Three at the back may change tomorrow

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Liverpool’s domestic invincibility contrasted with their result away to off-form Atletico Madrid last night.  Domestically imperious PSG fared no better in Dortmund.  In Europe, even for the reigning champions, away ties are difficult.

Copenhagen manager, Stale Solbakken, sounded far from confident this week when discussing his team’s chances against Celtic, but tomorrow night, 38,000 people will make the Parken Stadium as intimidating an environment as we have visited this season.

Solbakken noted the success Celtic are having with playing three at the back.  His game plan will be based on exploiting this formation.  The tactical hierarchy is not absolute.  Better systems emerge, are nullified and decline.  Neil Lennon changed formation a back four at Pittodrie on Sunday when we were unable to play through Aberdeen.  We could see the same change mid-game tomorrow.

Some of us will remember a 2001 visit to Scandanavia, when Rosenborg knew a front three would beat Celtic’s 3-5-2 formation.  Martin O’Neill was not one for varying tactics.

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  1. Man citeh have employed the services of Lord nimmo Smith in their quest to prove there is no footballing advantage in financial doping of their club.

     

    They are calling sir David Murray as key witness

  2. macjay1 for Neil Lennon on

    OWEN on 19TH FEBRUARY 2020 7:56 PM

     

    Macjay

     

     

    In actual fact Churchill did not offer a united Ireland in return for free state participation in the war. He offered to encourage the unionist majority to consent to it but only after the war was finished. Devalera was many things, few of them complementary in my view, but no fool so he did not take the bait.

     

     

    =========================================================================

     

     

    The article refers to a telegram.

     

    Viewing that would perhaps put the matter to rest .

  3. MacJay/Owen/AT

     

     

    CHurchill was part of the British Govt team which negotiated the 1921-22 Anglo Irish Treaty. The Royal Navy valued the three deep water ports, and were not conceded to Ireland, or not at least until 1938. Churchill was not in government then and would not have countenanced signing them over to ‘Eire’ at that point in history. He opposed the move. It would never have happened after 1940, or not until after 1945 at the earliest. Then again had they not been returned to Eire, who is to say Ireland could have declared neutrality during WWII. Not me.

  4. HANKRAY on 19TH FEBRUARY 2020 5:36 PM

     

     

    Regarding our throw-ins and some of the comments here today, I’ve often remarked in the past that Celtic’s are appalling and nothing has changed.

     

     

    HANKRAY, agreed whole-heartedly. This has been doing my nut in for years.

     

     

    In the ’70’s I was a coach with Eastercraigs and was funded by the Club for a fortnight down in Inverclyde doing the SFA coaching course. One Craig Brown (sorry!) was my group’s coach and one of the things he taught/coached us was retaining possession at throw-ins. Now he emphasised that the IMPORTANCE of the throw-in was exactly that. ie. retain possession and he showed us three ways to do this simply and almost with guaranteed results. As a result I went back up the road, coached the Under-14s how to do it and thereafter we hardly lost a ball from the shies for the next three seasons.

     

     

    One aspect of his coaching these moves involved doing things very quickly, giving the opposition less chance to organise an intercept. Another poster (sorry, forget who}, mentioned that earlier on today. However my own claim to fame was adapting one of the basic moves that allowed (not guaranteed!) us a chance to attack from one of Brown’s moves and we scored a few goals from that move.

     

     

    My gripe has always been that if Under-14s/15s/etc can do that why can’t professional players?

     

     

    And then there are the corners!!

  5. macjay1 for Neil Lennon on

    CELTIC MAC on 19TH FEBRUARY 2020 8:37 PM

     

    MacJay/Owen/AT

     

     

    Very interesting points.

     

    More research required .

  6. Re. young Haaland, apparently, both Celtic and Liverpool were interested in taking him as a 15 year old

     

     

    Imagine, what he’s doing at the minute for a 19 year old, it’s like the guy was made in a laboratory

     

     

    Maybe they were trialling Eugenics in Leeds around the year 2020?

     

     

    B-)

  7. prestonpans bhoys on

    Mourinho setting up Spurs for his usual boring formation, they are lucky the Germans are not leading

  8. GENE, fair point ,but when you are in possession you have the advantage of some control. That’s where coaching comes in. On the training field you put the players in a match situation where you have the ball and ‘plan’ what you want to do next. Then you coach the players through a variety of options or plays where you have the advantage because all of your players know what is going to happen next.

     

     

    Of course at professional levels opposition coaches might know/guess what you could be trying to do and could/should(?) be coaching their own players into prevention mode. But ….. having possession should be an advantage and not one you give up lightly.

