Four Findings: Celtic 3-2 Malmo (H)

Everything was going according to plan last night. We got two early goals through Leigh Griffiths and Nir Bitton and dominated proceeding in the first-half. Maybe our downfall was not scoring a third in the first-half and killing off the tie. Who knows?

Celtic flop Berget decided to show up for once at Celtic Park and bagged two goals in the second-half. The first a sweet struck volley into the corner past an outstretched Gordon and the second came very late on from a corner. Leigh Griffiths also managed to nod home his second of the game between Berget’s brace.

So, let’s take a look in more depth at the positives and negatives that we can take from last’s night’s game and learn from for this weekend against Dundee United and next Tuesday’s return leg in Sweden.

The first–half was the best footballing display this season from Celtic

Two goals in the opening 10 minutes and one shot on target that was easily saved by Gordon. If you had asked me before the game would I take that scoreline at half-time, I would have bitten your leg off (sorry Ciftci). The passing, the running off the ball to make space, the over-lapping runs and having Malmo on the back-foot from the get-go was exactly what I wanted to see from Celtic. When Malmo got the ball, we pressed high and the long ball was their only outlet on many occasions in the first-half.

Malmo’s defence isn’t anything special

Qarabag but up more resilience in the first-leg at Celtic Park and frustrated Celtic for large parts of the game as they couldn’t get a second goal to give them a clear advantage on the night heading to Azerbaijan. Johansen tore the Malmo defence apart with one simple ball to Griffiths who coolly slotted the ball past the Malmo ‘keeper. Bitton was completely unmarked in the box as he glanced home his header and again Griffiths hard work and grit made the third goal to sending a looping header over Wiland in goal for Malmo.

Malmo posed little threat of their own in attack

They really didn’t do too much to cause us problems that I can remember. All their chances came through a lucky bounce of the ball (their only shot on target in the first-half) or sloppy defending from Celtic (see both goals). So it’s up to Celtic to sort out their own mistakes and make their own luck.

But how can Malmo score two goals without posing a serious threat in attack you ask. Here’s why.

Defensive sloppiness cost us again

Deila said after the Inverness CT game at the weekend that conceding two late goals wasn’t a concern. Well, now it is a big problem. Celtic have conceded two goals in each of the last three games, all because of sloppy, slack defending.

Boyata and Lustig went for the same ball and Izaguirre didn’t close down the cross that led to Berget’s first goal. Boyata needs to do something as the front man. Head the ball clear, flick the ball, just do something with it! Instead, he watched it sail over his head and straight to the feet of Berget, who fired the ball home perfectly into the corner.

For the second goal, Berget stood beside Gordon unmarked as the corner came in, a schoolboy error from Celtic in the dying seconds of the game. As the ball fell kindly to the feet of the former Hoops player he was allowed to turn and smash the ball into the roof of the net. For reasons unknown to me, Ambrose decided to jostle away from where the ball had landed and could have positioned himself better to close down the ball. I’ve no problem with Izaguirre fro this one as he was doing his job covering the post, there were enough bodies around to stop Berget, but no one did.

Several times in the opening 45 minutes they could have been punished but for Malmo’s inept attack wasting chances. The return of the experienced striker Markus Rosenberg in the second-leg could offer them something different going forward and Celtic need to be wary of him.

Overall

It’s clear we need to go into the transfer market to solve the defensive problems. Ambrose never has and never will cut it as a Celtic defender and Izaguirre is a shadow of his former self. Van Dijk imminent departure means in my eyes we need three new defenders. There are plenty of positives to take from this game into the second-leg on Tuesday, especially in attack where Forrest was a menace all night for the Malmo left-back. Griffiths’ brace will do no favours to Ciftci who needs to get a run of games under his belt to start scoring in a Celtic shirt. The sooner his ban is over the better for him. We could have won by more, but it could have been a lot worse (last year). Malmo has to score so it’s still in our hands what happens next Tuesday.