Never liked him after what he did to poor Frank Subotka in The Wire…
Dying but all worth it
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Ben Doak. Only 16 & second youngest Celtic player ever. Must be the youngest to play in a derby so, as Jack Aitchison came on against Motherwell or someone at the time. Don’t think he’s even signed a professional deal yet (could be wrong) but has stood out for the “b” team apparently. Crocker mentioned last night that Liverpool have been tracking him. Celtic have lost a couple of academy players in recent years to English and German clubs so would want to get him signed up.
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Was he injured or was the substitution tactical?
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Don’t think he was injured but he’s still being managed back from injury and he has been our only available striker so can’t afford for him to play 90 minutes twice a week.
Made sense considering the shift he put in in the first half.
If Ange can keep that manic work rate instilled in the squad with the options he has now, the future looks incredibly bright for them.
Doak looked decent I thought. He also looked like the lad in your national school class who says nothing for three years and then stabs someone in the eye with a compass in fifth class.
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What a man
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Delighted to see my use of the word “rotations” replicated by Michael Cox in his game analysis on The Athletic.
He concluded that “Hatate’s brilliance, combined with the structured, coordinated and unpredictable combination play down the flanks, made this one of the most thrilling halves of attacking football you’ll witness all season.”
He said Gasperini’s Atalanta would have been proud of Celtic’s devastating rotations.
@Rocko post up the article with accompanying pictorial examples on the thread please. It might be a useful learning tool for @padjo .
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Cox: Gasperini’s Atalanta would have been proud of Celtic’s devastating rotations
By Michael Cox 2h ago
15 
Winning an Old Firm derby — especially after a drought of over two years — will always be more important than the quality of the performance.
But this was a tremendous demonstration of attacking football, the epitome of what Ange Postecoglou wants from his players. The second half was largely a non-event, but the opening 45 minutes featured controlled spells of possession, proactive pressing — and, most notably, devastating rotations in wide areas.
Rotations in wide positions have become the most keenly-watched development in football strategy in recent years. Many success stories have owed much to wingers, full-backs and central midfielders acting as trios and constantly spinning their way past opponents, most notably in the way Atalanta have taken Serie A by storm. Sheffield United and Leeds United have also earned promotion and then finished in the top half of the Premier League by relying heavily on that concept.
Last night, Celtic produced a performance that Gian Piero Gasperini’s Atalanta would have been proud of. On paper, Postecoglou deployed a 4-3-3, but traditional notations aren’t particularly worthwhile. The centre-backs, holding midfielder Callum McGregor and centre-forward Giorgos Giakoumakis stayed in position. But the full-backs drifted inside, the wingers came short, and the No 8s broke into space in the channels. Rangers simply couldn’t cope.
Down Celtic’s left, the key feature was left-back Greg Taylor continually taking up narrow positions, with the outstanding Reo Hatate often moving to the outside in response. Here’s a good early example of Hatate drifting to the touchline to receive a forward pass from Taylor, away from his marker. Taylor motors forward on the inside…
…and after Hatate plays the ball onto the left-winger Jota, Taylor is ready to burst through into the channel, but Jota’s backheel is blocked.
Taylor’s drifts inside, though, were most useful because they opened up the passing lane from left-sided centre-back Carl Starfelt to Jota, who continually collected the ball in space on the outside.
Here’s a good example. Starfelt is on the ball and Taylor has drifted into a position in front of him, taking Rangers’ right-winger Amad inside. Furthermore, Hatate has pushed forward into the channel, so there’s now an easy pass on for Starfelt out to Jota on the left.
Note Taylor, who has drifted into that position in front of Starfelt, directing the pass out to Jota.
Jota is happy to come deep to receive the ball, which then brings the Rangers right-back James Tavenier up the pitch, widening the gaps in Rangers’ back four.
Here’s a situation that combines the previous two examples. With Celtic’s centre-backs exchanging passes, left-back Taylor is in a traditional position, with Amad marking him.
But then Taylor pushes inside, which again opens up the passing angle from Starfelt into Jota…
…and Taylor, meanwhile, continues his run and is ready to burst through the Rangers defence, although the pass from Jota doesn’t come.
