Author: wayofthecass

I wax lyrical about all things irrelevant.

Europa League: All you need to know about Valencia in the last 32.

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Tomorrow night it’s Valencia in the Europa League Last 32 as we take a break from recent domestic action.

It’s all so different from the last time they visited Celtic Park back in 2001. Both had superior teams back then and genuine big European ambitions. We triumphed 1-0 on the night thanks to Henrik Larsson though lost out on penalties after a 1-1 aggregate draw.

But that was then and this is now.

We all know that we are in fine fettle domestically with seven wins on the trot, 21 goals scored and none conceded since our return to action a mere three and a half weeks ago.

The new signings of Burke and Weah have hit the ground running, giving the team dynamic energy and fresh impetus whilst the likes of McGregor, Christie and Forrest have maintained their excellent form from the first half of the season. That combined with the recent return from injury of the likes of Boyata, Edouard and potentially even Kieran Tierney the squad is looking in fine shape as the quality of the opposition gets ramped up a notch on Thursday evening against La Liga’s Valencia.

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Expect something similar to this tomorrow. 

So let’s look a little in depth at what we’ll be coming up against, shall we?

Valencia are currently managed by 53-year-old Spaniard Marcelino GarcĂ­a Toral or Marcelino for short. He took over in the summer of 2017 having previously been in charge of Villareal for four seasons and four pretty successful ones at that as he led them to promotion followed by three consecutive top-six finishes. In 2015-16 he guided them to fourth spot in the league and a Champion League playoff spot as a result. That same season he also took them to the semi-finals of the Europa League after an incredible twelve game unbeaten run, including nine wins before they came unstuck to Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool at Anfield in the second leg of the semis.

So he has form in the competition. Pretty good form.

Despite all that Toral was incredibly sacked one game into the following season’s campaign after an alleged fallout with the board and was without work for nine months before taking over the reins at Valencia in May 2017.

His first season got off to a stormer with an unbeaten thirteen game league run, including nine wins and they ultimately finished fourth only three points behind third-placed Real Madrid and six behind runners up Atletico Madrid. They also reached the Cop Del Rey semi-finals where they lost to eventual winners Barcelona.

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Marcelino: the man, the myth…the legend.

Emboldened by that success and bankrolled by billionaire owner Peter Lim they spent big in last summers transfer window blowing €126 million with talents such as Geoffrey Kondogbia (€25 million), Gonçalo Guedes (€40 million) and Mouctar Diakhaby (€15 million) arriving though with the exception of Kondogbia none of those three has made much of an impact. A reminder that a big transfer fee guarantees nothing.

They also signed Italian right back Cristiano Piccini from Sporting Lisbon for €7 million  – a player linked with us throughout last summer – so I guess we’ll get to see tomorrow night what we either did or didn’t miss out on.

Along with that lot plus several others, they took in two big-name loan signings with Chelsea striker Michy Batshuayi and Russia’s World Cup star Denis Cheryshev. Batshuayi’s form was pretty disastrous though and after only netting three times in 23 games his season-long deal was cut short and he was punted back to London. He’s now on loan to Crystal Palace.

This winter they brought in two signings in veteran Argentine central defender Facundo Roncaglia from Celta Vigo on loan and Deportivo Alavés forward Rubén Sobrino as a back-up striker.

On the pitch, it’s been uneven as they have so far failed to recreate the form of last season.

They won only one of their first eleven league matches but have been unbeaten in their last five La Liga appearances and have only lost one of their last nine. In amongst all that lot was a pretty impressive 2-2 draw at the Nou Camp against the all-powerful league leaders Barcelona and they’ve actually only lost four league games all season but to counter that incredibly they’ve only won six as well. It’s been draws galore and thus far Valencia have tied 13 from 23 league matches scoring only 24 in the process with 20 conceded.

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Our opponents. 

Despite that, they still sit eighth in La Liga which is only six points behind Sevilla in fourth spot and another Champions League play-off place.

