Plymouth Argyle manager Steven Schumacher has revealed that Celtic’s Scottish League Cup Final win over Rangers earlier in the year was the basis for a change in approach to his tactics.
Schumacher guided Plymouth to automatic promotion from English League One last season and looks like consolidating his side’s place in the second tier this term after a decent start to the English Championship campaign.
Part of his side’s evolution has come about because of the Bhoys and specifically the way Ange Postecoglou’s side dismantled their city rivals back in February. Celtic emerged as 2-1 winners from the Hampden clash thanks to a double from Kyogo Furuhashi.
Schumacher said on the Official EFL Podcast: “I got the opportunity the back end of last season to go and watch Celtic against Rangers in the Scottish League Cup final and I was really impressed with how Celtic played. Considering it was a cup final they had so much control of the game.
“They were really on the front foot, really positive and got loads of bodies forward, and never looked as though they were under any pressure to transition and counter attack. So I sort of had it in my mind if we got to the Championship that might be an idea for us going forward because in League One playing a back three, and being expansive, we were quite often open to counter attacks.
“We just felt stepping into the Championship with the added quality that might cause us a problem so go with four defenders rather than three. When I went and spoke to Ange, and he explained it all and the plusses and the negatives to the system, I just felt ‘Let’s have a go at it’.
“I wanted to try to get that message across to the players, and have control of possession in the Championship against better teams and see how we got on. After eight games I think we have done really well in seven of them, and then the ninth game against Norwich we went back to a system we are comfortable in.
“I’m glad the players have got a good understanding of it. I feel as though I have got a better grasp how to coach 4-3-3, but also we have now got two systems we can play, and that keeps the opposition guessing I suppose with how we are going to set up every week.”
Schumacher isn’t the first and won’t be the last to be inspired by the way Postecoglou goes about his business. In fact, now he’s at Spurs, he’s likely to become even more influential due to exposure in a league with massive worldwide reach.
Rodgers hasn’t changed too much over the summer either. Celtic are still effectively playing that 4-3-3 system. In recent weeks, we’ve even seen Greg Taylor given license to play more centrally like he did last term, to good effect.
Celtic are still an impressive force and over time, the changes the new manager makes will hopefully be just as potent as Ange’s side were last term.
Regardless, it’s great to hear the Bhoys’ attacking style having an influence on other up-and-coming managers.
In other news, Brendan Rodgers and Reo Hatate react after big Celtic contract extension.
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