Since an early January flit to Dubai Celtic have returned three straight wins. Alongside those three victories we have seen Neil Lennon and the Celtic squad employ three different formations. Not bad for a man bereft of choices or a man who may or may not have been told his striker is be about to be sold. Be honest we all heard it yesterday? £30 million plus?
Today Celtic’s back line saw a third choice left back in Jonny Hayes, third choice right back in Moritz Bauer and third choice centre half in Jozo Simunovic (left sided) alongside a first choice centre half in Christopher Jullien and a first choice goalkeeper in Fraser Forster.
Further forward Brown and Calmac are cornerstones whilst Mikey Johnston is a second choice left winger, Ntcham is second or third choice number 10 and Griffiths is a second choice striker. Thankfully James Forrest is at least the go to right sided attacker.
Given all of that it is hard to argue a 3-0 win against Ross County is not a bad result.
The first half was far too open. Ross County appeared content to suck Celtic in and hit the channel between the rusty Jozo Simunovic and the positional lacking Jonny Hayes. To be fair it was a wise move and it worked. Had Josh Mullins had a finish to match his endeavour and pace it’s fair to say Celtic could and should have been down by one or two goals at the break.
It leads to the first question. What does Jonny Hayes offer to Celtic at left back that Greg Taylor or Boli Bolingoli does not? Hard to tell on today’s performance.
I’d at least be asking given the questionable availability due to injury in other positions why Hayes is employed in a flat back four over the other two alternatives. At least when it comes to Jozo you can argue Kris Ajer needs replacing, at left back did we really have to drop to Jonny Hayes? Such decision making is becoming worrisome.
By half time we should have been down by at least a goal. Thankfully a clip of Mikey J’s heals saw a well-executed penalty from Callum McGregor that put Celtic at front at the break. Even the very (biased/reliable) Tom Boyd on Celtic TV saw the fortitude we’d been afforded.
As the second half started you’d assume Celtic’s defence would drop at least five yards deeper to prepare for County’s tactics, instead it’s a slamming indictment of our own first half performance that County themselves pushed up five yards and actually took the game to us. My word they fancied their chance’s and rightly so.
As the second half started it was clear Brown had issues with Bauer and Hayes while Ntcham seemed to be questioned by both McGregor and his captain while taking his own frustrations out on Hayes and Bauer.
By the 55th minute Mikey Johnston and James Forrest were both getting verbals from Griffiths whilst at the same time returning the same.
At last Lennon added Odsonne Edouard to the mix. As he replaced Griffiths we at least found a striker who can play a lone role. What should and will be put to bed is the idea that Griffiths can play the lone striker role and return with gold, He simply cannot.
Edouard had been left on the bench with a slight toe injury, but he entered the fray for Griffiths and made an immediate impact.
From a McGregor corner the French striker nodded home from close range at the back post as Celtic doubled their lead.
For his second goal, this time from a more conventional finish French Eddy underlined his massive importance to Celtic, the French Under-21 international weaving into the box before firing home to make it 3-0 and end the game as a contest.
So what did we learn? Well we can’t play one striker unless that forward player is Eddy. We are limited in defensive options when we reach our third and fourth choices and if Lenny wants to play two up front we are going to have to see Polish Paddy in action. If we intend to play one up top, well all evidence points to Eddy being the one and only choice.
Despite a fraught first half and a huffing and puffing approach to the second, Celtic won by three clear goals.
What does need explaining is Lenny’s thought process going forward. Despite injuries, suspensions and formation quandaries our manager has more than enough to compete.
Yesterday was a warning shot. It is time Lenny found a way to bed this team down. With or without Edouard – please note Peter, he is UNSELLABLE this side of NINE and preferably TEN. And the BIGGEST boost you could give us all would be to sign Odsonne on a new extended contract as soon as possible.
Niall J
ALSO ON THE CELTIC STAR THIS MORNING…
DAVID POTTER on Celtic 3 Ross County 0…‘Leagues are not always won with champagne football’… see HERE.
SANDMAN’S DEFINITIVE PLAYER RATINGS…Hilarious as always!…Celtic’s Match Winning Gaul with a Nose for Goal…see HERE.
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