Jeremie Frimpong Scout Report At Celtic 2019/2020 – Player Analysis

Celtic have dominated their domestic league for the last decade.

Winning the league offers the chance to compete at top European competitions.

However, to compete at the European stage, Celtic had to bring in quality players at a relatively low price, which met their tight budget constraints.

Between 2010 and 2014, during Neil Lennon’s first reign as Celtic manager, he tried to sign young, promising but unproven European players.

He intended to develop and expose the players to the European stage before selling them to bigger clubs for profit.

Celtic became a great stepping stone club for this cohort of players, gaining first-team action while also gaining valuable experience from playing in top European competitions.

Celtic’s recruitment strategy has been successful. It has discovered and provided a platform for the likes of Victor Wanyama, Moussa Dembele, and Virgil Van Dijk, who have since moved onto top European clubs.

This strategy enabled the Glaswegian club to compete in Europe while also turning a considerable profit when the players eventually moved on.

In his second stint as Celtic manager, Neil Lennon continues to discover and sign promising young European talent.

One player Lennon has unearthed this season and has made a huge impact is young Dutch full-back Jeremie Frimpong.

Frimpong first came to Celtic’s attention playing in Manchester City’s under-23 squad last season. He impressed, and the Scottish club signed him last summer.

This season, despite competition from Moritz Bauer and Hatem Elhamed at right-back, Frimpongs impressive performances have propelled him to become Celtic’s first choice at full-back.

This tactical analysis, which is a scout report, will focus on how Frimpong has made an instant impact, becoming one of Celtic’s and the league’s most exciting players this season.

Celtics progressive outlet

Coming into the 2019/20 season, Celtic were treble winners, losing only 5 games in the league last season.

The Hoops are renowned for dominating and controlling games through a possession-based philosophy.

Celtics set-up involves dominating possession and patiently breaking down the opposition. With an array of quality players on the team, they overwhelm their opponents and come away with a result.

This season under Neil Lennon his side continued the same patient possession-based philosophy that has stood them so well.

However, when Lennon gave Frimpong his debut against Patrick Thistle in the league cup, he put in a man-of-the-match performance.

That performance solidified his place in the team as starting first-choice right-back but also in subsequent matches with Frimpong in the team Lennon altered his tactics that focused around utilising the young full-backs strengths.

Frimpong plays the right-back position like he is a right-winger.

When he receives the ball he is very direct and positive looking to drive forward with the ball, coupled with these attributes he has electric pace which in all can terrorise opposition defences.

Lennon recognised the threat he possessed and tweaked his tactics to ensure Frimpong would receive the ball in space and be able to drive forward with the ball.

In possession, Celtic would look to build-up down the left.

the  Dutch right-back would position himself wide out on the right but not too high that it would draw the attention of the opposition’s left-sided defenders.

The opposition left-winger (his marker) would naturally tuck in thus leaving Frimpong in space.

If Celtic could not progress the ball on the left, it would then be circulated back from the left and out to the right quickly, where Frimpong, in acres of space, can receive it and drive it forward.

Since the young full-back has broken into the team as a regular, Celtic use this move quite frequently.

The young Dutchman’s direct-forward style gets Celtic into advanced positions in which they can create opportunities to score.

In the game against Rangers in December, Celtic used this tactic to great effect.

Celtic looked to progress the ball down the left-hand side through a patient, possession build-up.

Rangers then looked to press Celtic, committing numbers across to collapse on the ball.

Celtic almost bait Rangers into committing players to the left-hand side and Celtic are able to circulate the ball back to Christopher Julien who picks out Frimpong who is positioned wide on the right.

The Dutch full-back is in acres of space as Rangers have committed too many players to the left-hand side of the pitch, as we can see in the image below.

Frimpong can then drive the ball forward and use his pace to attack the space.

Frimpong has become an outlet for Celtic to progress the ball forward.

The young full-back is very positive and constantly wants to drive the Hoops up the pitch.

The Celtic right-bac