{"id":8719,"date":"2016-03-04T20:38:43","date_gmt":"2016-03-04T20:38:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etims.net\/?p=8719"},"modified":"2016-03-04T20:38:43","modified_gmt":"2016-03-04T20:38:43","slug":"dancing-the-4-2-3-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etims.net\/?p=8719","title":{"rendered":"Dancing The 4-2-3-1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rebus considers the formation favoured \u00a0by Ronny Deila, but is concerned by the implementation.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>
\nImagine the scene as it appears through the mists of time, a fourteen year old Rebus standing with two of his mates in the corridor of the Science Department of his secondary school. A door opens and the most attractive girl in the class glides into the corridor. You know the type\u2026she appears at least two years more mature than any guy in the class. In case she tries to share my wealth as well as my memories, let\u2019s call her SC. The school dance is on the horizon and everybody wants to partner SC to it but nobody has the nerve to risk almost certain refusal.
\nI step forward, goaded by my mates and do the unthinkable. I ask her to the dance.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, if you like\u201d, she smiles.<\/p>\n

I bask in the glow of her reply! My two mates are picking their lower jaws off the floor as SC glides on down the corridor. The News spreads like wildfire. Rebus is taking SC to the dance! How did he do it? As the afterglow starts to fade, I am besieged with worry as I cannot dance at all. SC is sure to be a magician on the floor. I go to my local library and there is a whole shelf full of books on how to dance. I take out the maximum permitted\u2026five books crammed full of every popular and not so popular dance on the planet. Each dance is illustrated by diagrams of footprints\u2026.one large set and one smaller. I figure that the large set must be the male\u2019s steps. I memorise the steps for the Tango, the Foxtrot, the Mambo, the Waltz. You name it I had weeks of practise jumping from one set of footprints to the next and all from memory.
\nAlong comes the dance. Mum has got me a new pair of trousers, 14 inch bottoms. I am IT! The band starts up playing a quickstep. SC turns to me and asks if I know it. Immediately a series of diagrams springs into my mind. Yes! On the floor I take her left hand in my right, snake my left round her back, and\u2026\u2026\u2026..start to jump into the footprints that I have memorised. Somehow the music is a complication and so is my partner.<\/p>\n

It was a disaster and the evening had only started!
\nWhat has this to do with Celtic and our Norwegian coach, you ask?<\/p>\n

The lesson is that you may know the theory very well but at some stage you have to walk the walk, or dance the dance, or play the game.\u00a0<\/em>
\nOur coach knows the 4231 system inside out. He knows the advantages of it; he knows the roles that both the \u201cThree\u201d and \u201cTwo\u201d components should play; he knows how the full backs should support the forward play.<\/p>\n

He knows it all. He has seen it work at other clubs. Manchester City is an example. However, he cannot get it to work consistently at Celtic.<\/p>\n

Consider the last seventeen games in which he has played the formation.<\/p>\n

He has tried 11 different permutations of the three midfielders, and he has tried 8 different versions of the \u201ctwo\u2019\u201d pivot roles. Yes, that is correct, eight different arrangements of two players. In the \u201cThree\u201d he has only used the same formation a maximum of three times. How can any familiarity be built up amongst the unit under these circumstances?<\/p>\n

Now, in fairness, there have been injuries, but these do not account for all of the chopping and changing that has occurred in the engine room of the team. Take Callum MacGregor as an example. Ronnie has played him in the \u201cTwo\u201d and in the \u201cThree\u201d, and, when he has played 442, as the second striker. Johansen is another who has shuffled between the \u201cTwo\u201d and the \u201cThree\u201d frequently. We can see what has happened to his form this season.<\/p>\n

Is this necessarily a bad practice?<\/p>\n

The answer is \u201cNo\u201d! Take one of the contenders for the EPL crown\u2026.Spurs. They play 4231 regularly. Furthermore, they shuffle players between the two midfield components of the system. What they also do, that Celtic do not do, is they have a player, Chadli who can play either as the lone striker or as an attacking midfielder. So shuffling players amongst the components of the system can work but, I think, most will agree it is not working for Celtic. Wait a minute you cry, the comparison is not a valid one. Spurs have better players. Just look at how much they paid for them.<\/p>\n

However, we must also take into account the quality of the opposition that both teams face. There is a world of a difference between Manchester City and Motherwell. Celtic have significantly better players than Motherwell and yet, playing 4231 against them at Parkhead we conceded two goals and lost the match.
\nSo what is the future likely to hold?<\/p>\n

We have hardly played Christie. Henderson(an excellent prospect) and young Nisbet are due back from loan. Throw in Ajer and even with departures we have a surfeit of midfielders. The temptation will certainly be there to cycle players in and out of the team. I am not naive enough to believe that shuffling players in and out of positions and that playing 4231 are the only reasons for poor performances and poor results.<\/p>\n

However, I do believe that any difficulties associated with these issues should have been resolved well before the end of the second term of a coach\u2019s tenure.<\/p>\n

Especially when we consider what could happen this season.<\/p>\n

Here is a staggering prediction.<\/p>\n

\u00a0As shown below, if both Celtic and Aberdeen perform as they have over the last seven games, Celtic will lose the league by three points.\u00a0<\/em>
\nPerformance over last seven games
\nTeam \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Wins Losses Draws Current Pts
\nCeltic \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 3 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 2 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a02 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 63
\nAberdeen \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 5 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a01 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a01 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a059<\/p>\n

Projected Performance over last ten games
\nTeam \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Wins Losses Draws \u00a0Final Pts
\nCeltic \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a04 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a03 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 3 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 78
\nAberdeen \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 7 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a02 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 1 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 81<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rebus considers the formation favoured \u00a0by Ronny Deila, but is concerned by the implementation.\u00a0 Imagine the scene as it appears through the mists of time,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":8720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/etims.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/4-2-3-11.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2J7If-2gD","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8719"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8719"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8721,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8719\/revisions\/8721"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}