They’ve also reached the semi-finals of the Copa Del Rey and after a 2-2 away draw at Real Betis they are red hot favourites to reach the final with the home leg still to come.

In Europe, they finished third in a tough Champions League group that included Juventus and Manchester United. They lost in two tight games to the Italians but held Man U to a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford and defeated them 2-1 in the final group match the at the Mestella.

The main players to look out for are the powerful centre back Ezequiel Garay who has over thirty caps for Argentina, long-serving creative midfielder Daniel Parejo who has seven goals in 32 appearances this season, 22-year-old central midfielder Carlos Soler who already has 93 first team appearances, and the attacking trio of French internationalist Kevin Gameiro who has 190 career goals, Spanish internationalist winger Rodrigo and their top marksman the 23-year-old Santi Mina who has 37 goals over the past four seasons eight of which he’s netted this term.

Here’s the good new though…………Rodrigo has been left at home along with regular left-back Jose Gaya, Santi Mina is likely to miss out due to an ankle injury, central defender Gabriel has a thigh problem and is struggling, and new singing Facundo Roncaglia is also unavailable due to a suspension the last time he played in Europe that Valencia only realised yesterday. A shame as if they had played him we’d have gone through on default just like we did against Legia and Sion in the past. The good old pesky paperwork and rules.

Rodrigo
Mina
Roncaglia

On the road, in all cup competitions, they’ve only won once in seven games and three of their only four league defeats have also come on the road at such inauspicious places as Espanyol and Alaves as well as Sporting de GijĂłn and Getafe in the Copa Del Rey.

Safe to say they are a defensive minded team who struggle for goals but are tough to break down and are far better at home than away. That should bring us all hope.

Our recent record at home in European competition has been impressive with only one loss in our last eight home European ties, six wins and it’s been 15-5 on goal difference.

Last season at this stage we defeated Zenit St.Petersburg 1-0 in the home leg and though it was a fine victory against quality opposition our failure to capitalise on several other good chances that night meant we were really up against it on the road, and with our feeble away record the one goal was never going to be enough. Let’s hope we don’ make the same mistake again.

Hopefully, under the disco lights and with Burke, Forrest and Sinclair driving at them early with pace we can get off to a good start and set the tone otherwise Valencia will undoubtedly turn it into a long and frustrating evening.

It’ll be tough but it’s winnable and it could be a great night. Let’s make it happen Celtic and right the wrong of 2001.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAz5E_LqYjI

 

Celtic 5 – 0 St.Johnstone: Celts smash Saints to keep the rampant unbeaten run going plus other Cup stuff.

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Another day, another article, another clean sheet but not a third 2-0 in a row instead Celtic – with a full measure of their opponents having met them twice already in the previous ten days – drilled Tommy Wright’s hapless Perth side by five to nil and there could have been a few more to boot as we resoundingly made our way into the Scottish Cup quarter-finals and the seemingly relentless march to the treble-treble continues.

It all started in only three minutes when Olly Burke rampaged to the byline and cut it back across the goal. It appeared as if there would be no takers but Scott Sinclair arrived at the back post and from an acute angle drilled it past Saints keeper Zander Clark at his near post. A mere six minutes later it was 2-0 when captain Scott Brown picked up on a loose ball and from 30 yards out sent a howitzer straight as an arrow past Clark once more and into his top left-hand corner for a collector’s item strike.

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Broooooonie!

Celtic took their foot off the peddle for the rest of the first period though another terrific run to the byline and cutback from Burke deserved better. In the second half, the men in Hoops were back at it with Jonny Hayes feeding James Forrest who placed it through Clark’s legs on 52 mins and only two mins later Scott Sinclair got his second via a tap in after Burke once again left the Saints defence in his wake and crossed from the byline. Sinclair finished it all off on 89 mins with his second hattrick of the season after substitute Edouard’s shot was blocked and it fell to the winger who turned and finished from close range. He now has 19 goals for the season which is an incredible return and is only six off his total from his debut season at Celtic when he received Player of the Year.

