Opinion: Celtic boss acknowledges Hoops issue, now he must find a solution

Celtic‘s 3-2 win over Dundee on Sunday was probably far more difficult than it needed to be. 

The Hoops got the three points to increase the lead at the top of the Premiership to three points, but familiar issues reared their head once more, as for the second league game in a row, the Hoops conceded two goals from set pieces.

After giving away two poor goals in the 3-2 win over Aberdeen, the Hoops were at it again against the Premiership’s bottom side, and it took a late Giorgos Giakoumakis header to secure the win.

Hoops manager Ange Postecoglu did acknowledge after the game that the defending of set pieces is becoming an issue.

“If they can just lob balls in the box and we concede, that’s not good. It’s something we need to address, have a little more conviction in our box, the same way we do in the opposition box” he said, as quoted by the Scotsman.

“There are still areas we need to get better at and that’s one of them” the Hoops boss concluded.

It is good to see that Postecoglou recognises that there is an issue, but it is now up to him, his coaches and the Hoops players to sort out the problem.

The good news for the Bhoys is that the forwards have been able to rescue any defensive errors by scoring winning goals, but there is no guarantee that is going to happen in every game.

Celtic can’t go into every match needing to score three goals to win the game, it is not sustainable, and an off day in front of goal coupled with some bad defending could lead to the Hoops dropping points.

The Celtic manager will no doubt be working hard on the training ground this week to try and find a solution to the Bhoys’ inability to defend set pieces.

Perhaps a change in formation could be considered, Celtic have played with three defenders on occasion this season. Maybe a change in defensive personnel could be an option, but that would be harsh as the Hoops still have the best defensive record in the Scottish Premiership.

It is a pity that Celtic seem to have reverted back to the poor defensive play that blighted the start of the season, but the good news is that unlike the start of the season, it hasn’t stopped the Hoops from winning games.

But what would be most welcome at the moment are two clean sheets this week, against Bodo/Glimt and Hibernian. If the Hoops can achieve that, then Postecoglou’s methods will have worked.