Celtic ace Cameron Carter-Vickers admits facing Lazio in Rome’s Stadio Olimpico will bring some light relief from being asked to break down a Motherwell side intent on stretching football’s rules of engagement to the limit.
The defender believes it could also be a role reversal against the Italians in a Champions League clash where his Hoops side are determined to show they are capable of delivering at this level. After Saturday’s war of attrition against the Fir Park side, Brendan Rodgers and his players will look to get their first Group E win on the board tomorrow and Carter-Vickers insists it’ll be a far cry from Well’s parking-the-bus approach.
With two games remaining, Celtic are five points adrift of Feyenoord in third place and rooted to the foot of the table but the USA international is intent on narrowing the small margins which he believes is separating them from European football’s elite.
Carter-Vickers also admits it’ll be far easier to create chances against Lazio than against a Motherwell side which claimed a 1-1 draw despite having 10 men behind the ball for most of the contest. He said: “It’s a totally different game. When a team comes up presses you it’s completely different, there is more space for our forwards and our midfield players to try to get in behind. It’s almost easier to create chances.
“On the flip side of that we know that the defence will be under a bit more pressure than we were against Motherwell and it’s a different game. It is difficult any time a team puts 11 men behind the ball for most of the game because it’s hard to break them down.
“To be fair to them they worked hard in their shape and they got a lot of blocks and clearances in with the back five. So it was difficult, but from our point of view we had them where we wanted them for large parts. I think it just needs a bit more quality in and around their box.”
Celtic were lacking in guile and creative spark and the two dropped points brought a bit of anxiety among some Celts fans. Carter-Vickers said: “I don’t know if the performance was necessarily disappointing. We controlled the game for large parts and had all the territory. So performance-wise it was probably just a bit of quality in the final third. Result-wise it was definitely disappointing.”
As eyes turn to the Champions League stage, Celtic are searching for some credibility at the elite level after conceding 12 goals and scoring just three in their previous four contests. A bruising 6-0 loss to Atletico Madrid in Spain on their last outing which saw Daizen Maeda sent off has been the low point but Carter-Vickers is adamant his side aren’t far away from competing with the best and admitted they will have to be switched on in every department.
He said: “You have to concentrate always. Even in a game like Motherwell I know they didn’t have much, but a lot of the time we defended with half the pitch behind us so you have to concentrate. In the Champions League we are playing against some top quality players and we need to be ready for that.
“To be fair, barring 70 minutes of the game when we were down to 10 men in Madrid I think we have shown that we can compete at that level. We would probably have wanted results to be a bit better and it’s fine margins at that level we need to get better at.
“But, like I said, barring that spell when we were down to 10 men away from home in Madrid I think we have shown that we can compete. We know that we can compete and now we need to show that. It’s just fine margins. When you play against quality players, certainly in terms of their attacking players, if you give them half a chance they take it. You probably don’t get as many clear-cut chances and when you do get one you have to take it.
“It’s just that bit of quality at that level we need to improve on and get better.”
Another pressing issue for Celtic is to find a consistent penalty taker after Luis Palma followed David Turnbull and Reo Hatate in missing a spot-kick since Brendan Rodgers returned to the club in the summer. The Honduran’s howler from the spot proved decisive and Carter-Vickers insists he won’t be putting his hand up for the job but admits that practice can make perfect.
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