THE domestic and European achievements of the Celtic side coached by Ronny Deila may, for the time being at least, pale in comparison with those of the famous team managed by Martin O’Neill.
Winning both the Premiership and League Cup and reaching the knockout stages of the Europa League in his first season in this country was a highly-encouraging start for the Norwegian.
However, Deila and his charges still have some way to go before they can emulate the feats of the special group of players which his Irish predecessor O’Neill spent five memorable years in charge of.
Nevertheless, there are definite similarities between the two - and supporters of the Parkhead club are hopeful they will help to ensure the current side progress further in the Champions League this season.
Celtic toiled to overcome an excellent FK Qarabag side in the first leg of the third qualifying round in Glasgow on Wednesday night and will head into the rematch in Azerbaijan protecting a narrow 1-0 lead.
Gurban Gurbanov’s side were comfortable in possession, well-organised, posed a threat on the counter attack and limited the scoring chances their adversaries created. It took a Dedryck Boyata header with just eight minutes remaining to defeat them.
But that strike – the Belgian centre half’s second in just three appearances for the club he joined for a £1.5 million transfer fee from Manchester City in the summer – gave an indication of how Celtic can make it through to the play-off over in Baku.
The goal stemmed from a set-piece and took advantage of their significant aerial superiority. Kris Commons whipped a penetrating corner into the opposition six yard box and Boyata bludgeoned past his markers and netted.
Nadir Ciftci had nodded a Stefan Johansen cross wide in the second half and Virgil van Dijk also had a header from an Emilio Izaguirre free-kick which was destined for the top right corner palmed over the crossbar by Qarabag keeper Ibrahim Sehic.
O’Neill’s Celtic side could, with Henrik Larsson, Stilyan Petrov, Alan Thompson and others, play a bit. But at times it relied heavily on the imposing presences of the likes of John Hartson, Johan Mjallby, Joos Valgaeren, Stanislav Varga and Chris Sutton and achieved some famous results thanks to their bravery and ability in the air.
Deila is always keen for his side to pass the ball and attack with width and pace something which is borne out by the face that Stuart Armstrong, James Forrest and Gary Mackay-Steven are regular starters. He is, though, not averse to reverting to a more direct style of play when a game demands it and believes that could be required next week.
“Set pieces are very important,” he said. “That is our strength. Scottish football has always been physical and we have to use the strength of the Scottish players for set-plays. We should be very dominant in every set-play. Every time we have a set play every team we meet should be worried. The height and power we have in the team is very good.”
“It was a feature of O’Neill’s team. I remember that team and every opponent was scared to give away corner kicks. That is a positive thing. We have a lot of height and we have power and good deliveries.
“Something like 33 per cent of every goal scored comes from a set play. So it’s as important as counter attacks or offensive play. You have to be good at it and last year we had a very good record from set plays. I think we had something like 23 goals form set-pieces and only lost two. That’s very, very good.
“It’s part of the game. As I said 33 per cent of every goal scored comes from one. There are a lot of World Cup finals and Champions League finals won by a set play. When there is a lot of tension like the game on Wednesdaay and everybody is very tense set plays are always very important.
“Consistency is important. We train on deliveries and play every three days, so we don’t get enough practice. But Kendo (first team coach John Kennedy) is very good at organising them together with Stevie Woods. They do that. I’m not an expert in set plays but there are things I am very into and think are right, so those things we do as well.”
Deila has been delighted by how quickly Boyata has settled in and with the partnership he has struck up with Van Dijk and is hopeful that can, despite ongoing speculation about the latter moving to England before the close of the transfer window next month, continue to develop.
“They look very, very good,” he said. “We had two very good defenders last year. Dedryck is starting the same way Jason Denayer did last year – scoring goals. He is also very strong defensively. So I am happy with the signing. He is going to be an important player for us. Those two together are dynamite.
“Maybe it is a surprise how well he has done. But you have to understand that he comes from one of the biggest clubs in the world and has played with some of the best players in the world. He has the level and was very hungry when he came here. He wanted to show what is inside him and he has adapted very well.”
Deila, who dismissed speculation linking Celtic with Club Brugge striker Tom De Sutter, admitted the importance of the game against Qarabag on Wednesday night may have been partially to blame for their far from impressive display.
He will encourage his players to perform with greater freedom in the second leg – as he did with some success in the second half of the game in midweek and focus on turning the possession they enjoyed into goalscoring opportunities.
“It irritates me that we didn’t create more,” he said. “There are things we have to work on. We played too many square passes and we played too slowly. We have to increase the tempo.
“At half-time we told them to relax more. They were so tense. It was an important game and everyone knew that. We had to take off the brakes and start playing quicker, start taking chances.
“If you are going to hurt them, you have to penetrate and the runs have to go forward. We did that better in the second half. We got more crosses into the box and created more chances. But these are important matches and there were some tense players out there.
“I’m happy with the wide players we have. But it’s about them keeping their positions and getting the timing of their runs right to create problems for the opponents. On Wednesday night, they were too static. They were holding back in the first half. They got forward more in the second half.
“It’s not about taking risks, because we play with balance. We have defensive balance with Broony (Scott Brown) and Nir (Bitton). We just need to take some chances in the forward areas. The players were not scared to do that, just a little bit tense.”
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