When the full-time whistle blew yesterday most of us were too shell-shocked to be able to coherently study the game in much detail.
Oh yeah, I mean there were podcasts and articles and commentary on it, but a proper analysis is always better off on the following day.
Looking back at the game now, the thing that rings truest is that it was a bunch of players who are tried and tested and trusted who came through with the goods.
These are guys who’ve been over the course with us through several campaigns now and are consistent performers in those matches where it really and truly matters; Callum, Tom and Leigh.
The irony is that two of these guys looked to be on the way out the door not that long ago; what a turnaround it would represent if they were now the saviours of the campaign. Yesterday two of them scored and the other assisted those goals … that’s a testament to how much these guys have to offer us.
Their role could be absolutely vital.
The real surprise would be Rogic; I’d have bet anything that he was going to leave our club in the summer, because I honestly couldn’t see where he would play a role.
I’ve lost count of the number of people who told me Rogic could still do a job and that to sell him would be madness. I thought the matter was absolutely out of our hands … the manager had made his mind up and that was that.
Yet here Rogic still is, and suddenly back in the team.
Callum McGregor has scored another important goal here, and it’s not his first in recent weeks. He isn’t playing in his familiar position but he’s still getting up the park and when he does he’s still a potent attacking weapon in the team.
Even a bad Callum McGregor, played out of position, is worth having in the side.
And Leigh Griffiths just continues to defy belief; as I said in a previous article, the difference between him and Lazarus is that Lazarus only came back from the dead once whereas this guy has come back again and again and again after being written off.
His goal yesterday was absolutely exceptional.
He has so much to offer if he’s fit and stays that way.
There is no better natural finisher in Scotland and he’s the best striker this country has produced in decades, which is a real shame because we used to turn these guys out on a conveyer belt, and our club in particular was brilliant at it.
Which brings me to Scott Brown, who I’ve not mentioned in the intro and who wasn’t particularly brilliant when he came on but who has, like Griffiths, defied expectations so consistently as the last few years have unfolded.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he yet turned out to be one of the heroes of the rest of the campaign.
With a lot of managers it is the same guys they turn to over and over again, and we’ve criticised Lennon for that … but yesterday showed us that one of the reasons why you go back to those same guys over and over again is that some of them are just cut out of life at the sharp end, life under pressure, life under the microscope.
Nobody who’s watched Griffiths or Rogic or McGregor or, Hell, Scott Brown down through the years can deny that they are big game performers capable of doing it under intense scrutiny and with the whole world watching.
They could be the weapon the rest of the league never expected.
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