Scottish Premiership 2020/21: St. Johnstone vs Celtic – tactical analysis

It was second from the top versus second from the bottom clash in the Scottish Premiership as Neil Lennon’s men could leap above rivals Rangers for a couple of hours at least as they traveled to Perth to take on a St. Johnstone side that has lost their last two games and have found it difficult to score as they sit bottom of the table in terms of goals scored with only 4 scored in 9 league games coming into this tough game.

In actual fact, it was the other way round as the Saints made this a tough afternoon for Celtic on the day. After their qualification into the group stages of the Europa League midweek, it looked like their travels seemed to hinder Celtic as they struggled in this game against a motivated and resilient St.Johnstone side. Celtic tried to create chances but failed to come up with any innovating ways to create and open up this St.Johnstone side as each one of Davidson’s men carried out their roles valiantly.

However, Celtic’s pressure took its toll in the end for St.Johnstone’s backline as Celtic’s two substitutes, first through a Leigh Griffiths header in the 89 minute and Patrick Kimala deep into the injury gave Neil Lennon’s side the necessary goals to give Celtic the win to keep the pressure on at the top of the league as they fight it out with former Liverpool player Steven Gerrard’s side.

This tactical analysis will provide a breakdown of this game focusing on the tactics of both teams and will explain how St.Johnstone disrupted Celtic as they smartly pressed Neil Lennon’s side and made it difficult for them to progress the ball forward to create any meaningful attacks and chances on goal. This analysis will also look at how Celtic tried to beat St.Johnsotne through different methods and slight changes in tactics before Lennon added some fresh legs off the bench that carried the impudence to grab two late goals.

Lineups

Callum Davidson decided to change his formation back from a 4-1-4-1 to a 3-4-3 as he faced the reigning Scottish Premiership champions as he looked to add more protection at the back. With this change in formation naturally came a change in personnel as the Saints manager made two changes to his side that lost 0-2 away to Livingston last weekend.

The first change came in the form of adding that extra defender as Liam Gordon came into the heart of the defence as he replaced midfielder Liam Craig. The other change Davidson made to his side happened at the opposite side of the pitch in attack as David Wotherspoon replaced Michael O’Halloran who was dropped to the bench.