Charlie Mulgrew explains what is going wrong with Callum McGregor amid Celtic slide
Former Celtic midfielder Charlie Mulgrew has defended Callum McGregor amid the veteran's disappointing form of late.
The Bhoys have been struggling as a collective, losing their last three games, and there have been plenty of players who have struggled throughout that run. Amid problems aplenty, the system is not getting the best out of the personnel and the personnel is not getting the best out of the system.
With that in mind, it's easy to point fingers at who is not playing well, but it's not obvious which players are performing poorly because they are not playing well, and which are struggling because others around them are not playing well, and there are likely players who are being let down by the system.
What we know about the usually reliable McGregor is that he is not playing well. The midfielder has not been up to his usual standards, struggling to get any control of the midfield, but he is certainly not helped by the summer loss of his midfield partner, Arne Engels.
Speaking on The Breakdown, Mulgrew said: “I don’t think it’s anything to do with time with Callum. I think he’s the quick one to go to. When you’re 25 and have a couple of bad games, people don’t say your legs are going.
“Whereas I would argue Callum is in the peak of his powers in terms of fitness. I bet all his stats are up there. The problem for me is when you’re getting pressed.
“A lot of teams nullify Callum McGregor. The classic is that they’ll sit a striker on him, the other striker goes to the centre-half and, when the other centre-half steps out, the guy on McGregor goes to the centre-half. McGregor receives the ball, turns and plays.
“The difference in the last few games, especially Rangers, is that they’re right up against the centre-halves and up against Callum. So the only pass they’re leaving is the long ball and Rangers dominated that physically.
“I just think Callum is getting run over the top of because Rangers are stronger and physically better than Celtic at the moment.”
The truth is that we don't know what the exact situation is with McGregor, and we may not find out until Celtic eventually replace Engels. But we do need to start seeing some of the fire we are used to seeing from McGregor. The Bhoys have been far too flat of late, and as the most senior member of this squad and the cap, McGregor has to bring that fire.
