Three talking points after Celtic beat Hibs 3-0 at Celtic Park…
Celtic turned up at a cold Celtic Park yesterday to take on a Hibs team who have finally started to find a bit of form under manager and former defender David Gray after beating Motherwell 3-0 at Fir Park. Pre-match there was much speculation whether manager Brendan Rodgers would rotate the team once more or whether he would stick with the same eleven who started at Pittodrie.
The manager chose to rotate the starting eleven again, a decision that has paid dividends so far this season and it yet again proved to be the correct choice as Celtic ran out 3-0 winners. Sometimes the scoreline doesn’t tell the full story and this match proves the point, Hibs were competitive throughout and should be proud of their performance today.
These are the three main talking points I would like to discuss post game:
1. Get Kasper Schmeichel signed up for another year as soon as possible
As I said earlier sometimes the scoreboard doesn’t reflect a game and this is the prime example of one of those occasions. Hibs were hugely competitive today. On another day this could have ended a memorable high scoring draw or even a win for Hibs but for the brilliance of Celtic goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel. The Danish international rightly won the man of the match award which seems bizarre in a game where Celtic won 3-0, but the Celtic number one more than deserved the accolade.
Kasper pulled off a number of high quality saves throughout this contest and this would have been a a much edgier contest if it wasn’t for the Dane’s heroics. As if it wasn’t already obvious, Kasper proved this afternoon that he is more than deserving of at least another years contract, at the very least. Having witnessed how much he has enjoyed his time at Celtic so far, I doubt it will be hard to convince him to prolong his stay in Glasgow.
2. Our best starting eleven should always include Cameron Carter-Vickers
Brendan Rodgers chose to rotate the starting eleven once more and I have absolutely no doubt that it was the correct decision but I think yesterday proved that in the big matches, when we utilise our best available team, Cameron Carter-Vickers should be one of the first names on the team sheet. The partnership of Auston Trusty and Liam Scales has performed admirably in the past but today showed that there is definitely deficiencies in the pair starting at centre back.
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Both players being left footed is an obvious negative but more than that, without Carter-Vickers marshalling the back line we are clearly weaker. It was interesting to hear Brendan Rodgers in an interview during the week mentioning how important Carter-Vickers is in marshalling and controlling the back line and I think that was clear to see today.
Without his leadership Scales and Trusty, who I trust implicitly when they are played alongside Carter-Vickers, seemed to be all at sea a few times when hit on the counter attack. I have no doubt they will be utilised again together in games against the so call smaller teams but in the big games, Carter-Vickers must start when available.
3. Rotating the squad is the right decision
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers once again chose to rotate his starting eleven and I think this must continue due to the fact that we are still fighting for trophies in four separate competitions this season. Many hoped we would see the same starting line up as we saw up in Pittodrie midweek but I for one was glad the manager changed it up again.
There are many positives to what Brendan Rodgers is currently doing. Firstly he is giving a rest to some of our most important players. Challenging in so many competitions at the one time ultimately means that players run the risk of becoming burnt out. Having a strong competitive squad that fortunately seems to be remaining injury free is a huge bonus.
We are also in an advantageous position, through our own hard work during the early part of the season, that we have already created a quite significant gap in the league and can therefore afford the luxury of resting players when required.
We are also fortunate that the players waiting in the wings don’t reduce the quality of the starting eleven when called upon. Watching the likes of Luke McCowan today made me think how lucky we are that we have 5 top quality centre midfielders vying for 3 positions in the starting line up.
I think Brendan Rodgers is utilising the squad perfectly by not making too many changes each week. I wouldn’t want us playing our second string in the league but four or five changes in matches we think we are more than capable of winning is the correct formula.
As I said it’s not like we are massively reducing the quality of the team. Another positive is that the whole squad is staying sharp. You can see the likes of Adam Idah, James Forrest and even Yang are benefiting hugely by getting plenty of game time.
Long may it continue.
Conall McGinty
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