Former Celtic striker, Giorgos Giakoumakis, has let rip on the standard of Scottish football, after being announced by Atlanta United as their new player yesterday.
Speaking on what he feels the differences will be coming to the MLS from Scottish football, Giakoumakis replied:
“Well, in Celtic, it was a totally different style of play, because the competition there is not so good.”
“There are two clubs and then all the other clubs try to defend.”
“Most of the opponents were trying to block us in their box.”
“We were keeping possession and trying to create spaces and score in a different way.”
“I think this league (MLS) is a bit more competitive. They all try to play.”
“So I think I will find even more space at the back of the defence and I will create more problems.”
In fairness, Giakoumakis is right and he is only saying what most Celtic supporters have been saying for a very long time now.
Pretty much every team we play against will put ten men behind the ball and try to steal a point again us.
At times, especially if it’s taking us a while to break teams down and score, it can be very frustrating for fans to watch, so you have to imagine it’s going to be perhaps even more frustrating for the players on the park, especially a striker like Giakoumakis when opposition defenders have flooded the box and there is very little space for him to work in most times.
Despite these frustrations, Giakoumakis still scored around a goal every two games for Celtic, with many of these coming off the bench midway through the second half of matches, with a good few of these dramatic late winners to seal vital points on our way to winning the league last season and on the verge of doing so this season.
Check out the video below.