FORWARD PLANNING
Armstrong is aiming to find the right balance ahead of Bayern clash
MANY will tell you that Kilmarnock’s Saturday afternoon performance at Celtic Park presented Brendan Rodgers with a precise — and rather useful — blueprint.
Here, in thundering flesh and coursing blood, was a ready-made plan for stifling and strangling brilliant Bayern Munich in tomorrow night’s Champions League encounter.
We should expect by now that those advocating a more pragmatic approach in the world’s most demanding club competition will not find a receptive audience within this Celtic squad.
Regardless of reputation and unaffected by a 3-0 loss in Bavaria in their last meeting, Rodgers will send his players out to entertain, enthral and enchant. And that means going at Bayern with intent and ambition.
There will be no attempt to ‘sich hinten reinstellen’; you probably didn’t learn that one in Leaving Cert Higher Level German, but in colloquial football language, it’s the equivalent of the slightly odd English phrase ‘to park the bus.’
Stuart Armstrong, whose second-half introduction to a deliberately alternative line-up couldn’t turn Celtic’s record-breaking day into a victory celebration in the 11 draw with Killie, certainly doesn’t anticipate a gameplan based solely on defence.
‘I don’t think it has been the manager’s style in any of the Champions League games we have played so far,’ he said. ‘We are organised and try to control the game a bit more — but we do not try to sit in and take what we can get.
‘We approach every single game that we want to go and attack — do what we are best at doing.
‘Of course, equally, against better opposition maybe we play on the counter a bit more than we do domestically.
‘You need to be organised and compact when you play these teams. Finding the balance of both is going to be important.’
Shifting gear from the rather stuttering pace of Saturday’s encounter won’t be overly easy, even allowing for as many as half a dozen changes to the starting line-up for the Bayern game.
More than half of the starting XI against Killie either definitely won’t make the line-up — or certainly can’t be overly disappointed when they’re overlooked — for a Champions League clash that will define the remainder of Celtic’s European season. Rodgers has good reason for resting so many crucial players.
Since an international break that saw a whole swathe of Celtic players turning out for their countries, a run of club fixtures going Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday has left little time for recovery.
And if their recent trip to Bavaria emphasised anything, it’s that Celtic will need all of their key players — those fit enough to play — in something approaching peak shape for the visit of Bayern.
Among those who suffered in the Allianz Arena, there is an acceptance that the visitors didn’t quite do themselves justice over 90 difficult minutes.
‘Yes, certain aspects of the game, maybe losing the ball too cheaply and not looking after it as we would have liked,’ conceded Armstrong. It is always difficult. You can get it back quicker, domestically, when you lose it.
‘But, playing against top European teams, if you lose it you have to work that bit harder to get it back. We will need to be more careful in our possession. It is special here at Celtic Park at the best of times — but on Champions League nights it is a different occasion entirely.
‘We had a big game at Pittodrie during the week, a fantastic performance there to beat Aberdeen 3-0, and sometimes it is difficult to come off the back of a performance like that.
‘But Tuesday is another occasion to impress, entertain — and hopefully get something out of the game. Certainly there is an advantage in being at home with the fans, with the atmosphere they create.’
Those supporters would have done very well to create much of a frisson on Saturday, given the lack of oomph in a game that saw Steve Clarke’s Killie — unbeaten in visits to Ibrox and now Celtic Park in his opening two fixtures — apply a kind of death grip on their hosts in and around the away goalmouth.
Even when Leigh Griffiths finally broke through two minutes from half-time, peeling off the shoulder of Gordon Greer to steer a stealthy Eboue Kouassi ball over the top beyond Jamie MacDonald, there were few signs that Celtic would run riot.
Jordan Jones’ equaliser just on the hour mark was a fine reward for both his persistence in following up his own shot off the post — and his ability to play a onetwo with Rory McKenzie before finishing in style.
Griffiths stretched the Killie defence with a couple of outstanding low deliveries right across the six-yard box, the only problem being that he wasn’t able to be in two places at once to apply a finishing touch, and even the introduction of Moussa Dembele couldn’t break the visitors down.
Although there were some clear signs of frustration in the stands, dropping a couple of points in this phoney war — a campaign guaranteed to end with Celtic retaining their title — provoked only muted displeasure from supporters.
They knew that this was like watching one of those shadow boxing sessions put on before the big fight. It was a public work-out ahead of the Bayern match. But by avoiding defeat, of course, Celtic wrote themselves into the history books. In equalling a 100year-old British record of 62 domestic games without loss, the Invincibles ensured that they’ll always be remembered. ‘It is always nice to reach history like that,’ admitted Armstrong. ‘It is something you can look back on when you are finished and be happy that you were part of it. ‘The occasion itself was a bit disappointing because of the game, to get just one point when we were looking for all three.
‘I suppose people won’t remember that but, in the same sense, we’ve been working on one thing since the start of last season.
‘We have always been relentless in the league, making sure we take full points — not being lackadaisical in our performances. It might be a bit of both, us being off and Kilmarnock playing well.
‘I thought they were very organised, very defensive minded and they closed the middle of the pitch well. They looked to frustrate us which they did for plenty of the game. But our job as attacking, creative players is to break through that and create opportunities — and I don’t think we really did enough of that.’
Tomorrow night’s challenge will inevitably see Celtic cast more in the role played by Killie on Saturday.
Just don’t expect them to have been persuaded to take the same approach.