The prospect of Roberto Martinez bringing his brand of pure, possession-based attacking football to Parkhead sounds incredibly exciting for the Celtic faithful.
However, behind the glamour of landing an elite manager target lies a gruelling physical reality for the current declining Celtic squad.
As Aiden McGeady recently highlighted, Martinez’s strict 4-3-3 system demands absolute workhorses in the middle of the park. Midfielders capable of relentlessly clocking ’13km’ a game to cover for bombing full-backs and pure attacking wingers.
“He plays a 4-3-3,” shared McGeady. “Based on my time at Everton, it was always the two midfielders. It was always James McCarthy and Gareth Barry. They would literally do 13k a game.”
For Celtic captain Callum McGregor, that poses a glaring tactical issue.
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McGregor already plays far too much football, a harsh reality proven by his recent injury struggles as the relentless domestic and European schedule finally catches up with his ageing legs.
To expect the 32-year-old to suddenly anchor such a physically punishing, fire-fighting role is a massive ask.
If Martinez is appointed as the next Celtic boss, it is obvious that a major clearout is needed in the engine room.
The upcoming summer transfer window will be absolutely crucial to recruit the high-energy enforcers required to make the Spaniard’s system tick.
While the attacking philosophy is undeniably mouth-watering, you have to seriously question if McGregor can physically cope with putting out those constant tactical fires.
Going by McGeady’s insight on Open Goal and comments on how Martinez plays, after playing under the Portugal coach during his days at Everton, you really do worry.
“Martinez, potentially, aye,” responded McGeady about Celtic’s next manager. “Portugal have the World Cup, don’t they? He is a top manager. The career he has had. The jobs he has had would suggest that.
“But I have always found with Martinez, I could be wrong here because Portugal could go and win the World Cup. I just think with the teams he has had. Belgium, with that squad. You should have won something. He should have. That’s something I always found with Martinez at Everton.
“I thought he was a really, really good coach, with really good ideas. But I just wasn’t sure he had enough about him to go and win things, which he still hasn’t done. I think he is a good coach.
“He plays a 4-3-3. Based on my time at Everton, it was always the two midfielders. It was always James McCarthy and Gareth Barry. They would literally do 13k a game. They were the ones required to; if the ball was coming wide and a full-back, say it was Baines or Seamus Coleman, they would always be the ones to get out and put that fire out. And the wingers would just stay up.
“Pure attacking. Loved his attacking players. He was all about attacking. But he was very, very possession-based to the point where it would be, sometimes in games, you would have to get a certain number of passes before you could really pass forward and go out to the other side.
“And Everton fans didn’t really buy into that. They were used to David Moyes. Get the ball forward. Headers. We finished fifth under Martinez, but we should have finished fourth.”
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