Celtic's surprise at Aberdeen mindset as underplayed trait helps them get over the line

This Celtic team has many, many qualities under manager Ange Postecoglou, but one trait that often flies under the radar is patience.

Celtic’s Callum McGregor celebrates with Greg Taylor after making it 1-0 against Aberdeen.

Inferior opposition often try to “park the bus” and limit the space for Celtic to play within. It’s rare that opponents outside of the top four of the league open up and when they do, Celtic generally punish them heavily. But it is even rarer for the club sitting third in the cinch Premiership to line up in a 5-3-2 formation and play exclusively on the break at home, keeping nine men camped on the edge of their penalty area. Those were the tactics of Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin on Saturday and he tried to nullify the threat of Ange Postecoglou’s men.

Goodwin has come under intense criticism for lining up in such a way. Aberdeen have been strong at home this term and have scored plenty of goals. Yet Celtic’s attacking prowess was clearly on his mind. Limiting them to mostly shots from distance worked for 87 minutes. Then Callum McGregor, playing his first competitive match since October, stepped up like a captain should do, arrowing an effort from just outside the penalty box that flew past Kellie Roos. The skipper and his team-mates celebrated wildly. They never panicked despite being frustrated by the Dons’ set-up. They always believed.

"Yes, probably,” defender Greg Taylor replied if asked he was surprised by Aberdeen’s approach. “If I’m honest we expected them to come out and have more of a go. But every team has their belief if how they can get a result against us so fair play to them. They will probably feel because the game went on so long at 0-0 that they were hard done by but if we analyse the performance they will realise there was only one team ever going to win the game.

McGregor was making his first competitive appearance for Celtic since October against RB Leipzig.

"I don’t know what the possession stats were but we dominated the ball and the chances. I think it would have been pretty harsh if we had not come away with the three points. We have a strong philosophy, a strong way of playing that we believe will give us success. It’s just a matter of sticking to it. Even if we had not got the goal I think the manager said himself he would have been pretty pleased with our performance. Large parts of what he is looking for was there apart from creating that big chance or getting a goal. I’m glad we got the goal but the performance was good.”

Staying disciplined and focused under such circumstances requires leadership. Celtic’s results in the league matches McGregor missed did not dip but everyone knows how vital he is to this team. He drives those around him on and is such a diligent user of the football. Taylor gave an insight into how hard his team-mate has worked to recover so well and swiftly from a knee injury.

“It is massive to have the captain back and to get the winning goal and the man of the match award on his first game after injury is not a bad return,” continued Taylor. “Fair play to Cal, he’s worked ever so hard on his rehab and he’s come back the same we he started the season. It’s brilliant to have him back. Hopefully he can stay fit for the rest of the season.

“It’s not easy to come back after 10 weeks out. A guy like Cal thrives on playing football and he regularly plays 50 or 60 games a season. You know how hard he would find being on the sidelines and looking on. It’s important to realise the boys who played when he was out put in such a massive shift because Cal is irreplaceable for us. It was unbelievable from them but today was about Cal and the team and he was superb.

"He makes everyone around him better and that’s an unbelievable quality for an individual to have in a team game. It’s such a vital time in the season for him to come back. Every game is so important but you know around this period of time there are so many games and we wanted to put on a strong performance for the fans who travelled up to Aberdeen and cheered us from minute one to 90. It was good for them to go home having seen a win.”

Celtic used the World Cup-enforced shutdown to travel across the world to play two friendlies in Australia and then headed over to Portugal for some warm-weather training. Taylor welcomed the break and also the performances of his team-mates during the tournament, with the club’s four representatives – Josip Juranovic, Daizen Maeda, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Aaron Mooy – all reaching the knock-out phase.

“The break was probably good for us because we had such a hectic period for two or three months with traveling and games every Tuesday or Wednesday and Saturday,” admitted Taylor. “We were right at it for an extended period so it was good to see our fans in Australia first and foremost and then get some rest and recovery so we are ready to go again for the second half of the season.

“All of our players have all represented us unbelievably. Daizen got a goal, everyone qualified from the groups and then Jura what he did was brilliant. It’s just a shame Croatia didn’t manage to go one step further but I’m sure they will all be pretty pleased with their performances.”

Next up for Celtic is Livingston on Wednesday before a visit from St Johnstone on Christmas Eve. Both matches are at home. They are likely to be met by the same resistance as Aberdeen put up at Pittodrie. It’s just as well Celtic, with a nine-point lead at the top of the table, have the mindset to deal with such situations.