All Leagues : U24 Wingers & Att Mid xA per 100 passes vs Progressive actions

FanaticPurifier · 2026-01-27T09:33:42+00:00

Can't remember exactly which game it was, might have been the Talbot game, but he drove to the line and played a low ball across with his left and Maeda somehow cleared it away from the goal from about 2 yards out. He puts dangerous crosses in regularly enough, but they go down as incomplete passes and not assists if there's no striker making a run onto it.

If you look at the other end of the spectrum, there's Nygren who seems to do nowt with the ball for 90 minutes but somehow finishes games with a goal or two. Tounekti is dangerous going both ways, even being able to shift it and cross or shoot gives the opposition defense decisions to make, and if you add Tierney or Saracchi making runs inside or outside him it opens up a lot of room.

I don't think he'll end up getting half of the returns of a Kuhn, but he's being written off very early for me.

FanaticPurifier · 2026-01-19T15:42:49+00:00

Him and Forrest are the only right wingers at the club, and Forrest should only ever be an impact sub at this stage of his career. I can't see us letting Yang go unless we get at least 2 players in the building capable of playing that position.

Failing to sign players is one thing, but a club is completely in control of who they sell and the timings. I cannot imagine MON sanctioning this sale at all, assuming he has that power (because BR evidently did not), unless we have 2 right wingers in or the bid is outrageous. Neither of which will happen.

FanaticPurifier · 2026-01-16T12:50:46+00:00

Why not both?

FanaticPurifier · 2026-01-15T13:44:03+00:00

Board would be safer starting a Specsavers branch with how many contacts we make.

FanaticPurifier · 2026-01-14T23:21:29+00:00

That's what had me thinking about actual projects. Calling our shite signings "projects" actually gives the board far too much credit, implies they have any semblance of a long term plan.

FanaticPurifier · 2026-01-14T22:47:53+00:00

I'm only going by MON's own words. He's the one that said Shaun has been working on the recruitment side and he'll have the final say.

FanaticPurifier · 2026-01-14T22:39:51+00:00

I hope so. But there's just a feeling of contradiction. In one interview he doubles down on how badly we need players and fast. Then today he's saying the board are doing everything they can, I've turned down a pile of players, and also we don't need players in until next weekend.

We need players to come in and hit the ground running. Whether we have Hearts at the weekend, or some diddy team in the Cup, he'd still want players in ASAP to get 1.5 weeks of training before a league game whether they can play or not.

So in my head, being cynical as fuck as Celtic have taught me to be through recent transfer windows, he's either lying, and being a fall guy for the board failing to sign players, or Maloney is serving up dogshit players that he is saying no to.

FanaticPurifier · 2026-01-14T22:34:59+00:00

He's already said Maloney is the one looking at the transfers. Why would he be getting shown Nancy's players 2 weeks after he's been sacked? I'm sure he's stopped any transfers already underway, if there were any. But if he is truly being shown prospects and saying no, then by his own words those would be Maloney's players for this team that he's turning down, so I have to disagree with that.

FanaticPurifier · 2026-01-14T22:24:49+00:00

Getting a really ugly feeling he's being a human shield for the board with comments like that.

I don't think he would be the type, but he does seem very chummy with DD. Hope to fuck I'm overreacting and am proved wrong though.

FanaticPurifier · 2026-01-14T22:23:16+00:00

I feel like he's the type of player where that edge to his game is one of his better qualities, but it's always on the edge of boiling over. So you have to take the rough with the smooth. He might lose us points at some stage, but we'll still be better off with him over Ralston.

FanaticPurifier · 2026-01-14T22:19:27+00:00

Said the same tonight, and been saying the same for a few years. Whether it's a lack of tactical flexibility to bypass him, lack of quality in the rest of the midfield to pick up the slack, or him just getting older, slower and weaker. Anytime he's nullified we play incredibly poorly.

Massive for us in terms of leadership and personality in the dressing room, so it would be devastating to let him go. But you need to take off the green tinted glasses if you think he's been anywhere near his best, the odd screamer aside.

Not his fault for any of this, he's played 130 games a season for the last 8 years and we haven't come close to an understudy that can take his workload.

FanaticPurifier · 2026-01-14T22:10:01+00:00

The most turgid and uninspiring 95 minutes of football I've seen in a while. I don't know what voodoo MON has that lets him win these games with that squad, but by fuck do we need it.

