preview from The Athletic: (cc @Bandage)
Rangers’ pressing and Celtic finding space in behind: how the Old Firm derby will be won and lost
By Michael Cox, Kieran Devlin and Jordan Campbell
After two campaigns of inferiority back in the Scottish Premiership, last season was when Rangers truly started to compete in Old Firm contests.
In their first campaign back in the top-flight – 2016-17 – Rangers failed to win any of their six meetings with Celtic in all competitions, losing by an aggregate score of 16-4. The following season, they failed to win in five, losing 14-2 overall. But in 2018-19, it was honours even: both clubs won their two home matches. Celtic proved much more effective at collecting points from other matches, and won the title with relative ease. But each Old Firm contest was, at last, just that: a contest.
Much of that improvement is down to the impact of Steven Gerrard – and, in particular, his emphasis upon aggressive, organised pressing in advanced positions. The Old Firm contest has, perhaps more than any other match in Europe, always been characterised by frantic running, physical tackles and getting into the faces of the opposition in the early stages. Gerrard’s approach has proved particularly vital in these games, preparing his players properly both mentally and tactically.
It’s not difficult to work out why Gerrard places such emphasis upon pressing. His main coaching education was 18 months spent at Liverpool’s academy, working at a club where Jurgen Klopp had placed his stamp upon the first team but also on the club’s youth ranks too. Pressing was the fundamental part of Liverpool’s approach to both defence and attack and from an early stage of his Rangers tenure, that was on the agenda. Gerrard demanded high levels of fitness from his players and emphasised the importance of attempting to regain possession in all areas of the pitch.
One example of how Rangers follow the Klopp approach is when the opposition has a throw-in inside their own half. In those situations, Rangers absolutely pile players into positions around the thrower, congesting play and making it difficult for their opponents to get out – see below this example from last weekend’s 1-0 victory at St. Mirren, where seven players are in the vicinity of the ball.
That said, Rangers’ pressing wasn’t particularly evident during Gerrard’s first Old Firm game, a 1-0 loss to Celtic at Parkhead in early September. Perhaps suffering after an exhausting midweek trip to Russia in the Europa League, Rangers sat deep inside their own half, largely let Celtic play, and struggled to impose themselves.
By the final Old Firm game of the season, however, Rangers were transformed. They opened the scoring in the third minute when James Tavernier’s free-kick from an inside-left position curled and dipped into the far corner without a touch from anyone in the box – but more significant was the manner in which the free-kick had been won.
Celtic had possession at the back with their three defenders. Left-sided centre back Kristoffer Ajer played a square pass to Jozo Simunovic and this prompted Rangers forward Jermain Defoe to lead the press. Simunovic offloaded the ball right to Mikael Lustig, who tried to hammer the ball up the pitch but found himself shut down by Ryan Kent. Kent blocked the clearance, dribbled towards goal, and then was cynically tripped by the recovering right-wing-back Mikey Johnston. From the resulting free-kick, Tavernier scored.
That’s Celtic’s warning ahead of this weekend. Rangers will press ferociously from the outset and this could be the defining part of the derby – but how exactly do Rangers press?
Gerrard’s defensive approach has evolved over the last year but they now looked settled in their approach, finding the right balance between pressure and compactness.
Against Celtic in December, the intensity offered by Kent and Daniel Candeias helped suffocate Celtic’s full backs in the early stages. Gerrard will want to make another fast start and use the crowd to Rangers’ advantage by putting Celtic under pressure, especially given that it is likely two of Celtic’s back four will be experiencing the Old Firm derby for the first time.
But neither of Kent or Candeias’ replacements – Jordan Jones and Sheyi Ojo – possess the same aggressive streak and Gerrard won’t want to over-commit if his players aren’t able to implement the plan with the same conviction. That suggests a slightly more methodical approach could be taken, as was the case in May.
Rangers tweaked their system near the end of last season, partly due to Defoe deputising for the suspended Alfredo Morelos. It saw a switch to a 4-3-2-1 with a flatter midfield and the inside forwards deployed narrower.
When the ball was on one side, the opposite wide player – in this case Kent (below) – tucked in to shadow Scott Brown, despite conventional wisdom dictating that his position should be 15 yards wider. It was all about condensing Celtic’s space to play.
As the ball moved back centrally, Defoe pressed Simunovic – the centre of the back three – while covering the pass into Brown behind him. Arfield and Kent tucked in to surround the Celtic captain, forcing possession out wide to either Lustig or Ajer wide, as happened in the build-up to the aforementioned opener.
It was designed to guide the ball out to Celtic’s weaker players where Rangers’ midfielders, expected to be Ryan Jack and Joe Aribo on Sunday, would shuffle out to apply pressure.
This could be a wise tactic to use against Celtic due to concerns about their full backs. The composure of Boli Bolingoli at left back has been questioned, while Ajer, Celtic’s best centre back, is being deployed as a makeshift right back, which reduces his ability to carry the ball out from central areas.
This narrow set-up has been used sparingly by Gerrard this season, with only spells against Midtjylland serving as an example. It is unlikely that both Jones and Arfield will start as Gerrard has favoured the combination of a traditional winger from the left, with Scott Arfield coming in off the right flank.
Rangers used a backwards pass from Brown or the full-backs as the trigger to press last season but Neil Lennon has repeatedly called for his defenders to be more pragmatic if under heavy pressure. Don’t expect Celtic to always play through the press.
Lennon doesn’t mind his side being direct and that is something Rangers will need to mindful of when squeezing the game. Nikola Katic and Connor Goldson have looked assured this season so far, but the ball over the top caused problems last season.
