Just when you think Celtic might be stymied, stifled and kept at least within reach of a lucky slugger’s punch … well, we all know what usually happens. Ask the St Mirren players who so effectively restrained and contained their hosts for so much of Saturday night’s Scottish Cup clash – yet still ended up being pummelled by Ange Postecoglou’s hardened winners.
True, the strength of Celtic’s bench was a significant factor in the Hoops eventually leaving the visitors trailing. The fact that four of their goals came from substitutes tells its own story.
As much as switching personnel gave the reigning champions different options, however, this was a victory built not on change – but on continuity. With Postecoglou, there is Plan A. And then there is Plan A-plus. Anyone who doesn’t fully commit to that has long since been cleared out. Leaving only true believers willing to put their entire faith in Ange-ball. That confidence was further rewarded, despite the odd struggle, with progress to the last eight of the Scottish Cup.
Stephen Robinson’s St Mirren presented them with serious problems for much of this game, their 5-3-2 formation proving both difficult to breach and flexible enough to carry a threat on the break. Against a Celtic side who often end up in a 2-3-5 when attacking (photo 1), there was a nice symmetry to the plan, too.
Alex Gogic was outstanding for the visitors. A defensive midfielder who usually gets altitude sickness if he ventures too far away from the back line, he was actually deployed as the furthest forward of his team’s central three – sitting right on top of Callum McGregor. To good effect.
Not that shutting down one threat was ever going to be enough, of course. As Celtic made clear from the off.
Daezen Maeda hit the post with a cross-shot, almost certainly unintentional, after getting some space on the flank with about ten minutes gone. Key to this was Aaron Mooy being able to draw left centre-back Richard Taylor out of that back five, creating a broken line that could be exploited with a ball over the top (photo 2).
The breakthrough goal after 15 minutes, with Kyogo Furuhashi off injured, Liel Abada on and Maeda moved to centre forward, was a great example of what the idea of “inverted full-backs” means beyond some catchphrase dropped into conversations to make us all sound smart.
What really matters isn’t just Greg Taylor and Alistair Johnston stepping up alongside McGregor. The important bit is the freedom this then gives the other two midfielders to break that final line, making precisely the sort of runs that are difficult to track.
Mooy getting goal side of Richard Taylor driving into space for a pass from Abada (photo 3) is a textbook example of what you’d want against a back three/five. From there, it’s as simple as a low hard cross – worth half a goal already – for Maeda to open the scoring.
St Mirren really played very well after losing that opener. David Turnbull was kept quiet. Maeda’s energy often seemed to get him nowhere.
When the introduction of Heongyu Oh allowed Maeda to move back to the left wing, though, everything changed. It was Maeda’s battling that enabled Celtic to create an overload on that flank, drawing St Mirren players towards the ball and leaving Abada lurking around the danger zone (photo 4) to win the penalty that saw fellow sub Reo Hatate score – and Richard Taylor red carded.
From there, well, it wasn’t quite a matter of how many Celtic would score. But trying to stop them with 11 men is hard enough. The ten-man visitors simply couldn’t plug the gaps.
Ho looks more than a handful, clearly someone who enjoys the physical side of the game. He moved Marcus Fraser back and forward several times with his movement in the lead-up to his goal, before simply out-muscling the defender to pounce the rebound from McGregor’s shot (photo 5).
St Mirren restoring some pride with a penalty was punished by a Matt O’Riley screamer in the final minute of the 90, before Hatate began (photo 6) and finished (photo 7) an injury-time move that showed just how difficult it is to contain Celtic when they start moving the ball to drag opponents all over the park. Plan A? Even on days when the performance might be an A-minus, against top-six opponents making life difficult, it gets the job done.
READ NEXT
