Pundit Peter Martin has shared some of his concerns about Celtic’s full-back situation and a potential lack of height in that position.
Martin was recently the host of the latest episode of PLZ Soccer’s The Football Show. The panel discussed many issues surrounding Scottish football and they also focused on Celtic’s win over Hamilton on Sunday. This led to Martin talking about Celtic’s full-backs and he raised one of his concerns in that department.
The Hoops beat Hamilton 5-1 on Sunday, with Odsonne Edouard grabbing a hat-trick on the day. Jeremie Frimpong scored a goal, while Patryk Klimala also scored. Left-back Greg Taylor got a couple of assists as well (as per BBC Sport).
Despite Taylor getting two assists and Frimpong scoring, Martin issued some concerns about the full-backs and said: “They played a 4-4-2 yesterday. They will probably switch once they get another centre-half to go into 3-5-2 as well. My only concern on this is the boy Taylor has waited, he has been biding his time, his crosses were exceptional.
Is the full-back area a problem for Celtic?
Yes, it is a problem
No, it isn't
“My only concern with them – and this goes back to the Martin O’Neill days – my only concern is his height. I hate to even raise that thorny subject, but the two full-backs are not the tallest. Unless they get three commanding, physical centre-halves, I think they can come a cropper at times.”
Martin isn’t confident about the height of both the full-backs and feels that it could become a problem for the Hoops at some point. He believes that this problem could impact Celtic unless they get three commanding centre-backs playing behind the full-backs in a 3-5-2 shape.
TIF Thoughts…
While Celtic used a 4-2-3-1 shape on Sunday against Hamilton, they used a 3-5-2 shape for a number of games in the second half of the 2019/20 season. And the Hoops didn’t lose a single league game in the second half of the previous season and it could be a reflection of how that formation might work better for them.
Even Martin sounds a bit confident of the fact that Celtic will revert to a 3-5-2 in the future and that could be a good sign. Taylor and Frimpong have the second and third-lowest heights in the Celtic first-team squad, so it will be interesting to see how Neil Lennon nullifies this problem. If he reverts to a successful 3-5-2 in the next few games remains to be seen.