I realise this particular blog is likely to go against the grain, after all when it comes to a bit of Celtic bashing, Hoops centre-half Carl Starfelt is currently an in-vogue target.
As such I’ll try and not make this some kind of impassioned defence of our Swedish international and try and bring some balance to the argument and encourage others to bring their own thoughts to the debate.
Let’s start with recency and the last three performances. Starfelt has far from covered himself in glory in any of the last three games he has played, according to his detractors, and there are ‘fair enough’ arguments in each of those matches.
Against Ross County he appeared to be impacted by an elbow to the nose, a lack of interest from the referee – quelle surprise – and then a subsequent foul on a County winger encouraged the referee to produce a second yellow in quick succession.
Despite Joe Hart’s intervention, Starfelt received a first yellow for arguing play should have been stopped and the offender punished, and subsequently gave the referee a mouthful of justification as to his plight – and didn’t relent.
There were two sides to the argument on this one. On one side some have argued Starfelt took a thump that anyone should have stood up to, and gone about their business. He then arguably further compounded his lack of bravery by complaining vociferously to the ref, and subsequently lost his senses, endangered Celtic losing the match by bringing down an opponent soon after, and left his team down to ten men.
Alternatively, you could argue, given the blood streaming from his face, a lack of interest from a referee, who should have invoked the protocols for a head knock, and then subsequently seeing a lack of a red card for his opponent, that Starfelt felt a great deal of pain, suffered impaired vision, alongside clarity of thought, and lost control momentarily. This in turn led to frustration when it came to the second booking and the resultant red card, though the worthiness of that second yellow is very much open to interpretation.
There are clearly arguments on both sides. Some say Starfelt should have ‘manned up’, others think he understandably, due to the lack of official’s protection, simply lost the head.
From a personal standpoint, and I think I mentioned it in a post-match article, Starfelt did respond aggressively, however the referee’s reaction was lenient to the Ross County offender, and had the official got the initial decision correct, Starfelt doesn’t continue his tirade, Joe Hart doesn’t need to intervene and the second booking may, but is unlikely, to have happened.
Indeed, the referee’s actions, given he’d clearly made a hash of the initial decision for the flailing elbow -and kickout, indicated his own desire not continue having attention drawn to his circumspect decision making, appeared infuriated by Starfelt’s ongoing complaints, and bided his time before sending Starfelt to the back of the bus when the earliest opportunity arose. That’s only an opinion of course, others can of course judge for themselves.
One thing however I would say is that up to that point Starfelt had a good game, the goal itself was lost from a set piece Liam Scales had responsibility for and otherwise Starfelt looked to read the game well, and alongside Carter-Vickers looked relatively secure as part of the strongest defence in the league.
With the resultant suspension not due to be invoked until the next league game, Carl Starfelt then played in the League Cup winning side at Hampden against Hibs. This again was a game where his detractors called him out and much of it was certainly deserved. He lost the flight of the ball in the first half and left space open behind him, and then in the second half failed to deal with a similarly lofted ball into the channel, was beaten not once but twice by Kevin Nisbet, and was lucky to be saved by Joe Hart’s reactions.
Yet just prior to that very attack, Starfelt was connecting with a corner kick that flashed wide of the post and was close to opening the scoring, just as he had done in the first half when short of connecting from a corner kick, as Greg Taylor was impeded in front of him, in a challenge that should have resulted in a penalty.
Swings and roundabouts? Perhaps but perhaps not. Starfelt had prior to both those incidents been again caught out by an aerial ball and conceded a needless corner, having connected with his head and glanced the ball sharply backwards with little awareness to where the ball would land. From there he compounded his error by losing his man and from the corner and conceding the opening goal.
Then came St Johnstone and we know there is little defence for a careless pass from the back, particularly when the team holds such a high line, nor is there much mitigation when you are slow to react to the resultant attack from the winger and don’t get tight enough to the delivery from which Chris Kane scores.
Yet in mitigation the performance overall, rather than that particular brain freeze, from Starfelt was sound, despite then being accused of ‘almost’ giving away a penalty moments later, when instead his tackle was an inch perfect one that denied and opponent both a penalty, and a chance to break into the box.
I don’t mind a bit of player bashing when it is deserved but when you produce a piece of excellent defending it’s a little unfair to call it almost a penalty, whilst at the same time deriding the same player for almost but not quite scoring against Hibs in the Cup Final.
Don’t get me wrong Carl Starfelt has his faults. For instance, he needs to work on defending high balls lofted into space behind him, but at the same time we need to offer an understanding that few teams play with such a high line or a high press, and the sheer enormity of grass behind our defence is not a common occurrence for many defenders in European football and a hell of a responsibility to boot.
Another complaint is how he lets interactions or a sense of injustice throw him off his stride. There is undoubtedly work to be done in addressing that issue. It happened against Ross County and again following a Chris Kane challenge on Sunday. And despite the subsequent booking, it seemed to put Starfelt off his game in the moments after. It isn’t a bravery issue; it comes down to refocussing and clearing his head – whatever happened to those psychologists Dermot Desmond was so keen to employ? This is a one session gig, so wouldn’t be too expensive!
