As I was flicking through the sports channels yesterday I by chance came across something that happened during a match down south that got me thinking. The match in question was Arsenal v Crystal Palace and the moment i want to talk about was the lead up to their third goal.
Crystal Palace, at the time being 2-0 down, won a corner. Needing a goal to get back in the game they pushed their centre backs forward. The corner wasn’t great and the Arsenal keeper came and claimed it with relative ease. It’s the next bit that got me thinking.
As soon as the Arsenal goalie David Raya caught that ball he was already thinking about creating an attack. He quickly spotted a couple of runners and threw the ball half way up the pitch to Gabriel Jesus, the Brazilian then drew the last man in before squaring the ball to Leandro Trossard who took his time before finishing easily. It was all made to look rather simple. Now before you start to think you have stumbled across an Arsenal blog I’ll get to my point. Watching it got me instantly thinking about Celtic and why we aren’t using this tactic more often.
Check out this goal from around 1.45 into this highlights video from Sky Sports.
Playing in Scotland we come across many teams who are happy to sit in for most of the game and try and frustrate Celtic. This has been especially true this season. Brendan Rodgers plays a more possession based game than predecessor Ange Postecoglou and likes to play the ball out from the back.
The only thing with this style is that it suits a lot of the teams we play. Whenever they do attack and we win the ball back we are often slow at getting the ball back out, giving the opposition plenty of time to regroup and get back in their defensive shape. When I saw that goal yesterday I thought this is definitely something we need to be looking at.
Our opponents nearly always send their centre backs forward and try to fill our box when they win a corner as they see it as one of their main chances to score against us. This opens up the opportunity for counter attacks. Firstly however we need our goalkeeper to claim the ball and for as much as I love what Joe Hart brings to this team, claiming the ball at crosses is one of his weaknesses. Like many modern goalkeepers he prefers to punch the ball in these situations even though it often looks easier to just claim it with two hands.
If we could get our keeper to claim the ball in these situations it opens up a lot of options but it needs to be done quickly and without fear. Celtic have some fast players, but this could suit two of them especially well. We all know how fast Daizen Maeda is. Word has it that speed is also new signing Nicolas Kühn’s greatest asset, with the player himself even stating this.
These two players should be ready to counter attack in an instance and if Joe Hart can do his bit correctly this tactic could definitely lead to more than a few goals throughout a season. It could work wonders in matches where we are struggling to break teams down who stick rigidly to their defence set up.
On a side note it will be interesting to see, either in this window or in the summer, if Brendan Rodgers is intent on bringing a new goalkeeper in. I know Joe Hart comes in for a lot of stick at times but I think he’s been brilliant during his time in Glasgow.
He’s a great player to have around the squad and is an excellent shot stopper but he is not infallible, and I wonder will Rodgers be looking towards a keeper who is more adept with the ball at his feet and one who’s more at ease getting involved in the build up play more? Time will tell I suppose but one thing is for sure, this type of high level goalkeeper doesn’t come cheap.
Conall McGinty
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