After a tough couple of weeks Celtic record a positive result and performance in Amsterdam. Joel Sked analyses the 2-2 draw.
It has not been a good few weeks for Celtic. They were knocked out of the Champions League from a side they were expected to overcome, they sold their defensive stalwart and arguably best player before losing to Aberdeen who now hold a five point lead at the top of the Premiership. When you are used to success, and therefore an expectant of success, criticism flows more freely when that does not materialise.
Ronny Deila has once again made a sweeping statement to the extent that he can’t really win. Before the Ajax game he declared Celtic would win the league. Just like he asked for judgement in a year after being knocked out the Champions League twice? And just like he said Celtic would beat Malmo? Win the league and he has has done the bare minimum expected of him. Fail to win the league and, hell, even Ally McCoist and Kenny McDowall would be laughing at him. Oh the humiliation.
Celtic required a pick-me-up performance at the Amsterdam Arena. The group has been widely acknowledged as a tough one for Celtic but it is one which they can, and I think they will, emerge from. Ajax appear to be a regressing team under Frank de Boer in terms of European performances. I am no Eredivise expert but the players coming through are not of the sufficient quality to replace those who have left in recent years. They have potential rather than furnished talent like rivals PSV. Fenerbache have an array of talent but like a lot of Turkish teams in terms of high profile players they are often in the latter stages of their careers or have faltered since a particular good period. This Fenerbache team appears to be less than the sum of its parts. Molde? I have absolutely no idea.
Ninety minutes later and my opinion has not changed. Celtic, notoriously poor travellers in Europe, were, with regards to their structure, organisation and the way they stuck to their game plan, excellent. It was a hybrid performance; like a spring coiling between pressing and falling back into a defensive 4-5-1.
James Forrest and Kris Commons played important roles in supporting both Leigh Griffiths and their respective full-backs. The midfield set-up under Deila is usually 2-1 and occasionally 1-2 but last night it was a flat three. Playing a flat three in midfield, especially when the team is varying between keeping their shape and pressing takes game intelligence, discipline and communication.
A hallmark of Ajax’s play through the years is passing from the back, and under de Boer there has been a modicum of patience before they shift the ball into areas which will hurt opposing teams. Like lions stalking their prey, Celtic would wait for the right moment when Ajax looked vulnerable and press the man in possession. Depending on the position on the field Leigh Griffiths would lead the pressing before being supported by one of the midfielders, the two others providing a supporting base and the second wave of pressure if needed.
The opening goal was emblematic of the early pressing. A long pass was knocked towards Griffiths who was beaten in the air but Stefan Johansen sniffed an opportunity to put pressure on, forcing Ajax backwards. Ajax regained steady possession but then Nir Bitton followed up on loose play to steal the ball and exchange passes intelligently with Commons before thundering the ball into the bottom corner.
When Ajax did advance into the Celtic half, Deila’s men had a strategy akin to Scotland against Germany with the flat three in the middle but the wide men did not sink as deep to play at the back. Forrest may have his foibles but he is adept at tracking his opponent and he supported Emilio Izaguirre well. Commons was less enamoured with his defensive job, leaving Mikael Lustig slightly more exposed and forcing Johansen wider than he would have liked but he eventually got to grips with his positional play.
It was Lustig’s side which the equaliser came from and sometimes teams just have to hold their hands up and recognise they were beaten by improvisation and skill. Although that is not to say Celtic could not have prevented Viktor Fischer’s equaliser. Ajax’s danger man in the first half Amin Younes skipped by Lustig far too easily. The Swedish full-back showed him in field onto his stronger foot before going to ground like an inexperienced defender. But from then on the ingenuity displayed by Ajax was excellent in carving open Celtic and creating space for Fischer’s fine finish from the edge of the box.
But Celtic would go into the break ahead and it again came from attacking Ajax’s vulnerabilities. To play the way de Boer wants them to they have to be wide and take risks. Right-back Kenny Tete was keen on venturing forward leaving the two centre backs to deal with Griffiths. Celtic worked the ball well on the left and the striker pulled into the space vacated by the full-back before winning the corner. From the resulting corner Lustig netted. Gordon Strachan said after the game is that he is in the “team to give them a wee bit of height and wee bit of presence”. Not because he is a good player and their best defender, Gordon, no?
The second half was mainly about containment and preserving that lead, and for nearly 30 minutes Celtic did just that with Craig Gordon an observer for large parts. Celtic’s midfield three were proactive in stopping the ball being moved into space in front of the defence rather than reactive by dropping one of the midfielders in front of the defence. It all changed when Izaguirre was sent off in the 73rd minute. Up until then he played like a man scorned in being left out of the Malmo debacle and Aberdeen defeat.
His first booking was from trying to stop Ajax launching a counter-attack deep in their half. But instead of sliding in to block a clearance, it was more of a lunge. The second caution was unlucky in the way the Ajax player had lost the ball as Izaguirre slid alongside him but the player moved towards Izaguirre and was felled. But it was stupid in that the Honduran should not have went to ground, especially after committing arguably a worse foul moments earlier. If looks could kill Scott Brown would have obliterated his left-back there and then.
With Lustig failing to last the 90 minutes again, Deila had to make two quick changes to his backline, ending the game with a quartet of Efe Amrbose, Dedryck Boyata, Simunovic and Tyler Blackett. They could not hold onto the lead and once again it was a set piece which was their downfall. There is a caveat in that Lasse Schone’s free-kick was wicked, dipping at pace into a dangerous area. However, when it reached the line of attackers and defenders it was head height, and rather than anticipating where it was going no Celtic player attacked the ball, while Gordon was left flapping at thin air. Although it is hard to blame the goalkeeper due to the pace and trajectory.
The Hoops were lucky to hang on in the end with Arkadiusz Milik missing a header from the edge of the six yard box after Jozo Simunovic misjudged a cross and was caught under the ball. Celtic have a real issue with crossed balls currently, and they need to start stopping crosses at source and pushing out to pressurise the crosser. Blackett was guilty of standing off and just sticking out a leg when he came on.
Yet, all in all it was a positive evening for Deila and Celtic. Scott Brown was much improved with everything he did a lot crisper. Griffiths led the line competently but to move onto the next level he needs to be more ruthless with the half chances which come his way. There is still issues which require attention in defence but there were encouraging signs with the starting backline.
Written by Joel Sked (@sked21)
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