Ferencvaros manager Peter Stoger has outlined exactly how he’ll set-up against Celtic in Hungary tonight.
The Hungarian outfit host the Hoops in a massive Europa League clash tonight at the Groupama Arena. Celtic fans have been banned from the game due to UK Vaccine Passports not being accepted for access to the stadium.
The Celtic support roared on their side to a 2-0 win over Ferencvaros a fortnight ago at Parkhead. And it’s fair to say we watched an overly negative approach from Stoger’s side. Ferencvaros looked to hit Celtic on the counter and absorb as much pressure as possible.
But after being blown away at Parkhead, the former Austrian Bundesliga winner has told his club’s website they’ll be looking to go all guns blazing tonight:
“We have to be aggressive, we have to attack. We know that we need to score points to continue our international presence. We have performed well in our matches so far, we have been close to scoring several times. We have the confidence, if we do our job perfectly, then there may be three points. There were things we did well in the away game, we saw the mistakes of that match, by Thursday the goal is to avoid them.
“We need to focus on defense because Celtic is very strong in attack, so we need strong defense, we know how much support for fans will mean. In Scotland, we didn’t put enough pressure on the opponent, we discussed this several times to avoid having the opponent create easy situations. We had a couple of well-structured counterattacks.
“We are expected to win every match, and the players’ self-confidence is important for that. We’ll see what happens against an opponent like Celtic. On paper, we are not the favourites, but with the support of the fans, the scoring can come together.”
Celtic backline needs to prepare for increased Ferencvaros pressure
You can see that Stoger knows exactly where his side went wrong yesterday. They don’t feel they put enough pressure on the Celtic players when out of possession.
Sure, you could look at Kyogo’s goal 2 weeks ago and say it came from Jota beating the press. That’s fair enough, but Ferencvaros weren’t aggressive or committed enough when putting pressure on the midfield or the defence.
Everything they did looked half-hearted. As if they didn’t fully understand how to press Celtic whilst keeping a solid shape to their set-up. There’s a reason it was so easy for Jota to beat the press.
In fact, you’ll do well to remember a single incident in the game in which they forced us into a defensive mistake. Top striker Ryan Mmaee was barely in the game, whilst Celtic managed to do a number on their midfield as they stifled and got on top of them from the outset.
It’s no wonder Stoger is looking for a more positive approach from his team tonight. You have to imagine it’s something the Ferencvaros supporters will be demanding in truth.
So let’s see if they can put it into practice. It’s going to be a big night for both clubs, and Celtic will need to try and deal with a different Ferencvaros.
In other news, Watch: Superb footage emerges of class Celtic support in Budapest
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