“I don’t know about the players needing a lie down, I think we need a lie down, blimey!”
I think Chris Sutton speaks for every Celtic fan as they progressed into the UEFA Europa League group stages following an incredibly tense 3-2 aggregate win over AZ Alkmaar on Thursday night.
After a swashbuckling 2-0 win over the Dutch side at Paradise the week before, it seemed Ange Postecoglou’s men were to do the same again after Kyogo Furuhashi put the Hoops 1-0 up with a fine counter-attacking goal.
But after hesitation from Joe Hart and a comedic own-goal from Carl Starfelt, the pendulum was set to swing again; giving the Bhoys’ on the field an hour of game management to see themselves through to Friday’s draw.
But, through an increased mentality defensively and a glaring miss from 17-year-old Alkmaar attacker Ernest Poku, Celtic earned their stripes as they gruesomely battled on until the final whistle.
And, on Premier Sports, Chris Sutton and John Hartson watched through their fingers as Celtic gave not only them the shakes, but an entire fanbase.
“That was a hard watch, Celtic making their own problems with a couple of horrendous errors,” Sutton said.
“The start to the second half was remarkable, giving the ball away from kick-off and the first couple of minutes giving the ball away numerous times which invited pressure.
“In fairness, I thought Joe Hart in the second half was excellent and Odsonne Edouard made a big difference; but looking at the picture as a whole, since Ange has come in, I do think it is major progress for Celtic getting into the group stage because of the mess he walked into – it was unbelievable.”
He’s right, too – even at the end of the Midtjylland and West Ham games which were just a month ago, you never in a million years would have thought this side would progress to any group stage – never mind the Europa League.
And John Hartson said the same in his post-match analysis – with the Welshman impressed with the second-half turnaround.
“I don’t think there will be many Celtic fans complaining, we’ve got through.
“Yes, there is a lot of lessons to be learned in terms of doing the basics – can we play out from the back under pressure when they are pressing us really high? There’s nothing wrong with the fullback clipping it into the front and allowing midfield players to be turning and picking up second balls.
“As I said, delighted to get through – but we have rode our luck a little bit. In terms of defending with Welsh and Starfelt, night and day in the second half. The way they dfended their box, got some really good strong headers out of the area, defending properly, whereas in the first half it was poor.”
They did it the hard way, but Celtic are heading in the right direction again 👏
“Looking at the picture as a whole since Ange has come in, I do think it’s major progress for Celtic getting into the group stage of the Europa League because of the mess which he walked into.” 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/6b5Cw9yTUr
— Premier Sports (@PremierSportsTV) August 26, 2021
The draw awaits Celtic tomorrow – let’s hope it is kind on Ange and his men.
