Celtic 5 Hearts 0
Little other to say about this one other than that it was a simply superb Celtic performance.
Dare we hope that we are now beginning to see the emergence of a new, young Celtic side? One hopes so, for the potential here is enormous.
A now solid defence, a very impressive midfield diamond, and two men up front about whom we have had doubts, but who today showed a sprightliness and determination to do well that we have not seen for some time.
And the team played as a team, bristling with young talent determined to do well and clearly boosted by the emergence of Ryan Christie who has now indeed “arrived”. A solid performance, and on this showing we will take some beating.
Hearts arrived looking like men going to the dentist. Their body language betokened a beating, or as Mr McLean might say a “pumping”. They gave themselves away further within the first ten minutes by their wasting of time – at throw-ins! They clearly would have preferred to be anywhere other than Celtic Park today.
They expected to be overrun, and of course they were. (Celtic teams in Europe take a lesson from this!)
The goals were delightful. Odsonne Edouard’s first had £9 milllion pound written all over it, and his second wasn’t bad either. Benkovic’s goal was a fine header but – another lesson here for Celtic in Europe! – he more or less had the freedom of the penalty area! Forrest’s fourth goal was superbly made and taken, and the fifth goal came from a penalty which was the right decision, but which we did not really need.
There were other chances that should have been taken but weren’t. Nevertheless five goals were enough to be going on with.
Once again I worry about Craig Gordon’s kicking. It may be this aspect of his game which loses him his place to Scott Bain. Both are excellent goalkeepers as far as positioning and shot stopping are concerned, but Scott is definitely the better kicker. Craig played to the gallery a bit to-day. He may do that once too often, I fear.
Referee Mr Beaton had a fair game to-day, I thought. His only mistake however may turn out to be a bad one. A red card should surely have been shown for that kick at Lewis Morgan. And I was far from impressed by the show of contrition from the miscreant! It was nasty and a pity for Lewis was playing well in the short time we saw him, as indeed was Mikey Johnston. Two other great prospects!
The atmosphere was first class. Never-ending, noisy support got its own reward with huddles and what-not and a major amount of audience participation, and the poor Jambo fans could only stand and gawp. They had never seen anything like it in their lives!
In future years, I would like to date this game as the birth of the new young lions of Celtic. I hope I am correct in this. It was certainly a magical performance, and the buses home tonight contained not a single moaner!
BUT, and it is a very big BUT. Can we replicate this in Europe? We have now shown all Scotland that we can play. Can we up a gear and do it in Europe?
Thursday night, in this respect, will reveal this. The answer will lie in the attitude of the players. Let’s forget the urine yellow nights, let’s have some green and white European magic! The cause is not yet lost, and a thumping of Leipzig will work wonders.
Let’s do it, Celtic!
David Potter
Also on The Celtic Star…
No Mr Keevins, The Celtic support hasn’t surrendered our European ambitions..See HERE.
Watch Celtic Fans TV Post Match reactions to yesterday’s 5-0 win…See HERE.
Jim Craig – The Battle of Montevideo…See HERE.
‘The birth of the new Young Lions of Celtic,’ David Potter…See HERE.
‘People will now know our capabilities,’ Rodgers Pride…See HERE.
Five Star Celtic hammer Hearts…See HERE.
