Wednesday against Nomme Kalju may have been a glimpse into the way Lennon’s Celtic will play. Following the Rodgers 4-2-3-1 template to see out last season, we saw 4-4-2 and 4-4-1-1 in preseason. In reality, a lack of striking options has stymied any thoughts of two up front. But against the Estonians, both Edouard and Griffiths were pitched in.
Firstly, to be transparent, I know a lot of supporters hanker after “two up top” but I am not personally convinced.
It means there is a risk you will have two players who will play little part in the game, and the first line of defence is usually easy to play through leaving eight between the opposition and the goal.
There is a risk of being over loaded 3 v2 in central midfield.
Finally, with a single striker and two wide attackers who form a five out of possession, you can have three players who will regularly get into scoring positions. Sinclair and Forrest scored 34 between them last season in addition to the striking totals.
However, having two strikers was favoured by Lennon at Hibernian (either 4-4-2 or 3-5-2) and in his previous Celtic stint.
So, with Lennon stating he wants another striker in the window to make four with Bayo, this may be a more regular facet of Celtic’s play this season.
What did the Nomme Kalju tie tell us?
Partnership
Link up between the pair was sparse. This isn’t a Hooper / Stokes type partnership. There were no penetrative forward passes between the two.
They were both involved in only one chance.
On 18 minutes Griffiths corner found Edouard whose header was blocked by another Hooped shirt in the 6-yard box.
There was nothing more to speak of in open play however.
With little utility added as a pair, how did it affect individual performances?
Griffiths
The returning member of the 100-goal club had a classic Griffiths match. He completed 3 open play passes in 59 minutes.
Yet he scored a beauty of a free kick and created three chances, all from corners, for Simunovic, Edouard and Forrest.
This set piece delivery has been missed by Celtic. Incredibly, Griffiths completed 6 corner passes compared to only 3 open play passes.
He even had more shot at goal (4) than completed passes (3). Peak Griffiths!
With xG of 0.608 and xA of 0.231, he was worth his goal.
At 28 it is unlikely Griffiths will massively evolve his game to be a foil to another striker. But having him on the pitch means chances and shots even if there is little tangible build up play.
This was an atypical Griffiths performance but more so – less involvement in the play – perhaps Edouard’s presence allows him to divest even more of those dull non-shooting, non-chance creating actions!
Edouard
The young French player is more mobile and tends to drift into different areas compared to Griffiths. This may allow the Scot greater space to exploit of course.
Edouard led the line for most of last season but you always felt that this wasn’t his sweet spot as a role. He likes to drift off to inside left and a bit deeper. He is a menace when allowed the ball on the turn facing up centre backs. The oh-so brief partnership with Dembele at the start of last season looked promising.
And some may point to the fact he did not score and conclude he was blunted playing alongside Griffiths.
But we need to look at his overall contribution.
Despite playing against relatively weak opposition, Edouard has less shots, possession in the opposition box and a lower xG than his averages from last season.
But he completed 49% more passes (greater involvement), created 4 chances and was the provider of the establishing pass (Secondary Assist) on 3 occasions. Overall, he was involved in 10 of the 23 chances Celtic created (3 as shooter). All of the creative stats were higher than his 2018/19 averages.
Edouard adapted to the two striker configuration by having a more comprehensive impact on the game despite the 0 goals.
Conclusion
It is one game against a poor-quality opponent. And it is the first sighting of a two-man attack for Lennon’s Celtic. Minimal data, very early days.
But the initial signs are Griff will be Griff and that is strangely reassuring!
But Edouard may be released from leading the line to be the more rounded attacker he has always promised. Having Griffiths or another leading the line frees Edouard to take up more varied, deeper and interesting positions. From there he is capable of getting shots off but also being the link man for others.
I’ll continue to monitor.
John Melone says
Nice analysis thank you. I fear that Griffiths return,while good for setpieces, could be detrimental to our style of play. Edouard needs a Dembele style target to move around. Perhaps Bayo can be the man.
