The Celtic Way [TACTICS]

I had no idea where to put this as this is more of a tactical thread..

I'm looking for an in-depth analysis of Celtic's tactics, kind of the the stuff from The View but a bit deeper. What it actually means to play The Celtic Way apart from just attractive short passing rather than route one football.

If push comes to shove an analysis of The Lisbon Lions will have to do... yes the last line was sarcasm.

 

Bit of a bump, changed title.

 

Dont know if this site will be any good to you but it may be worth a look.

Celtic 3-0 Rangers: Celtic better all over the pitch | Zonal Marking

 

Cheers for that

 

Thanks for the link buddy, I think i've got a good grasp of our current ones (the link helped) I just can't find enough footage of our older tactics (MoN era is pretty easy to replicate too).

 

This is a good site I found yesterday on The Guardian's top football blogs to follow:

TicTacTic | Critical analysis of all things Celtic

 

What an awesome site! Is it these who do the column in The View? The name tictaktalk seems familiar.

Now all I need is a comparison for The Lisbon Lions and i'm set!

 

Are you Watty aide looking for ideas for the next game mate? :icon_mrgreen:

 

It's a joy to watch Lenny's Celtic way,attacking football based on balance..

We set up in a 4-4-2 formation but its rarely played that way because of the versatility of some players..Not all roles are versatile but the ones that are'nt are for very good reason,they are the spine of the team CB'S,CDM and CF..

I'll try to elaborate a bit on my thought's of the versatile rolls within the team and start on our LB and RB..Izzy and Wilson are only defenders when the opposition have the ball..When we have the ball they are our width,they are wingers and are allowed to go forward without fear afforded to them by Ledley and Brown..

Ledley and Brown are the two most important players in the team because they play a multitude of rolls..On paper they are set up as LCM and RM but on the pitch its totally different,they constantly change rolls depending on how play developes..Left and right midfeild,left and right centre midfeild, central midfeild and most importantly the role that allows Izzy and Wilson to become wingers..Watch as they sit infield deep of Izzy and Wilson on cover and are always available as an out ball..A vital role and they excel in it,they are massive players for us..

Kris Commons role is LM but only when Izzy is deep..When Izzy bombs forward Commons comes infield to CAM a role to great effect and its allowing him to score goals..

Gary Hooper is versatile in central attacking roles,a great CF but most impressively a deadly deep attacking midfielder/striker..Sunday was a great example of how good he is playing in the hole..

I've never seen a Celtic side as versatile or as well drilled as this team and Lenny,Johan,Thommo and Garry deserve every bit of praise coming their way..

This side are set up to play a style built on a Barca-esque ethos,we have nowhere near the same qaulity but its the same model we are watching..

In Lenny we trust..

 

Nice link !!!!!!!!!!

Hail Hail

 

Pretty basic when you think of it, two centre midfielders who like to sit and string passes, wingers who come inside and get involved allowing attacking full backs to push, hoops likes to drop deep link with midfield then look for it back behind their back line whereas stokes is always on last man whereas derby it was hoops because sammy can use it wide with his pace however hooperman wasnt isolated due to commons pushing central hence his goal. Thing with hooper he drags a centre back out with the passers we have stokes has got grass to run into.

Mulgrew has improved us drastically with distribution and even forsters initial thought when he gets the ball is wide and early.

Huns go into confusion, walter * his knickers

Good night Vienna

 

^ haha quality m8, i've noticed that we've been passin ball more and its better to watch, attractive football that pays off, well done celtic

 

if we keep the ball on the deck we are best team in scotland,got to keep it up as we are hitting the business end of season and want to be the ones that get the prizes at the end

 

Not really Barca-esque as dont have a tiki-taka style passing game, more a dynamic, fluid, passing based game.

What you have just described however could easily be applied to Jock Stein's Lisbon Lions side. He set the team up in what would now be a very fluid 4-4-2, where Tommy Gemmell acted as a left-back and left-winger rolled in to one when Celtic had the ball. This allowed Bobby Lennox to come inside and link-up with the other attackers better and score. On the opposite side Jim Craig would play slightly deeper than Gemmell but would still get forward to support Johnstone when he could. The midfield two of Auld and Murdoch were brilliant together, Auld playing more as a ball winner and box to box player, while Murdoch was the playmaker, using simple probing passes. Up front Stevie Chalmers played the centre forward role in Lisbon and was reknowned for his goal scoring prowess, while his partner Wallace played slightly deeper but was still an adept poacher.

The key to the Lions side though was of course Jinky. Johnstone was allowed a virtually free role on the right wing to create and was Celtic's most devastating weapon, able to glide past players with ease. He was so good he would regularly beat a man twice just because he could!

There are definitely similarities in style there between the greatest ever Celtic side and the current one being built by Lennon. The biggest difference however is that we have no Jinky and Brown is used instead to keep the ball moving and attack from deep.

Lisbon European Cup Final Team: Simpson, Craig, McNeil, Clark, Gemmell, Johnstone, Murdoch, Auld, Lennox, Wallace, Chalmers

 

I agree we dont knock it about the same as Barca(no team does) but there is comparisson in the way we are set up and in particular in the midfield trio of Ledley,Kayal and Brown..Ledley and Brown play very similar roles to Xavi and Iniesta and Kayal plays the Busquets role..Obviously we are'nt anywhere near as good but it is a glaring similarity and the trio are very good at it..Our style revolves around the balance of these three in the midfield..

 

Its clever the way we sit deeper against Rangers and break quickly. Its kind of doing what they did to us for the last couple of years. They dont seem to be able to deal with that system as well as they dealt with much more attacking high lined Celtic sides. The amount of times we have overdone the attacking is unreal. We are so much more solid and compact now with deeper CHs. protective CMs, FBs who can defend, only one winger etc. In terms of attack the team keep possession well and pick limited but decisive moments to cut teams open rather than relying on volume of bombardment of the opposition goal. Quality over quantity and its abut player intelligence and picking the right moments. I think for a couple of years we got too reliant on players with ball skills but who didnt have the intelligence to pick the right pass, see the split second opportinity, take the main chance. For me what was wrong with the team is summed up by Aidan - great ball skills but no football brain, shot etc and really relied on sheer volume of crosses and attacks for the odd one to lead to a goal. I think a lot of our football intelligence was gone when Naka left. We seem to have added that back into the side. Lots of players who keep it simple and are good at decision making and reading the game. So style wise its a sort of short passing game where intelligence and use of space is used to quickly step up gears and cut teams open. its actually kind of continental in style.

 

The way the whole team works so hard now off the ball and as a unit is what impresses me. Even when we were winning 3 in a row with strachen this was never there.

We always struggled when teams pressed us, now our team work so hard off the ball there are always options and the players look composed on the ball so we don't give away the ball cheaply as often.

With better ball retention we ultimately wear teams down and pick them apart with quick direct bursts.

Also having two strikers who work hard and have a real goal threat week in week out has made a major difference. Especially when you add Commons to the mix another geniune goal threat.

Also the concentration levels have been higher fewer lapses in defence and blatant mistakes is always important.