Well that was excellent, particularly the first half.
Celtic blew Hearts away in 45 sensational minutes this evening, but perhaps more important than the result were some of the performances and in particular in the middle of the park. We’ll get to that in a moment, but first I want to talk about the strikers.
Dembele and Edouard were excellent. They linked up well together. They pulled the Hearts defence to bits. They showed what happens when we go two up front. It was the last thing the Tynecastle men expected. Both scored, and Moussa got an assist too.
That was more like it from them.
At the back we looked composed. We conceded a goal – scored by a thug who ought never to have been on the park that long; more on that tomorrow – but it was a solid display. Three at the back suits us, especially with Kieran’s work ethic where he tracks back down the left, and Forrest down the rest. It gives our team real balance and as most sides tend only to play one striker against us it works very well in containing any threat.
I would have no fears about us doing that more often.
But tonight belonged to the midfield, who were the beating heart of that display. Scott Brown won the stadium man-of-the-match but I thought it could have easily gone to one of his compatriots, the Frenchman Ntcham, who impresses more with each passing game, or the boy Kouassi Eboue, who I thought was brilliant. He was dynamic, tough in the tackle, composed on the ball. I rate him highly. Tonight he looked like a player who justifies Brendan’s faith that he’s Scott’s natural replacement.
And of course, we saw the debut of Musonda when he came on a second half sub. There wasn’t much time for him to shine, but even so there were wonderful little moments of skill.
His touches were often sublimely clever; the chip over a Hearts defender to let Kieran run past and get in a cross was fantastic. His little lay-offs were sometimes a few steps of thought ahead of the other players; they are already playing catch-up. When he has time to gel with them we’ll see a show. This signing is going to be a cracker.
Not much went wrong tonight. I thought we took the foot off the gas slightly in the second half, but even then it was a better display than some of what we’ve seen in games in this campaign. This was more like it tonight, a team determined to avenge the previous defeat and stamp their authority on the game from the early stages.
Brendan got everything spot on tonight, from the team shape to the style of play. His decision to play Ntcham and Kouassi in the same midfield as Scott Brown meant we had three tough tacklers who like the physical side of the game, and Hearts didn’t expect that and they had no idea how to cope with it. This is what Plan B looks like.
But it’s also what the future looks like.
And I think I like it.
Tomorrow looks set to be an interesting day; we’ve made a double bid for Dundee’s Jack Hendry and Scott Bain this evening.
I expect to see the first get over the line tomorrow.
Don’t be surprised if the second one doesn’t make it as well.
Bain has been on Celtic’s radar a while, and although he’s on loan at Hibs that might not be enough to stand in our way.
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