After our midweek exertions I didn’t expect flowing football today.
This afternoon our performance was less clipped and precise than it was in midweek … but then the manager had made six changes before the match kicked off. It was a B-team, both in composition and layout. Even the regulars were in less than familiar positions.
And of course, it was still good enough to take three points.
Our critics will say whatever they are going to say; they would find a way to avoid giving us credit if we played three games in one day and won the lot of them. To them, that we won this game without really breaking a sweat will convince them that Scottish football is rank rotten.
But it’s got nothing to do with that, of course.
We’re just too damned good.
Celtic’s squad is so strong that even our lesser players would walk into every other club in the country, and yeah I include those at Aberdeen and Hibs. Ajer at the back strolled, as did his buddy in central defence … Kieran Tierney, showing he has another string to his bow. Ralston was good on the right. Calvin Miller, who played Kieran’s usual role, got forward when he could and barely put a foot wrong. I thought he was excellent, a real player.
Benyu was quiet up front, but he was being played out of his natural position and was able to pull defenders his way.
He still showed enough to suggest he’ll be a useful player for us.
Brown, Armstrong, Rogic and McGregor all featured. Callum got the second, of course, after a fantastic Rogic pass and a very cute feint from Griffiths.
All those guys had decent games without being world beaters.
It was not a day for that. There was no need for over-doing it. Some of these guys will be facing a long trip to Astana, a match we don’t have to win but which Brendan and the team will definitely want to. He will never get tired of seeing us victorious.
Today was no Ntcham. There was no Sinclair. There was no Lustig. There was no Griffiths. There was no Bitton. The latter three came on as subs, after more than an hour in which we barely troubled. Lustig got the last quarter hour, when Ralston came off after a fine game.
Another side might have struggled. We did not.
It was not brilliant, but it got the job done and at this point, with this record, that’s what matters.
We march on. We shall not be moved.
James Forrest, the namesake, scored again. The more I see this kid scoring goals the more convinced I am, as I have been for years, that playing as a striker is his natural game. He has good instincts in and around the penalty box. He likes to take a shot and he tends to get them on target. He is a getting better the longer he plays there.
I do enjoy watching Kris Boyd toil against us. Bet365 put up one of their ludicrous polls the other day asking whether he or the King of Kings was the better SPL scorer. Ha! I don’t know who voted in that, or what the final result was, but the question itself doesn’t even arise.
Even attempting the comparison draws the kind of polite laughter that accompanies a first year physics student attempting to puzzle out one of those genius level equations. Boyd may be in the same business but he’s in a whole other class category as Henrik was.
The quality of Boyd’s football is about on a par with the quality of his journalism.
Only in Scotland, folks.
Today we made it look easy. Because it was easy. Because every player in this team believes in the manager and knows what his job is. Because every player is capable of stepping in and doing a turn. Even playing out of position. When I heard Brendan at the start of the Champions League campaign say that Bitton could play in central defence, that Hayes could play at left back, that McGregor could play up front, I thought “Do you really believe that big man?”
Apparently he did. Because apparently they can.
Today the important thing was to continue the winning run, but we also showed something else; we showed the versatility of this team. Five academy players started the game; ponder that stat for a second, and the way the modern game works. The two who stepped up to the first team this year do not look out on place in this side. Aitchison will be in the team before this season is up. These guys are going to take some beating.
Three out of three folks.