Celtic fans have watched their team struggle to score goals this season.
In four fixtures, Brendan Rodgers has watched his Celtic side struggle to score a single goal after seeing out 0-0 draws against Kairat Almaty twice in the Champions League and Rangers and Hibs in the Scottish Premiership.
It’s been a frustrating watch, and a run of results rarely seen by the Hoops support, especially at Celtic Park.
But according to Charlie Mulgrew, the reason for this could be that Celtic finding it a struggle to break down the opposition’s back five as the former Hoops defender reveals details of an U18 job interview he had at the club.
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Charlie Mulgrew reveals the tactic Brendan Rodgers and Celtic ‘struggle’ with
The Daily Record picked up Mulgrew’s interview at Celtic but missed out one key detail for the Celtic fans.
Mulgrew was speaking about Celtic struggling to score goals when he told The Go Radio Football Show [7m 50s], “See, when you look at it, there’s five teams in the Premiership that play with a back five.
“And for Celtic, that back five seems to be the formation that Celtic struggle against, I’ve noticed. Look at St Mirren, they [Celtic] score late on to win one-nil.
“Kilmarnock, they score late on with a penalty, and then Hibs at the weekend, they’re playing a back five.”
How long ago Celtic appear to have identified the 5-3-2 system as a problem
Whilst Mulgrew was bang on with his assertion, there is a key detail the Record missed out on how long Celtic have recognised this as being a problem.
Mulgrew continued, “And the interesting thing is when I went and done my interview for the under-18s job there, the interview was a practical interview and it was to break down a 5-3-2.
“So how you would teach the players to break down a 5-3-2, that would have been chosen by the manager, Brendan Rodgers, because he stood and watched the practical session you put in the pitch.
“So I just wonder if that’s something that he does find tricky to play against and it shows. I always look out for it since I’ve done that, the teams that do that.
“I got feedback [on the interview], when was that now, two years ago? But it wasn’t good enough because I never got the job.”
So for two years Celtic and Rodgers appear to have been working on a solution to break down a 5-3-2 and it looks like the club are no further forward.
Granted, losing top talents like Kyogo, Nicolas Kuhn and Adam Idah don’t help Rodgers’ cause but with the players the manager has at his disposal, surely they are good enough to break down anything that the SPFL has to offer.
Apparently not, it seems.
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