Brendan Rodgers praised James Forrest’s contribution in Celtic’s sluggish 3-0 victory over Hibs at Paradise yesterday afternoon…
Albeit another three important points were sealed as the Scottish Champions continued their unbeaten start to the Premiership campaign, it was far from a perfect performance for Brendan Rodgers’ side.
The visitors, who now languish at the bottom of the table passed up a number of glaring opportunities in both the first and second half.
Celtic’s outstanding no.1 Kasper Schmeichel
Aided by Celtic’s outstanding no.1 Kasper Schmeichel, the Hoops somehow managed to keep a 12th clean sheet from 15 league matches so far this season. Schmeichel is well on course of breaking the clean sheet record in a 38-game Scottish Premiership campaign. The record holder is currently Fraser Forster who accumulated 23 shutouts in season 2011/2012.
Kyogo’s delightful chip
Courtesy of Arne Engels, Joe Newell’s unfortunate OG, and Kyogo’s delightful chip, Celtic went nine points clear of second place Aberdeen who dropped yet more points at home to St Johnstone.
Meanwhile, the Scottish Champions have now won four league matches in a row against Hibs, their longest winning run versus the Edinburgh club since 2011.
Due to an underwhelming first-half showing, Brendan Rodgers enforced a tactical tweak at the interval bringing James Forrest onto the pitch for Nicolas Kuhn.
James Forrest’s excellent assist
Racking up an incredible 521 appearances for the Hoops over 14 years, Forrest’s excellent assist for Kyogo yesterday afternoon takes the Celtic legend’s goal contribution tally to 109 goals and 109 assists.
The 33 year-old’s experience and ball retention was something that Rodgers reckoned in his post-match thoughts settled the nerves on-field in a close encounter against David Gray’s gung-ho Hibees.
“It was much better in the second half. We controlled the game, upped it to a level. Our third goal comes from a counter-press from James [Forrest]. He blindsides the press and that’s more like how we’ve been,” he said.
Rodgers gives ‘best player’ compliment
“We were losing too many balls on the right side. So in order to push them back, you’ve got to retain the ball. James [who replaced Nicolas Kuhn at half-time]is probably the best player I’ve ever worked with in my career at retaining the ball on the side.”
Rodgers added, “people will look at it and say, ‘It’s because of maturity’. No, he did that when I was here in 2016. He is the best player at receiving the ball on the side of the pitch when it’s tight, left side or right side. Then that allows you to sustain the attack. Too often we gave it away in the first half.”
A trip to Zagreb awaits Forrest and his teammates, and with Celtic’s opposition on Tuesday evening on a dismal run of form, Rodgers and his players smell blood as they set their sights on securing a knockout playoff round tie.
Conor Spence
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