Celtic are a tactical mess. 433 has to go.

Celtic are currently in a deep, deep shite hole. And yesterday’s performance? That was a fucking shit overload.

I am sorry, but I have to say it as I see it because I cannot sit here pretending calm when calm is the last thing I feel.

Celtic are struggling with tactical problems, organisation problems, positioning problems and, perhaps most worryingly of all, teamwork.

There is no proper structure. There is no clear identity on the pitch. There is no obvious understanding between players about who is supposed to do what, and tactically, the Bhoys in green and white currently have very little to show for themselves.

For me, this is where the coaching staff have to take a long, hard look in the mirror.

Why do we continue playing in a way which clearly isn’t working? Why do we continue using the same formation when the players are struggling to make it function? Why do we keep repeating the same mistakes?

Are we not watching the games back? Are we not analysing where Celtic are going wrong? Are we not sitting down afterwards and asking the most basic question of all: what the hell do we need to change?

Because something has to change.

Watching Celtic at the moment sometimes reminds me of school football. Honestly. The Bhoys look like wee schoolboys on the school pitch, all chasing after the ball rather than playing as a properly organised team.

Someone gets possession, another player moves backwards, somebody else is too far away, another player doesn’t seem to know where he should be, and suddenly the whole thing becomes a scramble. That is not Celtic football. That is not how a team with ambitions at home and in Europe should be playing.

And I am not blaming individual players for everything here. That would be far too easy.

If several players repeatedly look disorganised at the same time, if the midfield becomes disconnected from the defence, if attackers are isolated and if players continually find themselves in positions where they don’t seem to know what their next movement should be, then I have to look at the system.

And the system is the responsibility of the coaching staff.

Celtic need a proper tactical reset.

If I were sitting in that coaching room right now, the first thing I would do is stop. I would stop trying to force the same football onto a team that is clearly struggling to execute it.

I would take the recent matches, especially the performances where Celtic have looked disconnected, and analyse them frame by frame. Where did we lose our shape? Where was the first breakdown? Why was a midfielder exposed? Why did a full-back get isolated? Why was there nobody available for the player in possession?

Why were the forwards so disconnected from midfield? Why did we keep playing backwards? Why were players chasing the ball instead of controlling space?

Those are the questions I would want answered. Not excuses. Not “we need to be better”. Not meaningless football language.

Show me exactly where it went wrong and then show me how we are going to fix it.

Because that is coaching.

I would change the formation if necessary.

If I were making the tactical decisions, I would seriously consider moving Celtic into a more balanced system rather than persisting with the 4-3-3 in exactly the same way when it clearly isn’t functioning properly.

And I don’t mean changing the formation simply because it looks pretty on a team sheet. I mean using it to create proper relationships between the players.

Defenders whose first role is defending. Midfielders whose game is to link the play and understand their individual responsibilities. Attacking players who can stretch the opposition and give Celtic genuine outlets.

The midfield would be particularly important for me. Callum McGregor needs players around him who can share the responsibility instead of leaving him trying to solve every problem himself. Mika Baur and Nygren can give Celtic different qualities, but the important thing is that the midfield has to function as a unit.

One midfielder can sit and protect. One can help progress the ball. One can move further forward and support the attack. And when Celtic lose possession, they must know immediately who presses, who covers and who drops.

That sounds basic. Because it is basic. But basic things are precisely what Celtic appear to be missing at the moment. Organisation has to come before everything.

The next thing I would work on is positional discipline. I want every Celtic player to know exactly where he should be when we have the ball and exactly where he should be when we don’t have it.

I want players to know who covers them when they move forward. I want the centre-backs to know who steps out. I want the midfielders to know when to drop. I want the full-backs to know when they can attack and when they must stay.

I want the wingers to understand when to stay wide and when to come inside, and I want the striker to have players close enough to him that he isn’t fighting an entire defence on his own. Because right now there are too many moments when Celtic look as though everyone is operating independently.

That cannot happen. Football is not eleven individual players wearing the same shirt. It is eleven players understanding the same plan.

I would make teamwork a tactical instruction. This might sound obvious, but cooperation cannot simply be left to instinct. I would drill it again and again and again.

Small-sided games. Positional exercises. Pressing exercises. Defensive transitions. Attacking patterns. Third-man runs. Passing triangles. Overloads. Covering positions.

Make the players understand one another.

If Player A moves, Player B needs to know what that movement means. If Player B receives the ball, Player C needs to know where the next passing option is. If Celtic lose possession, everyone needs to know what happens next.

That is how you build a team.

And perhaps most importantly, I would make Celtic learn how to play when Plan A isn’t working, because that is another problem I see. When Celtic’s preferred football isn’t working, there seems to be too much repetition rather than adaptation. But the best teams don’t simply have one way of playing. They have solutions.

If the opposition blocks the middle, we go around them. If they press high, we play over the press. If they sit deep, we move the ball quicker and create overloads. If they attack our full-backs, we adjust the protection. If the midfield is being overrun, we change the structure.

Adapt. That word should be written on the wall of the Celtic dressing room.

And please, coaching staff, watch the bloody games back. This is perhaps the biggest thing I would demand. Watch them properly.

Don’t watch them simply to see the goals. Watch the ugly parts. Watch the minutes before we concede. Watch the moments when we lose possession. Watch the moments when players are standing in the wrong positions.

Watch the occasions when two Celtic players move towards the same ball and leave another area completely empty. Watch what happens when the opposition presses. Watch what happens when Celtic are pressed.

And then fix it.

Because if I can sit watching Celtic and see the same problems appearing repeatedly, the coaching staff certainly should be able to identify them too.

I am not expecting perfection. Football doesn’t work like that. Players will make mistakes. Teams will lose matches. Opponents will have good spells. But I expect Celtic to look like a football team. At the moment, too often, we don’t.

I still believe there is enough quality in this Celtic squad to look considerably better than what we have been seeing. But quality without structure becomes chaos. Speed without direction becomes running. Possession without movement becomes pointless passing.

And attacking players without a functioning midfield can become completely isolated. This is why I keep coming back to the coaching staff.

Change the formation if necessary. Change the tactical approach. Change the pressing structure. Change the positional instructions. Change the training. Change whatever needs changing. But for God’s sake, change something.

Because continuing to do exactly the same thing while expecting a different result is not tactical stubbornness any more. It is a fool’s errand.

It is refusing to learn. And Celtic cannot afford that.

The Bhoys in green and white need to rediscover their shape, their discipline, their cooperation and their belief in one another. I want to see eleven Celtic players moving as one team again.

I want to see players looking up and knowing where their teammates are. I want to see midfielders protecting defenders, attackers helping midfielders and everyone understanding their bloody job.

Most of all, I want to see a Celtic side with a plan. A proper plan. Because right now, I look at Celtic and I see a team chasing the ball rather than controlling the game.

And that is simply not good enough.

My teacher verdict?

Tactically: fail. Organisation: fail. Teamwork: fail. Adaptability: needs immediate improvement. And the coaching staff?

You have your homework. Now damned well do it.

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