Celtic great Pat Bonner has identified one of his “major concerns” with the Parkhead club in recent times, and believes two stars have helped nullify it.
The Hoops managed to make it five consecutive wins as they managed to see off a plucky Aberdeen side yesterday. Indeed, David Turnbull’s howitzer was the only goal of the game. But it was a fixture made more complex by Celtic’s drop in tempo after said goal.
Aberdeen managed to pile the pressure on in the final 10 minutes. However, despite that, Scott Bain didn’t have any real saves of note to make. This was due to the fact Celtic managed to get back and avoided being caught out. A series of late headers from Lennon’s side helped secure the win.
And Bonner believes that both Stephen Welsh and Jonjoe Kenny have played key roles in ensuring the Celtic defence doesn’t have any major leaks.
“Major concern”
Speaking on BBC Sportsound post-match, Bonner said: “I think the major concern was that it was so easy for teams to play against them. Not so much just defending the box, but even when the ball was higher up the pitch – that’s what I was concerned about. There was nobody taking responsibility for that transition on the counter-attack and they were exploited many times.
“It was so easy for teams to play against Celtic earlier on in the season. But I think Stephen Welsh – i know he’s not the biggest and there were times tonight that long ball was hit up and Hornby was flicking things on – but he looks as though he’s better balanced alongside Ajer. Ajer takes chances but he has that burst of pace (to get back).
“I think Jonjoe Kenny also. He’s not one who’s bombing forward every single time. He’s sitting in his position and defending when he has to defend. I think he’s more of a natural right-back. I do think they have to do a lot more work on it (defending) and they do need to get more players into those positions.”
Pat Bonner makes great points; Celtic still need to improve on the transition
Pat is on the money with much of this. When we went with Shane Duffy, it left Celtic far too open on the transition. Especially against teams such as Rangers, Hibs etc, and especially in European football.
How often were Celtic caught out against Sparta Prague, for example, but simply being dispossessed in the midfield and lacking in preparation for it? This was a massive problem particularly when you had Duffy at centre-back and Jeremie Frimpong down the right.
Jeremie was another far too caught out of position against better sides. With Kenny in there, he’s more naturally suited to defending and you can tell that from his positional sense. Outside of his debut at Kilmarnock, Jonjoe has seldom looked to bomb on and get deliveries in. Perhaps because it isn’t the main strong point of his game.
Meanwhile, you have a centre-back in Welsh who has a bit of pace and isn’t rash in the challenge either. Having the duo in our starting XI reaps dividends at the back.
Last night when Ismaila Soro was dispossessed on a couple of occasions, space opened up for Flo Kamberi and Fraser Hornby. However, neither man was able to breach the Celtic back-line. There were no obvious gaps to exploit because our wing-backs were in a slightly deeper position. Only on one occasion did Kenny get caught out and it was in the first 20 minutes.
In that sense we’ve definitely improved, but there’s still major work to be done also. Aberdeen still got a bit too deep into Celtic territory after dispossessing our midfield. Hopefully, it’s something that’s fully rectified in the coming weeks.
In other news, a fresh Neil Lennon backer has emerged.
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