Taking a closer look at the new signings Celtic have recently acquired, one thing that occurred to me was that both men have attributes that are consistent with playing fast, aggressive and more direct football. Now that might seem self-explanatory in relation to the existing knowledge of how Ange Postecoglou likes his teams to play the game. However, there are certain subtleties which Yuki Kobayashi and Ally Johnston will bring which could be crucial in helping Celtic evolve in European competition.
In the Champions League group stages this season, Celtic performed admirably for the majority of the games and were desperately unfortunate to finish with only two points. The draws against Shakhtar Donetsk and the defeats to Leipzig are all games we should, and could, have got more out of. Even the Real Madrid game at Parkhead could have garnered more on another night.
This brings me nicely to the point; are Celtic looking to be more direct and aggressive in Europe next season?
Let’s take a look at the potential differences the signing of Yuki Kobayashi and Alistair Johnston might bring…
Diagonal defensive passes
One of the main facets of Yuki Kobayashi’s game is his wonderful passing ability from the backline. All our defenders have performed well all-in-all – especially Cameron Carter-Vickers and Carl Starfelt – but none immediately spring to mind as having the ability to find precision across-field passes or switch the play with expediency.
Yuki Kobayashi could be about to change all that if Ange thinks he’s ready. It’s patently obvious from watching clips of Yuki and reading the scouting reports that he is particularly adept at this skill. It would a phenomenal addition to the team in Europe as too often we tended to veer towards hesitancy with our passing – taking the easy pass when we could have made a more dangerous, yet undeniably challenging ball. I don’t think this was helped however, with the absence of our captain and influential midfield maestro, Callum McGregor.
We saw in glimpses against the mighty Real Madrid in the home game at Celtic Park, that if you move the ball extremely quickly, even the best of teams can struggle to cope with it. Reo Hatate is the obvious image in this context; specifically when he spread the play from a throw-in and lashed the ball over to Jota on the wing on the volley, which left the reigning Champions flat-footed.
Is Ange thinking that this is what we require more of to improve against the Continent’s elite?
Professional fouling to prevent counter-attacks
This is one that has really stuck in my craw about Celtic in the Champions League this year; our inability to be cute when teams counter-attack us. It’s undeniable that some of those goals we conceded home and away could have been prevented with some professional fouling that nullifies breakaway goals when we’re caught upfield. The great Italian teams were brilliant at this side of the game and it’s partly what made them so successful, the perennial 1-0 victories they wracked up at the top level of football.
Once more, a certain instance is vividly playing in my mind, of when Real Madrid broke away after we were caught in possession in the Bernabèu. Josip Juranovic was the player chasing back and had the opportunity to grab the player or trip him up and take his medicine of a booking. Instead, he tried to keep pace with the Madrid man and they subsequently went on to score another into a forlorn Joe Hart.
Again, is Postecoglou looking at being more aggressive towards our opponent’s in the UEFA Champions League and continental football more generally?
If newest signing Ally Johnston is anything to go by then it would be a resounding yes! The Canadian was a standout performer for his country at the World Cup in Qatar this year and there is no doubting his love of a tackle or his physicality; even against the most esteemed of company. Versus Belgium, Roberto Martinez’s attacking players really did look bewildered at the unwavering toughness of Johnston’s play. Eden Hazard looked uniquely unimpressed by the full-back’s aggressive nature but from a neutral’s point of view, it was mightily impressive.
Headers inside the box
As of yet, this remains up in the air as we have not signed another striker to compete with Kyogo Furuhashi and Giorgos Giakoumakis. Although, with us being strongly linked to South Korea’s Cho Gue-sung, as well as Said Hamulic, it is abundantly clear the manager fancies a more aerially dominant specimen up top to complement his already ominous forward line.
For too long now, we’ve had no aerial presence at the top end of the pitch. Giakoumakis is a big lad but he’s more a penalty-box striker and is excellent at scooping up the scraps in and around the six-yard area. Kyogo is a buzzbomb who’s energy, enthusiasm and deft-touch are the envy of everyone in the Scottish Premiership.
So could we be looking at going more direct with crosses into the box heading (pardon the pun) into next year? If Cho and his World Cup exploits are anything to go by it would seem a stick on. If we were to add this type of profile to the squad it would certainly improve our ability to diversify our play immeasurably.
Paul Gillespie
So if what you say is true about Celtic is going to be aggressive in Europe this season why have celtic took my money over 40 years to play in Europe was just a lie I sat on a Wednesday night in the frozen weather to think celtic is not trying well a thousand piece jigsaw falls into place….