Ronny’s Roar and the Celtic Tiger

Is the team purring to perfection?

Rather than fill this article with cat puns, I’m feline like giving an overview of the team at the start of the season…ok, I’ll actually stop now. Having watched the last number of games and seeing the shape of the team, there’s a good indication of how Celtic will set up for the rest of the season.

Defence

Celtic will line up with four at the back, with Van Dijk leading and pairing with new signing, Boyata. Both have very good physical presence and put pressure on the strikers very well. The only difference between a standard back four appears to be that the centre-backs have a lot of license to carry the ball forward and can create an attack. Van Dijk is an expert at getting on the end of a cross after playing a pass from the back or going on mazy run through the midfield. I am a big fan of this style of play, as midfielders do not pick up a roaming centre-back very often, giving him yards of space. The only concern would be Boyata’s decision-making when deciding to go forward, and also his tendency to play a few stray passes, which can leave the defence heavily exposed, as we have seen already when Van Dijk had to chase back following a stray pass from Boyata against Ross County.

In terms of the full-backs, Deila will be looking much the same from Lustig and Izaguirre, although the latter isn’t a favourite of Ronny’s, he still does the job he requires from a full-back. Deila looks for his full-backs to be solid in defence and break forward with purpose, overlapping the winger in-front and giving Celtic width and an outlet on the counter-attack and help get the ball into the final third.

Attack

Armstrong and Mackay-Steven really seem to be on the same wavelength, having played together for four year at Dundee United they, had some lovely little one-two’s and link-up play around the box, but never quite coming off at the end. I can see them becoming an integral part of the team and getting a few goals. Johansen often drops very deep to pick up the ball from the centre-backs if there is no room for them to move into and begin an attack. This can leave

Celtic starting an attack from deep at times, so the ball needs to get to Bitton or Brown and worked forward using the full-backs or wingers, playing a ball into Johansen to run into space or playing a playing in behind Griffiths letting him use his pace. A lot of the attack is quite central with not a lot of crosses coming in, which would be a bit pointless with Griffiths up front. Leigh has performed really well which has actually surprised me, as I was one of his critics. My one concern with the attack is Stefan Scepovic. In the Ross County game, from the moment he was on the pitch he was a complete passenger. He offered very little movement, but didn’t hold up the ball either, leaving me a bit confused as to what kind of striker he really is.

Ethos

It is very clear that it has been drilled into the team that the midfield is a very important part of the pitch, the midfield aim to close down the ball carrier as soon as possible, putting as much pressure on him as possible. This worked very well for most of the game, as soon as Ross County edged into our half, Celtic worked tirelessly to make it as difficult as possible for them. Brown and Armstrong are well accustomed to this, Johansen probably less so but he is becoming better with the physical side of the game, putting in a good few tackles himself. In Europe this season against the better teams and especially away from home, Deila will need to set up a rigid and organised defence, like Lennon did previously. It would be naïve to think Celtic could play Barcelona off the pitch like they can do with most of the opposition in Scotland.