‘Spooked us from the beginning,’ Rangers fans grudging admiration for how Celtic Kicked-off Beautiful Sunday
HEARTS tried it against Celtic at Hampden in the Scottish Cup Final back in May and again at Celtic Park a few weeks ago so it’s nothing new in the Scottish game. However Celtic’s unusual kick-off tactic at Ibrox on Sunday certainly caught the home side by surprise and kept the game deep in their half for the first five minutes or so.
Remember in the first Beautiful Sunday in March 2018 when Dedryck Boyata got caught in possession and the Rangers scored in the first few minutes? Or the free-kick Mikey Johnston conceded at the edge of our box in the opening stages on our last visit? Both resulted in 1-0 scorelines with a couple of minutes on the clock.
That first kick from Odsonne Edouard made sure that there would be no repeat this time and it also set Celtic on their way to a fabulous victory, so well done to Neil Lennon for that one. A tactic incidentally that would never have been contemplated by a side managed by Brendan Rodgers.
How was this unusual kick-off viewed across the city, among the crest-fallen Ibrox support? We thought we’d investigate. Here’s a selection of (the) Rangers fan comments.
“At first I thought WTF but looking back now it’s actually not a bad idea, put the ball out high up the park and you can push right up instead of passing back. Caught us out a bit.”
“Felt like it took us 5 minutes to get out of our half because of it.”
“At first thought it was a mistake then thought about it. Spooked us from the beginning.”
“It’s maybe not a bad idea to try this.”
“I said to the wife that someone in Asia just made a bucket load of money on the betting for the time of the first throw in.”
“Mourinho has used this tactic for years, especially during his glory years at Chelsea. First time I’ve seen it in a while but it can be effective.”
“It flattened the game for 5 minutes. Looked sh*te, but made a difference. Thinking back, we’ve been 1-0 inside 5 mins at Ibrox 2/4 home games, no?”
“Signalled their intent from the get go. I like the concept, worth a try.”
“Stops us going on the high press right from the start of the match and lets them press us instead.”
“I never felt comfortable from that point onwards and feared the worst.”
“Graham Taylor’s England teams used to do this quite regularly. Worked well for them on Sunday, put us on the back foot right away and we struggled to get in the game. Not having any wide players left us playing into a congested midfield every time we tried to clear our lines.”
“Like Halliday’s challenge last year set the tone for the match this did it on Sunday, I was surprised how much they were in control early on and it stemmed from that.”
“Hearts done it to them not too long ago and their fans gave them pelters for it. It can be effective but it’s a sign of their regression.”
“It’s the plan of a very unadventurous team. Thats what we were up against and we should have thanked them for possession and played out, unfortunately our lack of structure and out ball meant they could press high.”
“They played it like an away game in Europe and the kick off tactic was beginning of that, then just long balk trying to find Edouard from there. The worry was our players not knowing / being prepared for such a kick off tactic and being set-up to react from the resulting throw in.”
“It’s choking me to say this but Lennon has to take some credit, he learned from the last game we pressured them from the kick off and scored after 2 minutes. I think Stevie G is smart enough to realise he blundered with this set up. I believe this was the same team with the exception of Kent, who was obviously a big miss, that beat them last time out. Why we didn’t press high up was a strange decision.”
“Lennon smashed us in terms of tactics from whistle to whistle. Embarrassing. In a sense it shows they fear us enough to change their style of play. However, this newly found respect had a negative affect on us. It’s now only Hibs that really go toe to toe with us. We seen how that ended.”
“Aye Neil Lennon tactical genuis. Give me f***ing peace.”
“Regression? Pulling off a tactic doesn’t seem like regression. Don’t think they’ll do it all the time either. A one off to catch us out and we stood around like we’d never seen a ball before.”
“Looking back I feel like a bit of a twat shouting “weeeey” at the time. Actually a smart tactic to be fair.”
“It’s very rugby-esque tactically, but makes sense. Particularly if you play a high pressing game.”
“I have never seen that before but fair play it’s actually a great idea, I was wondering at the time what it was all about. They wanted us on the back foot right from the start Gerrard may have won the tactical battle the last 2 games at Ibrox v them but he certainly lost it on Sunday that’s for sure.”
“Worked us out. Embarrassing that it we couldn’t/wouldn’t adapt.”
“I’ve seen teams do it before. It’s the way I would like to go at them, force them up the park and press everywhere. Can’t believe we let their defence off the hook.”
“Took the sting out of a Rangers blitz on anyone in green who had the ball. Probably had a few thinking WTF? Either way, as much as it is a good idea, we should still have been able to initiate our own game plan. They have the ball, get after it, when we get it back, attack attack attack! A good move by them though.”
“They know they’re vulnerable, at least for now. They have to have their attackers press high and hope the opposition make mistakes. They need to protect their defenders. They did it on Sunday.”
“Tactics won the game my friend.”
“They knew we steamrollered them at the beginning of the last two matches at Ibrox so this was to counter that. They definitely wanted a scrappy game on top of closing us down quickly, to build the frustration, they had players lying around like deid cats constantly. Our gaffer gave them too much respect before a ball was kicked so all the above worked well for them.”
“I hate to say it but it was a shrewd move.”
“Hate to say it but it worked a treat: pegged us back right away and our 5 disorientate centre mids couldn’t get a hold of the ball at all. Instantly disrupted us.”
ALSO ON THE CELTIC STAR TODAY
