Celtic 1 St Mirren 1
When Jose Mourinho claimed Tottenham "brought the bus and they left the bus in front of the goal" at Stamford bridge in September 2004, I am sure many Celtic supporters knew exactly the sentiment intended.
With the gulf between Celtic, their closest rival, and the rest of the league at its widest, it is not unusual for teams to line up at Celtic Park as if it was a damage limitation exercise. Most try and fail, though some notable successes such as Dunfermline’s 1-0 victory in 2004 where they played a delightful 5-5-0 formation, should be remembered. In some sense, the success of 'parking the bus' is determined by the way in which a team parks it.
St Mirren parked strategically, with concentration, energy, and discipline. For the most part, leaving the bus more at the 18-yard box than the goal line, with Celtic not getting beyond it there with any sense of purpose. Celtic struggled all game to break down St Mirren, who seemed a far fitter and better drilled team than their appearance at Celtic Park earlier in the season. Not to say the Paisley side played pretty football, as the bus parking suggested, it was very much an off the ball type performance. When Celtic had it St Mirren worked tirelessly to close the spaces down, and again, like several teams this season, allowed only Celtic's back four time on the ball.
A team playing with natural fullbacks, can comfortably take possession, link and overlap with the midfield, however with Celtic's dearth in that position, both O'Dea, and Caldwell were often left in unfamiliar and by the looks of things highly uncomfortable positions. To their credit, both players made all attempts to get forward, but their possession, use of the ball, and most importantly delivery into the box were just not good enough for players covering the roles expected of them.
St Mirren's defence were just batting every crossed or through ball back at Celtic and almost asking them to come up with something that might actually trouble them. Again like most games this season, McGeady and McDonald endeavoured, but McGeady was sometimes left with 2 and even 3 men covering his driving runs, and McDonald found himself at times alone in his pursuit to force the bus back to the goal line. Hesselink a complete passenger again, seemed unable to even get in its way when it veered in any way forward.
Hartley and Brown in Celtic's engine room played with as little effect, and verve as you will see from them this season. With McGeady perpetually marked by two defenders, someone in midfield really should have been moving enough to benefit from the space. Brown seemed to lose the ball any time he stepped forward, yet Hartley seemed content on letting Brown be the one to engineer attacking moves. Jarosik was drifting inside from his left midfield slot, possibly in an attempt to influence play, but it did seem to confuse matters when Celtic broke forward. Jarosik isn’t a natural wide player, so is often content to drift more centrally and let the fullback go by him, and of late, he and Naylor seemed to have made this work to good effect. In Naylor’s absence all it seemed to do was push O'Dea into a position further and further from that he is used to.
A close McGeady free kick aside, in the first half, the home side didn’t create any chances likely to break through the parked traffic in front of Smith's goal. Teams that set up as St Mirren did, and play a game based on extreme discipline and work rate, tend to suffer from fatigue and lose concentration as the game wears on. This didn’t seem to be a major problem for them, with Celtic however beginning to pound on the windows of the bus that bit harder in the second 45.
A free kick delivered by Hartley gave Jarosik a great opportunity, although one in which he could only steer onto the post and watch agonisingly come back out and be cleared by the St Mirren defence. A Hesselink header and a McDonald shot on the turn should have given Celtic better chances to score but the Bus remained defiant beneath a sky now pouring with snow.
Along with a change in ball for a more visible yellow, Celtic made the bold move to bring on Riordan for O'Dea (to supplement Sno on for Jarosik ten minutes previously) in order to bolster Celtic attacking options. Gordon Strachan must have hoped for not only Riordan's threat in the final third, but with Hartley dropping back to fill the vacant left back slot, surely a player more adept to building moves and comfortable on the ball would benefit Celtic's cause. Within minutes Gordon had his answer, a quick break by St Mirren found Mehemmet bursting up the wing, Hartley looked hopelessly exposed as a right footed midfielder out of position at right back, as he got the wrong side of both Mehemmet and the ball. The big Englishman, once past Hartley, tested Mark Brown with a clean strike, which Celtic's keeper parried to the onrushing youngster Stephen McGinn to easily slot past Brown.
