When looking back at Celtic’s recent 2-0 win over Rangers, one thing that springs to mind is how different a performance it was to almost all of Celtic’s other performances this season.
Up until the visit to Ibrox, Celtic seemed to be about all-out attack this season. This had led to results like the 7-0 win over St Johnstone, and the 5-2 victory at Motherwell.
Team had been all about scoring goals
Even in Europe, the Hoops have focused on scoring goal, to both the benefit, and detriment to the side. For example, the 4-3 loss to Cluj might not have happened had the Hoops concentrated more on defending. However, the recent 4-1 win over AIK showed that Celtic weren’t afraid to go for the jugular.
Neil Lennon decided to change things for the trip to Ibrox though. He was determined that the Hoops would stand up to any Rangers attacks on the day.
Every player defended set-pieces
That meant that when Rangers had corners or free-kicks, every Celtic player would be back to defend the situation. Even the likes of Odsonne Edouard and James Forrest, who have been the Hoops’ best attacking players this season.
That did not mean that Celtic didn’t want to win the game, Lennon played his most prominent attacking players in the match. However, perhaps Celtic weren’t as attack-minded as thy have been in previous games this season.
The strategy paid off, as the Hoops pulled off a famous victory. Neil Lennon deserves plenty of credit for that. He was adamant that Celtic were going to come away from Ibrox with the points, and changed his team to suit that.
The strategy could also be used when the Hoops travel away from home in the Europa League group stages. There seems to a blueprint now set for the style of play Celtic can use when faced with a difficult away game. All the credit for that has to be given to the manager.
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