Johan Mjallby
Johan Mjallby is pleased with the way Celtic’s new look defence is taking shape.
The Swede was a key member of one of the best ever Celtic defences alongside Bobo Balde and Joos Valgaeren.
What they lacked in silky soccer they more than made up for in aggression with no striker coming off the park without knowing that they had been in a battle.
Mjallby was largely responsible for recruiting Daniel Majstorovic to the club with the Swede making an instant impact on his team-mates.
Majstorovic looks like being given the captaincy of the club in the absence of Scott Brown with Mjallby pleased with the way the influence that his fellow Swede is having.
He told Channel 67: “It’s important for defenders to play together and the more that they know about each other the stronger they will become
“Daniel is brand new to the Scottish game, he doesn’t really know who he is going to come up against. Before games we show him video clips and tell him who he is going to come up against so that he is prepared.
“We want defenders to defend but at the same time we have full-backs that want to get forward and bomb down the flanks
“The key to a good defence is getting the balance right, to know when to defend and when to get forward.
“You need to have strong characters, the way that we play we like our centre half’s to be be defenders first and foremost. At set pieces it is important to be strong, we like the defenders to get their head on the ball, especially with the way that the game is played in Scotland with a lot of aerial challenges.
“The guys that are here have started the season well, they know how to defend, they know how to play the game, it’s just smaller things that we need to tell them.”
After eight SPL games last season Celtic had conceded seven goals- this season they have lost three goals to date. Aberdeen and St Mirren both scored four goals against Celtic with goals being conceded wrecklessly on an almost weekly basis.
As soon as he got the job Neil Lennon turned to Mjallby for help with the former Swedish captain brought in to try and salvage something from last season.
“I think that we lacked a leader last season,” Mjallby admitted. “It’s so important to have someone who organises the players around them
“I’m not saying that you need one leader or one captain, you’d prefer to have eleven out there.
“Last season we conceded too many sloppy goals, especially from set pieces but I think that so far this season that part of our play has been quite strong. That’s important, especially at home when we have so much possession.
“Confidence is always important whether you are a striker or a defender- if you lack confidence it’s going to be hard for you.
“When you feel that you are playing well you don’t think about your own game, you just do your stuff and you have the basics right. If you lack in confidence you start thinking about stuff, you make mistakes, you get worried, maybe sometimes you don’t want the ball. We can’t have that, we need confident players
“The way we see it the four or five defensive players concentrate on defending and leave the more creative players to get on with their stuff. We are always going to be an attack minded side, we always want to create chances play nice fluid football.
“As a former defender I can be quite critical, I wear my heart on my sleeve and I don’t want us to concede goals
“We know that if we keep a clean sheet the chances of winning the game are almost 100% because we have so many talented attacking players that are banging in goals.
“I have the same attitude as when I was playing- we need to keep clean sheets and defend properly. Martin O’Neill told me to defend with my life and when I get the ball to give it to the better players!”
Relief at no international injuries
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