Lagerbielke’s game suits Nancy’s system but Welsh is obvious answer

We are suffering from some defensive vulnerabilities at this moment, or more to the point, we don’t have the players to fit into the system that Wilfried Nancy has deployed.  Ironically enough we let three players depart in the summer, two on loan and one permanently and these players who could well have contributed as the new system may well have suited their games.

Maik Nawrocki, and Stephen Welsh are currently out on loan to Hannover 96 and Motherwell respectively, although in the case of the former his move to Germany’s second tier hasn’t exactly worked out to his never ending injury problems.

The other player who was allowed to depart was Gustaf Lagerbielke for a modest £2 million. The Swedish centre back who for some reason or another wasn’t fancied at all by Brendan Rodgers, and the player has blossomed with Braga in Portugal, something we seen up close when the Portuguese beat us at Celtic park in the Europa league back in early October.

Even more interestingly, Lagerbielke plays on the right hand side of a three man defence which is favoured by Braga boss Carlos Vicens, the same formation that is favoured by new Celtic boss Wilfried Nancy. A system that sees the Portuguese outfit flourish on the big stage, whilst Celtic struggle to adapt, although to be fair it’s still early days under the Frenchman.

It’s a position that clearly suits the Swede, as is proven by the Portuguese clubs current domestic and Europa League status. And it’s fair to say that he’s much more comfortable being utilised in that system than Anthony Ralston, who is like the proverbial fish out of water in the centre of defence.

Would Lagerbielke have flourished under Nancy, and given us a bit more stability? It’s all hypothetical of course, and said with great hindsight, but we can only wonder what if.

However in the case of Stephen Welsh who has been outstanding this season on the right side of the Motherwell defence, it would surely be worth considering re-calling him from his season-long loan early as that would immediately improve the situation in Celtic’s back three.

Stephen Welsh will of course have to sit out tomorrow night’s match at Fir Park against Celtic as he can’t play against his parent club.