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Fingers Crossed for a Long Overdue Beautiful Sunday

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The last time Celtic faced Spartans in the SWPL it took a great deal of patience and no little fortitude for Celtic to emerge victorious. In a tough tactical battle, the Edinburgh side sat deep at K-Park looking to pounce on the counter attack, and Celtic emerged with a single goal victory.

Tomorrow afternoon Celtic head to Ainslie Park for the return fixture and it could well be the same tactical patience and good fortune will be required against a well organised opponent. That said when Celtic last faced tomorrow’s opponents it was on the back of a 10-0 win against Hearts, this time around Celtic face Spartans having faced the Hearts at K-Park last week and emerging with a more slender and less inspiring 3-0 win.

It may indeed have been anti-football Celtic were up against Spartans last time out, but the Hoops were patient in possession, didn’t lose control, stuck to a game plan and fully deserved their 1-0 win. The Celts were disciplined throughout under niggly defensive pressure and two minutes into the second half got the goal their patience deserved. A classic performance it was not but it was a fully merited victory. Sarah Ewens deserved the goal for her application throughout, but she knew little about it as a defensive clearance struck the pressing Celt and found the net.

At that time Head Coach Fran Alonso was being lauded for his tactical flexibility, this time around the Celts have lost heavily to Glasgow City and the home tie with Hearts, the first half in particular, was a hard watch.

Alonso has adopted a 3-4-3 formation when in possession and dropping to four at the back when countered. It is a confusing enough set-up to fathom watching from home and the players also seem to be taking time to adapt to the message. In wide areas in particular players seem to be unsure who should be where territorially and seem to adopt similar positions.

Now the Celts are five points adrift in the title race it may well be the time to return to a tried and tested formula and see if getting back to something more comfortable can result in a push for a title, bearing in mind even if they fall short there is still the considerable carrot of a Champions League spot to play for.

It may however not be as simple as a tactical change taking time to adjust to that sees Celtic stuttering at the moment of course, bearing in mind Celtic have lost the considerable talent of Summer Green for the league restarting, and Natalie Ross is a big miss in midfield, as injury has denied Alonso of a midfielder who drives the team and supports the attack superbly, but given the player exits during the recent lockdown and the new players arriving, it seems strange to add such tactical alterations into the mix at the same time.

Yet Fran Alonso has proven himself to be tactically astute and you’d have to say the options such a system would offer the Celts, if everything clicks, would leave the side far from predictable to play against, as such you’d assume he’ll persevere for now, and with another week on the training field under the players belts we may see more cohesion against Spartans tomorrow afternoon.

Speaking prior to the game Vice Captain Chloe Craig was also keen to point out every opponent has stepped up a gear since the extended break when she spoke to the official Celtic FC Women website

“Every team has improved. Every club has increased their input into their women’s team, so we know every single week that it won’t be easy and each team has good players, so we know we’ll be in for a fight every week.

“That’s what we want though – we don’t want easy games. The 10-0 was just a one-off, but they’re trying as much as everyone else to get three points week in, week out so we’re all in the same boat in that perspective,”

And discussing the tie against Spartans Chloe was also keen to look forward, without too much consideration for earlier meetings with Spartans:

“We don’t look at past scores. Each game will be different and is rarely the same type of game, and teams have some new signings and will have also worked hard in preseason to become better. It’ll be another challenge on Sunday, but it will be nice to get on the road again and we’ll go there and focus.

“They always work for each other so it’s always a hard game, but if we give it our all, all we can do is focus and concentrate on the three points.”

It was a tough encounter the last time Celtic met Spartans and tomorrow is likely to be a big test again, as the Celts look for back-to-back wins in the SWPL, and a return to the pre-lockdown form and fluency that had everyone talking of a title challenge and Champion’s League qualification. If Celtic still harbour genuine ambitions of either then three points against Spartans at Ainslie Park tomorrow, a game that kicks off at 2pm is essential.

The BBC Sport Scotland website will show Spartans against Celtic at Ainslie Park from 13:55 and at 20:30 there will be highlights of all four games on BBC Scotland.

Fingers crossed for an away day double for both the Celtic men’s and women’s team tomorrow, and with it another Beautiful Sunday.

Niall J

About Author

As a Bellshill Bhoy I was taken to my first Celtic game in the summer of 1987. It was Billy McNeill’s return to Celtic Park as manager and Celtic lost 5-1 to Arsenal . I thought I was a jinx, I think my Grandfather might have thought the same. It was the finest gift anyone ever gave me when he walked me through Parkhead's gates.

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