Celtic’s execution of Brendan Rodgers game plan against Manchester City is a blueprint of how to stymie Pep Guardiola’s team and it should give hope to all rivals.
City were behind three times before scrambling a 3-3 draw in the Champions League group game at Celtic Park in what was an impressive display by the Scottish champions.
Rodgers’ approach was hardly revolutionary: take the contest to City and try to harry them. Disrupt their flow then punch holes through the middle and along the flanks.
What impressed was Celtic’s ability to put their manager’s theory into practice and come away with a fine point. It made them the first side not to be beaten by City this season. It ended their run of consecutive victories at 10. It showed Celtic are super-fit, able to focus fiercely for long periods and suggested Rodgers has an extra edge that marks out the best managers.
He said: “For us it was about tactically setting up and pressing – it has to be an educated pressure because, if not, they will run through you. One of our goals is to go over the top of the press. There were many examples of counter pressing. That’s an example of working collectively hard together. To come and virtually out-press Manchester City, the players deserve respect for that.”
Rodgers can be guilty of managerial jargon but in his focus on pressing he uses the key coaching buzzword. Guardiola, Liverpool’s Jürgen Klopp and Tottenham Hotspur’s Mauricio Pochettino, manager of City’s next opponents, are all proponents of the latest P-word as the defining term of their playbook, with the previous go-to one – philosophy – usurped.
The trip to White Hart Lane on Sunday pits City against a title rival for only the second time this season. Of their six league outings five have been against sides struggling at the wrong end of the division: Sunderland, Stoke City, West Ham United, Bournemouth and Swansea City take up five of the bottom six places in the Premier League. Manchester United are the sole opposition so far who have realistic championship pretensions.
In the derby at Old Trafford José Mourinho’s Manchester United were taught a lesson in the first half and responded far better after the interval. The United manager accepted his selection was wrong by removing Jesse Lingard and Henrikh Mkhitaryan at the break – both were making their first start of the season – and City were pinned back far more in the second period.
United lost 2-1 because they did what every other of City’s 10 victims did: failed to score first and pose a question of Guardiola’s men. Celtic became the first side to manage the feat on Wednesday. Only three minutes were gone when Moussa Dembélé sent a raucous home support into delirium and turned City on their heels.
“We put down a marker,” Rodgers said and what intrigues now is how other teams approach City. Against Celtic there was scant sign of Guardiola’s full-backs coming inside to be extra men in midfield when City roved forward. The ploy has posed a new problem for opponents this season. Preventing this – as United also managed – was another victory for Celtic on a night when they could claim the greater spoils, considering the disparate costs of each squad and the superior Champions League pedigree of Guardiola over Rodgers.
A further sign of what Celtic did to City was in the poorest display yet by Fernandinho. The Brazilian is a key Guardiola man in the XI: the deepest lying midfielder who stops and starts play and who embodies the all-action footballer his manager adores.
Fernandinho acknowledged how Celtic made the game uncomfortable for City. “With all the mistakes we made, it’s not easy,” he said. “It was very difficult and we did good. Coming from behind three times showed a very good personality to play.”
City can expect to have their character tested again on Sunday. Pochettino loves to play a frantic press. Who wins the battle of the P-word should win the contest. It may also be that this season’s best pressing team become champions.
What Celtic showed is just how vital the ploy is.
