3 problems Celtic look set to face against Bodo/Glimt

Winning the midfield battles

Winning the midfield might turn out to be the most important thing for Celtic in the second leg of the club’s UEFA Europa Conference League tie against Bodo/Glimt.

It is where Ange Postecoglou seemed to have made a tactical error in the first leg by starting Matt O’Riley and Tom Rogic together, even though they had not used that combination before.

It is safe to say that it did not end up working out, with neither O’Riley nor Rogic having their best game of football.

Also, it was the presence of the duo in the middle of the park that ended up letting Bodo/Glimt have more open area that they could target on the counter attack, and that is exactly what they did, walking out of the game with a 3-1 win.

One has to feel that if Postecoglou had started Reo Hatate, the game could have gone differently as the Japanese star brings something to the midfield, that other Celtic players are not able to.

The conditions

It is safe to say that coming into the tie, the away trip to Norway was always believed to be the most difficult aspect of facing the Norwegian champions.

And Celtic will have to go into the game knowing that they not only need to win but also win by a significant margin to go through to the next round of the competition.

Of course, that does feel a bit unlikely at this point of time but never say never in football. Celtic will have quite a task on their hands though, as the weather conditions in Norway are not great right now.

On top of that, there is the matter of Bodo/Glimt playing their matches on an artificial turf. Celtic’s record on such pitches has not been great over the years and that will be a major worry for them as well going into the second leg against the Norwegian champions.