The art of defending – have we forgotten how to?

The most successful Celtic teams have always known how to defend. The Lisbon Lions had Billy McNeill and John Clark. The latter could keep watch at the back, while the former had the freedom to join in on set pieces, scoring those legendary headed goals.

Under Martin O’Neill, Bobo Balde, Joos Valgaeren and Johan Mjallby were an impenetrable force at the back and each was capable of pitching in with a set piece finish at the other end.

Neil Lennon could count on the solidity of Victor Wanyama, Fraser Forster and a back line including Efe Ambrose (yes, him) and Kelvin Wilson, best demonstrated in that historic 2-1 win over Barcelona. Lennon of course, recruited Virgil van Dijk and last season his partnership with the precocious Jason Denayer and behind them Craig Gordon, was equally successful.

John Collins, in defence of Ronny Deila’s attacking philosophy, quoted yesterday saying:

The coaching team watches re-runs of games and the goals we conceded, constantly trying to get better. But we have got the way we want to play. We might slightly vary it in certain matches, but we are not going to go five at the back, four in midfield, one up front and kick the ball up the pitch.

The trouble under the current system Deila employs is that you must have right type of player in order to make it effective. Denayer and van Dijk are blessed with natural pace and passing ability, so when they were here they easily bought into the philosophy, while others such as Ambrose and Izaguirre continue to have lapses in concentration and too often are naïve in their defending. The new players, Boyata, Blackett, Janko and Simunovic need to time to adapt, though the latter two would appear to have the right attributes to make a successful transition, while Boyata and Blackett continue to have confidence issues. This makes Craig Gordon look at times hesitant and uncertain as he hasn’t yet built a solid trust relationship with the players immediately in front of him.

Another criticism often directed at Celtic (and a few other teams) is their deployment of the zonal marking system. Without debating the merits or otherwise of the system – which incidentally is deployed very successfully by a number of top clubs – it’s clear that there is a problem in how we’re executing zonal marking. Either we’re not doing a good enough job getting the message across on the training field, or the players are not good enough or assertive enough to execute it properly. Which takes me back to the main theme and the title of this piece: defending is an art. It takes a combination of good coaching and the concentration of the player who incidentally needs to be strong and fast with no little amount of bravery and determination to keep things tight at the back.

Martin O’Neill was clearly a fan of big, strong defenders who intimidated opposing teams, played hard and generally went about their business in a no-nonsense fashion. He had mixed success with this system since his teams still suffered at times embarrassing losses in away games in Europe. Gordon Strachan’s teams had a slightly different defensive strategy which still relied on discipline and concentration, but the team as a whole was more intent on keeping possession and shape when the opponent had the ball. Deila is trying to impose a pressing style played at a very high tempo. So far, the consequences of this system are a higher than desired goals against ratio.

There is some growing sentiment amongst the support that a weak link exists in the coaching staff. Never one wishing to see anyone fired – and I’m a great admirer of John Kennedy, particularly with what he went through as a player – I do feel we need to overhaul our defensive coaching. If Johan Mjallby could be persuaded to return to the club in this capacity, this supporter would be delighted as I feel under Lennon he imposed a sound defensive structure which he always ably demonstrated as a player for club and country. Perhaps under Mjallby, we could rediscover the art of defending.