Gordon Strachan will never forget the night that he faced Barcelona as Celtic boss.
The teenage Lionel Messi sealed a 3-2 win for the Catalans on a memorable night as Paul Caddis and Barry Robson made their Champions League debut.
Celtic were in the middle of some turbulent domestic form but had beaten AC Milan, Benfica and Shakhtar Donetsk to reach the last 16 of the Champions League for the second year running.
With two Champions League campaigns in the bank the Celtic management team had squared up to some of the biggest names in the game but 90 minutes of Barca threw a whole new light on how the game was to develop.
“When Barcelona came to Parkhead that was when everyone here first realised this was a special team,” Strachan recalled.
“We did analysis with the Prozone system and, when Man United came here they got 340-odd passes.
“I think AC Milan made 360 or so — we cut down Andrea Pirlo’s passing and contained him. But Barcelona came to Celtic Park and completed 700 passes.
“I looked at the analysis the next morning and thought: ‘There’s something wrong with our Prozone’.
“But it was right. It was hypnotic football. It was passing we had never seen before, just keeping the ball moving.
“We all had an idea of what Xavi and Iniesta did but we didn’t realise we were watching some of the best players ever that night.”
Shortly after losing 4-2 on aggregate to Barcelona Strachan brought Neil Lennon back to Celtic as first team coach.
Four seasons later Lennon is leading Celtic back into the Champions League with his former gaffer impressed by the way that Lennon has developed in management.
“Lenny has learned a lot over the past couple of years, that’s for sure,” Strachan added. “You learn every day you stay in the game, so he’s obviously not at his peak, because he’ll have years to come.
“He will be better in two years’ time than he is now, that’s for sure. What he’s doing now is a very good job. But he’ll get even better.”
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700 passes! You’d be lucky to get that in the whole of Scottish football on any given weekend. Then when you analysed Scottish football’s passes further, Celtic would make 75% of them and most of the other 25% would be over 30 meters long.
It’s time to rip-up the Scottish coaching manual, if we ever had one, and start from scratch. We, as a country, are not producing players at any level with even the basic technical skills needed to play against decent teams.
The SFA claim that Scottish players have other attributes like passion and hard work, but all the passion and hard work in the world is useless without the technique to back it up. As Muhammed Ali said: “You need the skill and the will”. One’s no good without the other.
Something drastic needs to be done, soon.
“You need the skill and the will” absolutely, I will never forget Paul Hartley in that game against Barca. He was regarded as our “cool under pressure” holding mid-fielder. He collected the ball from the defence, and had a swarm of Barca coloured wasps to contend with. He turned and booted the ball out for a corner, then bollocked the defender for giving him the ball!! I almost laughed.
No team will ever epitomise the “Skill and the will” more than Barcelona of the last few years. Working hard is the starting point.
Celtic will continue to coach players the right way. When these young lads make it to the first team they get the fright of their young lives. All they have learned seems to be worthless. In Spain and Holland for example, all clubs practise a similar philosophy. Everyone singing from the same hymn-sheet. That makes it an easier transition for younger players. However, skill and technique will prevail. Watch England’s 100,000 quid a week stars struggle when they meet a good technical team.
Let’s continue to do it the right way.
Tommy Burns wouldn’t want it any other way.
I totally agree about Celtic. However, the whole set-up and culture of Scottish football needs to change, and change quickly, or we’re all going to be in trouble. Changing it could prove almost impossible though.
I believe we have started changing the culture from corrupt to honest. This started a few months ago with the exposure of corruption in Govan and the “turn a blind eye” tactics of the SFA which is of course now biting their bums!
Yes, change is happening.