A section of Celtic fans have taken to Twitter to rip into Olivier Ntcham for his performance in their team’s 3-0 Champions League qualifier win against Alashkert on Wednesday night.
The Hoops secured their place in the second qualifying round of Europe’s elite competition through a comfortable second-leg win secured through a Moussa Dembele double and a James Forrest goal.
But some supporters were unimpressed with the performance of Ntcham, who lined up in central midfield alongside skipper Scott Brown.
This Is Futbol has rounded up some of the best tweets:
Ntcham has been stinking in this second half.
— . (@91Darrennn) July 18, 2018
As long as Ntcham was relieved of free kick duties or gets appreciably better at them.
— dogmasda (@gettaffemacloud) July 18, 2018
Honestly has big ntcham ever hit a decent cross in ? Why does he constantly take free kicks or corners ????
— Jamie Black (@JamieeBlack) July 18, 2018
Ntcham hopeless at taking set pieces. ????????????
— Jazz! (@hoopsjaz08) July 18, 2018
But why is Ntcham still hitting deadballs? Shockin. Surely there’s someone who can hit a free of corner!!
— Stephen McGarry (@steviemcgarry) July 18, 2018
Not if Ntcham was hitting free kicks ffs
— Peter Alexander (@palex_88) July 18, 2018
Ntcham constantly looks like he’s been up till 4am playing pro clubs.
— Stand Up For Celtic (@StandForCeltic) July 18, 2018
COMMENTARY:
Supporters can be a demanding bunch, and it is perhaps a little unfair so many of the Celtic followers have highlighted a weakness in Ntcham’s game rather than point out his many strengths – principally, athleticism, energy, awareness and combination play with the forwards. Dembele would not have been so effective in both legs of the first-round qualifier if he did not have his fellow Frenchman providing the bullets behind him. That said, the fans are not wrong to call for manager Brendan Rodgers to hand set-piece duties to a different player – who can beat the first defender from corners and whip in free-kicks that endanger the goal rather than those sitting in row Z.