Rangers v Celtic Preview Part 2

It is now time to have a closer look at the Scottish Champions, analysing the strengths and weaknesses.

Celtic will arrive at Ibrox on Sunday one point ahead of their rivals. Due to the postponement of their away tie at Dundee, Rangers have a game in hand. As a result, Celtic will aim to win the tie or, at the very least, leave Govan with a point. The bhoys boast wins in both previous games with their rivals, which gives them confidence, with Kyogo being key to their successes.

In the last match at Celtic Park, Kyogo scored a cracking winner from outside the box, but their captain, Callum McGregor, was instrumental in that win. He provided cover to his defence when required and he was efficient in his attacking play, able to find pockets of space and play clever passes to his teammates. The pass network map below shows his impact on the last match.

Strengths

As shown above, McGregor is influential in this Celtic side and in the last 24 hours, it is looking increasingly likely that he will play, which will give his side and the fans a massive boost. However, Celtic do have threats in various areas of the field especially when in attacking transition.

Celtic v Rangers 30.12.24 - Kyogo dropping deep, in possession. Maeda running in behind defensive line.

Kyogo possesses elite-level awareness and movement, especially out of possession, making him difficult to contain. As shown above, he likes to mix up his movement by going in behind the defensive line and dropping deep between the lines. In this passage of play, he gets into possession, beats the defender and finishes with a goal from outside the box. But the interesting part is that Maeda is open just as he receives the ball. This is a move that Maeda makes a lot in matches, and Celtic like to execute this combination within the half-space to get chances in on goal. It is a key component of their attacking phase of play and the Rangers defence will need to be structured and rigid to counteract this.

Minimum Width - Kyogo is moving in behind defensive line, eventually in possession. Kuhn making the same run as Maeda, eventually scoring at the back post.

Celtic’s attack focuses on minimum width, meaning when the ball is on the wing, the wide player from the opposite side inverts their run into the box between the opposing full-back and centre-back. This strategy creates more chances of a goal and makes it statistically more probable a goal will be scored.

5 v 4 positive overload, pressing the opponent and regaining possession in final third.

Another strength Celtic have is their out of possession pressing. Celtic’s pressing has not changed since Brendan Rodgers made his return to the club and their PPDA is still the lowest in the league, proving their players are pressing quickly and high up the field. As shown in the image above, Celtic players overload a zone on the field where the opposing ball carrier is positioned, aiming to force an error or win a duel to regain possession. In this passage of play, Celtic regain the position in the final third and the ball is played to James Forrest who finishes the phase with a goal.

Weaknesses

Celtic do have vulnerabilities in their team and tactical approach, which I am sure Rangers will be aware of coming into Sunday’s game. The first area of concern is their goals conceded by set pieces. The table below shows where Celtic sit compared to our teams in the league in this area, the bottom half of the table.

Celtic have had injury problems with Cameron Carter-Vickers this season, and his absence has been telling as he brings a lot of solidity and organisation to the defensive unit.

Celtic v St Johnstone 16.03.24. Full-back not engaging early to close space between himself and ball posssesor. Taylor was caught by run on blind side.

This image will be all too familiar with fans this season as Celtic have lost goals like this in games versus Kilmarnock, Dundee and Lazio, to name a few. There appears to be a lack of urgency in stopping the cross at source, along with defenders being caught ball watching and unable to spot a run on the blind side. There is a lack of visual checks and communications within the unit. Opposing teams are aware of this frailty and have been exploiting this to good effect. This is a key weakness Rangers will look to exploit; as mentioned in Part 1, their attacking play involves Tavernier, who arrives at the back post getting on the end of crosses.

Celtic v Dundee 28.02.24 - Similar passage of play to previous image, lack of contact and containment of opposing strikers in the box. No visual check by either defenders.

Motherwell v Celtic 25.02.24 - Three Celtic defenders are drawn to the ball carrier. Slow reaction to Spittal threat in D area. Johnston in full view of threat.

Another area of improvement in the Celtic's defensive phase of play is their speed to recognise threats and containment of them. The image above shows Blair Spittal in space, calling out for the pass. The player who eventually moves to close him down is Nawrocki, who is marking Bair at the penalty spot. Johnston, being in full view, doesn’t react with a communication or movement. Second balls are an issue that ties into this area of concern if we think back to the game at Easter Road, where Dylan Levitt scored a goal from the same area.

Conclusion

Looking at both sides' strengths and weaknesses, this appears to be a game that will be decided in transition and how each side reacts, positively or negatively. I do believe that no matter the result, there will be a lot of points left to play for and this will not be the decisive game in the race for the league title, but it will certainly put the winner in a great position.

As we all know, a red card or VAR decision can dramatically change the course of the game. Let's hope that the game isn't decided by either of these factors.