It is also worth taking into account on the deck, from open play, there are few defenders who read the game as well as Starfelt does. Indeed, Ange Postecoglou recognises this very skill, as Carter Vickers is left to defend -something he does well – yet Starfelt is the organiser of the backline on top of his defensive duties. His interception rate is highly impressive and that offers us the opportunity to turn defence into attack, a clear requisite of Angeball.
It should also be recognised Starfelt is playing as a left sided centre half despite being almost entirely right footed and Vickers again is not tasked with such a role.
Celtic have long been crying out for left sided central defensive cover, in fact we’d looked to deal with that very issue when attempting to sign Ben Davies from Preston, only to be gazumped. Yet we’ve still not addressed that balance issue. As such, perhaps the ire should be directed away from Starfelt playing out of position and more to the lack of scouting, who despite appearing to address the need for defensive cover with the attempt to sign Davies, have produced no other left sided central defender for the roster.
This was further compounded in the St Johnstone game where Starfelt was again the fall guy having to play as the left sided defender of a back three, where you are utilised as almost a left back as well as a central defender, all the while being far more comfortable on your right foot. And why was Starfelt chosen for that role? Because despite the complaints, Postegolglou recognises Starfelt is his most accomplished defender, with a skillset that exceeds others in the squad.
One final thought that is worth considering before I return to my bunker. Carl Starfelt joined Celtic from Rubin Kazan. The Russian League is technically proficient but is slow. The ball is played predominately on the floor, and bar set pieces aerial duels are limited. The job of defenders is not, as with an Ange system, to push as high as possible. Instead, it is to read the game, intercept the ball, pass it on to a number six, often two are deployed, and drop back into your defensive shape. As such the footballing as well as the day-to-day culture is different in Scotland than it is in Russia.
It is also worth remembering in his first season in Russia Carl Starfelt was questioned as he is now. The club’s president had to deal with complaints from the media and supporters, yet when he left, for what they deemed a far too small a fee, the owner had to publicly defend the decision as a player who wished to leave rather than one they wished to sell. The reason being, after that first season Carl Starfelt excelled, he simply needed time to bed into a new culture, new surroundings, find a home and settle down. Is there and argument something similar may result once Starfelt beds down in Glasgow? He’s only recently moved into his new apartment.
There are plenty of arguments to state Carl Starfelt is a good defender, and many to say he’s been found wanting at key moments. One thing is certain the sample size we can call on is far from conclusive.
The least Starfelt deserves is our patience and our support. Give him that and we may be asking questions of our own board, as happened in Russia, as to why we’ve let him go. And, in the meantime with that backing, we might just see the consistency he delivered at Rubin Kazan.
Niall J
Have your say in the comments section below…
WE’VE GOT SOMETHING TWICE AS GOOD…
Thanks to everyone who ordered Harry Hood – Twice as Good for Christmas presents. If you got an Ange jumper instead then why not order this brilliant book by Matt Corr, or indeed David Potter’s biography of another Celtic legend Alec McNair – born on this day incidentally – from Celtic Star Books or from the official Celtic stores?
I agree that a player like Carl Starfelt does deserve our support when going through a difficult phase. He started badly, but by October he had rallied and was playing well until his unfortunate experience at Dingwall before an absolute shocker in the League Cup final for which he was rightly pilloried by Michael Stewart in the TV gantry. But that was just a bad game. Possibly the enforced rest will go him some good, but what will not help is the ongoing persecution by the fans. We must show what we mean by “support”. He is good enough to deserve it. Let us leave the persecution and abuse for those players (and I don’t think we have many at the moment) who are not WANTING to play for the club, or are not bothering themselves. Carl Starfelt may yet come good. Let’s support him!
Liam Scales looks to me to be the ideal replacement. With a bit work he can be slotted in and Starfelt would be the backup defender. Julien needs to move on. I doubt if he’ll return to anywhere near the ability he had shown earlier having been out for such a long time. Players always seem to lose some pace and personally once his season ticket for the treatment table expires he must move on. Starfelt is an able depute but the mistakes he makes are costly in the manner in which AP wants us to play!
Only idiots say he should “ man up” after sustaining a head\face knock. His face was bleeding so the ref shouldn’t let him play on anyway? Our previous scapegoat Bitton got sent off quite a lot in much the same circumstances,now,he’s a hero. He’s hardly the first player to have made a bad pass out of defence either. It’s become a bad trait of some Celtic supporters to want to create a scapegoat,it saves them from thinking……just blame him . Panic merchants are the worst for this.
Totally agree re Starfelt being out of position. Being asked to play out of defence on the left, and also the left back being inverted leaves him a very difficult pass to make as he moves left with the ball. Get the left back into a normal position and Starfelt can pass it to him. Scales was in the StJ half when Starfelt was trying to pass the ball
He should not have been ‘rightfully pilliored ‘, no other player would have to endure that level of public scrutiny of their display and the subsequent slaughtering from so called pundits.( certainly no klan player would) He had a poor game, makes bad errors often and to me, doesn’t run properly but he is in there. I hope he does ‘bed in’ but someone will give way in Julien’s eventual return.
Mr Starfelt I feel is along term liability .26 yr old not a young raw player learning his trade.
Carter Vickers has covered for him.
Scales is a left footed player with a Celtic heart and deserves a run in his natural position as a central defender.
Hail Hail.