Where Does Ange Most Have To Strengthen Celtic In January?

Over the last couple of weeks, the one mitigation offered up again and again in terms of our current situation is that the manager needs more players.

You may agree or disagree that we should have had enough in the tank to beat run of the mill SPL sides, but you cannot really disagree that certain areas of this squad are still pretty threadbare.

That’s a self-evident fact and the manager himself does not deny it.

The question automatically arises; which are the areas of the pitch where we still need some strength in depth? And are there areas where we actually need to sign a guaranteed starter?

We all knew this job was not going to be done in one window.

The arguments over how far we are into it are interesting but ultimately will be down to the manager to resolves for us. He has not said how many players he thinks we’re short but he will know.

He has certainly not indicated whether or not he will be making wholescale changes in any one area.

And nor should he, since we need the players currently playing in those areas to be confident and focussed simply on doing the job.

What we can do is look at the areas where big changes might be likely, and we do that best by examining each area and asking what our current options in it are.

Goalkeeper

The signing of Joe Hart has answered the need for a top class keeper, but worries persist about what will happen if Hart is injured. Who is our backup should this happen? Under normal circumstances a club would be delighted if they had a keeper signed for £6 million siting on the bench,, but a lot of our fans think that he’s better off there than on the pitch.

Nobody – not even the manager, it seems – fully trusts Barkas.

Regular readers will be well aware that I called for this guy to get time and a little room to breathe but he has never, not even once, done anything to convince people that this might be a worthwhile exercise.

The really worrying thing is that Ange seems to have made his own mind up, and it didn’t take months for him to do it.

Whatever Ange has seen he doesn’t like it, and that alone might suggest that he sees this is an area where we need at least one more player.

Few would argue with him.

It does now, sadly, look as if we’ve squandered a lot if money on the big Greek keeper and it will be difficult to get back even half of it.

Full Backs

We have spent good money on a right back, but he’s spent much of his time at left back. Where we have been forced in the last few games to play a raw kid who is actually a converted winger. And it shows at times. We cannot continue with that.

The club is about to hand Greg Taylor a new contract; that doesn’t mean that the manager is convinced that he’s the long term player for that position.

Notice that in spite of a lot of “suggestions” that we go for Robbie Brady on a free transfer that nobody at Celtic is even entertaining that idea. I am glad.

But Bolingoli doesn’t seem to be part of the solution and I would be surprised if we retained him now when a rookie played out of position is starting in front of him. Scales may offer us something in that role but I see no sign that the manager is keen on that idea.

It seems certain that we’ll go for a left back. We should.

Taylor is a decent option but I think most us think he’s a backup rather than a first choice, although I’m glad he’s getting a new deal. Do we need a right back? Ralston has done well, better than many of us expected, but let’s keep it in mind that he’s on a one year deal … and it’s Taylor getting the new one.

I wonder if that’s indicative of the thinking inside the club?

Central Defence

Read any number of reports and they will tell you that we need a central defender.

This is about undermining Starfelt in some ways.

Celtic has a settled central defence for the first time in a while and you can tell that Carter Vickers is a fine player who has a good chance of securing a permanent contract with the club.

Welsh is a good back up. We have good options in the youth team. Bitton can deputise at a push.

And we have Christopher Jullien coming back to fitness.

The media will holler that we need someone else. A lot of our fans will agree.

But with all that in mind, I have serious doubts that we’re going to sink any more money into central defence. At this moment in time it seems to be one of the areas where we have enough about us, although, as I accept, that’s a debate point.

I think spending more money there would actually undermine our chances of securing Carter Vickers in the summer, and I really hope we do that deal. So not only do I not think a central defender is a major requirement, I think it might actually run counter to our best interests.

I am certain that’s not going to be a universally popular view; my own opinion matters not one bit though.

I reckon the manager is going to be of similar thinking however.

Central Midfield

One of the critical areas which clearly does need some strength in depth is the central midfield.

I reckon we’ll sign at least one player in that position, possibly a hard tackling ball winner because it’s not the best part of Callum’s game and our other options … well they aren’t doing what they should be at the moment, are they?

James McCarthy is a good player and will prove it in time, but the worry is ever about his injury record.

