Originally published at: Key Bhoys answer critics, star returns to form; 3 things we learned as Celtic beat Motherwell - 67 Hail Hail
So, Celtic and their – let’s say well-tested – defence travelled to Motherwell today seeking a second consecutive away win. This against a Motherwell side who’ve started the season brightly under Graham Alexander. Scoring-wise, they’d only been denied by Hearts hitherto the arrival of Ange’s Bhoys so far this season. A test, then. Against a…
Against a better team than Motherwell with the way Ange wants the team to play Rogic will always be found wanting.
Rogic is a better player than you think Chris. Fine assist today.
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Only Dundee United have a better defensive record in the League with 5 conceded but no one comes near us in terms of goals scored.
But apparently the League race was run after 7 games and Postecoglou would be gone by Christmas 
I know ,I know. 
I don’t tend to look at a League Table for 10 games as it can take that long for things to sort themselves out generally after a Summer of Transfers and personnel changes.
One thing that was confirmed ( that’s been blatantly obvious now for about 3 Seasons) that hasn’t been mentioned is the deployment of McGregor in the Regista (Deep Lying Playmaker) role which is key to making this team play the way Postecoglou wants.
The transition and link up between defence and attack is a lot smoother and a lot quicker with McGregor in there pulling the strings.
Last week we struggled to have an out ball for 72 minutes with Bitton in there.
Fact.
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Bitton in there was to stop us being overrun by the midfield, It worked, when he went off it was backs to the wall!!
We spent 70 minutes passing it across the back because we had no out ball,this encouraged Aberdeen on to us.
No sooner had Nir departed we were shifting it out from the back through McGregor which resulted in linking up the defence with the attack.
We weren’t looking like scoring an equaliser until the changes were made and it was looking more likely we were going to concede rather than score.
Today we see McGregor drop back into his now familiar role, a role which he’s developed alongside Brown over the past 2 years in a pairing in a double pivot with a 10 in front which is normal when deploying a Regista.
However you can also deploy a double screen in front with two CMF’s or box to box Midfielders who can tackle.
The fact remains though with McGregor pushed up in the advance role as seen at Aberdeen for 72 minutes the ball when it does come out of defence is either slow or pumped long up the Park.
Which of you know Postecoglou isn’t t what he is after.
Yep Bitton puts a bit more bite in there but if he is to be deployed in there it makes more sense to have him alongside McGregor in the old Brown role rather than in behind for the reasons stated above.
That way you get several positives out of both players rather than a single positive out of one.
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I get it. I know Rogic is superb at times. It’s his work rate though. The bloke does not have a defensive nerve in his body. We are always left exposed with him playing. Turnbull has to do his running for him which is harsh on Turnbull. I think we need to play with one defensive midfielder and one who can defend and attack as well. The last one not easy to come by i know but maybe in the January market we will get a player who does just that. Also think that when he is sorted McCarthy should play as the more defensive player…