Celtic prepared for Saturday’s Glasgow Derby against Rangers with a commanding 3-0 win over Dundee. Despite the dominance throughout the game, Brendan Rodgers’ side were wasteful in front of goal and needed two late goals from Mikey Johnston to put the game beyond doubt.
There are five talking points from the win that I felt important to pick up on…
1. Taking our chances
Celtic have been slick in their last two outings and have improved the tempo, something that Brendan will have been keen to improve upon. With 38 shots and 7 on target, Celtic need to be taking their chances if they are to take the anxiety out of games.
2. Cameron Carter-Vickers injury scare
Cameron Carter-Vickers was forced off the pitch with injury. The central defender appeared to be holding his right hamstring, which would put him as a doubt for Saturday’s game against Rangers. After the game, the Celtic manager said that the defender had felt tightness in his hamstring which had resulted in the substitution.
3. Mikey Johnston’s brace
Mikey Johnston probably thought that his time at the club was coming towards an end after he was hooked at half time against Hearts. The appearance this afternoon afforded the Irish Internationalist the chance to score his first goals for the club since December 2019. Johnston will look to kick on and show that he has a future under Rodgers.
4. Paulo Bernardo is a cert for Saturday
The loanee midfielder from Benfica started against Livi as he looked to carry across the trust from European games to domestic games under Brendan. The 22-year-old was assured in possession and showed energy as the Scottish Champions hunted for an opener. It was Bernardo that popped up and made the difference, nicking the ball underneath Trevor Carson. He will be a certainty to start on Saturday.
5. Corners
Celtic had 23 corners over the course of the afternoon. An incredible number and a recorded amount for a team this season. The delivery on most was poor and it needs to be something that the team work at and improve upon. Going back to the point about chances, this is something that was noticeably subpar this afternoon.
Hopefully, Celtic can push on during the week and get themselves in the best shape to take on Rangers. The Ibrox side play tomorrow (at home to Ross County), meaning Celtic have an extra day to recover ahead of the Glasgow Derby.
Brendan was enthusing about a terrific’ performance. Sorry Brendan you were watching a different game from me. I reckon we were poor all over the park. Palmer took 14 corners and didn’t clear the first man once. Matt took one and delivered a terrific ball. Kyogo is a shadow of what we’ve come to expect and Maeda doesn’t look interested to me. Mikey Johnston scored two goals at least one of them a gift from the Dundee goalkeeper as was Bernardo’s. Bernardo earned some high praise but frankly I thought he was largely ineffective and Calum was very quiet. The defence was steady enough but to be honest Dundee were rank. To me we lack quality, strength and commitment, we need a replacement for Taylor, we need a Neil Lennon/Scott Brown in the middle and a quality striker. Go out and buy Victor Wanyama, woo back Giakoumakis (his departure was a thoroughly stupid decision by Ange), move Scales to left back and play CCV and Welsh/Lagerbielke in the middle. You also might consider trying to coax the sublime Tom Rogic out of a far too early retirement. We currently look lacking in motivation and unless we find that Saturday might be a chastening experience. Ps. congrats to Mikey but he’s not Celtic class in my opinion.