Analysis Corner: Scottish Cup Final Review
By Dougie Wright (@dougie_wright)
On Saturday a double treble was completed, as Motherwell hearts were broken.
Yet again, Celtic showed that they are capable of taking it up a gear when needed, killing the game before it had really begun.
The 25 minute final
It was a dizzying 25 minutes for the Steelmen, where Celtic outmanoeuvred, outpassed and consequently outplayed Motherwell. Two goals were their reward, and they were well deserved.
Celtic were able to play 58 passes in Motherwell’s final third; nearly three times the amount Motherwell managed in Celtic’s (19).
This forced Motherwell to stay deep to defend against the green and white onslaught. As such, there was a huge gap between the Motherwell defensive block and their strikers, Ryan Bowman and Curtis Main. When they got the ball to their front men, there was nobody to lay it off to.
Over the 90 minutes, the pair received the ball 58 times. They ended up losing it straight away on 25 of these occasions. Isolated strikers combined with aggressive Celtic defenders resulted in a starved Motherwell attack.
This is further emphasised by the fact that Motherwell only managed three touches in Celtic’s box before they found themselves 2-0 down. No time, no space, no goals.
On the other hand, Celtic were able to control the centre of the pitch with Tierney and Brown pushing relatively high up. Tierney going high forced Motherwell to keep moving across the pitch, while Brown meant that Celtic had six central players- enough to overwhelm Motherwell comfortably:
Looking at the above, the man in space is Callum McGregor. In truth, he drifted right across the front line. Indeed, it was coming off the right side of the pitch where he scored a pretty outstanding opener.
Callum McGregor
A number of things are worth picking out around Callum McGregor’s opener on Saturday:
- When Lustig’s original cross is cleared from the Motherwell area, there are two Motherwell players closer to the ball than McGregor. The fact the Celtic midfielder got to the ball first not only shows great acceleration over a short distance, it also shows fantastic anticipation.
- Upon flicking the ball away from the two Motherwell defenders with his left foot, he then hits it with his right in the same fluid motion.
- McGregor hit the ball around 20 metres at 63 miles per hour, giving Carson just 0.7 seconds to react. Even if he had, the fact that McGregor managed to channel the ball to within a whisker of the far post meant that this shot was pretty much impossible to save.
You can generally sum up a footballer’s ability by his technique, his reading of the game and his physical sharpness. McGregor’s goal here ticked off each of these boxes emphatically.
This goal was the crowning moment of McGregor’s coronation at the best midfielder in the country.
In a season in which he’s played the equivalent of 43 full games, McGregor has directly contributed to 20 goals for Celtic this season- by far the best return of his career to date.
However, these stats really don’t do him justice. Next time you watch Celtic, pay attention to how much easier McGregor makes the game for his team-mates. Every dribble, pass and movement is designed to make things as simple as possible.
The rest of the game
With Motherwell unable to risk committing players forward, they were always going to struggle upon going behind. While they had a couple of close chances (most notably Bigirimana hitting the post with a free kick), they simply lacked the co-ordination on the transition to effectively penetrate Celtic.
Nine shots in the penalty box sounds decent on the face of it, but all of these shots came under heavy Celtic pressure, without really being deemed a “clear cut chance”.
Summary
Celtic may have been favourites in every game they’ve played, but the utter ruthlessness with which they’ve approached the domestic cups has to be admired. Not once did they trail any of their nine knockout matches for a single second.
Deila’s side were undoubtedly good, but were still vulnerable to a bit of bad luck turning things for them. Under Rodgers, luck isn’t even a factor any more. They remain peerless in Scotland.
As for Motherwell, this was a bittersweet end to what was otherwise a hugely exciting season. The club haven’t reached two domestic cup finals since 1951, while finishing seventh in the league is a significant upgrade on last year’s relegation dogfight.
Overall, Motherwell fans will be disappointed, but in Carson, Kipre, Main, Campbell and Cadden, they have the spine of arguably their most talented side in a decade.
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