to be a player with ability to not only be a goal provider but a good defensive player. Bolingoli is maybe better going forward but Defo limited in the defensive area. Mikey would need to be more disciplined to play out in a 352 which imo would take too much of his attacking side away, he's a very "off the cuff" type and asking him to be defensive would not do any good. Who plays will maybe be a week to week thing dependant on opposition and what formation suits. The only thing I want is domestically we play 2 up front every week because we blew teams away after the break playing that way