It’s fair to say many in the Celtic support have had enough of the Josip Jurnanovic at left-back experiment.
Yesterday, the Croatian international made his 9th appearance for the club in the 0-0 draw against Livingston at Celtic Park. 7 of them have come down the left despite him being a natural right-back.
Juranovic operated down the right during his Legia Warsaw days and continues to do the same for the Croatian national team. However, at Celtic Park, he isn’t being given the opportunity to take Anthony Ralston’s place as Ange Postecoglou continues to keep him in an unnatural position.
It’s not so much an issue in more open games where there is plenty of space centrally for Juranovic to cut into. But for matches such as Livingston at home, he’s struggling to make an impact as he refuses to go on the outside and use his weaker left-foot. Too often we’re seeing Juranovic cut inside and make the central area more convoluted.
That was noticeable against Livi yesterday. And given they played a packed 10-man defence, this is exactly what David Martindale’s team was after.
Celtic have enough solid left-back options; Josip Juranovic isn’t needed there
You can understand Postecoglou not wanting to drop Ralston. That’s absolutely fine and many will probably agree with him on that. But that doesn’t mean Juranovic simply has to be forced in. He should be on the bench waiting for his turn in the right-back position.
Celtic have 3 solid left-back options that simply aren’t seeing enough game-time. Adam Montgomery hasn’t let anyone down yet whilst Boli Bolingoli has actually looked impressive in his few outings this term. As for Liam Scales, he’s another the Celtic fans wouldn’t mind seeing more of.
Yet all of them continue to be snubbed for Juranovic. A player who seldom stretches the opposition when playing on the left. It’s a big problem and something that’s seriously starting to irk the support.
Ange also failed to spot this at any point in the game either. Juranovic played the full 90 and got absolutely no joy.
Below, we take a look at how the supporters reacted to the decision from the manager:
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