Celtic continually caused problems with this approach. Again, here’s the ball from Starfelt to Jota — but the key thing here is the gestures of various players. Taylor is again directing the pass having drifted inside. Tavernier, Rangers’ right-back, is gesturing that Jota is free and presumably doesn’t want to move across to shut him down, for fear of leaving space in the channel…
…and then, when the pass is played, two Rangers players throw their hands up in despair, frustrated that Celtic are progressing the ball past them so easily.
Down the opposite flank, it was a similar story. Right-back Josip Juranovic spent much of the game in narrow positions, focusing on opening up space for Liel Abada on the outside. Here, as Celtic build a move down the left, he’s already highlighting Abada’s freedom.
And here’s a typical piece of play down the right — Juranovic sprinting inside to take up a No 8 position, while Abada comes deep to collect the ball in space.
And, at times, this worked brilliantly. When Celtic’s right-sided centre-back Cameron Carter-Vickers plays this ball out to the flank, you wonder who the intended target is, because Juranovic is already making a lateral run inside…
…but, of course, it’s Abada coming short, collecting the ball in a position Rangers’ left-back Borna Barisic is too scared to venture out to, before picking up pace and dribbling at speed.
Now, Celtic have right-back Juranovic in a very narrow position, Abada with the ball on the outside, and central midfielder Matt O’Riley between them. On paper, the three Rangers players highlighted — Barisic, left-winger Ryan Kent and left-sided centre-back Calvin Bassey — are watching them.
But Kent is too high up the pitch to help out, and O’Riley makes an overt overlapping run that tempts Bassey across and also attracts central midfielder Joe Aribo. Suddenly, Rangers have four men outside the width of the penalty box — and the player in space is Celtic’s right-back, popping up on the inside in the channel.
Abada finds him, and this move eventually results in a good chance for Giakoumakis, which Allan McGregor saves.
Time and time again, Celtic played combinations down the right to get players into space in the channel. This time, it’s Juranovic in a more traditional position on the outside, with Abada running into the channel.
Here, Juranovic has made a run inside, with Abada on the wing — but it’s central midfielder O’Riley begging for the ball in the channel.
And the goal of the night stemmed from a move down this flank — a forward ball from Juranovic found O’Riley, who laid the ball off to Abada, making a lateral run inside from the flank.
He, in turn, found Hatate, drifting across from the left of the pitch…
…and he checked onto his right foot and curled a shot inside the near post.
Hatate’s brilliance, combined with the structured, coordinated and unpredictable combination play down the flanks, made this one of the most thrilling halves of attacking football you’ll witness all season.
Celtic are now one point clear of Rangers at the top of the table, but based on this performance, the gap in quality between the sides is considerably bigger than that.
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Nice article
yep, just gone 16, hasnt signed a contract though
I love those arrow articles, they make out every move is like some sort of pre conceived genius master plan.
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Reverse Footix
I have to say I got a headache reading that.
I think Cox is excellent. I’ve seen others resorting to what you’re suggesting there where they just take a single move that results in a goal usually and pretend it’s part of some master plan. And I think plenty of writers at the Athletic are particularly guilty of it. But I don’t think that’s the case with Cox who tends to be insightful and knowledgeable and I’ve seen him writing before about games where he has said there didn’t seem to be any master plan.
I would say Postecoglou will have drawn the attention of a lot of Europe with his style of football because it’s so aggressive and detailed.
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I think last night was a demonstration of why Taylor gets into that Celtic team. He is not the most talented of our defenders, and doesn’t have even bring any physicality to the game like Ralston would, but it was apparent from the start of the season that he was playing the exact role wanted from him.
It’s very impressive how quickly our new midfielders have bought into the system and adapted to it too. Not to criticise McCarthy (he did fine last night when he was brought in) but he just looks like he’s playing for Crystal Palace or someone when he comes on. He sits and makes neat passes and directs play a bit. But he doesn’t bring the tempo and movement that others seem to. Even Bitton when he’s playing deeper is a little more dynamic.
Hatate and O’Riley have immediately gotten to grips with that rotating #8 role. O’Riley is moving into space all the time and seems to be immediately replicating thr role Rogic had, with a little more movement even. It says a lot about him as a player but also the standard of coaching to get that midfield working so well again immediately with two or three new players in it.
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