Analysis Corner: Scottish Cup Semi-Final Review
By Dougie Wright (@dougie_wright)
On Sunday, Rangers’ green and white nightmare continued. Two years ago, Mark Warburton’s Championship side were able to oust Celtic from the cup and Ronny Deila from a job. Since then, it’s been ten games and twenty four months without a win over their city rivals, as Brendan Rodgers moves within 180 minutes of a “double treble”.
Here’s how Sunday’s semi-final unfolded:
Murty’s tactics
Since the turn of the year, Graeme Murty has been setting up Rangers in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
On one hand, it provides plenty of goals through Candeias, Murphy and Windass playing in behind lone striker Morelos.
On the other, it leaves centre midfielders Greg Docherty and Graham Dorrans fairly isolated when the Ibrox side are facing a counter attack.
Having shipped three goals in the last game against Celtic, Murty decided to gamble on a tight, congested 4-3-2-1 formation.
Two interesting things to pick out here are the decision to play former right back Russell Martin on the left hand side of the centre backs. Martin is a fairly one footed player, and his discomfort on the ball was obvious throughout the game.
The second point to raise amongst the starting lineup was the decision to start Andy Halliday.
This was a controversial call at the time because a) he hadn’t played regular competitive football in over a year, b) he would be playing with unfamiliar team-mates, c) he would be playing in a unfamiliar system.
The result wasn’t exactly vindication for Murty.
In forty minutes on the pitch, Halliday managed six completed passes, one block and one foul.
Celtic set up to play in lots of triangles. If you receive a pass, you’ll have two options close by you. As such, so much of their game involves quick one touch combination play. Ntcham, Brown and McGregor excel in it, and they frankly bullied Rangers’ dispersed, unorganised cluster of players nominally playing in midfield.
With vulnerable tactics, Murty didn’t do himself any favours. However, the mentality shown by his players was clearly a sore point for him.
After the game, the Rangers manager complained that his side hadn’t “got close enough” to Celtic. Watching the first couple of goals, he certainly has a point.
The first Celtic goal was scored by Rogic and assisted by Forrest.
Seven seconds before the ball hit the back of the net, the pair were being marked by Graham Dorrans and Andy Halliday near the halfway line.
As Lustig lofted a ball forward to Moussa Dembélé, Rogic and Forrest bust a gut to launch an attack in the Rangers final third.
Dorrans and Halliday casually jogged back; their midfield rivals leaving them in the dust.
As much as Celtic have more money, a more expensive squad and a more experienced manager, they were also willing to put more work than their opponents on Sunday.
Whether it’s Murty or somebody else, the next permanent Rangers manager should making addressing that his number one priority.
How did Celtic take it apart?
Celtic have shown this season that their defenders are uncomfortable under pressure (Hearts) and they struggle the break down teams who stay tight and compact (Kilmarnock).
In other words, Rangers’ tactics played right into their hands.
Without any pressing from Rangers’ forwards, Boyata, Brown and Ajer were so comfortable switching the play from side to side, waiting for gaps to appear in the Rangers structure.
With Rangers’ midfield staying fairly spaced out, Ntcham, McGregor and Rogic were able to tap the ball around their opponents mercilessly.
Albeit that they would face a flood of blue jerseys as they approached the Rangers final third, Celtic were able to control the ball largely untroubled by their rivals. Celtic faced barely any threat due to Rangers’ conservative nature, so it was just a case of biding their time, waiting for gaps and then making the most of the opportunities.
A special word of praise should be reserved for Moussa Dembélé. While strikers are judged primarily on their goals, his all round play is hugely beneficial to his side.
Celtic have a very specific pass they play in this fixture that has directly led to three goals being scored.
From around the halfway line, a long pass will come to Dembélé between the Rangers’ left back and centre back.
He’s stronger, quicker and more technically accomplished than any of his opponents, so Dembélé is able to control these balls with ease.
From this point, he does one of two things. Either he finishes by himself (like at Ibrox last month), or he turns and lays it back to an onrushing team-mate (like both on Sunday and in the 2017 semi final).
With all due respect to Leigh Griffiths, Dembélé provides his team with solutions in a game that are just not possible with the Scottish striker.
The repercussions
For Celtic, they didn’t really learn too much from this performance. Rangers’ tactics suited them perfectly and they were able to drop a few gears after the penalty incident that saw Rangers reduced to 10 men and Celtic go 3-0 up.
They’ll face Hibs next week, before hosting Sunday’s opponents at Parkhead. It seems extraordinarily unlikely that they won’t have the league title wrapped up within these two games.
For Rangers, there’s a real risk of this season turning into a copy of 2016/17. Apathy and uncertainty have filtered through the squad as any hopes of silverware this season were dashed in damning fashion.
There will almost certainly be a new manager in the summer, while recruitment at the centre of defence remains a priority.
Nevertheless, what the Ibrox side are lacking is a coherent tactical plan. One which will see them score goals and stop conceding them, without vacillating between these two binary aims. Only then can they think about rivalling Celtic in games like these.
Watch Dougie's video analysis of all 4 goals here...
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