Martin says
Agree with all of this except the point around the risk of 3v2 overload in midfield. Under Rodgers / Lennon formation last season we were frequently outnumbered in midfield due to the personnel we would have in the flanks and centre mid positions (Sinclair, Rogic, Forrest, Johnston, McGregor, Ntcham). Good players with the ball but all lacking in defensive off the ball competence. We may have had numbers but in practice we were too light.
I think Lennon knows this (e.g. flirting with Hayes last season). A move to 3-5-2 will give more protection to the flaws of some players. And it could be an interesting season for Forrest….
celticbynumbers@btinternet.com says
Agree on Forrest – he may see time as a “false 9”
Which may preclude another striker being bought!
Also i’d disagree slightly on McGregor – his defensive stats improved – bright kid that.
Martin says
McGregor has improved his all round game significantly in the last 2 years but I still have an unease when he is facing his own goal in and out of possession.
Regardless, there is going to be a lot of compare and contrast data opportunities this season. I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with.
Duncan says
He is seldom out of position and it is Browns job to act as his wingman when he’s in possession.
The role of the Regista is a very difficult one and fraught with danger but Calmac is mastering it very well in a short space of time.
Duncan says
Lennys preference was either 3-5-2 or 4-3-3 previously with Commons at the point of the diamond in behind Stokes and Hooper.
I posted our scoring ratios previously on here in another thread and it would appear two factors were prominent.
1 We scored more on average under Lenny
2 We conceded more under Lenny.
Griffiths and Edouard like Dembele before him are two totally different kind of forwards.
Griffiths is the typical play off the shoulder of the last man type using movement and pace to achieve his aim where as Edouard is more the drop off and collect from deep and use good feet and strength to get past the defence.
I think this sets both up for a good pairing as Edouard is far more comfortable dropping off and taking balls in and Griffiths always the willing runner taking up VERY good positions for finishing moves off be that from range,headers or in close in the 6 yard area.
Thing is with going with 3-5-2 we don’t actually need traditional wingers when deploying Wingbacks and this in return enables us to keep the 3 man Midfield intact with either Christie,Johnston,Rogic or McGregor playing the advanced 10 role.
Neil Lennon is also more pragmatic in his setups meaning they can be fluid as we have seen in the last few games afloat back 4 quickly becomes a 3 with Mbombo pushing up on the left or cutting in as an auxiliary inside left.
I believe he is toying with the idea of Forrest ,Shved and Morgan doing likewise as RWB’s as all 3 have shown they can and do get back and defend when required and with the arrival of Elhamed as a possible RCB in a 3 the cover is there just in case.
If fit Griffiths should start if not for his goal return (which is the best at Celtic since Larsson and Hartson) but also his set piece delivery.
Edouard must also start when fit and at it.
Hence why he is looking at multiple setups and Systems for both Domestic and European Football.
I think it is exciting and refreshing as a fan of tactics and attacking Football to see us ditch the possession based game (or “Death by Football” as Brendan called it) and go for a more direct ,quicker style more akin to the Celtic Way.
Lenny knows what he is doing and the fact we scored 5 and probably could have had 8-10 in the last game is a sure sign of this.
celticbynumbers@btinternet.com says
Many good points as always Duncan
I would be happy if the way forward is a multi configuration flexibility.
Mono fanaticism is fine if you are Guardiola and can literally buy the best player x2 in every position to satisfy your blueprint. Rodgers is an acolyte.
A club like Celtic needs to find many ways to solve life’s problems.
We’re on the same page
Duncan says
Thank you Alan as always.
Your work is fully appreciated at this end and I am total agreement regarding Rodgers and Guardiola we are not in a position financially to achieve what he set out to achieve.
The fact he never made it past the last 32 of the Europa at either Liverpool or Celtic even with a massive budget really should be telling him something.
Klopp has proved that being more aggressive can lead to big things.
HH