Key attribute of Celtic summer departure 'has not been replaced' as Hoops trio who aren't at same level named
Pundit believes Celtic lacked ‘intensity’ off the ball in defeat to Falkirk
Celtic’s midfield trio Benjamin Nygren, Mika Baur and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain haven’t got what it takes to replicate the ‘physicality’ of summer departure Arne Engels.
That is, according to Michael Stewart, who has noticed a significant drop-off in the Hoops from last season in terms of their work-rate off the ball. Engels was one of Celtic’s star performers in last season’s double-winning campaign and was subsequently signed by English giants West Ham for a record-breaking EFL Championship fee of £22m.
Celtic had several transfer targets during the summer to replace the midfielder. For the most part, German maestro Mika Baur has taken Engels’ place alongside captain Callum McGregor as a box-to-box option - but Stewart believes his skillset is very different to the Belgian’s. The former Hearts captain thinks the same of Oxlade-Chamberlain and Nygren, all of whom featured at the weekend in their 2-0 Premiership defeat to Falkirk.
How haven’t Celtic replaced Engels’ physicality?
Speaking on Premier Sports’ Scottish Football Social Club, he explained: “The midfield, when you look at it, and we spoke about this previously, the physicality of Arne Engels being out of the team has not been replaced. I think that has been a key component.”
“You’re asking, ‘why is that intensity in terms of pressing and winning the ball back not there?’ I just don't think it's a strength of Benjamin Nygren. I don't think it's a strength of Mika Baur, and I don't think it's a strength of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.”
Engels’ work rate last season played a key role in taking some of the responsibility off of captain McGregor, who at the age of 33 isn’t able to run the midfield like he once could. Stewart admits that Nygren, Baur and Oxlade-Chamberlain help the team in other areas - but pressing isn’t one of them.
Lack of ‘athleticism’ isn’t helping skipper
He continued: “So when you're looking at player like CallumMcGregor, he needs that athleticism around him now at the stage of the career he's at. By the way, all these guys I've spoken about have got great strengths in themselves, but that side of it is not one.
“So when you look at the midfield three and the make-up, they're definitely lacking that athleticism in there. If you (opponents) are able to play at a high tempo in the middle of the park and have some physicality, I'm not sure that Celtic, at this moment in time, have got the ability to match up to it.”