Well that was uglier than a moaning mother in law, wasn’t it?
Scrappy, tense, unsophisticated and dreary to a fare-thee-well. But it delivered three points and that’s what matters. On nights like these, believe me, it’s all that matters. Kilmarnock set up to defend, but they were quick on the counter too. They were well organised and disciplined. It didn’t help them. Celtic secured the win, capitalising on their errors and a few little moments of excellence from our players. We had an off-night.
And we still won the game.
Games like this, teams like this, are those which win trebles. The ability to win in style is one kind of skill-set, but as anyone will tell you, over a long season you need that other skill-set too, that ability to go to grounds like this and grind it out.
The attacking stats for the team are one thing, but we’re now over 600 minutes without conceding a league goal. That’s a great statistic. We are capable of keeping the opposition out even as we go marauding forward looking for goals.
It wasn’t pretty to watch; I thought we were well below our best. Armstrong’s goal was a peach, just before halftime. We probably would have expected a few more in the second half, but they weren’t forthcoming. Dembele had a quiet night. Sinclair looked under par. Forrest was probably our best player. Boyata – a surprise start; I didn’t think we’d see him again – played and looked good in parts and was shaky in others. But we weren’t in trouble at all.
There will be days like this, and once we’ve got the title wrapped up in a bow I expect there’ll be a fair few of them before the season ends. But we just look far too strong for anyone to beat us right now, although I can’t say enough that I don’t expect us to go through the league campaign unbeaten.
I just don’t see who the defeat will be against.
It was tough tonight, with the best entertainment provided by the Troops in the Hoops and their growing medley of bizarre hits; now we’re doing Wham numbers? “Last Christmas I gave you my heart …” although this year Brendan Rodgers is getting instead.
Genius.
Demented genius, to be sure, but still genius.
And they can carry a tune.
I didn’t enjoy that game, but I was satisfied at the end.
Because on a night like this winning is everything, it’s the only thing. The only thing that counts.
Games like this decide titles.
Teams who win them do win trebles.
That’s what we’re still on course for … unbeaten at the moment.