SCANDINAVIANS are famed for their cool sense of detachment but this is ridiculous. Erik Sviatchenko is an unfussy type of defender but even he expected more of a clamour back home in his native Denmark about the manner in which he has made his mark in the Champions League with Celtic this season.
Indeed, for all their love of British football, the Parkhead side's draw with Manchester City wasn't even screened on Danish television, their gaze drawn instead to how Jannik Vestergaard and Andreas Christensen, two of Sviatchenko's rivals for a starting central defensive slot for the national team, were faring for Borussia Moenchengladbach against Barcelona, not to mention the exploits of Danish champions FC Copenhagen.
What Scotland would do for one Champions League quality central defender, not a handful of them, but what the viewers back home missed was another assured performance from this 25-year-old at the heart of the Parkhead defence in a team display which could quite easily have harvested three points rather than just one.
"To have a Danish player playing against the biggest players in the Champions League should have been a bigger thing in Denmark I think," said Sviatchenko. "Maybe [it is because I play in Scotland], I don't know. But I know that Copenhagen are getting all the fuss, all the credit.
"I don't think the game was even shown on Danish television, but 'Gladbach had two other Danes playing," he added. "It was an interesting group with three Danish defenders all playing in the same position. In the Danish national team, those two are keeping me away from playing. I don't measure myself against them in that way but I think we did well and I think I did well against them."
It is easy to give Brendan Rodgers all the credit for Sviatchenko's solid form and the Northern Irishman certainly deserves some. But in fact the Dane's thirst for self improvement comes from within. Since his teenage years, he has used video analysis to critique his own performances, even splicing and annotating his own footage to illustrate what he might have done well in a game and what he could have done better.
Rather than celebrate after a positive end to the club's Champions League campaign, this studious Scandinavian was huddled over a laptop, using a software programme called InStats which collates all his touches. Having made his own notes and thoughts on the subject, the next step was to see if assistant manager Chris Davies has any thoughts to add on the subject.
"I have done it since I was 15 maybe," said Sviatchenko. "It is a good thing to go through a game and put your thoughts out there. We have a thing called InStats where you can see all your clips so Stevie our analysis guy gives me the game and I go through them minute by minute and take down some small text, something like 'good pass' or 'could have been a better pass'. 'Maybe I should have shown for the pass'. 'Good defending'. Things like that.
"For instance, yesterday I couldn't sleep after the game because of the adrenaline that was pumping," he added. "So I used the time to go through the game then I asked Chris if he could come back to me on a few things because it would be nice to have their take."
While football is always far more than an individual game - each player has to be aware how their own individual decision-making affects the decisions taken by other players - Sviatchenko feels the footage generally backs up the theory that he is looking fitter, stronger and sharper this season. Not that anyone at the club will be allowed to rest on their laurels with Rodgers around.
"It is nice to be in good shape but I still think I can improve and that is the main thing," said Sviatchenko. "The manager wants me to be even better and do things 100% sometimes, rather than 90%. Although I always try to do things 100% it is about the power and the attitude you show. I don't know if he [Rodgers] is hard to please but he demands and that is a good thing. It means he sees something in you."
Sviatchenko feels that Celtic showed a "rapid progression" in their six Champions League matches, to make good on his claim that the Scottish champions were not entering the competition as mere "tourists". There is much to look forward to already for next year's campaign but first the Parkhead side have six months of football to see out, as they chase what could be a remarkable treble, ideally without losing a single match.
"We need to do the same things here as we do in the Champions League, nothing different," said Sviatchenko. "If you play the game against Partick Thistle and play bad, then it says something about a player if they can’t get themselves going for that game. I don’t think there will any problems. It’s about being relentless and keeping going on. If you want to go from good to great at some point then you have to do something extra."
The Dane is right, Celtic weren't tourists in this year's Champions League. At least apart from one occasion when Sviatchenko took the chance to procure himself a keepsake for the family. His brother Philip really wanted Ivan Rakitic's Barcelona jersey.
"My brother thinks he is a really good player, so I said 'I'll try'," said Sviatchenko. "Thankfully I got it and he [Rakitic] wanted my shirt too! I just need to go to the post office and send it to him. It is an early Christmas present but I will get him something else too!"
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel