Callum McGregor has hit out at the narrative of Celtic being unable to defend set-pieces and instead provided an interesting take on the situation.
Celtic have struggled to deal with cross balls in recent weeks in what’s been a key frustration. Aberdeen took advantage of 2 free-kicks to cause us a scare at Pittodrie a couple of weeks ago. Dundee were next up as they scored from a corner and a free-kick delivery at Celtic Park on Sunday.
The Hoops still have the fewest goals conceded in the league with only 17 finding their way beyond Joe Hart. But even so, it’s clear there have been some recent problems.
But instead of focusing on the negatives, McGregor believes it only goes to prove just how solid Celtic have been in open play. Speaking via Celtic YouTube, the captain said: “We’ve spoken about it internally. There seems to be a sort of hype around Celtic conceding set-piece goals or not being strong in set plays. Whatever the narrative is.
“But I think that’s only heightened by the fact we don’t concede too many goals at all to be honest. Anybody who starts to analyse where the goals are coming from then it is set plays. That’s the only way teams are really getting in the box to get chances at goal. in a flip sense of that, we’ve defended really well.
“Yes of course the goals at the weekend were disappointing in the sense of the first one bouncing in the 6 yard box and we have to be much stronger defensively. When the ball comes into the box we need to head the ball and take responsibility. But I don’t want to make it a big story as in Celtic can’t defend set-plays. It’s a little bit more than that.”
Callum McGregor stands up for Celtic backline
There are clear improvements to make amongst not just the backline but our defending as a collective. When a set-piece comes into the box, it isn’t just Carl Starfelt and Cameron Carter-Vickers who is tasked with defending it. We need everybody to be switched on.
Instead, we’ve seen far too many switch off or get overpowered in recent weeks. It’s a concern, we can’t get away from it. It’s not something Ange will want to see from his Celtic team and you can clearly tell it’s something we’ll be working on.
However, at the same time, McGregor actually makes a fairly strong point here. He correctly points out that teams – domestically at least – aren’t creating opportunities from open-play against the Hoops. That our last 4 conceded goals came from cross-balls says a low.
It shows what just a solid job the centre-backs and full-backs are doing. If our defence had major concerns then we would be conceding a couple of goals every week. But we know how good they are, and when it comes to general defending it’s difficult to have many complaints.
It remains to be seen if the set-piece problem is something that continues to plague us in the coming weeks. If it persists over the course of March, then perhaps there’s an issue there.
But Cal’s point is difficult to ignore. Perhaps there’s such a spotlight on it because of how impressive we’ve been in every other aspect of our defensive work. It certainly makes you think!
In other news, “We don’t have to be more solid”; Ange Postecoglou delivers firm defence of Celtic backline
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