Paul Lambert reckons Ange Postecoglou will be eyeing upgrades to his Celtic squad in the transfer market after a disappointing first four matches in the UEFA Champions League.
The Bhoys have only managed to earn one point so far, though will be hoping for a strong end to the group stage.
Nonetheless, Lambert thinks there is enough evidence to suggest the squad needs to get better in terms of personnel available, especially because of Postecoglou’s tendency to make a lot of substitutions.
Speaking to The Sunday Post [16/10 print edition, Post Match supplement page 2], the former Celtic captain said: “I’d imagine that Ange Postecoglou will look at this campaign, and think that he needs upgrades, two or three better players – a defender, midfielder and striker – for his next crack at it.
“There’s too much reliance on Kyogo Furuhashi to score, and you can’t keep creating chances and not taking them at this level. Ange will also have realised that you can’t press 100% for 90 minutes in the Champions League.
“Ange usually makes three substitutions after an hour in domestic games because players have burned themselves out. But when you do that in Europe it can weaken your team.
“The infrastructure of the club is good, they have money in the bank and the manager appears to have a free hand with the recruitment of players.
“For me, the team just needs a couple of tweaks and some better, more-experienced players to help the younger ones along. They made a hell of a fist of it for an hour against Real Madrid, and for a while away to Shakhtar as well.”
During the last transfer window Celtic spent a significant portion of the available budget on Jota and Cameron Carter-Vickers, so it makes sense that we’ll be looking to make outright upgrades to the existing squad in January and at the end of the season.
Celtic are never going to go daft with spending, but Lambert is right to say we are in a strong financial position despite not selling any significant assets since 2021. Fans will be hoping for added quality in the overall squad.
As Lambert notes, there’s no need for a root-and-branch rethink of the squad, it just needs a few tweaks. I’m sure Postecoglou is well aware of it too. With Mark Lawwell also in place, we have to have hope good times are on the way in terms of recruitment.
In other news, “Lumping us in with other clubs”; Ange Postecoglou rails against ‘outside noise’ surrounding Celtic.
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