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That’s a three from Scott.

So it was all rather easy as we made it seven wins from seven games as well as an incredible 21-0 over the duration and even more good news with the unexpected return of James Forrest to the starting line-up and Odsonne Edouard coming on from the bench indicating both should be in fine fettle for Thursday nights huge Europa League clash with Rosenborg………..sorry Valencia

Jonny Hayes got a rare start at left-back and impressed though that was with our opposition on the back foot all day. That will not be the case on Thursday night.

Oliver Burke stole the show, however. I always thought his pace would terrify defences up here and so it has proven to be thus far.  He picked up a knock but early indications are it’s not something to worry about too much. He really could be vital for us. His pace is electric.

Elsewhere on Saturday Eddie May took over the reins at Hibs one last time as they eased to a 3-1 win over League One’s Raith Rovers. He now will make way for the big name ultra-ambitious appointment that is Michael Appleton. Expect season book sales to tumble.

Speaking of tumbling as expected St.Mirren fell to Dundee Utd, 2-1 at home. Oran Kearney claimed it was the worst first-half performance he’d seen at the Paisley club since taking over back in September so considering how poor they’ve been these past five months it must really have been bad and Partick Thistle visited Bayview to earn a hard-fought 1-0 win over another League One outfit in East Fife who’s stadium features the bizarre site of being surrounded by solar panels. A bit better than the old decaying Methil power station that used to provide the vista right enough. I was wondering what had happened to it – used to notice it on the early rounds Scottish Cup highlights show back in the 2000s – but wiki tells me they demolished it back in 2011. You learn something new every day.

Out with the old…….
…..the future’s green.

In the evening game, Kilmarnock and Rangers served up a bit of a stinker with the only highlight being a first-half penalty conceded by ex-Rangers hero Kirk Broadfoot which resulted in James Tavernier cracking it straight down the middle and off the keeper’s legs. In the second half, Jermaine Defoe dived – though nobody in the media dare talks about it – and Killie’s Irish midfielder Alan Power unsuccessfully tried to remove Ryan Jack’s head. They aren’t scared to talk about that. The match ended goalless and they will now replay a week on Wednesday at Ibrox.

On Sunday after Celtic’s rout at Parkhead, Hearts swatted away the challenge of Junior side Auchinleck Talbot 4-0 as the Ayrshire men fought bravely but alas were completely outgunned by the Edinburgh side who now seem to have most of the key players that got their season off to such a good start back from injury.

And in the final match of the day, Aberdeen won out 4-1 against the Championship’s Queen of the South but had a second-half scare when goal machine Stephen Dobbie cracked in probably the goal of the round with a 35-yard beezer that gave Joe Lewis in the Dons goal no chance in hell. Incredibly that’s his 38th goal of the season for the Doonhamers. Up the other end though Aberdeen have a goal machine of their own in Sam Cosgrove – which as just as well as his strike partner is Stevie ‘Couldn’t hit a barn door’ May – and he grabbed a double one of which was a penalty to get his 16th goals of the campaign.

Tonight will be the final game of the Scottish Cup fifth round – notwithstanding replays – as Ross County and Inverness Caley Thistle go at it in a hotly anticipated Highland Derby at the luxurious Global Energy Stadium, Dingwall. Both are doing pretty well in the Championship this season with Ross County looking to bounce straight back up after last seasons relegation from the top flight. They sit top and despite trailing them by 12 points their Highland rivals from Inverness still sit in a play-off place and have scored 10 goals in their last two cup games in the competition this season. The draw will then proceed thereafter and it’s always interesting to see who we’ll get out of the hat. At this stage of the competition, it’s bound to be tough no matter who it is so bring it on.

 

Celtic 2-0 Hibs: DĂ©jĂ  Vu at the top and pantomime season lingers on at Pittodrie.

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Another game. Another Celtic victory. Oh and another clean sheet. So that’s 6-0 now in terms of the 2019 winning streak and 16-0 on aggregate since returning from the break. These intros are now more or less writing themselves.

