If yesterday wasn’t a perfect day for Celtic, then it came damn close to being one. Not only did the Ibrox club slip up again, but Aberdeen finally gave some ground.
I’ll admit, I was hoping Aberdeen would get something from the St Mirren match, especially with the Ibrox club floundering. I still believe the time will come for pulling away from them, but it was inevitable that it had to happen eventually. Most people in the bar where I watched the game last night seemed pretty pleased that we’ve now established a clear lead at the top.
We go to Aberdeen in short order, and all of us are entitled to be looking forward to that game. We’re confident we can win it. As I said last week, this is just another part of the larger test we’ll face over the next few weeks. This is the sharp end of the season, the toughest part of the campaign. And we’ve started it in the best possible way.
The first half of the game was odd. We didn’t create many chances, but at no point did I feel we were in danger of not winning. My mate said at halftime that we looked like a team whose players had just come back from the other side of the world, and that summed it up perfectly. International breaks always leave us looking a little lethargic, with a bit of rust to shake off. What gave us confidence was our ability to make five substitutions and change the game if needed.
As it turned out, that wasn’t necessary. Kyogo, who had one of those nights where he terrified defenders every time he got on the ball, got us off to a start with his 80th goal for the club. He’ll surely join the 100-goal club soon, and he’ll deserve every bit of acclaim from the Celtic support when he does. His goal last night was typical of his many qualities.
Kuhn produced another spellbinding moment of magic. His goal was a thing of beauty. It came at just the right time, effectively killing the game off. He gets better and better. It’s great to think of him in full flow this coming midweek; he’s one of those players who the crowd reacts to every time he’s on the ball, because nobody – especially not opposition defenders – knows what he’s going to do.
Then we had the Adam Idah show. I was particularly pleased about this because I’ve read some ridiculous criticism of him in the last couple of weeks—people claiming he hasn’t done enough or needs to justify his £9 million fee. Let’s get one thing straight: he doesn’t. No player is responsible for the price tag someone else puts on them. All a player can do is deliver when called upon, and Idah has proven how dependable he is and how assured he is in front of goal. That’s his job, and he did it brilliantly last night.
This is a squad with no failures. Every player in it has their own strengths, and every one of them can be relied upon. That’s why we’re top of the table, why we haven’t lost a game, and why we’re going into this chaotic spell so confident and in a good place.
Some of the football we played last night was exceptional. We’re too quick, too skillful, and have too many players capable of unlocking defences and scoring. The contrast between us and every other side in the country is stark. The difference between us and the Ibrox club couldn’t be more obvious.
As I said to my friend at halftime, this is a side where you can rely on everyone on the pitch. There’s no worry that a midfield mistake will lead to catastrophe because the defence can cover it. There’s no concern that a lapse at the back will be punished because we have a goalkeeper capable of making the save.
This is a Celtic side that succeeds as a team. Even when our attack wasn’t at its best last night, as in the first half, there was confidence that the rest of the side would hold it together long enough for the forwards to create something. And they did.
Perhaps the most incredible thing about yesterday’s performance was the sense that this team still has extra gears to shift into. If we’d needed to push harder, we could have done so and still gotten the result. That should terrify the clubs around us because it makes us incredibly difficult to stop.
We now have a three-point lead at the top.
We can go to Aberdeen and extend that to six. At this point, it’s not even worth thinking about the team in third place—they’re going to stay there and fall further behind as long as that man is at the helm. I don’t see how a future replacement will change things either.
We are light-years ahead of them on and off the pitch. That’s down to Rodgers, down to these players, and down to ethos he’s instilled in this side, where everyone works for everyone else and you can trust that each section of the side will do its job.
This looks like a squad capable of making history. Onward to the next game!