Celtic have a crucial Champions League game on Tuesday when they travel to Borussia Park in Germany to take on Borussia Monchengladbach. The Hoops sit bottom of the group C right now with one solitary point collected from three games but still have a decent chance of finishing second if the other results go their way. But, first of all, they need to collect all three crucial points from the game on Tuesday.
Gladbach are a strong team and at home, they are even more dangerous. Celtic lost the reverse tie 2-0 a few weeks ago at home despite being the better of the two teams for the majority of the game. Two costly mistakes made by experienced Kolo Toure handed the Germans two sloppy goals. Celtic are in good shape for the game though after picking up three back to back wins which include victories against Rangers and Aberdeen.
Here are three things Celtic need to do in order to beat Borussia Monchengladbach.
Play either McGregor or Armstrong in midfield alongside Brown
Gladbach are a team that press their opponents high up the pitch and force them to make mistakes. That’s what happened in the reverse leg as Kolo Toure made two poor mistakes both leading to goals. Celtic’s first choice central midfield pairing is Scott Brown and Nir Bitton and they can be easily outpaced and outrun by the Gladbach midfielders.
Rodgers needs to field either Callum McGregor or Stuart Armstrong at the base of midfield alongside Brown against Borussia Monchengladbach in order to get more energy to his engine room. Bitton has been poor of late and he is not a player who would do well against the pressing of Gladbach. With McGregor or Armstrong, Celtic can counter-press the Germans and that’s a very necessary thing to do.
