First things first, that was marvellous at times.
The team’s new attacking style has produced the goods and the goals. Dembele is looking as good as he has since he signed; I hope to God that wasn’t a hamstring tonight. Even so, the players around him are looking sharp and fit and as if they can’t wait for every game. We eased into the next round tonight with a thoroughly comprehensive victory secured with only 10 men.
That red card was one of the worst I’ve seen.
A Scottish referee would have been hiding under the bed after that. It was a shocker and I’ll be amazed if we don’t appeal and win. Other teams might have taken off a forward with the tie secure; Brendan kept the two strikers on and the dividends were immediate.
We were 2-0 up in minutes.
Some of the football in the first half was exhibition stuff. It’s as good as I’ve seen us play at Parkhead for a long time. The goals will flow once this team clicks into gear for real. That they are flowing already is a sure sign that this team is hungry for the challenges ahead.
The first of those challenges will present itself next week, and Celtic will be traveling to Rosenborg for it, to play against a team who came within a few minutes of going out tonight. They were 2-0 up going into the last five minutes, gave away a penalty and were looking at the exit door until they got their own spot kick inside injury time.
I watched a team tonight that is playing without fear. We do not have to be afraid of Rosenborg, who we beat in the last campaign when we didn’t look half as ready as we do now. Looking over the possible opponents for the next round, nobody stands out as a team that we should be mortally scared to play. We are growing every season at the level and I do believe we have enough about us, even without additions (which we better get, nevertheless) to go through next week and maybe even reach the Groups.
This is as good as I’ve seen us look at this stage and it might be fitness, it might be the new formation, it might be the fact that we’ve kept the squad together and they all know how each other think now. It might even be the shiny new playing surface, proving to be a worthwhile purchase.
Whatever it is, this team looks ready.
When they are fully up to speed we’re going to take some beating.
This is going to be one Hell of a season.
One last thing, I was reviewing the BBC website at full-time, to try and check some facts, and I noticed that the live commentary writer, Clive Lindsay, says he thought the red card was a “rash, studs up challenge.” He also described our penalty for the second as “questionable.”
Yes, there’s nobody quite like the BBC for standing up for Scottish clubs in Europe, eah? Last night Billy Dodds described Sevco’s performance as “excellent”.
So they do stand up for some Scottish clubs anyway.