Analysis Corner: League Cup Final Review

By Dougie Wright (@ dougie_wright)

On Sunday, Celtic overcame a stubborn Motherwell side to record their first trophy of the season. Over the past few months, Motherwell have had a lot of success through their aerial game. They cross more often than any other side in the league, and with good reason.

Their centre backs can comfortably hit long balls, strikers Bowman and Moult have a great relationship based on flick ons, and Chris Cadden is a very strong crosser.

Celtic were the only team the Steelmen were yet to face this season: here’s how the champions dealt with Motherwell’s threat, and how they eventually won the game themselves.

Motherwell’s aerial threat

This isn’t a scene you see too often in Scotland – Celtic sitting deep and letting Motherwell build up the play. In the semi-final, Motherwell got a lot of joy hitting long balls up to striker Ryan Bowman, who would then flick on to talisman Louis Moult.

Their opponent centre backs, Rangers’ Cardoso and Alves, were left isolated against the duo, which caused them no end of grief. Celtic avoided doing this.

As you can see above, Celtic packed the middle and kept their midfield deep. Motherwell wouldn’t want to commit too many bodies forward (and leave Dembele, Sinclair et al with space in behind), so the Moult/Bowman double act was essentially numbed.

However, it did leave space for Motherwell to attack out wide. Chris Cadden has the most successful crosses in the league this season, so much of their attacking play comes through him.

To combat this, Celtic ensured that Tierney was right on the 21 year old the second he received the ball. Cadden could still get the ball in, but without the time and space to pick his spot.

A combination of the above made sure that Motherwell’s aerial threat was blunted.

The price to be paid

It’s all very well and good telling a team just to sit back and close down crosses, but ultimately it’s probably not going to win you games by itself.

During the first half, opportunities were in short supply for Celtic. As Motherwell kept their defenders deep, you saw a game where both midfielders were more focused on preventing rather than creating.

For the second half, Celtic needed to change that.

Moussa Dembele went hunting for the ball. As the central striker, the Frenchman has scored most of his Celtic goals through clever movement in the penalty box. While he was still sniffing about there as usual, look at where he picked up the ball in the immediate build up to the first goal.

When strikers are faced with a deep defence, it’s a good idea to move out to wide areas. One, it frees up space for midfield runners in the centre. Two, it either drags one of the defenders out, or gives your team numerical superiority out wide.

On the left, that meant Motherwell would face Tierney, Sinclair and Dembele. And as such, their biggest creative threat, Chris Cadden, would have to sit back.

Pep Guardiola has said in the past that all team sports involve overloading one side of the pitch, so you tilt a defence, then you switch the ball to the other side where the free player has time and space to score.

And so was the case on Sunday. The above movement carried Motherwell right across to deal with Celtic’s numbers out left. A couple of quick passes to the right later, Forrest is given the foot he needs to curl it into the bottom corner.

Where does this leave us?

For Celtic, this was a fourth domestic trophy in a row, and yet another undefeated game. Sometimes, teams are blessed with a specific player who elevates the team to success. Such teams are vulnerable to circumstance (injury, transfer, form).

This is not a problem Celtic have, with ten players having already found the back of the net more than once for the Hoops this season.

There is a reasonable argument that much of this success is down to Rodgers, but with the Ulsterman having signed a deal until 2021 earlier this year, that’s not really something Celtic fans have to worry about any time soon.

As for Motherwell, this must hurt. Their fans will point to the penalty decision and Gordon’s point blank save from Moult as moments which changed the game.

Indeed, the last kick of the ball was a Moult free kick that rattled the crossbar. That summed up his side’s day – they just didn’t have the rub of the green.

However, their fans can take solace in something: this is a bloody good Motherwell side.

The Steelmen flirted with relegation right up until the last couple of matchdays last season, conceding almost two goals a game. Barely six months on, having transformed their entire backline, they now sit comfortably in the top six, with the league’s top scorer and a November cup final to boot. European football is absolutely a possibility for Robinson’s team.

For more analysis like this, follow Dougie on Twitter (@dougie_wright)

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