So last night Celtic secured another three points as the march towards eight consecutive titles rolls on. As expected a somewhat demoralised Hibs team in disarray since the departure of their manager Neil Lennon offered little. In their dugout, Eddie May continues to look as about uncomfortable as a pilgrim in an unholy land no doubt suffering flashbacks to his ever so brief yet disastrous tenure at the helm of Falkirk nearly a decade ago. Time flies. He also disclosed after the match he’d put off having a vasectomy so as to attend the game. That’s commitment. Either that or he bottled it.

Under Lennon, Hibs were a challenge every time we met them. Indeed in the last six league encounters between us and them, we’d only beaten them twice suffering two defeats and drawing twice in the process with an aggregate score of 10-10. Every game had been free-scoring save one with goals flying in at either end. However last night they offered little and Celtic pretty much did as they pleased with Timothy Weah and Scott Sinclair both going close before Jeremy Toljan cut in from the right to feed Christie in the box and the Scotland internationalist turned and buried it nicely to open the scoring on 24 mins. The rest of the half was more of the same.

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That’s the way to do it. 

In the second half, Celtic continued to create chance after chance and it should have been two when Boyata’s point-blank header was saved magnificently by Ofir Marciano. But the points were wrapped up finally on 63 mins when McGregor fed Christie from his own half and he scampered forward before releasing Burke with a nicely placed through ball that was duly executed in the box by that man Oliver Burke who finished via a deflection from the diving Darren McGregor which dinked over the despairing Marciano.

As a result, Celtic move onto 57 points with their third consecutive 2-0 win and remain six points clear of second-placed Rangers who stayed in contention thanks to a 4-2 win at Pittodrie over Aberdeen which sees the Govan based side pull five points ahead of the Dons after a controversy-filled affair. Having gone into the break 3-1 up thanks to two goals from Alfredo Morelos and the customary penalty for James Tavernier all looked comfortable before Englishman Tavernier conceded a penalty in his own box early in the second half that was converted by recent goal machine Sam Cosgrove. Then back up the other end, that man Morelos continued his pantomime style approach to the beautiful game as he raked a foot down alleged Celtic target Scott McKenna before appearing to take a stud to the face as the big Reds defender retaliated. Morelos went down like he’d been tasered by Grampians finest and both were subsequently shown red cards. Thereafter the home side dominated and were unlucky not to get another penalty when Allan McGregor unsuccessfully tried to break the shin of young Lewis Ferguson before a breakaway deep into injury time saw Jermain Defoe bury his new sides fourth goal and secure the points.

Earlier on today Alfredo Morelos red card was rather brazenly appealed by his employers. If the SPFL – or is it the SFA? – actually, entertain it never mind overturn the original decision then any last lingering shreds of credibility the ruling body have in Scottish football will be thoroughly doused in petrol and incinerated for good. It would be lunacy. So that’s probably why it might happen.

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Morelos was fine in the end by the way.

As the candles dimmed on Aberdeens’ unlikely title challenge they were also more or less extinguished over at Dens Park where Kilmarnock were held to a 2-2 draw by relegation battlers Dundee. 2-1 down at halftime Steve Clarke’s men got it back to equal terms thanks to a spectacular free-kick from Chris Burke and then laid siege to their host’s goal before Kenny Miller raced clear on the break in the dying embers and won a penalty. He stepped up to covert but fluffed it though and Dundee passed up the chance for two undeserved but vital extra points.

Livingston stopped the rot of their recent five-game losing run by batoning down the hatches at Tynecastle and securing a 0-0 draw against their favourite team Hearts whilst the Brian Rice revolution got off to a flyer at New Douglas Park thanks to a 2-1 win for his new charges Hamilton Accies against St.Johnstone for whom the wheels have really come off recently. That’s their fourth league loss on the spin having only lost two of their previous thirteen.

