Midfield Tweak Brings Sixcess

Against St Johnstone Rodger’s made a subtle change to the midfield shape at half time counter intuitively withdrawing McGregor deeper. And it won the game, moving Celtic 6 points clear.

At the half Celtic were utterly dominant in terms of possession. With 83% possession, seven Celtic players had completed 50 or more passes but only 7 shots with one on target had been generated. Only 5 chances were created and 4 shots taken inside the opposition box.

Celtic set up in a 4-3-3 with Brown anchoring and McGregor and Christie acting as Number 8’s shuttling down the inside left and right channels. Celtic’s play became bogged down across the back and middle however.

The passing density map shows the volume of passes by position. The larger the circle the more passes completed.

Despite territorial domination, a competent and experienced Saints side were happy at 0-0.

The half time switch was slight with McGregor dropping in beside Brown and Christie pushing forward as more of a number 10 changing the shape to 4-2-3-1.

After 60 minutes the passing density map now looked like this:

Play was flowing through Brown and McGregor and not the defence. Now, in the past, this has often led to stagnation when there are two 6’s (think Bitton and Brown under Deila). But in this match the impacts were various and all positive for Celtic:

• Brown was no longer first receiver, McGregor was

• McGregor was receiving the ball with more time and space

• Christie was free to roam and find space between the lines and support Burke whenever he liked

• Lustig suddenly had acres of space as Brown covered his wing

In the second half McGregor completed 78 passes, Brown 58 and no other player passed 50. Brown completed 13 Pack Passes (forward passes taking out at least one opponent) and McGregor 16. Their respective season averages are 5.95 and 6.66.

53 minutes - Coming from deeper, with Brown distracting Davidson on a now overloaded right flank, Lustig, able to advance, found McGregor with a clear run at goal. He advanced and finished superbly from distance. His technique is too good to be given that much time to take aim.

55 minutes - Two minutes later the trick was repeated as Brown and Lustig combined to find Christie floating. He completed 1-2-3 touches to die for in scoring a wonderful goal.

In the second half Christie had 4 shots and created 3 chances in his 36 minutes after 1 shot and 0 chances created in the first. With Rogic out for 6 weeks and Ntcham recovering from a hamstring injury, Christie’s flexibility will be key.

The change Rodger’s made was small but indicative of a manager and squad who know each other well.

Having players of the adaptability of McGregor and Christie obviously helps.