Giorgos Giakoumakis was yesterday’s hat-trick hero, the match winner with four minutes left, and a player, having not had bad luck to seek in front of goal in recent weeks, got his just desserts for his herculean efforts yesterday – and previous games where the big Greek striker didn’t get the rub of the green in front of goal.
Giakoumakis headed off with the match ball, soaking up the adulation of the crowd as he went, and then immediately proclaimed post-match Celtic would win the league and it was ‘obvious’ the Hoops were the best side in the country. We’ll put that down to the adrenaline soaring through his body, shall we?
Probably best, as his comments were very much at odds with his manager who appeared very much to be keeping a lid on things as he followed Giakoumakis’ chat to Celtic TV, by firstly praising his striker, then ensuring he contradicted him entirely.
“Giorgos has been good and he has been working awfully hard for us without always getting the reward he has been a bit unlucky at times with goalkeepers pulling off good saves. That’s why I brought him to the club as you saw today with the opposition putting so many players in the box and defending so deep we need somebody with presence in there and he has got bags of it.”
“That’s where his strengths lie as he has a real presence in the box and he is a good finisher, I was pleased that he got his three goals.”
The manager was quickly asked if Celtic’s win coupled with theRangers dropping points at Tannadice meant that Celtic’s late, late show against Dundee would be pivotal in the title race and it was here he was careful to contradict his match-winner. “No. We were six points behind not long ago so things change very quickly,” was his response.
“What’s important is that during those times we were behind we just focused on what we were doing and that’s what we need to do. You saw that today as we played really well and dominated the game but results are not a given.”
“In football, you have got to earn everything you get and we had to earn it today. We are going to have to earn everything else from here on in.”
As Celtic put daylight between themselves and theRangers – and given it’s been a nine-point turnaround in our favour since returning from the winter break – it’s entirely understandable Giorgos Giakoumakis’ is riding a crest of a wave, and in all honesty, I liked the positivity in his comments.
However, there is an elephant that has returned to the room for Celtic in recent weeks, and it was as evident from yesterday’s match as it was recently at Pittodrie. Four goals conceded from set pieces in just two league games is the sort of worrying concession rate that can derail Giakoumakis’ plans for a title party.
🗣️ “It was great, to be honest. I was looking forward to scoring for this club and this team, it was something that I was really missing.”🍀
More from Giakoumakis on his perfect hat-trick!#CELDUN | #cinchPrem | #COYBIG💪
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) February 21, 2022
Dundee’s expected goals statistics from open play yesterday was 0.14, yet they finished the match disappointed not to get a draw. Celtic then needed a hat-trick from the man talking up an inevitable title win, just to ensure they grabbed the three points at the death from a match the Celts should have won at a canter. And that’s probably why our star striker and manager yesterday were giving contradictory messages to the media, as the manager ensured he delivered the message that a controlled performance was undermined by the concession of, and the defending of, routine set piece deliveries.
“I am pleased for the players and they got their rewards. I thought we played well today and controlled the game. We created a lot of opportunities and scored three goals and we should have had a comfortable victory.”
“We were disappointed to be done with set pieces that kept them in the game and we ended up having to find a way to win in the end.”
From open play Celtic are every inch title winners. The creativity is incredible, the chance creations incessant, and defending from open play is in the main perfectly solid. Yet we give teams something to hold on to – that hope that we’ll concede a cheap foul and then defend it in an amateurish fashion.
As such, before we allow talk of it being ‘obvious’ Celtic are the best team in the country we simply have to address an issue that has crept back into Celtic’s play, after looking as if we’d started to get a handle on things. Address that issue and Giakoumakis is right, it really is ‘obvious’ Celtic are the best team in Scotland. Continue however to give our opponents the belief they just need to hang on the ropes and we’ll drop our gloves, and leave our chin exposed, then that lack of discipline could prove costly.
Because every opponent in Scotland will recognise Giakoumakis’ title thoughts as being likely, but they’ll still be looking for that chink in the armour that can derail the free-flowing football they cannot live with, and we haven’t made it difficult in recent weeks to pinpoint just where Celtic’s title achilles heel may lie. And sadly, we certainly can’t count on hat-tricks from confident Greek strikers to come around with the same regularity from which we offer free hits to the opposition from set-pieces.
Niall J
