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Celtic: Ange Postecoglou wants a left-footed centre-back
Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou wants to pair a right-footed centre-back with a left-footed one, according to Anthony Joseph.
The Lowdown: Centre-back conundrum
Postecoglou has been relieved to have been able to call on the reliable partnership of Cameron Carter-Vickers and Carl Starfelt at centre-back after fielding inconsistent pairings at the beginning of the season.
His 90-minute display against Livingston made it ten out of 11 starts at centre-back for Starfelt who only made three SPFL appearances in the opening 13 SPFL games, mainly due to injury, seeing him emerge as the American’s consistent partner.
However, Postecoglou opted to bring in centre-back Yuki Kobayashi from J-League side Vissel Kobe in January, with the deal confirmed in November (Sky Sports), adding another option to the backline.
The Latest: Joseph’s comments
Speaking on The Celtic Exchange, Sky Sports News journalist Joseph claimed that Postecoglou is looking to partner a left-footed option with a right-footed option at centre-back.
With Starfelt and Carter-Vickers both right-footed players and Kobayashi being an in-demand left-footed defender, there may come a change in the middle of defence, Joseph said:
(8:05) “Celtic play ridiculous amounts of games, so if you’ve got three main centre-backs, I think you ideally want four but I think you can see that it’s hard to keep four happy with what’s happened with (Moritz) Jenz and (Stephen) Welsh also looking for first team appearances elsewhere as well.”
“He was definitely looking for a left-sided centre back and will he replace Starfelt immediately? I’m not sure.”
“I think when you’re playing with inverted fullbacks which they have done most of the time, you kind of want your centre-backs to be left-sided and right-sided so if you’ve got a left-footed centre-back they can cover those wider areas which they quite often do when your left backs and right backs are so high up the pitch.”
The Verdict: Switch to Kobayashi?
Left-footed centre-backs are quickly becoming gold dust in football with Manchester United shelling out £56.7m (via Sky Sports) to sign Lisandro Martinez to add a left-footed option to their ranks, a prime example of how they’re quickly becoming key additions to teams.
Kobayashi would prove that but he’s so far had to bide his time given Starfelt’s and Carter-Vickers’ partnership proving fruitful, but giving the 22-year-old time to adjust to Scottish football, he will likely put pressure on the pair very soon.
With Carter-Vickers captaining the side for eleven games so far this season, it looks as this his place may be more assured but in his absence against St Mirren, Kobayashi partnered the Sweden international as the Bhoys ran out 4-0 winners proving their credentials together and potentially giving their manager a big decision to make soon.
