interview Earlier kick-off may affect the atmosphere but a fragile defence is a far greater concern for Celtic tonight, writes Michael Grant
Beginning a home midweek game at 6pm is something of a novelty. It’s up to Celtic to change the normal routine even more than that.
Neil Lennon has already experienced plenty as a manager but he has yet to get off the starting blocks when it comes to European football.
They have been second best to Braga, Utrecht, Sion and Atletico Madrid so far -- the only teams faced in Lennon’s two seasons -- and tonight Udinese arrive as the first visitors to Parkhead in the Europa League group stage.
It is more than 13 months since Celtic won a match in Europe. Lennon would wish for a better record than two wins from his seven Champions League and Europa League fixtures so far, but the Italians come with a reputation for being strong, quick and dangerous.
Celtic could actually record their third consecutive clean sheet tonight, but keeping out Ross County and Inverness Caledonian Thistle didn’t fool anyone. Their jittery, unimpressive defence will face a major test this evening and unless it improves they will surely endure another fraught night.
The early kick-off would make things “a bit different” said Lennon. There have been stirring European ties when Parkhead has throbbed and roared under the floodlights. Playing in the evening sunshine threatens to remove some of the urgency and drama from the occasion tonight and that could be a bigger worry for Celtic -- who often feed on that -- than Udinese. “I know there’s a danger it might take some of the shine off it,” said Lennon. “But as Sir Alex [Ferguson] says, television often dictates your kick-off times these days. Hopefully we can get a good crowd in and get the atmosphere going.”
The real issue isn’t the size of the crowd or its level of engagement. Celtic’s back four have emerged as the part of the side which undermines the whole. The three best teams Celtic have faced this season -- Sion, Atletico and Rangers -- have put nine goals past them in four matches and Udinese certainly have it in them to make that statistic worse.
Glenn Loovens and Kelvin Wilson were the central defenders when four goals were lost in the Old Firm game, and Loovens and Daniel Majstorovic were hardly any more impressive against Inverness at the weekend, despite somehow denying the Highlanders a goal. Lennon might regard his strongest back four as Wilson, Charlie Mulgrew, Cha Du-Ri and Emilio Izaguirre.
But injury currently denies him three of those and Mulgrew probably will have to play at left-back -- in place of the ineligible Badr El-Kaddouri -- where he is arguably less effective.
“As a manager I have to be mindful of the players’ confidence,” said Lennon. “We haven’t had a settled back four and I think that’s been part of the problem. We have two full-backs out long term and we have had a couple of suspensions and injuries. We’ll have to change the team for Udinese because Badr is ineligible so we will have to rejig the back four again. If we can get a settled back four then I think we’ll see more consistent performances. Glenn and Daniel are two experienced centre-halves and they should have coped better with what they were up against on Saturday. But I don’t want to make a big hoo-ha about it.”
Maybe so, but both Loovens and Majstorovic are in the last season of their Celtic contracts and Lennon was surely alluding to them when he was asked about the likelihood of trying to sign another defender. “There are a couple of players going to be out of contract anyway so we are always looking to add to the squad.”
In the meantime, the inability to trust their back four means Celtic cannot approach the Udinese match too defensively. Rangers, certainly under Walter Smith, inevitably would have tried to close down this sort of game, try to keep the Italians out and snatch a chance or two on the counter-attack.
Lennon acknowledged he could not attempt the same. “If I felt that was the best option for us, yes, I would think about it but I am not so sure, with the players we have, that caution is the best way forward. You can’t be gung-ho either. So we have to try to find a balance. We have watched Udinese quite a bit and they are an excellent team. They play a different formation to what we are used to.”
Celtic have watched Udinese playing 3-5-1-1, and Lennon seemed to expect that they would do something similar tonight, despite the fact they have rested their main striker and outstanding player, Antonio Di Natale. “I’m pleased about him being out because he has been in brilliant form and he is a brilliant player. But, again, you prepare for that type of player to play so you can’t over-analyse it too much. You have to focus on your own game,” said Lennon.
“Udinese counter-attack brilliantly and we have to be very, very aware of it. They are very well organised at the back. But the onus is on us to try and take the game to them and that’s what we will try to do.
“Listen, I think there is a mental toughness about our players. I saw that last season. We haven’t caught fire this season -- we have in some games but not as consistently as we can do -- so we are looking for two really good performances now over the next few days.”
The match Udinese tonight will be followed by Hearts at Tynecastle on Sunday. The latter is an early kick-off too. The matches have nothing else in common except this: Celtic could really do with taking something from both of them.
