One week. Three competitions. Three Celtic victories. That’s the headline from today, that’s the one that matters. Over the course of it we have secured a cup final place, banked £2.1 million and gotten three big points in the Champions League, won our eighth league game away from home in a row – that’ll get records tumbling before much longer, and gone back to the top of the league, maintaining our unbeaten start to the season.
You want some headlines? There are plenty of them right there. Why do I suspect people in the media – and some in our support – will focus on the shots at goal stats which had Kilmarnock look, for a while , like the better time? Spoiled brats and biased twats that’s why. But if we want a headline out of those stats how’s this one: Kasper Schmeichel is immense.
It is one of the great truisms of football that it’s a team game and that the team must function as one if it is to get results. And when the high press fails, the midfield can’t cut out the pass, the defence parts like the Red Sea and it looks like a goal is certain there’s still one guy left to beat and for us that’s the big guy, and he does not get beat easily.
When you play like Celtic does, all front foot, all pressing the opposition back into their own half, you leave the guy between the sticks with very little to do. That’s when the truly great keepers come into their own. Because they have a harder task than most people who watch the game recreationally can fathom. A keeper has to be alert, always, but when a keeper has so little to do as a Celtic keeper does … that’s when you really have to be alert, because a whole game can pass without a single testing moment, and then you need to produce … and that’s when the elite keepers can do it.
Today big Kasper had plenty to do, but this big fella did more than just pack his gloves in anticipation of an easy day. He came focussed and prepared and did exactly what you pay a top class keeper to do. To keep them out at one end when the strikers are tasked with sticking them in the back of the net at the other end.
On a day when a lot of folk will be talking about how good Kuhn is right now, it was the big lad in goal who showed us what separates the best from the rest.
That was not vintage Celtic today. It was never going to be and it did not have to be. We’ve come off the back of two enormous games and we’ve managed to get the result anyway, proving that there is enough quality in this side that we can get through on those days when we aren’t at our best. We’re still better than everyone else.
McGregor and Kuhn did the damage, but in point of fact the damage was done when the big keeper made his string of excellent saves at 0-0 which kept us in a good place. When we scored only one side was ever going to win; that wasn’t just faith in the guys at the top of the pitch but in big Kasper himself. Today, it was fully repaid.
Our critics might want to throw around some nonsense about how the keeper kept us in this; I am not denying he did. But you know what? That denies the reality that, at the end of the day, that’s what a keeper is ultimately there to do. Some of them have spent the last 15 months talking up Jack Butland. Kasper is a better keeper by far.
This is how you win leagues; days like today, keepers like that, the whole game coming down to the performance of the team … of which the keeper is just one part. He has to do his bit, the captain has to do his bit and your best attacking players have to do theirs. This is a big day today at the end of a big seven days, and it’s no surprise that the keeper has won the man of the match as we’ve taken the points; if you give a striker man of the match for turning a game then you give the keeper the same award for keeping it level until you get in front.
Any other narrative the media wants to promote is nonsense.
This a great Celtic team. This is what teams do. Sometimes its your forwards who win it for you, sometimes its your midfield and sometimes its your backline, including the keeper. His performance today was first rate. At the end of the day, that’s why we signed him.
Yep – Great Win At a tough venue (where else apart from bloody Scotland would you see plastic pitches in the top league)…
And a lot of thuggery on show as well that was largely leniently let off –
Also see Celtic Women are forced to play extra time v Glasgow City after having the ball clearly over the line but the goal inexplicably isn’t given…
Only in F*cukin Scotland !
Well done The Celtic Women…
Won 4-3 on penalties after falling behind by missing one –
Justice prevails in the end !
Kasper was great indeed………Kuhn and Trusty also played well on a travesty of a pitch.
I was screaming after half an hour for Engels and Hatate to be subbed……that game was not a game for Engels.
The Sky interviewer after the match wanted to put Brendan on the spot…..re minutes silence….BR handled it very well.
Boyd screaming again that it should have been a red for Hatate but even Mcinnes (to his credit) said no there wasn’t enough force in the challenge, great result for us.
Our midfield lacked energy today especially McGregor.
Obviously midweek took a lot out of the team plus the shitty plastic pitch did not help.
Maeda was hopeless today.We owe the three points to Casper.
Yellow card for Kilmarnock players assault on Idah if not accidental must be red.
We just weren’t on it today – the pitch was no excuse when we won the league back in May (although to be fair it seemed to play like a different pitch). We gained a goal on Sevco and lost a goal on the Dons when they were both playing at home
– I’ll take that. Fingers crossed for all our players on international duty (I see Japan are playing China and Indonesia – not something Big Jock had to deal with!).
A good period for our management team to plan for the upcoming fixtures and focus on contract & transfer priorities. But a long time for us fans to kick our heels!!!
Was always going to be a challenging game with that pitch & the energy expelled from midweek. I think BR still had the memories of making to many changes & it causing troubles last time but I think he could have made a few more. Maeda, Hatate & Engels struggled but it wasn’t for lack of trying I think it was just lack of energy.
I thought CalMac was good but Kilmarnock done well isolating & forcing him deep to try & get involved. You have to credit Mcinnes & Killie players as they gave it there all & were well set up.
As you say Kasper was outstanding. I thought it was a solid defensive performance.
The stand out poor performance for me was Idah though. I don’t want to jump on him completely but I don’t think he had any form of success in the game. I know the pitch will have made it difficult as most of our players first touch & passing wasn’t at the usual standard but he failed to adapt at all. Every touch was heavy & most passes were poorly weighted. I wonder if the price tag is weighing on him a little. As we aren’t seeing the same player who rocked in last January & showed a real swagger. I didn’t want to see Kyogo come on to that pitch at he is the exact sort of player who would pick up an injury on it but I don’t think BR had any choice. Subs came on & done well. We definitely looked stronger in the last 15-20 minutes but that was probably also down to Kilmarnock tiring.
This game highlighted how important a 3rd striker in January is for us.
I said at the start of the season, when Kasper was supposedly signed to fill Joe Hart’s boots that he would fail to do that, as those boots would need to stretch to accommodate him, for he was a marked improvement and an upgrade on Joe Hart. That has been obvious all season so far and his use of the ball playing out from the back cannot be surpassed. It was an inspired signing at the time and this improving Celtic side are reaping the benefits of the agile father figure we have on our goal line.