Celtic fell to their third away defeat of the season making it 0/9 points on the road so far.

The Hoops looked terrible and never seemed to really get at a resolute Livingston side who had the better chances with only around 20 odd percent off the possession.

One major sticking point on the day was James McCarthy who looked uncomfortable and invisible at times – unable to influence the game from the middle of the park.

Kieran Devlin of the Cynic and The Athletic has claimed the midfielder is really struggling to adapt to Ange’s philosophy on the training ground when it comes to intensity and what he’s being asked to do.

The Athletic’s assertion about the Irish midfielder is also backed up by what we’ve been told – James was not signed by the manager nor the scouting department. This was a signing made by the hierarchy of the club who are NOT well placed to make decisions on playing staff.

The Athletic wrote: Dressing room sources have spoken of how James McCarthy has struggled in training with the pace and intensity of Postecoglou’s sessions and the demands of his midfielders. The Athletic understands neither Postecoglou nor the scouting department had meaningful input into signing McCarthy, and the Republic of Ireland international looked uncomfortable during the Livingston game. He often needed to take two or three touches and misplaced many of his passes, sometimes from close range while under no pressure. It was an incredibly awkward first start.

It doesn’t mean he can’t be a success but it’s harder for the player to fit into a style the manager would like. It could take a lot longer for James to play with that intensity.

Joe Hart was another signing made by the hierarchy but for now, he’s certainly a player who is doing his bit.

Is it a coincidence Celtic’s best signing of the summer was Kyogo – a player Ange was driven to sign and who would’ve known the striker could fit into his system?

Celtic are short of numbers and the miscue of not bringing in another midfielder could cost the club. We need to stay in touch until January, but right now, our away form is not good enough

7 COMMENTS

  1. If he can’t adapt pay him off. Or sack him for refusal to follow reasonable instructions from management. But don’t allow him to ever disgrace the shirt they way he did yesterday. Clearly we cannot afford to have passengers.

  2. Anger picked the team on Friday. Did two days of that team training, and nobody noticed that he was miles away and off the pace. The buck stops at Anger, but James does want to play. Lack of fit players, has been Celtics downfall over the last ten years. Ever since they decided to downsize. The suits need more money? Increase the capacity of Paradise. 65.0000 Hooped season ticket holders, pay more in than 54.0000. Simple maths.
    Like lowering the pay of all non playing squad members. It’s not a a charity team. Prove your worth to the support. As most of them are so unfit they struggle to climb the stadia stairs to veiw the stars they watch playing.

  3. We need many different systems to win games .. horses for courses type thing, James is finding it a struggle with the high tempo stuff.. so we need to play him in a different role when we play a different system … high press and high intensity will only work until teams learn to nullify our advantage.. Don’t start giving him the “Shane Duffy” rubbish.. like the manager he has only been here a short time.. we have to earn our place at the top of the table.. it’s not a god given right as some think..
    At the moment Rangers are the better footballing side, but they will never be a better club HH ?

  4. I said on this site the day we signed McCarthy that it was a bad idea; injury-prone, pedestrian, slow, over-rated but he’s Irish so the board thinks that will somehow be enough on its own to appease some fans, therefore he was given a massive 4-year contract. Think about that: a 4-year contract for an injury-prone midfielder of the type the manager doesn’t want to play and who couldn’t get an offer from anyone else and who had just been freed by those giants of the game, Crystal Palace. The only reason he started was that we were short of bodies. He won’t start ten games this year and next year he’ll be loaned out to Dundee or St Mirren. It wouldn’t surprise me if the financial aspects of his contract were what led to MacKay’s resignation.

  5. I said that the last few games our players are unfit looking and i cant see that team winning the league because theirs to many cowards in it who just run about chasing shadows its shocking honest.

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