“Big question marks over whether or not these players are good enough for Celtic,” Pat Bonner
Watching yesterday’s match on Sky Sports there was one comment that stood out, Celtic having scored only one goal all season from any player coming off the bench…
That was Luke McCowan when he put the icing on the cake of the match at Rugby Park that was over as a contest by the interval.
The weakness of the Celtic bench
When McCowan and Sebastian Tounekti were standing on the sidelines waiting to be introduced only the most optimistic of Celtic supporters would have expected anything to come from that, although McCowan could have scored but like many of his teammates he too couldn’t find a way past Scott Bain.
Tounekti didn’t do anything worthy of comment as is often the case with the Tunisian international winger.
Two former Celts Chris Sutton and Pat Bonner both gave their thoughts on Celtic’s 2-0 defeat at Falkirk. Let’s start with taking a look at what the former Celtic striker had to say.
The Celtic midfield is really vulnerable
“The midfield is really vulnerable, but it’s not just in the midfield,” Sutton noted, via Sky Sports. “The goalkeeping situation is a mess. Sam Johnstone doesn’t really excite and inspire me, and I think he’s going to be safe.
“You’ve got Liam Scales dribbling out from the back thinking he’s Baresi – he’s not. They lack in midfield athletically and physically.
“Then you sign two strikers, but you can’t play them together. Why not? Because you can’t play 4-4-2 because the midfielders aren’t athletic enough to do that and he doesn’t want to play a back three.
It’s a lottery waiting for the Celtic team
“Martin needs to be forthright in how he wants to play and stick to one thing. It’s a lottery waiting for the Celtic team, who knows what team Martin is going to pick?” Sutton observed.
He continued: “He is not going to say it, of course, but the club is in regression, the team is in regression. They’re just not a good functioning team at this moment in time. It’s hard to see how Celtic are actually set up and it is a bit off the cuff. They’re deficient in every area of the team. This current team are miles off it. Where is the plan, what’s the strategy?
Pat Bonner meanwhile, speaking on BBC Sportsound, was full of praise for former Celtic employees Scott Bain, the Falkirk goalkeeper and John McGlynn the Falkirk boss who had to make 17 summer signing to completely rebuild his squad, yet was able to have them playing like a well drilled team.
Celtic just go from side to side
“It was a terrific display from Falkirk defensively, the Irishman said. “They had much more penetration than Celtic, who just go from side to side. Scott Bain was unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. I counted eight saves he made. Falkirk deserved it.
“They’ve got a terrific young team. John McGlynn has done a great job with them. But there are big question marks over whether or not these players are good enough for Celtic.”
Yesterday was an accident waiting to happen
Celtic currently sit top of the table, four points clear of the Rangers who now have a game in hand. Martin O’Neill understandably enough from his perspective, pointed this out in his media interviews after the 2-0 defeat, that many supporters reckoned was an accident waiting to happen with this Celtic team.
Top of the league is factually correct but we also look one of the poorest coached side in the league.
Here’s Martin O’Neill’s post match interview with BBC Scotland as tensions run high…
