Celtic boss Martin O'Neill admits he has a key issue in his squad, and he wants to fix it, but it may be out of his hands.
The Bhoys lost 4-1 to Benfica in their second Europa League clash on Thursday night, making it two defeats from as many games in the competition. Few were expecting the Bhoys to truly compete against their Portuguese hosts, who have a squad of Champions League standard.
Celtic showed a little more spirit in the second half, even after going three down by half-time, but it was more of the same in terms of the Hoops' inability to compete with good teams.
Despite the heavy defeat, O'Neill was pretty optimistic after the game, pleased with how his attack continued to create chances in the second half.
But he knows there is an issue with how easily some teams are finding it to break down his side, with Benfica managing to break down what should have been a low block with some quality balls into the box.
“Yes, I do. I think that they’re getting in rather easily," O'Neill said after the game.
“It’s just one cross. We’re coming out instead of defending it, defending the space or defending the player properly. That’s an actual concern. Hopefully, we can eradicate that during the course of the season.”
The big problem
The big problem for Celtic is that they don't have the quality in midfield to play face-to-face. They sit off because they don't have a two-pivot midfielders who can handle pressing tightly and consistently winning the ball.
Callum McGregor hasn't got the pace to recover when beaten, and while Mika Baur has, he is not a good enough tackler to play that role, and that's no slight on him, he's just not that kind of player.
Any good midfield needs to either be able to play that confronting style or to be able to consistently keep the ball to prevent being in that situation very often at all.
Celtic had that in Engels but do not have it this season due to not replacing him. So, it's no surprise that the issue exists, and there may be ways of duct-taping the problem, but the Bhoys are not going to be able to fix it until they can make a quality signing who can play that role effectively.
Having said all that, Celtic should still be able to consistently cut out crosses, however good they are, with a low block, even if it means running the risk of a team scoring from range due to a lack of pressure.
That specifically becomes a defensive issue.
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