Neil Lennon has revealed that Miku played the key role in Celtic’s win over Barcelona.
The on-loan striker cut a lonely figure in his last Celtic Park appearance as he trudged off after being substituted in the 2-0 defeat from Kilmarnock.
At Tannadice on Sunday he looked a completely different character showing some great touches to notch his first goal for the club before diving in with the supporters to celebrate.
Lennon has never doubted Miku’s quality and after much thought about formations decided to go with the Venezuelan striker for a key role against Barcelona.
“We debated whether to play 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 and pack the midfield but you need pace in wide areas if you are going to counter-attack,” the Celtic boss revealed. “With respect, Charlie Mulgrew and Kris Commons are not as quick as James Forrest and Georgios Samaras, so speaking to [coaches] Johan Mjallby and Garry Parker, we were wondering if we’d get out if we went 4-5-1.
“Would Sami be isolated up there? He’s great on the counter-attack but would we get the support to him? The other thing was that the supporters would be sick of seeing the ball being recycled and Barcelona getting it. It can be dispiriting for the players as well.
“So we wanted Miku to be a link between the midfield and Georgios and get support to him as best he could. I think Miku played wonderfully well. He did everything we asked of him and more.
“Our options were getting shorter and shorter. We were waiting on Scott Brown [he had a virus] to see if he would be fit to play and, about 2.30pm, it was clear he wasn’t. But it was all down to the players. It’s all about them.”
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Neil Lennon, tactical genius and pulled of a defensive master class. “They would like to call it “anti-football” and “parking the bus”. This may be the case if you play 180 mins against the best team in the world and don’t score but we scored both home and away and that it my book is counter attacking football. Something that 90% of teams that have played Barcelona have failed to do. Nuff said!!
1NL YNWA HH
I said here on wednesday afternoon that we can beat anyone at celtic park and I included real madrid in that statement.Also the fact that we are all human and not robots will always,given the proper mindset,give you a chance.We must continue in the positive frame of mind and along the lines of we are not saying we are infallible,What we are saying is we are as good as anyone in this league and lets have no inferior vibes from our great institution .
You never hear Sally giving such in depth quotes. He’s limited to “disapponiting” and “not good enough”. Lenny clearly has more tactical knowledge than the former Rangers manager.
Lenny is the man!
HH
Dave don’t forget ‘baffled’.
Sami and Miku were absolutely vital for the counter attack as NL has explained, as was young Tony Watt when he came on.
We have a young team to be proud of and who are continuing to learn and progress at a rapid rate. It would be fruitless to just defend, without having a way out. So, credit to the midfield and defence for their solid part and credit to the aforementioned players for providing the ‘out’. You need more than one plan these days.
Although they don’t seek it, credit must also go to Neil, Johan and Garry for their knowledgable tactics.
Come on you bhoys in green.
HH! YNWA!
I think it took massive balls to throw on a third striker, but I was absolutely delighted when Lenny did it. I’m fed up seeing teams trying to protect a one-nil lead, and you can’t really do that against Barca because you will be punished sooner or later. If we hadn’t put Watt on then we could very well have had the draw or more likely beaten.
I have been praying for weeks for young Watt to be given a shot and I prefer him over Forrest. He shows no fear and is a joy to watch. Miku did a great job, and it was always going to be vital that he played, since he played against them regularly in La Liga. Neil Lennon might say he doesn’t give much consideration to tactics. I think he probably doesn’t believe he does, but as far as I can see he’s a tactical genius.
If Sami hadn’t have got injured in the game in Barcelona then I’m sure we would have come away with a point as he’s that good a player.
how time moves on…. didnt even expect big sami to be here based on his performances and attitude a few years past but he really looks to have matured and is showing consistency, smart thinking and looks to be playing with great desire… dynamics of the team changes when hes selected, for the better!
everyone seems to be forgetting that Barca should have been down to 9 men!!! Ref bottled it big-time!!!