The season of woe over in Paisley continues for St.Mirren and their beleaguered manager Oran Kearney. They suffered their sixth loss in a row on league duty via a 2-1 home defeat to Motherwell and that’s their 19th in 25 in what has been a truly awful campaign. Their 0-0 draw in his first match against us back in mid-September must feel like a managerial lifetime ago for Kearney and you wonder just how much longer it can go on for before the latest axe swings on a Premiership manager’s head.

As for the rejuvenated Motherwell, that’s their fifth straight league win in a row now with nine goals scored and only two conceded. Youngsters such as Jake Hastie, Allan Campbell and David Turnbull have really come into form and they now look almost odds on to catch struggling St.Johnstone for a top six place which seemed nigh on impossible going into the winter break.

This weekend it’s back to the cup and we entertain that very team I’ve just written off in St.Johnstone on Sunday. Injury wise we are still likely to be without Odsonne Edouard and James Forrest with Tierney, Rogic, Benkovic and Griffiths also still way off.  Emilio  Izaguirre could also struggle after suffering a heavy tackle to his ankle last night though according to Brendan it’s not as bad as first feared.  Bayo made the bench last night and might see some game time but again the expectations will lie with our go-to guys McGregor and Christie as well as the new Timothy Weah / Olly Burke connection.

Kilmarnock will be hoping to repeat their recent win over Rangers in the Saturday evening game and there will be all the razmataz and glamour of the Highland Derby on Monday night. Expect Dundee Utd to also fancy themselves at a dejected St.Mirren in what could be another nail in Oran Kearney’s Scottish football management coffin.

 

The injuries pile up but we’re still out in front.

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On early Sunday afternoon, Celtic extended their perfect form since returning from the winter break to 5-0 and 14-0 on aggregate.

However, unlike the previous four games, which had all been played at Celtic Park and had all been pretty routinely one-sided domestic affairs we actually had a match to contend with on Sunday.

Early doors St.Johnstone showed some ambition and created a few chances, something which they had, by and large, failed to do in 90 minutes when visiting Celtic Park last Wednesday. But then after about 15 minutes, they resorted to previous tactics of shutting up shop and playing eleven men behind the ball after what could only have been a sudden mass flashback to the 6-0 hiding they had endured on their home patch against the men in hoops back in October. Strange as we wore the away strip that day.

Anyway thereafter Celtic struggled to break them down in what can only be described as a dull and turgid affair as we passed the ball about relentlessly in front of them. Pretty apt for a dreary early February Sunday afternoon.

The game had 0-0 written all over it but fortune favours the brave and Odsonne Edouard came on for his first appearance since a substitute display at Ibrox back in December and his presence seemed to almost immediately spark us into life with Saints keeper Zander Clark saving well as French Eddy blasted a fine effort towards goal from twenty yards out. James Forrest then burst into the box and dinked one to the back post where Ryan Christie was cut in half by Jason Kerr before Clark saved again this time from Scott Sinclair and then finally Joe Shaughnessy booted the ball clear off the line, taking Edouard’s foot in the process resulting the Frenchman having to be subbed off only eight minutes after coming on.

That made you think it really wasn’ going to be our day but enter Timothy Weah as Odsonne’s replacement and he immediately set about terrorising the Perth sides defence This culminated in him taking down a speculative long ball to the edge of the box from Scott Brown rather masterfully before executing a lovely ball to the far post where James Forrest nipped in ahead of the unaware Scott Tanser to prod home the opener. A minute later Forrest was booked for celebrating with the crowd and a minute after that he walked off with a hamstring injury reducing us to ten men as all three substitutes had already been used at this point.

Celtic
Kiss the badge.

With ten minutes left this emboldened the hosts to venture forward and after committing everyone upfield for a corner on the 89th minute they were made to pay the price as Celtic broke through Scott Sinclair who released Weah and the 18-year-old played a one-two with Callum McGregor with the return ball seeing Weah bury it to wrap up the points.

