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A Well Fought Three Points, As Jota Dazzles For The Travelling Celtic Fans.

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It was the battle today that I thought it would be, but although we were going into the last five minutes level I never believed for a second that we would fail to win the three points.

There is just too much quality in this team for that and there was too much of it still left on the pitch.

We need to start taking our chances though, and putting teams away.

We need to stop conceding from shitty set pieces; that will hurt us unless we identify the problem and fix it but really that didn’t have the feel of one of those days today and we thoroughly deserved the win.

I caught the last bit of Radio Scotland and one of the anchors was wailing about how “Ross County won’t believe that’s ended 3-1.” No? I suggest they came down to reality because that score-line reflected the game and we more than deserved it.

The tough day at the office we all thought it might be, but once again this team showed resilience and strength and heart and had too much class for them.

I’m going to do something different today and go through how every player performed.

But I can tell you right now that my man of the man was Jota by a mile. He was absolutely brilliant and virtually unplayable.

It’s his best performance in a Celtic shirt in a while.

Hart

Could he have done better with the goal? Possibly. This is the problem when you have so little to do. But you know what? He made up for it with a good save from the free kick. I don’t think he looks entirely convincing sometimes, but that’s only because he does tend to lose concentration when he’s got to watch a lot of stuff unfold at the other end of the pitch. I love the guy … but he could give us all heart attacks – Hart attacks – at times.

Juranovic

Reasonably quiet day at the office, but he got forward when he had to and assisted the attacks. I like this guy a lot. I am keen to see how well he does when he comes up against some better opposition in the Champions League. He always fights, he always works, and today was no exception. One of those “no nonsense” players, and he offers us a lot coming forward as well.

Taylor

Very, very good day today both at the back and coming forward. It is hard to be impressed by how this lad is playing at the moment. He does so many things right. His defending has improved, his awareness has improved and his crossing into the box is absolutely bang on. I am enjoying watching Greg Taylor at the moment, a player growing into this Celtic team.

Carter Vickers

The usual performance from him; solid and dependable although I do think he could do better in the air at times. He did what we all know him to be capable of, not only defending well but coming forward with the ball and turning defence into attack. I like the look of him and the big guy beside him; that has a lot of potential as a central defensive back line. But God … I want to see this guy more powerful and aware at corner kicks, a complaint I could make about everyone though.

Jenz

Great debut, and if he made a couple of mistakes I am well happy to forgive them in light of that powerful header with six minutes to go which got us the three points. That is what you want to see a player do on a start, and crucially it’s the second goal from a corner kick – sort of anyway – which we’ve scored in a week. Welsh got it last week, the short kick and the cross today found this big lad getting in on the action. His header was perfect, and the best way to start we could have hoped for.

McGregor

Mr Cool. I thought he was excellent again in that role which gets so little of the credit although it’s one of the most critical in the team. He covered every blade of grass, and that we spent so long in the opposition half is down to the fact that we have a grafter in that anchoring position who does not let much get by him and who then pushes forward. Mark my words, this guy could sweep the boards again at the player of the year awards because yes, he is Just That Good.

O’Riley

Fantastic shift from the guy who is fast turning into everyone’s favourite player. He is dangerous going forward and when he drops back he is a more than able assistant to McGregor in winning back the ball. I thought he was great from start to finish, an absolute ball of energy who never quits and who is always hovering on the edge of the box to have a shot as well. A crucial cog in the Ange Postecoglou wheel, and it gets harder to believe every week that he only cost us £1.5 million. Utter robbery.

Turnbull

A quiet one from him today, but he was marked hard and so didn’t have impact that we all know that he can. Delivery from some of the set-pieces could have been a little bit better as well. We’re not going to be too hard on him though, cause he remains a top player and will have better days that this. Just found it a little hard to get going today.