If Rangers opt for a mid-block – only applying pressure as Celtic approach the halfway line, as they have done so far this season – then Celtic will be asked to play through a midfield containing Steven Davis, Jack and Aribo.
They have been playing as a flat three both in and out of possession, which had successfully denied space and cut off passing lanes, but Legia Warsaw were able to find some pockets in Poland last week.
Luquinhas was able to receive possession in the channel between Tavernier and Goldson three times during the game. It was a result of Jack and Arfield both trying to cover the ball wide and Legia exploiting that shift across.
Mikey Johnston is expected to start on the left wing for Celtic and has begun this season terrifically. He will be looking to receive possession in similar areas so, if Rangers do decide to press high up, Tavernier will need to ensure that the movement of Johnston and Ryan Christie doesn’t allow them to be found behind the Rangers midfield.
Unlike previous seasons, Rangers do not fear Celtic. Having banished the inferiority complex in derby games, Rangers will fancy themselves to unsettle Lennon’s side but even if they opt for a more controlled approach, they will be confident of stifling Celtic’s possession play.
How will Celtic respond to Rangers’ pressing tactics?
Well, as evidenced by both Ibrox games last year, and Motherwell away this season, Celtic are vulnerable to a disciplined high press, often struggling to calmly pass out of danger. From the games played so far this season, there is little indication that Celtic have learned how to nullify this. Rangers naturally counter-press instantly as soon as possession is lost. Take, for example, this situation away at St. Mirren.
Jack attempted to play a through-ball towards Scott Arfield but actually played it straight to St. Mirren left-back Calum Waters. Rather than offloading the ball quickly, Waters took his time, attempting to dribble towards the left.
But that played into Rangers’ hands – Jack took responsibility for his mistake, chased down Waters and put in a strong tackle, immediately putting Rangers back on the attack again. Celtic must be wary of dawdling in possession this weekend.
Celtic’s vulnerability to pressing is most apparent when Brown plays as the deepest central midfielder, as he probably will on Sunday. His composure in possession, and range of passing, are the weakest of Celtic’s midfielders, and he’s repeatedly caught on the ball or his passes are intercepted when passing lanes are quickly shut down.
When you look at how Celtic struggled against Motherwell in the opening half-hour recently, it’s clear that starving Celtic of central options is an effective tactic. Motherwell’s initial success came from applying similar principles to those Rangers used last season. Here, Brown was put under pressure with his back to goal, while the positioning of right winger Sherwin Seedorf put added pressure on the pass back to Christopher Julien.
Tellingly, at no point did Julien deepen or did Brown consider the switch to Bolingoli – once the ball went to Julien, his slack backpass put Scott Bain under huge pressure. Bolingoli hadn’t anticipated the next pass and was too high up to receive the ball. By that time, Allan Campbell had come across to make that pass a risky option, so much so that Bolingoli waved his keeper to punt it long. Instead, it ended with a Motherwell throw-in.
The best way to defend against Rangers’ high press, without compromising the rapid transitions along the ground which are so critical to Celtic’s success, is simple: they should play their three most technical midfielders with Brown dropping out. Ryan Christie, Olivier Ntcham and Callum McGregor are all excellent passers and decision-makers capable of playing through an intense press, and all are intelligent in their movement and positioning through opening up new passing lanes as others are closed off.
Callum McGregor’s spell as a deep-lying playmaker last autumn during Brown’s injury absence – with Christie and Tom Rogic as the shuttling No 8s – facilitated arguably the most entertaining football of Brendan Rodgers’ reign. It was enjoyable to watch and fundamentally effective. High pressing teams, such as RB Leipzig in their loss at at Parkhead last November, struggled to create chances. McGregor rarely ceded possession, and his quickfire arcing passes out wide to James Forrest and Scott Sinclair gave the wingers time to drive into space.
Given both Rangers’ full-backs push forward to participate in the press and contribute offensively, with Tavernier particularly advanced, they leave prominent gaps for opponents to exploit. Even though Kilmarnock and St. Mirren played cautiously against Rangers earlier this season, they still managed forward excursions by counter-attacking into wide areas, with St. Mirren’s Jon Obika missing a clear-cut opportunity to equalise at the death, a chance fashioned through exploiting huge space down Rangers’ left.
If Johnston and Forrest – two technical, quick wingers likely to start this weekend – rapidly receive the ball in the spaces vacated by Rangers’ full backs through McGregor’s usual passes, they could have a field day.
An alternative to having high-quality passers flooding the midfield and passing through Rangers’ press, is playing more defensively and simply passing over them. Rangers struggle to break down deep defences, relying overtly on opposition errors, and they don’t possess the physicality of Celtic’s centre-backs.
Vakoun Bayo proved his genuine ability as a target man – and prospective foil for Odsonne Edouard as the deeper forward – against Hearts last Sunday. Long balls to the front two are an opportunity to create chances without going through an unreliable midfield combination, while ensuring Johnston and Forrest are involved through knock-downs and offloads, rather than through McGregor’s transitional passes. It would be surprise approach, without pretext or planning, but it’s rogue enough to work in a fixture this chaotic, and might be the perfect way to cope against – and exploit – Rangers’ determination to press.
Rocko’s analysis of the above:
Decent article. I think the Sevco writer is better than the Celtic chap and that’s evident in how it concentrates on what Sevco can do to Celtic.
It has the Bayo point at the end but I think it misses the fact that Johnston was the lone striker in January which meant we had no out ball at all really. Even with balls into feet he struggled that day, I would expect him to do much better tomorrow, though he won’t have to lead the line thankfully. And Burke was just abysmal in the May match.
