The first game after the winter break is no time to falter. Or as James Bond’s latest incarnation points to, its ‘No time to die’.
Tonight at Firhill Neil Lennon asked a question of the famous 007 hero. Is it just possible ‘Diamonds are Forever?
Okay if tonight’s formation is not permanent, then the 4-4-2 diamond formation is at least another set up that Scottish football may need to be aware of if not fear. Such changes are welcome.
Formation alterations aside, tonight’s Scottish cup tie came down to something far less sinister than the latest offering of James Bond on the silver screen.
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Tonight’s 2-1 win on Partick Thistle’s patchy Firhill turf saw honest toil matched only by Honest Mistakes. Celtic supplied the toil while referee Alan Muir supplied the Honest Mistakes we’re likely to see continue as the season progresses.
Jeremie Frimpong is unlikely to say it so I’ll say it for him. Celtic’s young full back hit the deck in the first half and should have had a penalty. Right at the end of tonight’s Scottish cup encounter the same player, earlier the ‘instigator’ became the persecuted, as referee Alan Muir pointed to the spot and Thistle’s Bannigan stuck away the penalty kick.
That Celtic were already two goals to the good at the time of the award left the referee’s decision as immaterial, but it could have been far more relevant had it not been for our own performance.
Let’s start with the honest toil. Celtic sold both Lewis Morgan and Scotty Sinclair in the transfer window. The assumption was, in the absence of Forrest and Christie who have occupied the wide roles of the usual 4-2-3-1 formation, we would see Arzani and Shved come into the side.
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It didn’t quite happen that way as Lennon fooled all and sundry by narrowing the team and letting the experienced players pick up the mantel of a new formation.
As Neil Lennon mixed things up a bit, the back four remained, but the forward positions shifted around to suit the personnel.
Scott Brown sat in a pivot role by himself as his usual partner in crime McGregor moved up to join Ntcham ahead of their captain. Rogic speared the midfield attack, picking up the playmaker role behind a front two of Odsonne Edouard and Leigh Griffiths. Celtic started brightly.
The first half saw a lot of sharp interplay and the first goal was quick arriving. Leigh Griffiths scored his first goal since August as Celtic opened the scoring after twelve minutes.
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Griffiths was perfectly placed to side foot home the first goal and Calmac got a slightly fortunate deflection for the second and that was it, game set and match.
Celtic controlled the first half in particular, their only real concern before the penalty was a Kenny Miller effort that hit a post when the score was still 1-0. That was just perfect wasn’t it?
Thistle scored a late consolation when Dario Zanatta won a penalty, from which Stuart Bannigan converted, and it must be said finished very well indeed. It was a penalty that even the Thistle players were laughing about. The spot kick was well converted as were the two Celtic goals from the boots of Griffiths and Callum McGregor.
Thistle had no time to try to find the equalising goal as Celtic secured a place in Sunday’s fifth-round draw.
So the winter break return has seen Celtic return to winning ways. The positive was the return of Griffiths to goal scoring form, alongside the fact Lennon has found a way to shoehorn two strikers into the starting eleven.
What was evident was the formation lacked width and as much as Rogic can and will supply the creativity we ran out of ideas, impetus and legs in the second half.
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Neil Lennon’s formation experiment certainly shouldn’t be discounted but if the Diamond is indeed to be forever we need to consider the personnel who will operate the changes.
Before it’s a case of never say never again, we need to look at how we can adapt the players available to the system we play. Tonight started well but it went just a little off track as the game progressed.
All said and done we should have won by more than we did. That the game finished 2-1 rather than 2-0 was down entirely to the usual refereeing errors Celtic are likely to be on the end of in the second half of the season.
The spectre of dodgy officiating is likely to hang over Celtics attempts to win nine in a row and a quadruple treble. We’ve come to expect that.
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What is clear is that Celtic won well tonight, as Neil Lennon opted for an alternative formation rather than fitting square pegs in round holes. That bodes well.
We also saw the introduction of Patryck Klimala and despite a referee who, by the penalty decision alone looked to be on ‘Her majesty’s secret service’ we prevailed tonight.
Tonight’s diamond formation may not be forever, but it saw honest toil defeat Honest Mistakes.
Niall J
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