Well, we had all been looking forward to it, and it was a fine occasion. The last 18 months have been little short of nightmarish for many people, and how great it was to see so many happy smiling and healthy faces at the Paradise last night.
The atmosphere was indeed something special, and the standard of football, give or take the odd lapse from grace now and again, was very good with Celtic once again looking as if they WANTED to play. And that is of course more than half the battle, with Ange clearly having inculcated a good team spirit and work ethos with everyone working for each other.
In the heat of Lisbon '67 pic.twitter.com/0yjgKwvqNw
— Eileen McGovern (@lene2104) August 12, 2021
Full backs superb, Calmac unreal, Rogic tremendous, Kyogo the new Buzzbomb. Some quite sensational passing, movement, precision, calmness, angles, skill, physicality, finishing & saves.
The fans = 💚💚💚
Celtic related happiness @ 💯🍀— John Hughes (@yogijunior3) August 12, 2021
How nice it was to see the players walking round at full time and clapping the crowd. It was a clear indication that we are all in this together, and that there is a clear determination to wipe out the memory of the horrors of last season. In the days of the Roman Empire, a bad Emperor when he died sometimes received “damnatio memoriae” in that all trace of him seems to have disappeared. We must do that with season 2020/21!
There were a few mistakes and possibly a sharper team than Jablonec might have profited from them, but it would be difficult to name a player to say “He had a bad game”. Turnbull’s goals were splendid, McGregor was simply McGregor and the much maligned full backs both had good games, as did Adam Montgomery when he came on!
Joe Hart saves from point blank range #Celtic #CELJAB pic.twitter.com/TD8uvZDkh4
— Tom Flynn (@tomflynn_photo) August 12, 2021
Steven Welsh and Carl Starfelt showed signs of beginning to work together, and Joe Hart twice brought the house down with reflex saves. Joe must have looked round this huge crowd and wondered why he wasted his time with teams like Manchester City when he could have had this all along! I notice that one of the Jablonec men tried to catch him off his line, and if memory serves me correctly, the Czech Republic succeeded with this ploy against Scotland at Hampden in June. Maybe he thought this always works in Glasgow!
Ryan Christie was once again good, as indeed was the effervescent James Forrest, arms flailing like a windmill as he ran. Kyogu might have scored, but it did him no harm to realise that you don’t always score. Edouard deserves a little credit for his part in the Forrest goal, and looked a little more lively last night, but poor Ajeti still looked as if he couldn’t buy a goal. Tom Rogic had one of his better games for the club, I felt, always very forceful and always making an impression on the game.
Sun on my face . I’d die happy 💚 pic.twitter.com/Tpu2zxTVNl
— Lisa Sloan ⚽️ 🍀 🏴 🇮🇹 (@ailidhsmum) August 12, 2021
Negative points last night were hard to spot. Oh yes, there was that idiot who ran on the field. From where I was sitting, it looked like the character was female. Being female of course does not exempt anyone from being an idiot, and this character was certainly an idiot, who has earned the club a fine and whom I trust we well not see at Celtic Park again for a very long time indeed.
Another professional performance by Celtic .. job done comfortable all night .. look fluent in there with Mcgregor pulling the strings.. great atmosphere nice to see the fans back in their droves.. 👏🏻👏🏻
— John Hartson (@JohnHartson10) August 12, 2021
In general, the supporters were a total credit to the club, although a few of them annoyed me by after waiting 18 long months for football, arrived late and left early! But then again, Celtic supporters sometimes do that sort of thing!
And so it is Hearts now at Celtic Park on Sunday. It promises to be a good game, and we owe them one after the distressing events of two weeks ago!
David Potter
