What a difference a goal makes! Had Griff not scored that goal when he did, depression would have been the order of the night with serious questions asked about the make-up of the side, about Brendan Rodgers’ tactical awareness and about the future direction of the club. As it was, all doubts were swept away in a tide of euphoria, as we notched a deserved victory over a very tight, compact Norwegian side who seemed to have improved since we last saw them – at least in their defensive capabilities.
My concern is that the “tide of euphoria” may disguise one or two rather obvious shortcomings in last night’s performance. It has to be said that Odsonne Edouard’s contribution was once again negligible and the loud cheer from the fans when Leigh Griffiths replaced him told its own story. Yet, I feel that Edouard’s loss of form may be temporary, for the goals that he took last year showed that he can do it. Nevertheless it does seem to be the unanimous opinion of the supporters that Griffiths should start at Kilmarnock on Sunday. He took his goal well and his enthusiasm was tangible.
It may be that Griffiths and Rodgers do not get on. Certainly the media are trying to create a story out of this one, and both men have said a few things that would encourage them in their fomenting of trouble, but the two men themselves must now show that their joint contribution is a positive and beneficial one.
But there are other aspects to the goal famine as well. In the Invincible season of 2016/17, a feature of our play was the amount of goals scored from outside the box from midfielders like Callum McGregor, Stuart Armstrong, Tom Rogic and James Forrest. Why has this source suddenly dried up? Obviously Armstrong is no longer with us, but the other three seem to have lost their shooting boots, although there has been no obvious parallel decline in their general play. They must be encouraged to “have a go” oftener.
Kieran Tierney was deservedly the man of the match. He was superb and some of his touches with Callum McGregor, particularly in the first half, were delightful. There was enough seen also tonight of Mikey Johnston to confirm the impression that he can be a good player, and he will be upset about that horrible miss in the second half. Olivier Ntcham deteriorated as the game went on, and I would have liked to have seen him replaced by Ryan Christie, a somewhat underused player.
The defence was superb. Granted, they were never under a lot of pressure and I did not feel very often that the Norwegians were going to score, but that is now five clean sheets in a row! That surely says something.
The general criticism voiced from the denizens of the North Stand seemed to centre on the crossfield passing. Some of it was impressively accurate, but the point was that it was not what we needed when a goal was required. There is of course a place for this particular skill in European football, but only AFTER a goal has been scored! In any case, the Celtic way is surely to go forward.
Still, everything is forgiven when we win, and the three points will be a good boost. Salzburg (our next opponent on 4 October) also won last night, and a draw in Salzburg would not necessarily be the end of the world. I think we have the players to do that, but they must be deployed correctly.
Last night had many good things – an enthusiastic crowd once again, a sporting opposition who never descended to dirty tactics to stop us, a good performance by the Polish refereeing team (it was an easy game to referee, it has to be said) and a Celtic team who did not give up and who clearly respond to the crowd, as was seen at the final whistle. It was overall a good night – but only because of Leigh Griffiths’ header! The parallel universe in which that header had gone past the post would have included statements like “not coming back” “Manager must go” and as always from those who love hyperbole “worst I have ever seen”. As it was, euphoria was the order of the night!
And so to Kilmarnock where the artificial pitch can always be used to excuse bad performances. Not so! A good player can play anywhere, even though idealists like myself prefer grass. And then we have St Johnstone in the League Cup. That one simply has to be won, or else there can be no treble treble. We are compelled to live in interesting times!
David Potter