As McGeady had a 20-yard strike palmed over the crossbar by Smith, Celtic hoped for one of those infamous comebacks, though given the lacklustre performance, it looked highly unlikely. Five minutes from time Sno gave Celtic a change to claim a point with an outrageously good pass, curling to the path of Riordan over the St Mirren resolute rearguard. Riordan, with one touch and finish did not disappoint and made it a goal a piece
With the gulf between Celtic, their closest rival, and the rest of the league at its widest, it is not unusual for teams to line up at Celtic Park as if it was a damage limitation exercise. Most try and fail, though some notable successes such as Dunfermline’s 1-0 victory in 2004 where they played a delightful 5-5-0 formation, should be remembered. In some sense, the success of 'parking the bus' is determined by the way in which a team parks it.
St Mirren parked strategically, with concentration, energy, and discipline. For the most part, leaving the bus more at the 18-yard box than the goal line, with Celtic not getting beyond it there with any sense of purpose. Celtic struggled all game to break down St Mirren, who seemed a far fitter and better drilled team than their appearance at Celtic Park earlier in the season. Not to say the Paisley side played pretty football, as the bus parking suggested, it was very much an off the ball type performance. When Celtic had it St Mirren worked tirelessly to close the spaces down, and again, like several teams this season, allowed only Celtic's back four time on the ball.
A team playing with natural fullbacks, can comfortably take possession, link and overlap with the midfield, however with Celtic's dearth in that position, both O'Dea, and Caldwell were often left in unfamiliar and by the looks of things highly uncomfortable positions. To their credit, both players made all attempts to get forward, but their possession, use of the ball, and most importantly delivery into the box were just not good enough for players covering the roles expected of them.
St Mirren's defence were just batting every crossed or through ball back at Celtic and almost asking them to come up with something that might actually trouble them. Again like most games this season, McGeady and McDonald endeavoured, but McGeady was sometimes left with 2 and even 3 men covering his driving runs, and McDonald found himself at times alone in his pursuit to force the bus back to the goal line. Hesselink a complete passenger again, seemed unable to even get in its way when it veered in any way forward.
Hartley and Brown in Celtic's engine room played with as little effect, and verve as you will see from them this season. With McGeady perpetually marked by two defenders, someone in midfield really should have been moving enough to benefit from the space. Brown seemed to lose the ball any time he stepped forward, yet Hartley seemed content on letting Brown be the one to engineer attacking moves. Jarosik was drifting inside from his left midfield slot, possibly in an attempt to influence play, but it did seem to confuse matters when Celtic broke forward. Jarosik isn’t a natural wide player, so is often content to drift more centrally and let the fullback go by him, and of late, he and Naylor seemed to have made this work to good effect. In Naylor’s absence all it seemed to do was push O'Dea into a position further and further from that he is used to.
A close McGeady free kick aside, in the first half, the home side didn’t create any chances likely to break through the parked traffic in front of Smith's goal. Teams that set up as St Mirren did, and play a game based on extreme discipline and work rate, tend to suffer from fatigue and lose concentration as the game wears on. This didn’t seem to be a major problem for them, with Celtic however beginning to pound on the windows of the bus that bit harder in the second 45.
A free kick delivered by Hartley gave Jarosik a great opportunity, although one in which he could only steer onto the post and watch agonisingly come back out and be cleared by the St Mirren defence. A Hesselink header and a McDonald shot on the turn should have given Celtic better chances to score but the Bus remained defiant beneath a sky now pouring with snow.
Along with a change in ball for a more visible yellow, Celtic made the bold move to bring on Riordan for O'Dea (to supplement Sno on for Jarosik ten minutes previously) in order to bolster Celtic attacking options. Gordon Strachan must have hoped for not only Riordan's threat in the final third, but with Hartley dropping back to fill the vacant left back slot, surely a player more adept to building moves and comfortable on the ball would benefit Celtic's cause. Within minutes Gordon had his answer, a quick break by St Mirren found Mehemmet bursting up the wing, Hartley looked hopelessly exposed as a right footed midfielder out of position at right back, as he got the wrong side of both Mehemmet and the ball. The big Englishman, once past Hartley, tested Mark Brown with a clean strike, which Celtic's keeper parried to the onrushing youngster Stephen McGinn to easily slot past Brown.
As McGeady had a 20-yard strike palmed over the crossbar by Smith, Celtic hoped for one of those infamous comebacks, though given the lacklustre performance, it looked highly unlikely. Five minutes from time Sno gave Celtic a change to claim a point with an outrageously good pass, curling to the path of Riordan over the St Mirren resolute rearguard. Riordan, with one touch and finish did not disappoint and made it a goal a piece
posted by Michael__67 at 12:09 PM
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