Celtic were excellent but sloppy play allowed an unlikely hero grab a brace for Malmo, Joel Sked analyses the five goal thriller.
You are out with the LADS. Out on the town drinking PINTS and that, having a right good ol’ knees-up. You’ve recently broke up with your girlfriend. But you’re not thinking about her. You’re out with the LADS. You’re having a top night. The PINTS are flowing. So is the BANTER. It can’t get any better. Then someone who looks like your ex walks in but you are having a top night with the LADS and loads of BANTER and PINTS. She is on her lonesome and you are with the LADS. It doesn’t matter if it is her. She is nothing to you. Then you get a closer look at her. Cleavage, glasses, bright red lip stick, an incredible body and a recent sleeve tattoo. It can’t be. But you try to shake it off. You are with the LADS having top BANTER and drinking PINTS and you are about to move on when in the last second the realisation sinks in. It is your ex and she has has been joined by a man. Her new man. Your incredible looking ex with a new man. You start to sober up. What have you done?
That feeling. That is how Celtic must have felt when their former ‘player’ Jo Inge Berget slammed the ball into the roof of the net in the 95th minute, his second of the game, to give Malmo a second away goal, meaning Celtic only travel to Sweden next week with a slender 3-2 advantage.
It could and should have been so much different. Celtic put themselves in the driving seat not once but twice to qualify for the LUCRATIVE Champions League group stages. They were the better side for long periods of the match, quicker, sharper and with better players. Malmo were made to look like a Kilmarnock or Partick Thistle struggling to breath against a rampant Celtic side. But a lack of composure, slack play and a number of small errors allowed the Swedes back into the game and into the tie.
Celtic’s fast start
Derek Rae summed it up best in commentary when he said ‘Celtic came out breathing hot jets of fire’. The Hoops started as every British side should in Europe with the backing of a raucous home crowd; move the ball quickly, press intensely and go for the jugular early on. Rather than playing his preferred inverted wingers, Ronny Deila played James Forrest in his favoured right position with Stuart Armstrong on the left and Stefan Johansen behind Leigh Griffiths. Celtic always had width high up the pitch with even Armstrong holding a wide position until driving in field when in possession.
Forrest had already set off on a couple of direct runs to put Malmo on the back foot when Armstrong picked up the ball and drove infield at pace before finding Johansen who had taken a step away from goal. There was little Malmo could have done about what happened next. Using his foot farthest from the goal Johansen simply directed the ball into the path of Griffiths who put Celtic ahead. I use the term ‘simply’ but what Johansen conjured was perfection. One of the best at playing first time delicate passes in tight spaces. Perfect for a predator like Grifffiths who is so dangerous on the shoulder of the defence.
The positive start did not falter. Armstrong, deceptively quick, took on Anton Tinnerholm once again, this time down the line before sending in a cross which led to a corner which brought the second goal. Two should have been three when Emilio Izaguirre pressed high up the pitch in the centre to win the ball and find Griffiths who in turn played in Johansen but his tame right footed shot was easily blocked.
This was Celtic at their best. Making the pitch seem minuscule when they didn’t have the ball and a vast meadow with it. It was suffocating for Malmo whose early opening was summed up best when Peruvian Yoshimar Yotun left one on James Forrest in the 15th minute. For the Swedes it must have felt like the 50th.
Game settled
Celtic’s high intensity could not last. No team could keep up the intensity. They soon settled with possession stats showing Celtic were dominant with more than 60 per cent of the ball. When they moved it into the final third with either of their wide men they went for their finisher.
While Forrest unnerved Malmo, Armstrong was the one who was more likely to provide the end product. Tinnerholm was in a pickle. Armstrong is quick and skilful, able to go wide or inside. It is the latter which Armstrong prefers. He flashed inside and sent an effort flying narrowly past the post before again skipping inside and reversing a pass to Brown who couldn’t quite get on the end of it.
Functional Malmo
In the build-up to the game Deila stated that he believed Malmo would be title challengers in the Scottish Premiership. On initial viewing Malmo were no more than a functional side who would challenge to be best of the rest. They were made to look average, bedraggled defensively and panicky in possession.
They changed from their usual 4-4-2 to something which more resembled 4-1-4-1 although that may have been out of necessity as they tried in vain to stop Celtic breaking through and playing between the lines too easily.
Their best hope was when Celtic had a lapse in concentration. Craig Gordon was forced into tipping a shot past the post after Celtic were guilty of ball watching ball as a Malmo player strode onto a loose ball at the edge of the box. Before that Nir Bitton was caught in possession on the edge of the box, while nearer half-time a poor Bitton pass and Brown header back was pounced upon yet Malmo were too slow and indecisive to make the opportunity count.
Game Management
In the second half Celtic remained in control and were the team more likely to add to their tally until a lack of composure throughout the team led to Berget’s first goal. From a Celtic corner Forrest watched the ball drop over his head on the edge of the box rather than moving with it and bringing it down. It allowed Malmo to break but it was stopped by Izaguirre who ceded possession when he could have brought the ball under control. The ball was then sent back into the Celtic half where Scott Brown tried to keep possession this time but misjudged his header and Malmo broke from half way. By this time Celtic’s defence was all but back in position however when the cross came in they were dragged towards the near post with Berget alone at the back post. His finish was as emphatic as he was useless in his spell at Parkhead.
Having been so confident with their game plan and with the ball, Celtic were now a mess. It was summed up when a slow Bitton pass put Van Dijk under pressure deep in his box. They had to regain possession dominance, take the any raggedness out of the game and put Malmo on the back foot. This was done through Forrest. He has his foibles, namely his lack of end product and tendency to run with his head down into blind alleys. But he had a positive effect on Celtic’s performance constantly motoring forward.
The third goal displayed Celtic’s game management. The ball was moved around with patience before being worked to Forrest on the right who drove the team forward before sending in a cross which was poorly dealt with by Tinnerholm. He headed it straight in the air and then was beaten in the air by Griffiths. Despite his stature Griffiths is fantastic in the air, aided by an NBA-like leap.
A two goal lead with half an hour to go. While he didn’t want to use the word naïve, Deila admitted that before the game he is bullish, stubborn even, in wanting to play in a way that excites the fans all the time. A change was required after the goal with Stuart Armstrong forced to come off. A conservative approach would have been to bring Charlie Mulgrew on yet he opted for Gary Mackay-Steven. Further injuries to Griffiths and Lustig meant Deila was unable to bring Mulgrew on to solidify the middle.
Disaster
Then came a disastrous five minutes of stoppage time. Still in control of the game with a two goal lead Celtic decided to showcase the supposed inability of British teams to see games through. Two minutes into injury time Mackay-Steven had the ball in the corner with space and time. But rather than turn his back on the game and waste time he played it to Izaguirre. Not only was he too high up the pitch but inexplicably put in a poor cross. They managed to regain possession but then Dedryck Boyata tried a difficult cross field pass and put it out of play. From there Efe Ambrose lost a simple tackle on the edge of the box leading to a corner in the 95th minute. The ball came in, both Bitton and Van Dijk went up for it but could only see it drop nearer the goal on the foot of who else?
Over the piece Celtic were the superior side and should go into the return leg as favourites. They were quicker, sharper, more incisive despite having played a substantially less number of games than their opponents this season. But defensive frailties reared their head once more, while Deila’s lack of streetwise in European football was demonstrated again. They can and probably will score in Sweden but they will need to ally that with the defensive resolve displayed in Azerbaijan against Qarabag, arguably Celtic’s best defensive performance under Deila.
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