Celtic’s 3-0 Scottish Cup win against Falkirk had plenty of positives to take from it. Firstly, and vitally Celtic remain on course for an incredible fifth consecutive Scottish Cup win, something essential for a club who simply must return to the habit of winning silverware. Secondly players around the periphery, be it through injury or a lack of fitness, showed they still have something to offer Celtic as they look to head into a new chapter under a new manager.
In truth, against a Falkirk side who rested eight players as the Bairns prioritised promotion from League 1, this became little more than an extended possession drill but the fact it resulted in three goals, a clean sheet and evidenced some clearly worked on training ground patterns of play showed further signs of incremental improvements in purpose, possession and confidence within the team, and in a season where watching Celtic often felt like watching the same movie – and a bad Saturday afternoon matinee at that – on repeat, you can’t help be cautiously optimistic that at the very least a corner has been turned.
There was of course the usual profligacy in front of goal and we learned little of any defensive improvement as the backline was rarely troubled, but even there we could point to improvement as there was little in the way of self-inflicted error at least, something that has previously become a symptom of this season.
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The positives were clear from early on and his name was David Turnbull. What a player we have on our hands with this lad. I appreciate genuinely natural footballers are few and far between these days, often ‘academied’ out of the game in exchange for those who can be drilled to within an inch of a loss of all independent thought, but in Turnbull we have a player that you would part with hard earned cash to simply watch play for any team – well almost any team – as he has that innate sense of timing and positional play designed entirely to hurt the opposition the most, the kind of player who gets bums off seats as they say.
You never know quite what he has up his sleeve and neither do the opposition. Whether it’s sand wedge passes, laying the ball up for himself to shoot or threading the ball through gaps and playing one-twos with those who at least can get on his wavelength, you feel a sense of anticipation when he is on the ball and crave for it to be returned to him when he’s not.
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If Celtic’s new manager was watching last night, he’ll know he has one stick on position already clear in his mind for next season, David Turnbull will be the conduit for Celtic’s attacking play. And the great thing is, he’s bound to only improve. Imagine the new manager purchased a couple of players who could attack a set piece delivery, with Turnbull’s deliveries it could be like shooting fish in a barrel.
Turnbull aside the returning James Forrest, grinning from ear to ear just to be back starting a football match for the first time since September last year, was a sight for very sore eyes. Although his first touch seemed a little rusty, his endeavour and perpetual motion, despite a lack of match sharpness was a most welcome sight.
He has had his critics that much is true, but most of those have been harsh, as particularly since Brendan Rodgers got a hold of him, Celtic have had a player who in terms of goals, assists and an ability to get teams on the back foot and then turned, has been an absolute necessity for any Celtic side in that last five years. Welcome back Jamesy – and a goal to boot can only have aided his confidence, and ours.
There must also be a mention of both Leigh Griffiths and Ryan Christie last night. Both showed flashes of what they do well and where they infuriate.
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Griffith’s lack of fitness, by this stage of the season, is of course questionable to say the least but last night he worked his socks off, picked up some great positions and on another night could have bagged himself a couple of goals at least. Is there still a future for Griffiths? If we could get him fit there could be, yet it may be he’s burned his bridges.
However, when Turnbull was looking for targets in the box Griffiths was one of the few players who wasn’t static and as such found he caught Turnbull’s eye and was in turn served up opportunities. He also started again ahead of Albian Ajeti – another who looked bright to the through ball when he did come on – and as such John Kennedy must feel the natural striking talent must be worth persevering with. You can only hope Griffiths himself recognises the belief others have in his goalscoring instincts and will focus on his sharpness to supplement the undoubted –and again natural – talent.
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And then there is Ryan Christie. A player who covers the ground and despite his statistics showing this year that his eye may be out when it comes to hitting the target on a consistent basis, at least he has at times reminded us there is a player in there who works hard on and off the ball, and he fashions opportunities to score at least. He may have had plenty of high, wide and not so handsome efforts on goal last night, but the low finish for Celtic’s second showed he can produce. Christie needs told what to do, he needs one on one coaching, to be taught positional discipline, where to be and where not to be, when to press and when to sit off and all of that can be coached.
However, Christie also needs to also recognise all of that himself and act accordingly. The game may not come as naturally to Christie as it does to David Turnbull but you need a mix in midfield and Christie does bring something to the party, energy, drive and that threat to an opposition ‘keeper is still in there somewhere. Of course, we don’t know if Christie even sees his future at Celtic but any watching coach with a belief in his own methods would surely back himself to get a consistent tune out of Ryan Christie.
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One final word for Moi Elyounoussi. What a touch and what a finish for the third and final goal. Whoever the manager is next season, please pick up the phone to Southampton, there must surely be a deal to be done for a player who appears well out of the Saints first team plans.
I can only assume Southampton are overloaded with internationals who are also team players and as such can farm a player of Moi’s talent to Celtic for two seasons. He’s a player who can impact games with goals, assists and a much-overlooked defensive discipline from the front. Such players don’t come around often in the market Celtic shop in, we can’t afford not to at least try and get this lad on a permanent deal.
All in all, it was a good night’s work for Celtic as they began another record-breaking defence of the Scottish Cup. The opposition may have been of a third tier standard, and looking at their young faces Gillette may not be rushing to sponsor Falkirk, but Celtic looked bright and threatening and even showed they could put in a 90-minute performance. For any new manager watching on last night the size of the task may seem a little less daunting. Particularly when you know you have David Turnbull to call upon on any given Saturday.
Niall J
