Callum McGregor is every inch the team player we all know that, certainly not someone to make excuses I’m sure you’d all agree.
Indeed, the only time I’ve seen any sort of reasoning offered for the Celts recent fall off in performance from Celtic’s captain in waiting was a recent claim the sub-standard shows may be down to waiting on a new manager to arrive.
“We try not to think about it,” said McGregor, as reported by Glasgow Times. “It is a decision for the club. There is a lot of noise and subconsciously you are probably thinking about it, but us as players and professionals we have to do our jobs, keep representing ourselves, and when the club makes the decision you go again and it is a fresh slate. Everybody keeps pushing to impress the new manager, it doesn’t change.”
Photo: Jane Barlow
With Scott Brown changing sides at the end of the season the next time McGregor plays against Aberdeen he’ll be directly facing his long-term Celtic team-mate and captain and he expects it to be a bruising experience.
“He will be the one kicking me,” laughed McGregor. “It will be strange but it will be interesting to go up against him. Him and I have always been partners in there and I am looking forward to the challenge and I am sure he will as well.
“It is a new chapter for him. He has been an unbelievable captain for Celtic, a huge leader and presence and Aberdeen will be gaining a real good one. “I am looking forward to it.”
READ THIS…Opinion: “Celtic didn’t just fall asleep at the wheel they drove over a cliff,” Celtic Gossip
Photo: Jane Barlow
A sign of a good leader deflecting the blame from the team? Possibly. However, allied to that Callum is simply one of those players, possibly even to his own detriment, where football is never about the individual. Yet a recent Celtic podcast produced an astounding stat that seems to have gone somewhat under the radar and one that would give an individual a case for his own defence….and then some.
Jucojames alongside the brilliant, Alan – Celtic by Numbers – Morrison and host Enda Coll, joined up to discuss the recent fallout from theRangers Scottish Cup debacle at Ibrox. The Huddle Breakdown is essential listening on anyone’s Spotify or YouTube playlist, although if you happen to make heat of the moment comments in your post-match analysis, to the huge reach of the Celtic Star audience, only for the Breakdown Bhoys statistical analysis to blow your perceptions out of the water, it can make you consider your eyes may be deceiving you.
On occasion the stats provided can make for a marginal impact on your initial thoughts, on other occasions it makes your head spin. On this occasion The Huddle Breakdown crew came up with a belter, or more specifically JucoJames did.
“Not only was he not bad, he actually had quite a good game” @Alan_Morrison67 doesn’t buy into the belief that Jonjoe Kenny was poor in the derby, here’s why ⬇️🍀
Full Pod ⬇️ https://t.co/EziEIuEc18 pic.twitter.com/9wvZoPwZ04
— The Huddle Breakdown (@huddlebreakdown) April 23, 2021
Discussing Calmac’s recent performances the stat that blew the mind was that Callum McGergor has played the second most minutes – behind only Harry Maguire – of any of 439,000 players on his database for this season.
Granted the figures included appearances for Scotland, and if you were pedantic, you could question Jucojames source as it isn’t disclosed. Yet even with those to provisos you have to say it is simply ridiculous for any key footballer in any self-respecting team to play the level of constant football we ask Callum McGregor to do and expect anything other than to damage the player.
Performances may well be impacted of course, and Callum has certainly been less consistent this season, but as we saw with Kieran Tierney Celtic have a responsibility to footballers, a duty of care, and one we are simply not accepting responsibility for.
Photo: Jeff Holmes
All season we have seen just where Celtic take advantage of the consistency of players and where we repent at leisure in their absence. The loss of James Forrest to injury has led to Celtic playing the majority of the season with players out of position, or reverting to a narrow diamond, all because we either didn’t have suitable alternatives or didn’t trust those who could be expected to fill in.
Indeed, when Forrest returned against both Falkirk and Livingston, the natural width and as such the tactical changes we could implement saw much improved performances. Since Forrest returned to the sidelines? Back to the same old, same old.
Much like the excuses rolled out for Tierney’s over exposure we’ve been told Calmac doesn’t wish to be dropped, but then what player does when he feels the team will be adversely impacted by his absence?
Perhaps if someone like Luca Connell had been blooded early, he’d have shown enough to be a suitable understudy and in turn afford McGregor the rest his body undoubtedly requests. Instead, we had to get Luca out on loan as his lack of game time meant we couldn’t quite rely on the Irish midfielder to be up to speed, although his current performances at Queens Park would indicate with some proper squad rotation, we may have the player who could easily allow Callum the odd weekend to catch up with a binge on Line of Duty.
READ THIS…Celtic’s Recruitment Challenges and the Clock Ticking
Photo: Jeff Holmes
And although Callum McGregor should be commended for putting himself in the line of duty week in week out there really should be no need to ask so much of certain players, not if we are looking after our them and rotating them properly.
The Huddle Breakdown analysis as ever was illuminating, but it highlights just how little we’ve learned since we ran a young Kieran Tierney into the ground. At the moment all we have done is impact on Callum’s high level of consistency yet push him much more and we could see more serious repercussions. With the Euros ahead this summer, perhaps it’s time to let Calmac rest those limbs for the remainder of this season.
Niall J
