Sandman’s Definitive Ratings – Celtic at Fir-Burger Park

🍀 What an impact!

McCowan opens the scoring with a great individual goal on his first league start for Celtic ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/GeawdE9deE

— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) October 27, 2024

CRUSTY THE CLOWN – 7/10 – As Liam. Tough, tuned and settling into that dominant CB position. Dogged most of the game by Motherwell’s unpronounceable nuisance up front, he too replicated his European adventure. Heads were scratched through his unremarkable and unconvincing Celtic blooding, but now the Battle Of Bergamo and the Fir Park humping have enlightened us as to his particular qualities – athleticism and recovery; the latter demonstrated second-half when atoning for slackness. The Centre-Back conundrum question will be posed in the months to come – which two out of three? Or four, if we get a fit big Nawrocki into the mix.

HIGHLAND TOFFEE – 7/10 – If dreams came true: Here you are, son – go and run the Celtic midfield in a hyena’s den. So street fighter young Jobson did. And revealed his Special Move – a splendid strike, swept in with aplomb, to steady a shaky ship. Didn’t all come easy – toil in the engine room first 20 as their teenage prodigy ran the show. But that gave Luke the opportunity to show what disciplined, harnessed quality can facilitate in the long run as he got to grips with their fleeting menace and took over, before throwing in that piece de resistance (his goal, you non-multilingual idiots).

SAINT BERNARDO – 6.5/10 – Wake up, Paulo! Pickpocketed early for their most dangerous moments. The Calmac role was a square peg, round hole fit by the looks of the opening exchanges. But as with Luke, his ability shone through the tangle and as the game wore on, that robust gangly style had him all over the place and all over them, comfortably in control.

HAKUNA HATATE – 6.5/10 – No rhythm, no Reo. With the conductor absent, the orchestra’s most versatile instrument blew between the high and low notes, looking dangerous and then disappearing. But overall, Reo’s movement and probing was timely and effective enough to impact upon the result.

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