Derby Day Special: Ange Postecoglou's Interpretation of Juego de Posición
A 2-2 draw between Rangers and Celtic at Ibrox maintained the latter's lead at the top of the table, but Michael Beale's reign at Rangers is bringing back familiar talking points.
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Contents
Rangers 2-2 Celtic
The Role of Centre Backs in Juego de Posición
Inverted… Centre Backs?
Concluding Remarks
xPoints Table
Rangers 2-2 Celtic
After an early opener and a late equaliser, Celtic took a point in a game where the general consensus is that they didn’t deserve it. From the graphs above, that’s approximately a fair statement to make. Very little was created between their two goals and a series of Rangers chances - including a penalty - led to the most probably outcomes being Rangers scoring twice and Celtic scoring once. Pedantically, it could be argued that 0.68 xPoints is closer to 1.0 than 0.0 so maybe Celtic did deserve a draw but this analysis will focus on why Celtic’s expectations from this match ended up so low (after a good start) rather than if they were too low.
Going into the match, Celtic had a rough idea of what to expect from Michael Beale’s Rangers. Despite only taking charge of a few games, Beale - as Steven Gerrard’s former assistant - is often credited as the tactician from Gerrard’s time with Rangers. The return of some hallmark traits (high and wide fullbacks facilitated by a double pivot, inverted wingers, and extreme compactness) signalled that this was true and that Beale had every intention of re-implementing aspects of the system that earned Gerrard and him a move to the English Premier League.
Gerrard’s last derby saw a slight out of possession change that made for an interesting dynamic in Celtic’s build up. Previous to that game, AZ Alkmaar had shown the efficacy of man-marking Callum McGregor - Celtic’s #6. A back line lacking in progression capabilities was heavily reliant on McGregor’s on-ball capabilities and looking to prevent him receiving the ball comfortably left Celtic without this outlet. Rangers brought Ryan Kent in from the left to sit behind a front two and man-mark McGregor. Not wanting to split their front line entirely and lose compactness, they also made the decision to not follow the ball to Celtic’s right, allowing Anthony Ralston the ball in build up whereas they were much more alert to Josip Juranovic on Celtic’s left.
What this signified was Rangers’ (and Beale’s) understanding of Celtic’s limitations. Celtic’s centre backs can easily be funnelled towards desired areas when the correct pressure (or block) is applied. For this match, it was Stephen Welsh and Carl Starfelt. Today, it was Cameron Carter-Vickers - a player with a loan spell that compelled Ange Postecoglou to authorise a £6m spend - who lined up alongside Starfelt. Joe Hart was in goal both times. Juranovic was brought on as Celtic’s left back once again after Greg Taylor went off injured early in the match and Alistair Johnston debuted as right back. While it’s perhaps too early to comment on the latter, the rest of the back line was very similar in balance, and led to a similar result.
Rangers sought to shut down Celtic’s left with an increased presence and took the chance in more individual battles on their right. Taylor stayed wide early in the match, playing multiple vertical passes through the traffic, as a means to counteract this but due to injury had to be replaced by right footed - and naturally right sided - Juranovic who was consequently more inclined to get caught in the block. With their trademark tight central compactness (along with man-marking McGregor again), they restricted the centre too and were able to largely prevent Celtic’s build up from circumventing this - even as good as McGregor and Reo Hatate were when receiving in traffic. The following visuals highlight this.
The Role of Centre Backs in Juego de Posición
The reason this is being highlighted over other debate points from this match (individual mistakes, team selection etc) is because of its implications for Celtic on a macro level. This is something that has accompanied the Celtic journey since Postecoglou’s debut and hasn’t changed, even with the arrival of several new signings. It’s therefore important to zoom out and hypothesise why this could be.
Postecoglou is a disciple of Juego de Posición (JdP; Positional Play). Its applicability and utility as a tactical approach have been discussed previously so is beyond the scope of this analysis but a detailed breakdown of the concept can be found here and its application to Postecoglou’s Celtic can be found here.
The essence of JdP is the belief that rigid positional structures and rules can generate superiorities, and Celtic have had a lot of success with this. Daniel Fernandez’ (translated) quotes (in full here) on the concept, however, highlight a juxtaposition with the role of Celtic’s centre backs in Postecoglou’s interpretation of JdP.
The concept of ‘free-man’ is fundamental.
Passing is not played for the sake of passing, rather players master the concept of when to drive and when to pass.
Driving makes it possible to attract rivals, thus causing the appearance of ‘free-men’.
The main idea of everything is to generate superiority behind the line that comes to squeeze the ball holder.
It is essential that superiorities are built from behind, from the front line. For this reason, a fundamental principle of his game idea is for the ball to come clean from the defenders.
If the role of the centre back - through driving and creating free players - is so intertwined with the DNA of JdP then Celtic’s centre back profile not emphasising traits related to this is a limitation. That isn’t to say that Celtic’s centre backs are incapable - or even necessarily ‘bad’ - on the ball, but neither are they comfortable engaging and working through pressure.
Often in this match, Carter-Vickers carried the ball slanted towards the right in build up. Later in the match, when Kent was less protected by the front line, this enabled him to stay on McGregor who was then less free to receive the ball in the next phase, after Carter-Vickers released the ball. Ideally, Carter-Vickers would have carried the ball vertically to the point of engaging Kent and then released it. Even playing the same pass wide right from here would have different consequences. The dynamism of Kent would have been hindered, forced to take a step forward - or at the very least freeze - with his attention switched to the ball carrier. This would have afforded McGregor more time and space if the wide right pass then came back inside.
Inverted… Centre Backs?
A centre back’s natural foot also plays into this. Welsh is a good comparison for this as he has played both sides of the centre back partnership this season. When played on the right, Welsh naturally mimics the patterns observed with Carter-Vickers today. On the left, he is forced to drive vertically on the ball which encourages situations akin to those deemed desirable within the confines of JdP. The following visuals illustrate this conceptually with Welsh’s league passes from either side provided as a heatmap.
Below is an annotated example of this with Welsh as a right sided centre back.
Here is a similarly annotated example but with Welsh as a left sided centre back.
‘Inverting’ centre backs is an interesting idea. Left sided centre backs are right footed more often than right sided centre backs are left footed purely because the majority of the population prefers their right side. Additionally, there are benefits to possession circulation that come with playing centre backs on their ‘natural’ side. This scouting report on Leo Hjelde before his move to Leeds highlights why him being a left footed left sided centre back is desirable. However, inverting centre backs could be a novel approach to favouring incision - engaging forwards and exploiting superiorities within a JdP approach - over possession circulation.
Concluding Remarks
As mentioned, Celtic’s centre backs are not bad in possession and it’s unfair to categorise them as such. However, it’s important to further identify what works and what doesn’t and Celtic’s centre backs largely struggle with one of the most important aspects of JdP when facing pressure: driving, engaging, and creating a free player. The other important clarification is opposition strength. Against the majority of Celtic’s opposition, limitations on the ball in defence may not stop the ball being progressed. Maybe the centre backs can get away with it, maybe it’s less of an issue for McGregor to just drop short and pick it up from them, or maybe you could invert your centre backs and force them into playing this way. Against better opposition, though, this cannot be considered a sustainable solution. If Postecoglou’s Celtic want to take the next step up then an increased emphasis on driving, engaging, and creating free players in their profiling of centre backs will help them on their way.
Stephen do you think Yuki Kobayashi will provide a better option on the left side for ball progression?