Celtic's 'relentless' front three: What it is like playing against them

There is a sense of personal failure felt by Dundee’s Cammy Kerr over what befell his team against Celtic on Sunday.

Celtic's Jota (gets a shot away under pressure from Dundee's Cammy Kerr, who admits Celtic's "relentless" movement made it impossible to quell the in-form winger, who grabbed two goals in the 4-2 victory at Dens Park. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

The right-side defender, directly up against two-goal Jota, in an admirable desire to be “brutally honest”, puts himself in the dock for the loss of the two goals just after the restart that allowed Celtic to stretch 4-1 in front, before the Dens Park hosts later pulled one back. But Kerr also acknowledges that he and his team-mates came up against an irresistible force in Ange Postecoglou’s men. Celtic’s attacking trident of of Kygo Furuhashi – who also netted two on Tayside – Liel Abada and the on-loan Benfica winger were fresh from skewering Ferencvaros away the Europa League when they meted out the same treatment to James McPake’s men.

The fact the front three were a blur of movement and menace, abetted by such as Anthony Ralston tearing up the flank as if channelling Danny McGrain, provides a plea in mitigation for Kerr’s struggles. And the 26-year-old didn’t entirely decline to take that when assessing the Celtic avengers assembled by the Australian. “It was a tough day. The boys showed good character to stay in the game, but I probably look at myself,” he said. “Second half, first five minutes, that’s probably on me. My game is to stop their attackers and I didn’t do it. So I will take the blame for that. Don’t get me wrong, what a side they are. They are a good side. But you pride yourself on your defensive displays against those teams one-on-one.

“To be fair, in the first-half, I felt I dealt with it quite well. But that’s the quality they have. Two instances in the first five minutes of the second half and they punish you. After that, I probably got too attracted to the ball and that’s what they do. They suck you in and then punish you more. They are top-quality players and the way they move the ball for the whole 90 minutes is great.”

Celtic’s chief punisher for the defender was Jota. He took his tally to six goals in 11 games, as Postecoglou’s side, one of the leading scorers across the eight Europa League groups, ensured they are at the fore for those returns in the cinch Premiership with 30 goals bagged in 13 top flight encounters. “I always try to look at my game straight away and I think probably where I went wrong was, first half, I let him have it and started to go off the one-twos and match him for pace with that. But once I had won it a few times, I maybe thought: right I’ll go tighter. And that’s when they show their quality and they can knock it around you. It’s a lesson I will take one for myself.

“[With Celtic as a team] I wouldn’t say it is unpredictable [how they build openings]. We know what they are going to. They have good players in the wide areas and they look to play one-twos in behind you. It’s all about matching their movements, but I’d say it is relentless in the way they play, in that it is non-stop attack. No matter if we go at them, they will still come back.”

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