‘Not Enough Intensity in the Final Third’ – Is this why Celtic are Stuttering?
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Another home draw for us last night and it’s starting to become a real pain as we look to wrap up number 7.
For me, we’ve just not looked the same side as last year and, though that was going to be hard as we went unbeaten and won the treble, I didn’t expect this sort of drop off.
We’re still going to win the league, of course, but we’ve made it harder than it has needed to be this year and a number of draws – particularly at Paradise – have underlined that.
What’s the reason, then? Well it’s hard to say exactly but that won’t stop us wondering anyway. Let’s take a look at what some of the Hoops have said after Focus on Celtic posed the question on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/FocusOnCeltic/status/981655566304104449
All the small teams (including Sevco) Park the bus and we cannot break them down not enough intensity in the final third for me and it showed again tonight
— Liam Campbell (@liamc8103) April 4, 2018
https://twitter.com/Stormin_63/status/981669466756059136
https://twitter.com/Hoidy/status/981657127067426817
https://twitter.com/kerrygold1888/status/981659165436383232
https://twitter.com/AdrianClarke74/status/981660032831053824
Coz we never won 😉🍀👍🏻
— BOXER (@boxertoye) April 4, 2018
Complacency..fact
— Gary 🍀🍀 (@Celticboy21) April 4, 2018
Paddy being injured has left us short on the creativity front at times
— Mark Carey (@brianfantanaaa) April 4, 2018
Not playing at high enough tempo and too much sideways and backwards passing particularly in defence. Don’t break or play quick enough against packed defences
— Good Guy Barry (@Goodguybarry) April 4, 2018
The Verdict
For me, it is simply a lack of intensity in the final third with us suffering with Scott Sinclair’s drop off and Moussa Dembele’s fitness issues playing a part.
Brendan perhaps hasn’t always nailed his selections and subs, too, and so hopefully he’ll have learned more about his squad this year ahead of 2018/19.