Chris Sutton has shed some light on Celtic’s defensive issues and has talked about the fact that they have problems while defending set pieces.
Sutton was recently a guest on the latest episode of the Record Celtic podcast. He discussed many issues surrounding the Parkhead side. One thing he was asked about was how the side defended against Hamilton Academical on Sunday and he highlighted some of Celtic’s defensive issues.
The Hoops beat Hamilton 5-1 on Sunday. Odsonne Edouard grabbed a hat-trick, while Jeremie Frimpong and Patryk Klimala also grabbed a goal each in the game (as per BBC Sport).
When talking about how Celtic defended and their issues from set-pieces, Sutton said:
“I think with the two centre-halves, I think that they were both sloppy at the weekend. I thought it was one of those games where they probably thought this was just going to be easy, it’s going to be a bit of a stroll and they expected to win, and in fairness, Hamilton, from crosses and set pieces, put Celtic under pressure.
Do you think Celtic really have problems defending set-pieces?
Yes, we do
Not at all
“Nobody on the post from corners and Celtic – I know they conceded against Rangers last season, the [Nikola] Katic header, [Marios] Ogkmpoe had an opportunity from a corner – that would be one area of concern where you think – [we are] just not quite sure about Celtic; do they have a soft centre from set pieces? And I’m sure Neil [Lennon] will be really aware of that.”
Sutton believes that the Celtic defenders – Kristoffer Ajer and Christopher Jullien weren’t quite at it against Hamilton and defending from set-pieces was a concern. He also feels that Neil Lennon will know that defending from set-pieces is an issue for the Hoops.
TIF Thoughts…
The Hoops had the joint-best defensive record in the 2019/20 Premiership season and they conceded only 19 goals in the campaign – as many as Rangers did (as per WhoScored).
Even in the 2018/19 season, they had the best defensive record in the division and they let in only 20 goals in the campaign (as per WhoScored).
So, even if they are weak at defending from set-pieces, it isn’t quite affecting them in league competition. In the 2019/20 campaign of the UEFA Europa League, Celtic conceded just a single goal from set-pieces in the group stages of the competition. It shows that even if defending from set-pieces is a weakness, it isn’t quite a major one for the Hoops.