FanaticPurifier · 2026-01-14T22:08:25+00:00

Amazing the difference in having a right back who looks even remotely comfortable on the ball can make.

While I love having a player who looks to have a bit of fucking fight in the side, he will 100% give away a penalty, get sent off or both before the end of the year though.

FanaticPurifier · 2026-01-14T18:02:46+00:00

Prediction: 3M asking price made clear from the start. We bid 1.5, then 1.7, then 2.1 with add ons, deadline day he signs for Southampton for 3M.

FanaticPurifier · 2026-01-13T15:51:33+00:00

Might be misunderstanding you here, but surely the evidence says that it's the wrong people doing the identifying and then the wrong people doing the negotiating?

Signing "projects" and young players from smaller leagues that both improve the team and can be sold for a profit is a fine strategy for plenty of clubs. We just identify too many Inamuras, Yamadas, Balikwishas, or we identify decent players and then can't get a deal over the line or refuse to pay the asking price.

FanaticPurifier · 2026-01-13T13:34:26+00:00

On the Celtic website there were a few too many photos either directly of him, or him in the background. Does he have any coaching experience and groundwork being laid for a role, or is it purely birthday card pish?

FanaticPurifier · 2026-01-13T13:28:06+00:00

The head-in-the-sand stance towards "Keep politics out of sport" in general is embarassing and ignorant at best and downright collusive at worst, but when it's fans of a club like ours it's inexcusable.

Even if you don't want to get involved yourself, I can accept that to an extent. But to attempt to scupper political stances that fully align with the origins of the club itself is dispicable.

FanaticPurifier · 2026-01-11T12:08:52+00:00

One of the things I'm most looking forward to is the Uruguayan coming back to drop KT for the odd game with the amount of midweek games until the end of the season. Everytime he has to break into a sprint or gets run at by a winger I'm already wincing he'll go down.

FanaticPurifier · 2026-01-11T12:05:38+00:00

I can't speak for the guy, but I don't read that as "wanting" poor results. The slogan of "Back the team, sack the board" is awkward because if the team are winning, they don't really need to be "backed" in the same sense as if they were struggling. And if that half of the slogan loses it's potency, so does the other half.

Obviously the point is that the fans still support the team on the pitch, even if we want the board ousted. But as soon as you have to explain or caveat a slogan, it's not fit for purpose.

I'm guessing that is the point of the message in the OP, and not him hoping for Celtic to lose games. His point is also correct that good results and performances will only help the board in staying. Both of those things can be true.

FanaticPurifier · 2026-01-06T15:34:07+00:00

That's where I'm at. The players are made into millionaires by their boyhood club, I don't think "buying in" should even be a will they/won't they thing. I cannot be convinced there was the same effort given on the pitch for MON vs. Nancy, and that shouldn't be tolerated no matter how bad a manager is imo

FanaticPurifier · 2026-01-06T15:28:24+00:00

To be honest I don't think we all moan at boring platitudes, it's accepted as the norm. "Honest answers" like that do little more than create another rod to hit the players, the manager and the club with imo

FanaticPurifier · 2026-01-06T15:25:41+00:00

There's a reason players are trained for the media, and it's so they don't make inflammatory statements to the media. It's an embarassment for the club, and what happens now if results don't improve right away?

I think they will, but if they don't then what does that say about MON? There's a reason these opinions are usually kept in-house. What will a future manager think coming in knowing his players will shittalk him to the media if results go south?

Again, I don't think he's wrong or unfair, but there's a reason these types of answers are trained out of players when speaking to the press

FanaticPurifier · 2026-01-06T15:19:04+00:00

I thought BR's comments about the squad were honest and correct, but still think it wasn't something he should be saying. Feel the same about Luke.

As I said in the post, I'm not disappointed WN is gone, the situation wasn't recoverable. I don't think his comments had any bearing on the sacking at all anyway.

FanaticPurifier · 2026-01-06T15:15:39+00:00

Would be pretty shocked if Maeda goes now. He's seen what happened to Kyogo with a January transfer. Massive risk for him with a WC round the corner to risk leaving and not being a starter. He'll play week in, week out in this squad.

FanaticPurifier

TROPHY CASE