Celtic unfurled the championship flag for the ninth consecutive year and kicked off the new campaign with a resounding hammering of valiant Hamilton Accies yesterday afternoon.
There was no crowd to see it but it wasn’t quite as eery as I’d expected weeks ago when the fixtures were announced.
The reason for that was probably because I’m kind of getting used to the lack of crowds now we’ve been exposed to it for six weeks via the EPL, La Liga, Serie A etc.
It’s not the same but it’ll do for now.
And Celtic seemed to adapt to it pretty well in any case.
To start off I was initially disappointed not to see us starting with two up front a tactic which had served us so well in the second half of last season.
Added to that it was also both disappointing and a tad concerning that Leigh Griffiths hadn’t even made the bench after looking so surprisingly sharp in the 3-1 bounce game win over Hibs last Monday afternoon.
To the game itself and the Accies to their credit came to have a go and looked really dangerous in the opening 15 mins and Scott Bain had to make a great save from an impressive Andy Winter effort during that period.
But on 20 mins Celtic ripped the visitors apart with a sensational flowing move which saw Jeremie Frimpong dart through the middle before passing to Odsonne Edouard who then fed Greg Taylor out wide on the left before the left-back delivered a scything delivery across the face of the goal that was finished by Edouard.
Eleven mins later Taylor produced a similar cross that was this time finished by Frimpong at the back post as Hamilton were once again cut asunder.
At that point, it looked like a question of how many but Accies pulled one back before half time after Scott Brown conceded a needless free-kick which ultimately ended in a Scott Martin effort from the edge of the box taking two deflections before beating the despairing Bain and somehow the South Lanarkshire team were back in out of nowhere.
In the second half though Brian Rice’s men retreated and it became a one-sided affair culminating with Edouard opening his account for the campaign with a hat-trick thanks to two neat close-range finishes on 49 and 53 mins to wrap up the points.
We should have then taken advantage of the new five subs rule but strangely only put on Ntcham on 70 mins and the game became more like passing drills at training with Celtic happy to keep possession and Accies desperate to keep the score down before we then deployed Dembele, Elhamed and Klimala on 86 mins.
The Polish striker scored his first competitive goal on the 90 mins mark to add a bit more shine to the scoreline with an impressive turn and finish and that was that.
5-1.
Three points.
Top of the league.
Job done!
Next Sunday we visit Kilmarnock for another 4.30pm kick-off before then visiting St.Mirren on the Wednesday night and then entertaining Aberdeen on the Saturday.
A big six days where the squad will really be tested.
After that, we are then due to begin the Champions League qualifying process with the first round beginning on the 18/19th of August.
The draw for that takes place next Sunday with the second round draw taking place the day after so there’s plenty to keep your eyes open for in the coming few weeks.
And of course, the transfer rumour mill will be grinding for another two months yet.
Word is that Peterborough striker Ivan Toney who we’ve been linked to for the past few weeks will weigh up his options after finding out if Brentford – the other club he’s been heavily linked to – will make it up to the Premiership. They play Fulham in the play-off final on Tuesday evening.
Meanwhile, the mooted loan with an option to buy move for out of favour West Ham striker Albian Ajeti appears dead in the water with the Swiss striker apparently happy to sit and collect his wages down in East London.
Anyway, I’m sure there will be plenty of comings and going in the next weeks and months as an unprecedented season in so many ways got off to a familiar start.
....Always A Tim! 