is it Tora,Tora,Tora next season?

With the imminent departure of big John Hartson are Celtic about to embark on a new style of play? Will we now see Gordon Strachan switch from the big holding centre forward to the fast free flowing style of football that he loves to watch and play?. With Hartson going, the last vestige of the Martin O'Neill era will disappear,Gone will be the old, tested and reliable spine of the side that once saw the like of Sutton or Hartson hold the ball for Henrik Larsson and Stan Petrov to arrive through the middle, the system that once saw Big John win nearly every ball in the air to set up other players running onto the ball, alas, the past season has saw big John's contribution in most games ebb away from a ninety minute player to a mere thirty minute player that at the end caused consternation from his team mates particularly Zurawski or Maloney who would make the telling runs into space only to find that big John had lost position or was being booked for a desperately tired foul.

Will we see Strachan play an adventurous 4-3-3 with Zurawski as the spearhead with Kenny Miller as his backup and Nakamura playing in his favoured position as playmaker?.
However this system will require three strong and fit midfielders and given the current situation at Parkhead we don't really know if we will have Roy Keane, Stan Petrov, or Neil Lennon for the start of the season, we can rule out Lenny from this system as his age has caught up with him and his style of play, passing the ball backwards, would only slow the game down and kill any moves that were developing up front. Roy Keane if fit, is the expert at this style of play but will he still be at Celtic?, even if he is still there he will not be a consistent player throughout the season.
Petrov can also do this job excellently, but same question.will he still be a Celtic player?.

So there is not many options left, take your pick from Maloney, Pearson, Riordan, Wallace, and Alan Thompson, all left sided players, and you can see Celtic can have a big problem in midfield no matter what system is played. A number of midfielders have been linked to Celtic, Ono, Malbranque, Kranjcar, Fortune (who would be preferred at left back) The probable first choice would be the Japanese captain Ono but will it happen?, some think so.

The good news is, if Quinton Fortune does sign and is the left back choice, then with Wilson on his proper right back position the centre backs could be picked from Caldwell (who will become a star at Celtic) Balde, McManus, Varga, (if he accepts another one year contract) and of course the eagerly awaited return of John Kennedy. The midfield is going to be the key to for the coming season.


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