It was back to domestic action and then some for Celtic on Saturday as they put to bed the ghosts of two weeks ago and the disappointing 2-0 away loss to Livingston.
Quite simply put Celtic were brilliant tearing Ross County apart 6-0 in a scoreline that flattered the visitors.
Celtic went a goal up after only four mins through a sweet Mohamed Elyounoussi finish from the edge of the box and totally dominated the half thereafter reigning down twenty shots on goal with the deficit only kept to one by some superb last-ditch defending which saw two efforts cleared off the line and a an excellent performance from County keeper Ross Laidlaw.
Callum McGregor also slammed one off the post after a wonderful flowing move from one end of the pitch to the other that really should have ended with a goal.
In the second half, Celtic found their finishing boots and rained down four goals in an incredible ten mins spell after the restart which began after County defender Keith Watson bizarrely attempted a diving header to clear when his boot would have sufficed which allowed Odsonne Edouard to stroke home his tenth goal of the season.
Not long after McGregor made up for his first-half miss with a strong finish, Liam Fontaine deflected into his own net after he vainly tried to clear Edouard’s header off the line and then James Forrest buried one spectacularly after a cut back from league debutant Jeremie Frimpong.
With only 55 mins on the clock County managers Stuart Kettlewell and Steven Ferguson must have been fearing the worst but Celtic’s relentless pressure eased off with Elyounoussi scoring his second and the sixth of the day with a side-foot finish on 72mins deflecting in a Boli Bolingoli strike ending the scoring.
Edouard led the line superbly all day and Frimpong was electric on the right-wing though, to be honest, it was one of those days when it was difficult to single out any one individual as the whole team hit form.
Substitute Bayo should have made it seven late on when through one on one but alas struck it straight at the keeper but that’s a minor gripe and Celtic went back to the top of the table by close of business on Saturday.
They also stayed there on goal difference after Rangers visit to Tynecastle on Sunday which ended 1-1.
Some may try and dress that up as a decent point but the reality is that Hearts were second bottom of the table with only seven-points amassed all season and are shorn of first-team talents such as Steven Naismith, John Souttar, Craig Halkett, Jamie Walker and Peter Haring through injury and with pressure mounting on manager Craig Levein there really wasn’t a better time to go there.
Anyway next Sunday we have a tough visit to Aberdeen who are reenergised after a pretty stunning 3-0 win at high flying Motherwell and it should have been by much more. They also have Sam Cosgrove in incredible form who has followed up his impressive 21 goals of last season with 15 already this term from only 16 games.
Before then though it’s back to Europa League business for our Group E clash with Serie A giants Lazio at Celtic Park on Thursday night.
We sit top of the group after a resounding 2-0 home win over Cluj three weeks ago and we’ll need to replicate that form as we aim for three points and one foot into the Last 32.
For Lazio this season it’s been a mixed bag.
Under manager Simone Inzaghi they finished a disappointing eighth in the league last season but won the Coppa Italia for only the seventh time in their history beating Inter, AC Milan and Atlalanta en route to the trophy securing Europa League group stage football into the bargain.
Over the summer they resisted selling any significant players and spent well over €20 million securing the services of Serb defender Denis Vavro from Copenhagen and midfielders Manuel Lazzari and Jony from SPAL and Malaga respectively.
They started off their league campaign strongly with a 3-0 win away at Sampdoria but have won only two from seven since suffering two defeats and drawing three times.
As a result, they sit seventh in the table ten points behind leaders Juventus – who are going for their own ten in a row this season – and six above the relegation zone.
They drew 3-3 at home to Atalanta on Saturday coming back from being 3-0 down at half time with an injury-time penalty from Ciro Immobile rescuing a point.
He is, it goes without saying, their star man. He’s already bagged ten in only nine starts this term and has 96 from 143 games overall for Lazio as well as 8 goals in 38 internationals for Italy.
The other players to watch are veteran Ecuadorian internationalist striker Felipe Caicedo who is usually deployed from the bench, former Liverpool star and Brazilian internationalist Lucas Leiva and Kosovan internationalist Valon Berisha.
Jordan Lukaku, a Belgian internationalist right back and younger brother of Romelu, also plies his trade with the Roman giants.
Meanwhile, Spanish midfielder Luis Alberto and Argentine winger Joaquin Correa are possible doubts for the game.
In the Europa League, they recovered from a shock 2-1 defeat away to Cluj – in a match they were leading – to come back from a goal down themselves and win 2-1 at home to Rennes on matchday two.
This really is a vital game. Win it and effectively we only need to find three points from our final three games to progress but draw or lose and then suddenly we are looking for results on the road at places like Rome and Cluj something which you can never bank on with Celtic.
The atmosphere will be fantastic and seeing as Lazio have shipped five goals in their last two games then we can be hopeful of breaching them.
But they have been pretty free-scoring themselves this season with nineteen goals in ten games and in Immobile they have a genuine world-class striker so we have to keep the back door shut.
I’ll go for 2-1 though I’m hoping in our current form a fast start could see us blowing them away.
Fingers crossed.
....Always A Tim! 