He is clearly rusty and needs games, but can he be relied on to play consistently?

Soro, I think is a decent player but he rushes into tackles a bit too easily and those early bookings leave you with your heart in your mouth some games.

The midfield looks imbalanced without a proper Scott Brown figure in it. It is ridiculous that this area of the team has not been properly reinforced when it was glaringly obvious that it was key.

There are also worries about whether Turnbull is a light lightweight in those games where you need players willing to battle for every ball.

Ange knows all this and I bet he knows of a couple of midfield fighters who will make us better. There is no way that we aren’t signing a central midfielder in January; I think it’s a stonewall certainty, even more so perhaps than any other position.

Wingers

We sunk a bit of money into the wide areas, but it turned out not to be as much as the initial impressions suggested. I had thought the plan was to sign Abada for the right and Kyogo for the left; the manager had other plans for the Japanese Bhoy.

Signing Jota is a masterstroke, and securing him on a long term deal should be an absolute no brainer. But … and this is the thing … if he gets injured the only real thing we can do is put Kyogo out there because we don’t really have backup in that area.

Mikey Johnson might be one of the most depressing stories out of Celtic in decades. A huge talent, his injury issues have been terrible and the suspicion that he lacks the physicality for the role persists when you see him against big tough players.

I love the kid, I think he’s a majorly good footballer, but serious doubts about his longevity haunt us.

Adam Montgomery is clearly a good player but our coaching staff geniuses appear to want to turn him into a full-back, for reasons passing understanding. I fear we are going to waste this guy.

On the right we are well covered as soon as Forrest is back fit. He can play there, Abada can play there and Jota can at a push as well. You suspect Kyogo wouldn’t be bad at it. We pushed Juranovic up to right wing in one of the games.

So a left sided player I think it is a near certainty, bearing in mind that he will be a backup to Jota and if we spend good money on one that lessens the chance of us buying Jota on a permanent deal and I think that would be a disastrous move.

So someone with potential who can be a decent backup … that seems most likely.

Strikers

We probably need a striker. It’s odd to write that when we have three in the first team squad and one out on loan, but it’s true nonetheless. The curiosity is that we haven’t seen the Greek yet so we have no real understanding of how great that need might be.

He has a pedigree which suggests it won’t be a problem but you never know. Until we’ve actually watched him it’s all just guesswork.

Depending on what the manager wants to do with the system, and depending on issues elsewhere in the team, we need at least one capable backup and Ajeti, sad to say, hasn’t grabbed his chance with the kind of conviction we were all hoping for.

It’s looking increasingly, sadly, likely that last season wrought real damage on our first team signing policy.

The thing is, if we sign a left sided midfielder then the issue is less acute because there’s less chance of us having to move Kyogo to that position at some point. Which isn’t to say that if we sign a striker there’s no need to sign a left sided midfielder …

You’d think Kyogo is our starter. As good as the Greek’s record last season suggests he might be, he’ll have to be very special indeed to keep the Japanese Bhoy on ice. But he should be good enough as our number two.

Which means we need a backup player more than somebody who’s going to set the heather on fire every week.

It says a lot that we seem unable to depend on Ajeti even to do that.

I am really disappointed in him.

The chances are that we’d take a good offer in January if one were forthcoming.

Which would leave us needing to replace him. We probably do anyway.

One Last Critical Area

There’s one other key area where I think we need reinforcements; in the coaching department.

It’s actually embarrassing that we have only two first team coaches.

It’s even more embarrassing when you consider the poor quality of who they are.

This is an area where this club badly neds to get its act together and start acting like we mean business. Ange can’t be expected to work with these two for much longer. Too many things which should have been fixed ages ago continue to present us with problems.

Ange is talking about buying players over in the Far East; I’d be very surprised if he wasn’t also looking at backroom team members in the same part of the world, people who he knows and who would be available with their season coming to an end.

It’s one of the critical failings we have as a club, and changes in this area would be more than just something to help the manager.

They’d signify a clean break with a disastrous campaign and a lamentable fall in standards right across the boards.

A course correction in that department is well overdue.

Expect some movement on this when the Far East seasons come to an end and Ange can get some people in.