Bodo/Glimt came to Celtic Park with a plan and executed it to near perfection. The Norwegian champions beat Celtic 3-1 on their own patch and brought us all back down to earth after a very good start to the year.
But how did they do it?
They played us at our own game and were more effective at doing so if you’re looking at it in broad stroke terms.
However, there was also plans in place in specific parts of the pitch to make it difficult for Celtic from the off and we didn’t really react to the challenges they posed.
Greg Taylor was pinpointed as a weak link – they constantly doubled up on the Celtic defender and had Solbakken on him all night. It was evident early on the defender needed help but was given little cover.
Their goalkeeper was pivotal to starting attacks and beating Celtic’s press. Intelligent and on-point passing really helped them get up the pitch.
They were happy to concede space in the wide areas knowing they had a much more physical presence in the box. Allowing our wingers to throw the ball into the box and clearing their area without too much hassle most of the time. Yes, Celtic got a late goal from the wide areas but it was effective most of the night.
Celtic were humbled and outplayed. They were so rattled at points, making 5 or 10-yard passes was an issue. To chalk this up to a bad day at the office would be doing our progress a major disservice.
- O’Riley and Tom Rogic shouldn’t start the same game again this season. One or the other.
- Hatate should always be a starter, if fit and available.
- Celtic’s left back solution for the away leg could be Josip Juranovic moving over to the left and Ralston coming in at Right back. Josip is more mobile and can recover quicker than Taylor.
It’ll be interesting to watch the game on Thursday with Celtic fans expectations pretty low at this point. Can we get them worried? It remains to be seen.
Or to put it into context. Bobo turned a five man defence into a five man attack. After scoring two goals, they sat back a bit, made three substitutions, let Celtic score.
Then scored their third. After the second goal went in. Angers face looked like he had a wasps nest in it. He never gave Bobo the respect it required. He respects them more now. Only half time I know, but Bobo have the ability to score, defend and confuse Celtic in Norway. Ohh and Celtic needed a big man at the back. If you saw both sets of players come down the tunnel most of Bobo were Baldes Celtic were their S form.