CHRIS SUTTON has delivered his big match verdict after Celtic beat Ferencvaros 3-2 in the Europa League.
The bhoys have guaranteed European football beyond Christmas after beating the Hungarian side and for Chris, it shows a sharp turnaround in where Celtic are now compared to the summer.
Speaking on BT Sports as cited by RecordSport, the former Celtic star was very positive about Celtic’s display and the team going forward:
“Take it back to the first two games in the group. They lost those two and the pressure was on to win these two games back-to-back and they did – and deservedly so.
“The team are making progress, he had a lot to deal with when he first came in, Ange Postecoglou, three players scoring tonight, three of his signings.
“They are starting to gel. No one is saying Celtic have cracked it, there’s still a long way to go and they still shoot themselves in the foot, still make mistakes.
“But they are getting there, and the performance tonight was a really good sign.
“We spoke about it at half-time, it’s a consequence of the high-risk football they play.
“I’ve got to say, one who’s really impressed me is Carter-Vickers. We saw him have a hopeless game for Spurs in the Conference League and I worried about him, he was a last-minute signing in the window.
“But I do think he’s really stepped up and his leadership skills at the back, the way he’s read the game, he attacks the ball when it goes into the box – he was superb tonight once again.
“Celtic will always try and play their way out of trouble, there’s an argument to say Abada should have just punted the ball into the channel (on the first Ferencvaros goal) but there was nobody there and the manager would be really angry with him.
“He’d say ‘this isn’t the way we want to play’. It was a misplaced pass, it was a careless pass, but Ange Postecoglou will say ‘we need to tidy up’.
“They made mistakes playing out throughout the game and that’s going to be a feature of Celtic this season.”
Celtic were in disarray in the summer. It’s not an overnight job, we’ve already seen it’s a bumpy road on the way to eventual success. The Livingston draw brought us back down to earth, but the result in Budapest certainly shows we’re a team on the rise.
There’s a chance we can still qualify for the Europa League knockout stages, but if not the Conference League awaits.
Ange and his bhoys can be proud of their night’s work. The game ended 3-2 but Celtic were in control of the game throughout. A late second goal by Ferencvaros gave them a chance towards the end that their play didn’t deserve.
Chris echoes the sentiments of many Celtic fans at this point. Onwards and upwards.
I am still not convinced about the Celtics defensive policy. I have to ask the questions (after watching the major teams in England especially Liverpool and their respective defensive policies), why do we still use a one-one man-marking system which does not allow us to put pressure on the ball. The major teams down south all have two to three men close to any apposing attacker that gets anywhere near their penalty areas and especially in the penalty area, i.e., they must not cross, shoot or be permitted to pass across the box! may I, therefore, point out to big Chris as a pundit, why are you not advocating what is called “pressure on the ball policy”. If we were applying that philosophy in our defensive approach we would not lose so many goals. Therefore please I say and also to our manager “pressure on the ball”, as a policy please”!
Now the clearance procedure as big Joe is trying to get through to team members dribbling, short passing to each other and dangerous pass backs to big Joe himself is clearly a problem. All I can say to that one is simply “if in doubt put it out and preferably into the oppositions half”, so to any player caught in that situation, just put your foot through the ball and clear it which then allows the defence to re-group and forces the opposition to re-think.
To big Chris Sutton how about a word or two on these matters I have just written about, please. also it does not matter if you fully agree or disagree with me, just let us know your thoughts on these matters?
JD.