Minutes later that Kristofer Ajer got a straight red after losing the ball to Callum Hendry who he then subsequently pulled back and as the last man a straight red was the inevitable conclusion.

So we finished with only nine men but the three points were what was most important and with that mission accomplished as we return to the top of the league and maintain a six points gap over second-placed Rangers.

That being said the bill from the match was pretty steep. Edouard only just back from injury and stretchered off, along with Forrest departing with a sudden hamstring pull and a straight red and automatic ban for Ajer. Even Christie was struggling with a rib injury near the end after the aformnetioned incident where he was scythed down by Kerr in a what should have been a blatant penalty that went completely unnoticed by the officials.

The positives were the continuing impressive showings by Weah who really has breathed new enthusiasm and life into the side with his effervescent displays. I also thought Olly Burke was doing a good job, indeed he nearly scored twice the first from a lung-busting run down the flanks in the first half and I thought him unfortunate to be subbed for Edouard when Scott Sinclair had done absolutely nothing all afternoon. He was also involved in another dismissed penalty incident in the first half which looked pretty clearcut to me and no doubt he would have got it if his jersey had a lot less green and a helluva lot more blue on it. Jeremy Toljan also made his debut after his transfer deadline day loan from Borussia Dortmund with Mikel Lustig going off at halftime with yet another injury. Toljan looked pretty accomplished and surprisingly sharp considering he has hardly featured this season for his parent club.

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The new bhoy.

Elsewhere Rangers got three dodgy penalties as Andrew Dallas made daddy proud via a virtuoso display of breathtaking ineptitude at Ibrox with the home side winning out 4-0 in the end and Aberdeen won 2-1 at Easter Road as the reality of the post-Lennon era starts to hit home and the Dons keep up their unlikely title challenge. Hearts gained a surprise 2-1 win at high flying Kilmarnock whilst Motherwell hammered Livingston 3-0 as the men from the Tony Macaroni faltered to their fifth straight defeat. Dundee also drew 1-1 at Hamilton in a result that doesn’t do much for either side but does signal the beginning of perennial right-hand man Brian Rice’s long-awaited assault on Scottish football management.

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I take it you’ve all seen that What’s App video by now?

On Wednesday we play managerless Hibs who are currently under the temporary guidance of ‘Mr Reluctant’ Eddie May.  It’s at home and it’s pretty much a game in which anything other than a resounding win considering our opposition’s predicament would be seen as three points thrown away. Add in the real possibility that Rangers could drop points that very night as they face a resurgent Aberdeen side up at Pittodrie and a win is vital. The Dons have only lost one in their last eleven domestic games, nine of which have been in the league and that was against us on Boxing Day in an end to end affair. They themselves sit only two points behind the men from Govan.

But what the hell kind of team are we going to put out is the main question? Kieron Tierney has only just returned to light training so is still way off, both Benkovic and Rogic are facing 4-6 weeks on the sidelines, Ajer is of course suspended and then add in the three casualties from the weekend then you have a bonafide injury crisis. It could mean that forgotten men such as Bitton, Jonny Hayes and even Jack Hendry are called back into action some of whom I figured it would seem unlikely we’d ever see in a Celtic jersey again. Encouragingly though Boyata is apparently back into full training with Ntcham, not far behind him and Leigh Griffiths has been included in the just announced Europa League squad so may not be too far off it either.

For tomorrow night, followed by the cup game against St.Johnstone……..again……. at the weekend and then Valencia next Thursday it really is all hands to the pump.

 

Celtic 2-0 St.Johnstone: Six points clear one month into the new year plus transfer deadline day talk.

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In the last update on the blog, I wrote that it was three wins on the spin since the return from the winter break. Well, I guess we can make that four now as Celtic coasted home to a 2-0 win over St.Johnstone which makes it 12 goals scored and four clean sheets too.

At the top of the table we remain and now we’re six points clear with a superior goal difference as well. Not a bad eleven days if you ask me. Incredible to think we’ve already played four games in that time.

