An Blistering Performance Today From Celtic And The Main Conclusions We Can Draw From It.
Well, that was very special today.
It was an excellent performance from the whole team, and especially in that second half when we were clinical and brilliant. We played well throughout though, and richly deserved the victory, and even the margin of it. That scoreline did not flatter us.
All through the last fortnight we have subjected to a deluge about how brilliant an attacking team Sevco are.
We went to Ibrox and blunted that attack and scored twice.
Today we’ve shown what we have as an attacking force and on that form nobody in this country can live with us.
It was a timely reminder of why we’re champions.
That performance deserves some proper scrutiny, which is what I intend to give it.
Every player rose to the occasion brilliantly, and all should be proud.
That was the performance – and the result – that we needed.
We’re back on top of the table, albeit perhaps only for 24 hours.
But the onus is on our so-called rivals to see if they can knock us off the perch.
Let’s look at that display today and what made it so important, and impressive.
The manager knew exactly what he was doing putting Frimpong in the team
What a superb performance that was from young Jeremie Frimpong. I wondered at the start of the match, before the ball was kicked, if a star was going to be born today and by God one was. He was exceptional, playing with a lot of style and confidence and maturity.
That was as good a league debut as I can remember, particularly in the second half where he teased, tormented and pretty much tore Ross County apart.
He is a slight kid, this one, and some wondered if he looked too small perhaps for this league, but he went past players today like they weren’t even there. We didn’t get much chance to see him in a defensive role, but what he had to do in that capacity he did well.
Going forward he looks incredible. He has pace, awareness and the vision to make a pass.
He looks cool and calm under pressure at that end of the pitch.
Some of his cutbacks were absolutely out of this world, and the way he stopped, changed his footing and found the killer pass in the box a couple of times was brilliant to watch. Had this kid being playing in a match on TV all the talk afterwards would have been about him.
It was a pleasure to watch that today.
The manager knew exactly what he was doing throwing this kid into the team.
The squad depth is better than we get credit for
I would have loved to have seen Bayo stick that ball in the back of the net at the end of the game; it would have completed a fine day for us and given Boyd something to ponder the next time he picks up his crayons.
That was a player who’s a little rusty at the moment and who will be a splendid asset when he gets his shooting boots on.
The run through shows that his awareness is spot on.
The scuffed attempt at goal before it shows that he’s getting into the right positions.
I liked what I saw although he didn’t cap it with a goal.
His cut across from our sixth was excellent and unselfish.
He’s just one of the reasons I’m smiling broadly tonight.
Being able to bring a Ukrainian international and an Israeli international off the bench when we were in cruise control mode … that’s the mark of a good squad. That we could play Frimpong over two top right backs is a measure of how vastly improved we are in that positon since last year.
And we have Ryan out suspended and Griffiths, Simunovic, Mikey and a couple of others out injured.
All four of those guys would be first picks everywhere including Ibrox, and so would the guys we brought in today off the bench.
We don’t get enough credit for the squad depth; instead we get morons like Boyd arguing that we’re over-dependent on one player.
Utter bollocks.
Apart from anything else, Eddie only scored two of the six goals today … we have goals all over this team.
The big pitch at Celtic Park gives us a huge advantage
One of the things the media goes out its way not to write about is our home form, and there’s a very good reason why they don’t.
It is superb.
Part of it is the crowd that backs the team from first minute to last. And part of it is just Celtic Park itself.
It’s no coincidence that two of our worst performances this season have come on small, tight pitches, one of which was plastic. And yes, this is something we’re going to have to address. Away matches on those parks might call for a different approach.
But at Celtic Park, where we have room to move the ball about, we’re devastating. The size of the pitch means opposing players are constantly being pulled towards either flank, leaving gaps that our attacking players just love exploiting.
Hampden is the same, by the way, which is why our record there has been incredible over the last three seasons, and why I expect it to continue to be.
Give this team room to run and nobody in Scotland can live with us. Celtic Park makes it incredibly difficult for opposition teams to put eleven men behind the ball and keep them there.
The home record has been the rock on which our title successes are built.
