Liel Abada followed up a perky debut against Preston North End with a 44-minute full first start against FC Midtjylland. What did this tell us?
Starting Position
Abada started wide right in a nominal 4-2-3-1. This aligns to the majority of his start for Maccabi Petah Tikva (40 of 47 starts as a right winger, the rest as a striker).
Under Postecoglou’s system, the role of the winger will be slightly different to that we are used to under a Rodger’s or Lennon 4-2-3-1. There will be an emphasis on trying to get the wide forwards on the ball as high up the pitch as possible and in a 1 v 1 with the opponent’s full backs.
That is one of the outcomes hoped for from the full back inversion. The idea is that the opposition wide midfield follows the full backs into centre field, leaving their full backs 1 v 1 on Celtic’s wingers.
In truth, Celtic rarely achieved this with Abada. It is the first time playing Ange ball in anger and also some actors are not in optimal roles! Additionally, that shape only lasted 44 minutes as we will see.
What will be worth monitoring as a consequence of this approach is that the wingers may be less involved with build up play and their actions more focussed on the final 3rd.
Match Data
We saw this with Abada. He only had possession 17 times, and in the 11 times he did not lose possession he achieved:
Note the 2 assisting passes were part of the 9 completed!
Two chances from 9 passes and 2 shots and a goal from such limited possession is a high productivity rate given how little he was on the ball.
Bear in mind that Ralston is not the most dynamic full back in terms of offering angles and options for the winger.
With 21 goals already in his 77-match professional career (0.37 per 90m) as a winger, it is not surprising his movement off the ball looks very promising.
- 24m – Coming inside to support striker leads to the best chance of game – his pass doesn’t register but the ball makes it way to Edouard to shoot over from central inside the box
- 26m – moves again into inside right channel working a combination with Turnbull – but the ball runs out
- 39m Goal! – comes inside on a nice angled run into the centre of the goal and gets reward with a difficult finish into ground with wrong foot – excellent all-round support play
On 44 minutes he was sacrificed to bring on Murray for the red carded Bitton. Might be me showing hindsight but I wondered if a better call would have been to take off Turnbull and leave Abada and Edouard as the front two.
Conclusion
Abada looks a good fit for how Postecoglou wants wingers to perform. Stay high, minimal build up, get 1v1, and be productive, make inside runs where possible to become a 2nd or 3rd striker.
I remember a number 11 with Boerrigter on his back having a fantastic opening 39 minutes on his debut – just sayin’!
Just messing with your mind. Only glimpses so far but a highly promising start.
Some of the points raised here were discussed on The Huddle Breakdown. Please have a listen, share with your friends and subscribe to the channel. Many thanks.
Looks good enough so far. Derk was the fastest man on the pitch versus Ross County until their right back fouled him badly by stamping on his ankle. He was never the same. We need to call out biased refs and bad tackles. Already lost Dembele to one.
Saw Abada a couple of times when I was working in Israel. Looked good but easily dispossessed as he seemed very lightweight…in fact this is a worry I have for our whole midfield. Let’s see how he gets on as he did have only 40mins. Interesting comment about keeping him on a sub‘ing Turnbull! Ange probably being ultra cautious being the first real game!