Partnerships, tactics and players

I remember an old debate about what was more important: players or tactics?  Current consensus is that tactics rule, but that’s because we live in an era of tactical innovation.  In the decades when tactics never deviated from 4-4-2, success in the game was about players.

There’s another element: partnerships.  Good players can be tactically right for a side, but still underachieve because their team-mates don’t move that fraction of a second before a defender reacts to the danger (or an opposing striker steals a yard).

You may be able to identify our strongest starting 11, but with so many changes to the line-up this season, you will struggle to name partnerships that have impressed you.  Until Saturday.  As Nicolas Kuhn cut inside and looked into the St Johnstone box, Kyogo did a 360° spin, creating space at the moment required to meet the subsequent cross, which our Japanese hero converted.

The opening moments of the second half saw a mirror image of this, resulting in the second goal.  Kyogo’s first touch took him wider, but Kuhn understood what would happen next, and made a run into the box.  The goal, against a packed defence, looked easy.

Over the years, you and I have seen what happens when players successfully feed off each other.  In possession, they look out for the other, the target player takes a cue to move when his partner is on the ball.  Confidence builds and soon everything works better.  With so many injuries and new faces to integrate, a lack of effective partnerships has been one of our major drags this season.

We learned on Saturday that Nicolas arrived at Celtic in January around 7kg (over a stone in old money) underweight; around 10% of his bodyweight.  He would have been weak, but there was no hiding.  Now fully fit, his trajectory is impressive.  Add him to the lengthy list of ‘written off too soon’ targets, season 2023-24.