It’s why even the Ibrox club is terrified to come and play us at home.
Eddie is brilliant even when he isn’t scoring goals
Odsonne Edouard was unplayable today. Unplayable.
That was a 5 star performance, the kind that has scouts drooling and opposing players terrified to come up against him.
He scored twice, could have had more, and ripped them apart all day long.
Eddie still has his critics. I can barely believe I’m writing that, but it remains true just the same.
And those critics constantly go on about how certain other players have scored more goals. Even if scoring goals was the only measure by which you judge a forward I’d say that Eddie does alright, and he has a good habit of getting them in massive matches.
But of course, there is far more to Odsonne Edouard’s game than just putting the ball in the back of the net. He got assists today as well as his goals. His footwork drew players out of positon. He won us free-kicks. He opened the defence up with his passing.
That was a man of the match display if ever I’ve seen one, with only the kid Frimpong coming close to upstaging him although Elyounoussi got two as well.
Boyd’s idiotic column today was predicated on one very big “if.”
If Edouard gets injured or suspended.
But he takes as many licks and kicks as any player in the league, and his discipline record is solid.
Whilst the risk will always be there I have no fears about our team continuing to score without him in the side … but he is in the side, he shows no signs of breaking down and he is doing the business, which makes Boyd’s comments nothing more than wishing on a star.
Yes Edouard is massive for our team at the moment, but that would be true if we had another £9 million player sitting on the bench, and if we did you know what Boyd and others would be writing about? How it meant we were getting ready to cash in.
French Eddie is a superstar. A genuine A list footballer. He is the best striker I’ve seen at the club since the King of Kings, and the press talked this same crap when he was in the side and doing the business; “Oh how will Celtic cope if he gets injured?”
I think he was injured maybe twice in that whole time. And we survived.
We play by far the best football in this league
That was just sensational today. The performance was absolutely first class.
We played them off the pitch, and we did it playing football, actual football, not the big punt up the park stuff that characterises the other mob. Don’t get me wrong, against certain sides that stuff will be effective, but as soon as sides starting figuring it out they are toast.
We play the game the way its meant to be played, passing, running, movement off the ball, players anticipating one another and getting into good positions.
It is a joy to watch, an absolute joy. That’s what we were doing earlier in the campaign and it was sweet to see the whole bag of tricks come out today even before the match was secured. Even in the first half where we weren’t as clinical, we looked great.
We have so many technically gifted players in this side, and in young Frimpong we look as if we’ve got another.
These guys can run and pass and anticipate … it’s a triumph of good coaching and good scouting. We play like a continental side at times, taking our time, looking for opportunities … but we have that more direct approach in us too, and it can be devastating what married to technique.
Let the doubters fall silent; our football is as good as any a Scottish team has played in years. I think we are a deadlier team now that the Rodgers’ first campaign … time will tell if it will deliver similar results and trophies, but it looks good from here.
Celtic have gotten over the last two bumpy games
We needed that today, and especially after the last two games.
I said earlier in the week that the team would be itching to blow away the critics and set the record straight today and so it proved. I thought that merely winning today wouldn’t be enough to restore the feel-good factor and get confidence soaring again.
I thought it needed to be a bit special, and that’s exactly what it was.
The team will be in a good place heading into Thursday and beyond that a trip to Aberdeen, a match which actually I am quite looking forward to, although I am anticipating Thursday more.
But the two game hangover was put out of people’s heads today as the team stormed to that win and showed people up for the nonsense they’ve talked in the last two weeks.
I hear there was actually a lot of glee that we were “struggling” at home because it was only 1-0 at half-time.
Anyone who watched that first half knew it should have been more, and we settled any nerves there were very early in the second.
Morale has been lifted and we go marching on with purpose and with the heads held up.
Excellent work.
The CelticBlog is your site, and it thrives with your support.
Please share these articles widely, and join our Facebook Group for discussions about the pieces and other issues.
If you have trouble finding the articles you can subscribe, follow us on Twitter and get every piece on Celtic News Now. And you can, of course, bookmark the site itself and check it for updates throughout the day.