Ryan Christie and Olivier Ntcham were the men on target for Celtic on Wednesday night as they stretched their lead at the top of the Premiership to five points.
The midfielders scored in the Hoops’ 2-0 win away to Hearts at Tynecastle, although a tweet by @celticrumours before the game suggested that Christie’s effect becomes diluted when Ntcham is in the side.
https://twitter.com/celticrumours/status/1207378756194775040
James Forrest started on the left against Hearts, with Mohamed Elyounoussi and Mikey Johnston both unable to shake off recent fitness concerns (as per thecelticstar.com), which meant that his usual right winger role was taken by Christie, who is chiefly a central attacking midfielder.
Ntcham scored despite dropping back into a defensive midfield role from the attacking midfield position in which he has recently been deployed, while Christie maintained his record of scoring in every game that he has played on the right flank so far this season.
While the positional changes ultimately worked out well for Celtic at Tynecastle, these Hoops fans on Twitter agreed with the opinion put out by @celticrumours:
Completely agree pal completely ruins Christie’s game
— Christopher McQuade (@chrismcquade67) December 18, 2019
Absolutely bang on this
— Aaron Boyd (@aboyd1888) December 18, 2019
Agreed. Our best player by a mile this season has been Christie playing at no10. If he’s fit, he should be playing there in our biggest games
— Sean Docherty (@seandoc1967) December 18, 2019
Yep it’s been a problem this season already , to many players shifted around to accommodate Ntcham
— Gordon (@Gordon47681672) December 18, 2019
Yes , feel we have to shift players about to fit him in, and it affects us.
— Mr White (@geedublu) December 18, 2019
Bang on , if we want Cham on the park then keep Christie in the middle and get Cham out wide right
— craig (@cdmurphy1980) December 18, 2019
Aye, there’s something off when they all play together, my preferred choice is Eddy up top, Christie in behind, Forrest on the right and Johnston on the left, Ntcham has a lot of ability but we’re just not as dynamic or fluid with him in the team.
— MonThe (@hoopleheads_) December 18, 2019
Do you think Ntcham sometimes have a detrimental effect on Christie and Forrest in Celtic’s line-up? Join in the discussion by commenting below!
