Norwegian international claims Celtic play "special football" under Ange Postecoglou

By David Walton

November 3, 2021

Norwegian international and Ferencvaros forward Tokmac Nguen has stated that Celtic play “special football” as he highlighted the inverted full-back tactic deployed by Ange Postecoglou.

Since the start of the season, Postecoglou has looked to bring his wing-backs into the central area in an inverted role. It’s taken some getting used to, with Celtic still trying to find the right balance within the system.

2 weeks ago of course, the Hoops put in a dominant display against Ferencvaros with the system in place. A controlled midfield performance led to the Hungarians failing to score for the first time in the groups this season.

And as they prepared for the game, Nguen made the following remarks via Nemzeti Sport: “The Scots play special football, their wingers are positioned differently than we are used to. But we play at home tomorrow, we have a chance because the fans are by our side too.”

Manager Peter Stoger also discussed tomorrow’s match via the same outlet, stating: “Unfortunately, it’s not that simple that we just have to be more aggressive, more aggressive. We have a more complex task ahead of us so that we can continue our international presence in the spring. We have performed well at home so far, but we know we will need a perfect game to score. 

“We also had encouraging solutions abroad, but we made a lot of mistakes, we need to keep this to a minimum. We have to pay attention to the defense because Celtic attacks well.”

Celtic need to expect a higher intensity from Ferencvaros tomorrow

Celtic asserted their game onto Ferencvaros at Parkhead. That can’t be denied considering their midfield was often posted missing. They failed to get anything out of top striker Ryan Mmaee, and that was simply down to how controlled the performance was from Celtic.

However, at the same time, Ferencvaros set up to frustrate. They looked to sit deep and hit on the counter – similar to what they did at Celtic Park last season when they bagged a 2-1 win. Nguen was the match-winner in that one remember.

But you wouldn’t expect a similar performance in Hungary. They’ll be a lot more in Celtic’s faces and will likely try to deploy a hard and high press to force some defensive errors. Especially if Stoger is away of our defensive concerns.

At Celtic Park, it at times felt like a walk in the park. Again, tomorrow night will have a massively different feel to it. The Hoops will go into the game rightly as favourites. But to suggest a similar pattern to 2 weeks ago would be naive.

Celtic, remember, have conceded 10 goals in 4 away European games this season. We still have plenty to prove as a defensive unit on the continent. Things have generally shored up domestically, but you can never tell what to expect from Celtic on the European road.

Hopefully, we bag a positive result, and if we do, it’ll be because we’ve dealt that rise of intensity well.

In other news, Ange Postecoglou explains new Celtic contract for Anthony Ralston