Celtic after the window: The midfield

Can Celtic get back to bossing the midfield battle?

The team with the most upheaval over the transfer window has been Celtic so we’ve been having a look at their business and what shape they are in now.

We examined the goalkeeping and defensive positions here, with a conclusion of the goalkeeping position being weaker and cautiously saying the defence has improved.

We fully admit it’s a bit quick to be making judgements on many of the players and we got a bit of debate regarding one or two of the appraisals…which is fair enough.

Today we are going to look at the midfield and we expect it to get messy!

One of the issues is the variation in formations and shape Celtic could in from the middle of the park. The defence is always likely to be a flat back four, which makes it easier to dissect.

So we’ll do our best.

Midfield

Starting with the new acquisitions

Joe Ledley

Ledley arrived from Wales for free due to a contractual loophole and has looked steady without grabbing any game by the scruff of the neck so far.

That said, there have been many reasons for this.Ledley has been forced to play at left-back on occasions and when he does play in midfield, there is yet to be a consistency in his choice of partner.

We’ve seen enough of Ledley to suggest he’ll do fine this season.

A goal from left-back against St Mirren indicates he knows where the net is but 2nd half performances away to Caley and Motherwell suggest Ledley can control things in the middle of the park.

Efrain Juarez

An early favourite of the Celtic fans, the Mexican has provided a dose of energy and enthusiasm to the middle of the park, something lacking in recent years.

Like Ledley, Juarez has been used at right-back and is yet to start in midfield in the league. It’ll be interesting to see how Juarez performs there in the SPL.

Two goals in Europe suggests he knows how to get beyond the opponents defence, although there may not be the same room behind SPL defensive walls as Juarez found in Europe.

On pre-season and European performances, Juarez is likely to be an asset in Celtic defending much further up the field. This is definitely a positive for the club and should instill a bit more tempo in the team.

Biram Kayal

Two games at Celtic Park, two man of the match awards. That’s not bad going and a lot of it stems from the fact that Kayal can do the basics right. It shows how poorly the Celtic midfield has been when the ability to control and then pass the ball impresses so much.

Kayal is likely to be the conduit from back to front, effectively pushing the team up the park whilst maintaining possession. Kayal also doesn’t look as though he’ll be bullied to often either.

For balance, we have to add that Juarez and Kayal looked shocking away to Utrecht. The entire Celtic team did but given the way they had played previously, it was a surprise. Every player deserves a few chances and the early penalty awards threw all of a Celtic persuasion off guard so we’re not going to dwell on they showings but they both had off nights.

If Celtic went with a 4-3-3, there is an argument for including these three players in the middle but that overlooks captain Scott Brown.

We have been critical of Brown before, not because we think he is a bad player but because we think he should be doing better. A lot of this has been down to being asked to do a different role for Celtic against opposition laid out differently than he faced for Hibs and as he does for Scotland.

There has been a quiet resurgence of Brown of late though. His passing and control has looked sharper and he has seemed more focused. As mentioned for Joe Ledley, second half performances at Caley and Motherwell can rank amongst the strongest Brown has offered.

On this basis, we’d have to say Celtic have greatly strengthened in the middle of the park. Three new signings all showing potential and a marked improvement in the remaining player has to be a positive.

When looking at the players now in the middle, it’s hard to think of any reason for the inclusion of N’Guemo or Crosas so it’s a definite strengthening in the middle of the park.

Wide areas

The loss of Aiden McGeady and his 14 SPL assists has to be considered a loss. Even allowing for a dipping of form, McGeady was the creative outlet Celtic always looked to and was one of the few players to get fans excited.

Diomansay Kamara looked okay on loan without ever really excelling and Marc Antoine Fortune was often shoved out wide to varying degrees of success.

The wide positions have a number of players vying for position and hopefully this competition can inspire better performances from the wide men.

Jamie Forrest has burst onto the scene and been a revelation at times. With young players, you expect inconsistency and it will surely come from Forrest but so far he has looked good. An assist and goal versus St Mirren, an eye for goal in other games and a good level of work-rate has seen Forrest emerge with credit so far this season.

And then there is Paddy McCourt. We coined the term “part-time player, full-time genius” and it’s good to see he has lived up to that billing.

A brilliant 60 minutes versus Blackburn in a friendly earned McCourt a start at Caley where he had a virtually invisible hour. One cross-field pass was all he had to show until he got the ball wide and cut in and cut in and then whipped the ball home.

To ensure his cult status, he immediately picked up an injury when Shaun Maloney jumped on him!

Paddy also impressed away to Motherwell when he came on, changing the dynamics of Celtic’s play. McCourt can move at players, shifting the opposition defence backwards as they drop deeper to counteract his talent which should then create more space for Celtic to press onto them.

Depending on the formation being played, any one of Juarez, Brown or Ledley cound find themselves out wide. Celtic are also awaiting the return of Niall McGinn and can of course, utilise a few of their forwards in the wide position of an attacking position.

We’ll discuss the merits of Samaras and Maloney when we look at the forwards but they provide options here too.

The loss of McGeady means Celtic had a big gap to fill and perhaps wisely, the club has decided to not put all of their eggs in one basket. The wide position is very dependent on confidence so a flexibility to rotate until someone earns the starting place is not a bad tactic.

This may be something that causes disagreement but even with the loss of Aiden McGeady, we would say Celtic are not weaker in the wide positions. And if two players step up and show consistency over the season, we’d expect an overall improvement in this area of the field.

Again, another long one but we’d say Celtic look to be much improved in the middle of the park. There appears to be flexibility in the players to allow for a few shapes to be set out and there seems a greater tempo than Celtic have had in recent years.

We will round up our review by looking at the forward positions (hopefully on Friday) but tell us your thoughts on the Celtic midfield.

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