Gone in 45

The growing disparities at the heart of European football were exposed in many places over the week, and none more than at Celtic Park where the Qatari backed Parisians inflicted Celtic’s record European home defeat, and record home defeat since 1895 in all competitions. The game was gone by the 40^th minute when Cavani’s penalty found the roof of the net.

It is difficult to recall an opposition team play with such pace, touch, movement and attacking cohesion at Celtic Park. Nevertheless, watching back, it is apparent how straightforward the game was for Paris Saint-Germain. It is remarkable how little they had to risk for such a commanding first half lead. Celtic seemed betwixt and between, lacking clarity of purpose in defence, nervous and imprecise in possession.

With Neymar’s annual wage close to that of Celtic’s first team squad, excuses are easy to find. Yet this must be ground zero for Celtic in this group, such are the glaring opportunities for improvement.

Based on social media output, there can be little dissent over the starting XI. A tight midfield three of Ntcham, Brown and Armstrong behind a pacey and opportunistic triumvirate of Roberts, Griffiths, and Sinclair. The experienced and steady Lustig was moved inside with Simunovic, and the young bullock Ralston entrusted to impose his youthful vigour and aggression on Neymar.

After 3 minutes, I recall thinking we had played 20. Even though there were no chances or shots, such was the dominance of the French side in terms of movement, pace, and technique, it already seemed a long evening.

Verratti, Motta and Rabiot can rarely have had such a comfortable 45 minutes. Under no pressure, they were free to play 1 and 2 touch football in front of and between the lines of Celtic’s midfield.

From this position, Motta slips the ball to Mbappe through Celtic’s midfield, and in turn the ball is played to Alves rampaging down the right wing.

This is in the first few minutes.

Both Mbappe and Neymar were willing to fill a position between the Celtic defence and midfield, the “10” position. Furthermore, the pass from (usually) Motta was unerring, and the receiver took the ball on the half turn opening the play.

Motta completed over 140 passes. This is the same number both Brown and Bitton managed against Albion Rovers in the Scottish Cup. He was never under pressure.

The midfield passiveness, neither pressing nor sitting in being compact, meant there was space to exploit out wide as well as centrally. Both Alves and Kurzawa triggered wide high runs when Mbappe and Neymar ventured into the “10” space.

Those were early warnings. Once Paris got possession nearer the Celtic goal, the home team’s structure and approach was no clearer.

The Celtic midfield was too flat, with no depth to the defence, and a big gap to the four defenders. Clever movement and control from Paris’s lethal front players exploited this.

Celtic had to either press consistently, each reacting to the appropriate trigger, or drop off and deny the space for Neymar and Mbappe to make dangerous runs. The home side did neither.

Under Rodgers, Celtic’s pressing ability has improved markedly. Pressing well is difficult as each team member must interpret and respond to the same trigger to initiate the press. Celtic appeared to be unsure, suffering a collective failure of nerve and decision making.

Compounding this was the lack of commitment to support the attacks.

On the few occasions Celtic got the ball to the wide forwards, there was little support for the man with the ball. Sinclair lost 4 tackles outright and failed with 3 dribbles, Roberts 2 and 1.

Finally, when Celtic did press as a unit, on the rare occasions Paris were backed up into their own box, the supremely confident and able French side extricated themselves with élan.

Paris framed an attack from this position.

The away side had to work very little to score. Managing only 4 shots at goal in the half, all were on target and 3 goals resulted.

The first was the result of a fast break. From Griffiths miss control to Neymar scoring, two passes were enough to counter successfully. The pace and movement of Neymar foxed Ralston, and Rabiot’s pass was sublime.

The second goal exposed young Ralston. Neymar again exploded into the “10” position and Ralston followed.

Ralston watches Verratti / the ball and therefore is too slow to react to Neymar’s move back to the left-wing position. This drags Lustig out of position, covering for Ralston. The header back across goal is intelligent as it catches all the Celtic defenders off balance.

The third goal conceded by Simunovic is difficult to explain other than with reference to frustration and the need to do SOMETHING to discomfort the opponent.

At 3-0 the game is dead and the second half was largely academic.

In the first half Paris “packed” 16 Celtic defenders, the highest Celtic have achieved in a whole game all season. In 45 minutes, they had completed 411 passes to 149 by the home side, with 70% possession. Celtic have only achieved such possession dominance against Kilmarnock and Linfield this season.

Celtic must impose a defensive identity on the opposition. Either press or be compact. When attacking, it must be a 10-man effort. Defend and attack as a team.

Both in attack and defence, Celtic failed to respond to the triggers that good teams react to. Paris are clearly an exceptionally talented team, but there is huge room for improvement from the Scottish Champions.