Celtic need Armstrong back in midfield, according to Frank McAvennie

Follow us on Google Discover

The 25-year-old has been out of action for Celtic for a number of weeks, recovering from a shock hernia operation.

Celtic need Stuart Armstrong back in midfield to restore some pace and drive to the centre of the park for Brendan Rodgers’ side, according to club legend Frank McAvennie.

Speaking to Open Goal, McAvennie indicated that the Celts have been nowhere near their best this season and could do with Armstrong returning to midfield to generally up the pace of play.

Captain Scott Brown and Olivier Ntcham have featured regularly in the central midfield positions while the third, slightly advanced midfield role, has seen the likes of Callum McGregor, and recently Charly Musonda since his arrival on loan from Chelsea, feature.

With Tom Rogic and Stuart Armstrong waiting in the wings for a full return to competitive action, Celtic will be handed a major boost ahead of the season run-in.

“[Celtic are] nowhere near where they were last year,” McAvennie told Open Goal, “but, when it comes to the crunch I think they can step up.”

Celtic did exactly that last night, with the Europa League round of 32 first leg against Zenit St Petersburg being the exact ‘crunch’ McAvennie was referring to.

Rodgers’ opted to go with four central midfielders on the night in Brown, Ntcham, McGregor and Eboue Kouassi, all of whom stepped up to the plate and performed well.

With Rogic and Armstrong now having a further week to prepare for the return leg in St Petersburg, this can only bode well for the Celts.

“They need a bit of pace, they need Armstrong back in midfield, they need a bit of pace in the midfield,” McAvennie said.

“[Rodgers] has gone some decent boys coming through for the future, but I think at the moment they need some pace.”

The Hoops performed brilliantly under the bright lights of Celtic Park last night but the away leg will be an entirely different affair. However, with the team having performed so solidly with four central midfielders, it remains to be seen how much Rodgers will tweak the team ahead of next Thursday.

Armstrong may well come in for the somewhat inexperienced Kouassi, while Rogic could provide a serious injection of creativity coming off the bench if necessary.

Either way, things appear to finally be looking up again for Celtic after a tricky festive period and start to 2018.