Analysis Corner: How the unbeaten run came to an end
By Dougie Wright (@dougie_wright)
Some said it had been coming. Little did anyone expect this though. Undefeated for 69 games, Celtic’s 69 game streak came to a shuddering halt at Tynecastle on Sunday. Many will argue that Hearts’4-0 win was about bottle, other will argue it was tactics. Perhaps, it was a mixture of both.
The way Hearts pressed Celtic was hugely important to their victory. Depriving Celtic players of time and space on the ball in key positions helped them achieve what no other Scottish team has done in the past eighteen months. Here’s how they did it.
What is a press?
Pressing in football is basically applying pressure to your opponents when they have the ball. Borussia Dortmund under Klopp were the poster boys for “defending from the front” pressing; throwing players at the opposition defence to try and grab the ball off them as soon as possible. On the other hand, teams like Mourinho’s Chelsea or Simeone’s Atlético Madrid are well known for sitting deep, but applying aggressive pressure when the opponent come near goal.
Against Celtic, most teams in Scotland try the latter and they fail. It’s pretty mentally draining having the ball so close to your goal, knowing that leaving just one hole could be enough for Celtic to score.
Rarely do teams try the Dortmund method and press Celtic high up the pitch. It usually leaves space in behind, and is physically exhausting given the distances the defending players have to cover. So not only do you have to be extremely fit, you also have to be switched on with your positioning. With this high risk, high reward game, Hearts basically chose to walk a tightrope.
Where did Hearts press?
Celtic’s build up is notoriously slow and considered. The champions take on average 15 passes per minute in possession, double the league average. Rodgers’ side don’t want to rush the ball up the park as quickly as possible, they want to move the opposition as much as possible.
That means playing out from the back, with Kieran Tierney a huge part of that. Generally one of the centre backs will bring the ball out from the back until they come under a bit of pressure. Upon meeting an opposition forward, it typically goes to Tierney, who can advance up the pitch from wide.
Hearts recognised that. Here’s Don Cowie right on Tierney the second the fullback receives the ball within the game’s first minute:
Domenico Tedesco, the coach of German giants Schalke 04, recently spoke to Spielverlagerung about pressing styles. He talked of the difference between closing down a player and stopping, and closing down a player and going through them.
His argument is that the former still allows the opponent time to pick a pass. Good players can pick good passes, even when their opponent is a yard away. However, when their opponent is going through them, the player must rush their decision, and therefore is less likely to make a successful pass.
Hearts certainly used this principle at the weekend, breaking up Celtic’s build up wherever possible. Even if they didn’t always win the ball it still forced Celtic into playing quicker. Jamie Brandon, for instance, went in for 20 challenges with Celtic players and won just 4 of them. As such, the passing accuracy of the guests suffered, down to 73% from an average of 89%.
Pressing Traps
Hearts didn’t and couldn’t press all the time.
Doing that is pretty inefficient when you consider how much work it is to sprint through your opponent for 90 minutes. When you have someone like Christophe Berra competent enough to organise the defence, it allows you to have periods of soaking up pressure. Here are two key situations where Hearts would aggressively pressure Celtic:
Is this the end for Celtic’s dominance?
Almost certainly not. The main reason why they were able to go on this 69 game run is their ability to quickly solve any issues within the team. Gordon’s wobbly distribution was a problem in the first few months of Rodgers’ tenure before being largely ironed out. A tendency to concede goals from crosses was similarly dealt with in the early stages.
It’s certainly not been a fantastic few weeks for the Parkhead side, with just eight points from their last five domestic games. However, Rodgers has more than enough history when it comes to solving these problems. He’ll have a plan up his sleeve.
Why haven’t Hearts played like this all season?
God only knows
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