Celtic stand one game away from a Scottish Cup Final against Aberdeen, and two games from another Domestic Treble. The Bhoys had only managed three in their entire history before the 2016/17 season. Since then, they have accumulated five more. Although, beforehand, they must deal with a St Johnstone side who shocked Scottish Football a fortnight ago with a 1-0 win over the Champions. Brendan Rodgers defiantly warned that on Sunday afternoon the Champions will not be giving away more “gifts in mentality”. How though, will he set up his side? We answer on Last Word on Football, with our Celtic Predicted Lineup.
Celtic Predicted Lineup vs St Johnstone
How Celtic Have Lined Up Recently
A week after an underwhelming performance in Perth, Rodgers made wholesale changes. Vilijami Sinsalo kept his place in goals. Alistair Johnson and Cameron Carter-Vickers remained, but Liam Scales and Greg Taylor returned to the defence. Carter-Vickers produced an outstanding strike for Celtic’s third goal, which caught widespread attention.
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In midfield, Callum McGregor, Reo Hatate and Arne Engels took to the field once more. Hatate produced one of his best performances of the season to date. Two goals included, one of them an absolute worldy, the twenty-seven-year-old looked head and shoulders above the rest.
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Up front, James Forrest made his first start since November, with Adam Idah and Daizen Maeda alongside. Unfortunately, Idah has been in the headlines for the wrong reasons, after a viral video revealed the Irishman being sick on a Wednesday night out. His manager defended him resolutely, saying, “It’s a shame that a 24-year-old footballer in his spare time can’t let his hair down without someone trying to film him. It’s a challenge now for people in general and particularly if you’re a young footballer.”
Celtic’s Recent Form and Tactics
From the very first minute, there was a greater pace and intensity to the Hoops game against Kilmarnock. So much so, that they found themselves four goals to the good after just 24 minutes. More importantly, Celtic looked a much more balanced side.
With Forrest and Maeda out wide, the former looked to cut inside, with the latter providing the width with typical runs to the by-line.
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A re-introduced Taylor also excelled, finding pockets of space throughout the park. Against a resolute 4-5-1 or 5-4-1 defence, an inverted fullback can often be counter-productive. Against such structures, quick switches of play are beneficial to try and move the opposition around as well as crosses and shots. Simply, you have to try and unsettle the defence, and let them know that by sitting back, they are inviting pressure.
However, against a man-marking side like Derek McInnes’s Kilmarnock, the inverted role is so beneficial, as you can drag opposition players into areas that they find uncomfortable, which you can’t do in a zonal system.
Thanks to footballtacticalboard.com, we can use a template to illustrate this. Take a look at the first goal:
Kilmarnock’s set up is sound with every man marked, however, as Taylor cuts inside, Daniel Armstrong realises that he can no longer mark him. If you watch the goal in real-time, you see him pointing to his midfield to do so.
Should Joe Wright pick him up, then Forrest and Idah are two on two in the box against Stuart Findlay and Corrie Nbada. The Killie centre-back stays put.
So, Taylor takes advantage of the space and drops inside. This forces Kilmarnock to act, with Wright getting closer.
A clever one-touch pass leaves the space open for Hatate who can either shoot, or release either of Idah, Engels and Forrest should a defender interact with him. The rest is history.
Injuries to Consider
Dane Murray, Yang and Kasper Schmeichel remain the only absentees.
Celtic Predicted Lineup
Vilijami Sinsalo
Alistair Johnson
Cameron Carter-Vickers
Liam Scales
Greg Taylor
Callum McGregor
Reo Hatate
Arne Engels
James Forrest
Adam Idah
Daizen Maeda