Celtic dominated the first half with Saints keeper Zander Clark making a wonderful save from a point-blank Scott Sinclair header. Later on, in the half,  Olly Burke produced a curling effort from the left-hand side of the box which zipped just past the far post. But that aside the visiting side kept it tight and remained encamped around their box for the whole 45 mins with only Rangers legend Michael O’Halloran looking any kind of a threat on the break.

At halftime, you started to wonder if it just might not be our night but five minutes after the restart any such fears were allayed when Callum McGregor had acres of space to advance towards the opposition box after being fed in from the right by Mikel Lustig and he unleashed a storming drive that gave Clark no chance and ended up in the bottom right corner to give the men in Hoops the lead.

A mere two mins later it got even better and the points were pretty much signed, sealed and delivered when the advancing Lustig again fed a ball in from the right, this time to the edge of the box where Ryan Christie left Saints captain Joe Shaughnessy for dead and proceeded to curl the ball spectacularly past Clark high into the far corner to make it 2-0 and more or less game over.

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It’s a beauty from Christie. 

Odsonne Edouard made his long-awaited comeback from the bench and almost scored before Clark made a wonderful save from McGregor minutes later. Then right at the end, Ricky Foster produced a blatant handball whilst sliding in the box to prevent a cross from James Forrest after the Celtic winger had played a cute one-two with Lustig but the referee and the linesman had already decided Celtic had scored enough for the evening so chose to pretend they didn’t see it.

So that was that. As comfortable as you like with the Celt’s keeper Scott Bain a virtual spectator.

That’s our 13th win in our last 17 league games now, 16th win in 20 domestic games and our 12th win in 12 home league games this season.

We now visit McDiarmid Park on Sunday to face the same opposition again and let’s hope for more of the same or better still a repeat of the 6-0 hammering we dished out to them back in early October. Hard to believe that’s four months ago already. I remember it well. It was pretty much the performance that kick-started our season after a, to say the least, tepid start.

Tomorrow is, of course, the final day of the transfer window. By Celtic’s standards, it’s been a pretty active January with most of our business done uncharacteristically early via the signing of striker Vakoun Issouf Bayo and the loan deals for attackers Timothy Weah and Olly Burke. There were of course hopes of a right back arriving though rumoured interest in Atalanta’s Belgium internationalist Timothy Castagne was kiboshed by a price tag of somewhere in the region of ÂŁ10 million.

Scott McKenna was also linked with some social media sources even going as far as to proclaim that a ÂŁ6.5 million fee with Aberdeen had been agreed and that the big centre back was en route via a taxi all the way from Dubai. It was of course baseless. Aberdeen have got the player tied up until 2023 and have already said they think they can get an eight-figure fee from a club down south this summer. Being that they are in rude financial health these days they are under no pressure to sell and can name their price. That price is likely to be too rich for our blood especially when you consider that McKenna is far from the finished article.

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Perhaps the closest Scott McKenna will ever get to wearing a Celtic jersey.

The latest name to be linked is Borussia Dortmund’s Jeremy Toljan, a right back who made 27 appearances for the current Bundesliga league leaders last season but so far none this term. Brendan was quick to dampen any hopes though prematch saying that there’s nothing in it.

Who knows what will materialise over the next 24 hrs.  But with Filipe Benkovic out until at least March suddenly central defence is a concern again.

That aside defender Jack Hendry and midfielder Lewis Morgan continue to be linked with loan moves away for the rest of the season. Considering the improvement we’ve seen in Ryan Christie since his return from a loan stint at Aberdeen I’d say such moves would be good for both young players. It would also trim a very bloated squad that at his way too much dead wood with Gamboa, Hayes, Eboue and Mulumbu other worthy candidates for the dispatch box. As for Marvin Compper, well, they’ll need to carry him out.

All of this and more will be answered in the coming hours. Of course, it could be that nothing happens at all.

As is always the case with a Celtic transfer deadline day………….expect the worst…..hope for the best.