  9. Emerald

     

    I might be talking rubbish here but I think that the defenders at the throw in always outnumber the attackers

  10. AN TEARMANN on 19TH FEBRUARY 2020 7:35 PM

     

     

     

     

    Macjay

     

     

     

     

     

     

    The unmistakeable fact is that Ireland is an Island . Whole and undivided . Irrespective of political manoeuverings in the `20 s . Of convenience .

     

     

     

     

    When that fact is accepted , as in time it surely must be by all sides ,then the ” reunification ” of Ireland becomes inevitable.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    My personal view is that Brexit will hasten and has hastened that process.

     

     

     

     

    Although the process will be hindered and delayed by unhelpful commentary .

     

     

     

     

    I don`t need to go into specifics.

     

     

    Macjay.8.19

     

    You do my friend lol.we differ we smile

     

     

     

    #I would say so Macjay,I think the wartime situation and Ireland’s history til then is slowly coming out.In Ireland historians are peeling away at history,this all occurring as the dynamic of Ireland evolves itself.i will try and suggest sites but am sure you know how to search for trinity/ucd etc.lol

     

     

    Brexit is a continuation to the dalriadians fishing rights!! Lol

     

    The interconnectivity has got greater,the social economic and political links are ancient.

     

    British Nationalism is dangerous.Brexit is it’s shite in thinking and ideology(jobby)i would prefer Ireland’s determination of to be of origin in Ireland.in my opinion anything coming from British Nationalism/jobby thinking is not good for Ireland.

     

    Yeh it poses questions pro or for unity or union and it’s good to open up a lot of threads of debate,but I wonder if we have the heavyweight political figures in all parties to do it peacefully and in today’s age transparently and over time.

     

     

    Lol Ireland as an island in all senses.it is only called into question by another Island not called Ireland Macjay.tsk tsk

     

     

    HH

  11. Gene you are of course correct, and therefore not talking rubbish, about the ‘outnumbering’, but the thrower has the advantage of deciding where the ball will go, the ‘receivers’, if coached properly, will know where the ball will/might go, decoy runs can/will/should be coached and therefore the advantage still lies/should lie with the thrower.

     

     

    However it ain’t science and lots can go wrong, but personally (and in the views of others on here) there does not seem to be much evidence of a lot of coaching in this area of important ball retention.

     

     

    If I can return to my original post, my coach at Inverclyde (the sectarian yodeler Craig Brown who was an excellent football coach) emphasised that the importance of the throw-in was not just to re-start the game but to retain possession and, if possible, gain advantage from it. That was why I referred to that aspect of what I was able to do with Under-14s etc and thought that that surely could be replicated quite easily with professionals. I had literally a few minutes each week to work with that on youth players and was able to see positive returns on the coaching time spent so surely professionals could do the same or better? Or does Lennie and his coaches see this differently? Let’s face it, they know a helluva lot more than me!

     

     

    Enjoyed the mature discussion BTW. So different from recent spats on here.

     

     

    Ave Ave my good Mhan.

  12. GENE, as an example of how coaching doesn’t always work look at that image that DAVID 17 just posted. THAT is a perfectly coached defensive formation for a coach. There is no way you should lose a goal from a corner if your defense is so perfectly set up! Yet they did. Human error, excellent play, a bit of luck – that’s what intrigues us in football (unless you are in Scotland of course where other factors are relevant!).

  13. macjay1 for Neil Lennon on

    AN TEARMANN on 19TH FEBRUARY 2020 9:22 PM

     

     

    Lol Ireland as an island in all senses.it is only called into question by another Island not called Ireland Macjay.tsk tsk

     

     

    ================================================

     

     

    Btw. Several islands tsk tsk tsk yersel.

  14. macjay1 for Neil Lennon on

    AN TEARMANN on 19TH FEBRUARY 2020 9:22 PM

     

     

    Those days have gone.

     

    I strongly suspect London would be quietly delighted to ” lose ” N.I.

     

    But of course she can`t say so .

     

     

    OK. Since you insist . The unhelpful commentary came from Leo . Recently jettisoned by the electorate.

     

     

    ” British Nationalism is dangerous ”

     

    But Irish Nationalism is healthy ?

     

     

    Centuries shucking off British domination only to replace it with Brussels domination.

     

    Strange indeed , but please yersels.

     

     

    Irelands friends are in UK , often for genetic reasons.

     

    And USA for the same reasons.

     

     

    Often the bleeding obvious is obscured by socialist myopia .

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