Jota

Superb. There is no other word for it. Ange was angry with some of his deliveries last week, but he was brilliant today in every sense. He wouldn’t give their defenders peace, he popped up for shots on target, he dragged their players all over the park and he played a role in creating goals. He gave us the full package today except for getting on the scoresheet. The BBC website has him on all three assists and I just thought that he was utterly unplayable. What an attacking weapon he is. If he does this every week he will challenge anyone for that Player of the Year award. The top man and the man of the match for me.

Maeda

Showed us the full bag of tricks today before coming off, and I thought he was excellent. His attempted over-head kick was creative, his shot on target with the right of his boot was outstanding and would have been a hell of a goal, and his running and movement was a constant thorn in the side of the home team. These are the qualities which make him such a valuable member of this squad … I thought it was his best 45 minutes in a Celtic shirt. He took that knock and got subbed … I hope it’s nothing he won’t recover from soon.

Kyogo

Quiet first half, other than that little moment on the 38th minute where he tried to craft himself a chance, lost out on it but was still alert enough to leap onto the defender’s mistake. His shot at goal was superb and deserved to bulge the net. I knew he’d score today after that, and he didn’t take long once the second half got underway. What a naturally gifted footballer, and what a predator.

Abada

Scored a great goal at the end and full justified being brought on. He is a sublime talent and he did today what every player has to when the manager gives him a chance; he came and on asked the question as to why he didn’t start in the first place. He will ask that question over and over again, and when he does start he’ll answer the question as to why he should. In any other Celtic side that I’ve watched in the last ten or so years he would play every week without fail. It’s only in a squad this strong that we can afford to put a player of his talent on the bench. That is something to consider, and be pleased about.

Giakoumakis

His mere presence on the pitch and hovering around the box gave their defence something to think about, and I particularly enjoyed the manager giving him and Kyogo time on the pitch together. He just gave us a different dimension, and from the moment he was on their defence had difficult decisions to make. That is the power of this squad; we have so many options and they give us so many different ways to approach the game, and nobody’s plan is going to be able to deal with them all.

Mooy

Nice wee cameo and looks comfortable in the team already. When we’re really up and running it will be great to see what this guy can do. He clearly has a lot of tricks in his locker and we’re going to have a good time finding out what they are.

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  • Geoff says:

    Sportsound interviewer obviously watching a different game from Ange as he disagreed with every point she raised.
    She also said to mackay that they must have thought they would get a point when they equalised.
    With 32 minutes still to play?

  • smokey says:

    James
    Your lucky you didn’t listen to the WHOLE match on BBC Scotland…..
    Packie Bonner does my nut in listening to him for 90 mins ….
    Moan apart Celtic and Jota in particular fought all the way against the hammer throwers AND Don Robertson……lucky some of our players did not have some serious damage done to them.
    HH

  • harold shand says:

    Hugh Keevins sounded very p*ssed off on SSB and of course Jenz hardly got a mention

    • smokey says:

      Keevins a total and utter bellend……at 1-1 said it would be a disaster for us to draw.
      A total prick in the extreme
      HH

  • Christopher paterson says:

    About time celtic demanded a meeting with the sfa over the standard or lack of standard of referees or is it only a certain other club who get to demand a celtic player is going to end up with a career ending injury if something isn’t done about the referees in Scotland its embarassing that this debate goes on and on every week it seems yet celtic don’t seem to want to take on the sfa even tjo they have a duty of care to their employees in this case the football players

  • Garry Cowan says:

    Great goal from Abada

  • Johnnie mcgrory says:

    Tough game, good result in the end.

  • JOHN says:

    Have these these fools not learned anything from last season?

    WE NEVER STOP!!! HH

  • Effarr says:

    McKay would really need to be a very optimistic person and calm to the extreme if he thought that with half an hour to
    go, having less than 20% of the play and being over-run, that he would expect a draw.

    I wonder if the interviewer was as confident that they would get a draw. She would probably be fearing a late keelhauling.

  • Nicholas Murphy says:

    Every Celtic keeper I can remember has had bombscare moments.There must be a clause in keeper contracts.

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