Celtic struggling with game management and seeing games out

In partnership with

The Celtic Star

·29 April 2024

Celtic struggling with game management and seeing games out

Yesterday was another forget it and move on affair. There was absolutely nothing in that one apart from James Forrest’s magnificent double – that really got us out of jail might I add – worth talking about. For some reason we just didn’t look up for it at Dens Park and the game was in serious danger of running away from us in that second 45 minutes.

They all kept trying to fire the ball to each other and every pass was overcooked. Alistair Johnston and Nicolas Kühn really had matches to forget, as some of their so-called link-up play left a lot to be desired. The report card could have been so much different yesterday had that chance that was flagged for offside, which was tight to say the least, not have been squandered by the Dundee forward.

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The amount of corners the home side had seemed like it was never ending and many of them we had given away so cheaply and unnecessarily against Tony Docherty’s men. That link between the defence and midfield was non-existent for large parts of the game and it meant that the severely limited capabilities of Liam Scales on the ball were broadcast before our very eyes once more.

McGregor was well off it again, although you can tell he’s still getting back to his best. Hatate was okay in flashes, as was O’Riley. But they all seemed utterly intent on overlooking their passes to one another and firing it into their teammates at times. It was every few seconds a misplaced or overhit pass was delivered by someone and it allowed Dundee to really make a good fist of it. We allowed a scrappy game to unfold at certain times.

If we are to win this Scottish Premiership title, we really have to get better at our game-management too. Far too many times this season we haven’t seen games out or contrived to make things more difficult for ourselves en-route to that final whistle. Europe was just disastrous on that front, meanwhile at home, we have given too many goals away terribly cheaply. That one from the Dundee corner was a result of plain old-fashioned no pressure on the ball and it just floated into the net it seemed like.