With McGregor now questioning Celtic’s approach, isn’t it clear something is badly wrong there?
Celtic captain Callum McGregor talking about strikers playing as wingers and his team not having the right shape threw up all manner of issues.
One of them is that time is surely up for Kasper Hogh at centre-forward, £11million club-record signing or not.
When manager Martin O’Neill spoke to the media yesterday, he talked about Callum Osmand really being better through the middle than out on the left. A more pertinent point, though, is that it really doesn’t make sense any longer to keep playing Camilo Duran on the right.
There is, after all, a £9m man in reserve in Haissem Hassan who was signed to play out on that flank.
It just looks ever more like Celtic didn’t really think hard enough about what kind of way they wanted to play when they bought all these blokes.
What’s become clear is that it’s better if it doesn’t involve Hogh, now 13 games without a goal, unless there’s some masterplan to start sticking two up front. Even then, you’d be considering your options.
Callum McGregor was frustrated by his side’s display in Wednesday’s draw with Dundee Utd
There’s an argument O’Neill doesn’t play to the Dane’s strengths and that does hold water. However, Hogh has got to be able to adapt. If he can’t, what does it say about the decision, and whoever was ultimately responsible for it, to sign him in the first place?
What does a clever, senior figure such as McGregor joining Cameron Carter-Vickers in calling out the structure and organisation of the team say too?
Celtic might still be top of the table, but they’re all over the shop from top to bottom.
If Rangers can’t win the league this term, particularly given the fact they cannot possibly keep spending the way they have been without access to significant funds from UEFA competition, you do wonder when they ever will.
Hibs game looks like being D-day for Robinson at Dons
Aberdeen boss Stephen Robinson really started to bear the look of the condemned man in the wake of his side’s home defeat at the hands of Falkirk during the week.
The bullishness from earlier in the campaign had gone. He gave a thoroughly unconvincing answer on BBC when asked what progress, if any, had been made since the summer. He sounded like a bloke who knows he’s not far from the firing squad.
‘Ultimately, you have to get results,’ he said. ‘Otherwise, you know the inevitable.’
Unless it turns into a procession, a loss to Rangers in Saturday’s Premier Sports Cup semi-final is unlikely to seal his fate. The home game against Hibs next weekend, though, is a different kettle of fish entirely.
Time appears to be running out for Aberdeen manager Stephen Robinson to get things right
If the Dons are to be meeting any of their key performance indicators, they need to be better than Hibs. They need to be finishing above them in the top half of the table. And that’s the bare minimum.
What’s more, the Easter Road side are hardly in tip-top shape. Marink Reedijk’s time as head coach has got off to an underwhelming start. Sporting director Malky Mackay is under pressure over poor recruitment. They are there for the taking.
If Robinson can’t get the better of them at home ahead of an international break, a real time for the club to take stock, he’s in bother.
Those in the Red Army willing to make almost any sacrifice to see him nudged out the door should consider one thing, though.
If the management team get dumped, chances are first-team coach Stephen Craigan will be back all over our tellies and radios in his old role as media mouthpiece. And who really wants that?
