Tag: 5-0

Celtic 5 – 0 Nõmme Kalju: Celtic rout Estonian champions in Champs League 2nd round qualifier.

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I said in my build-up piece to this game that Celtic should be turning this team over and effectively putting the tie to bed in the first leg and that’s pretty much what happened last night.

Celtic went with the unusual formation of 3-5-2 so for the first time in a long time we started with two men upfront something that Brendan Rodgers quite simply refused to entertain whilst in charge of the club.

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Celtic mean business.

This meant a first competitive start for Leigh Griffiths since November playing beside Odsonne Edouard which was refreshing to see though at the back ÂŁ7 million summer signing Christopher Jullien continues to linger on the bench with Nir Bitton being preferred in beside Jozo Simunovic and Kristoffer Ajer.

I was actually quite surprised by our visitors in the first ten minutes or so. They seemed pretty energetic and combative and certainly gave the indication they weren’t there to lie down. But as the half progressed we got on the ball a lot more and proceeded to create chances as Nõmme increasingly began to pack their box in an attempt to keep us at bay.

Their keeper Pavel Londak made some impressive saves throughout the night beginning with pushing over the bar a stinging long-range drive from Ryan Christie. That set the tone for Chrisite who dominated proceedings as he continuously bore down on the opposition goal time after time.

Indeed it was one of his free-kick deliveries into the box that saw big Ajer head home the opener after 36 mins. And with the dam breached the floodgates well and truly opened as Celtic scored twice more before the break.

The first was a converted penalty by that man Christie after a needless handball in the box by Aleksandr Kulinits and the second was delivered by the returning Griiifths who pretty much made it a dream evening for himself with a trademark freekick that went up and over the Estonians wall giving the impressive Londak no chance.

The second half became a bit of a turkey shoot with Mikey Johnstone – who had come on for the unwell Bolingoli-Mbombo near the end of the first half – continuously cutting in from the left and another substitute Lewis Morgan – who replaced Leigh Griffiths on the hour mark – causing chaos down the right flank.

After several missed chances Ryan Christie finally put the tie to bed as he curled in a stunning finish on 65 minutes and Callum McGregor added the cherry on top with a fine low drive on the 77 mins mark.

So 5-0 and job done.

Olivier Ntcham also made his comeback to starting action replacing Christie on 71 mins – he actually got a pretty decent reception all things considered – and Leigh Griffiths received the man of the match award which was a nice touch though pretty dubious to say the least as Christie was the standout player all evening by some distance.

It could have been a lot more though in fairness Nõmme curved out a few decent opportunities themselves so no need to be greedy but if it wasn’t for Londak and some underwhelming finishing it really could have been double figures.

We’ll go over to Tallinn in five days for the second leg and let’s be honest it’s a bit of a formality now with the far sterner test of either Israeli champions Maccabi Tel Aviv or Romanian title holders CFR Cluj lying in wait in the 3rd round. Cluj currently hold a 1-0 lead going over to Israel for the second leg making Tel Aviv the slight favourites to progress. But as Montgomery said, “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

For now, we can bask in an impressive European performance on what was a fittingly balmy evening in the east end of Glasgow albeit against pretty underwhelming opposition though at this stage in the season it can be easy to get caught out by weaker teams who are already halfway through their domestic campaign.

Hopefully next week the stage will be set for Christopher Jullien to make his competitive debut and for Griffiths to get another runout and hopefully more goals. Ryan Christie really looks in the mood pretty much picking up from where he left off before injury curbed his season last April.

We also got to meet new signing Hatem Abd Elhamed at half time last night as he was introduced to the fans after completing his reported ÂŁ1.7 million move from Celtic’s former Champions league qualifier opponents Hapoel Be’er Sheva.

A 28-year-old unknown utility man doesn’t exactly set the pulses racing but hopefully he proves the doubters, and there are plenty y of them, wrong and come good when he finally gets his opportunity.

That aside all reports seem to indicate that despite the Scottish press packs best efforts that Kieran Tierney will be going nowhere this summer as Arsenal and Napoli have failed to come up with requisite readies to actually buy him.

So more good news.

Let’s hope it stays that way.

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.

 

Weekend review. Celtic rip Hearts apart and, Boydie goes crazy and it’s raining coins in Paisley.

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A belated review of Celtic’s weekend performances against Hearts due to circumstances and by circumstances I mean a Saturday night Halloween party and being away from the house for a few days.

Celtic had their third meeting with league leaders Hearts on Saturday at Celtic Park, coming a mere six days after seeing off the same opposition at Murrayfield in the League Cup semi-final.

It was really as you were as Hearts tried to sit in and defend and just ended up getting ripped apart as a ravenous Celtic team tore into them from the first whistle and ended the half 3-0 up after Odsonne Edouard cracked in a beauty off the underside of the bar from the edge of the box followed by Filipe Benkovic rising high to power in a header from a corner – yes you heard that right Celtic scored a goal from a corner kick – and French Eddy added his second as he directed a Tierney cross home after the latest fumble from Hearts calamity prone keeper ZdenÄ›k Zlámal who for some reason is now just referred to as ‘Bobby’.

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Benkovic rises high to head home imperiously. 

It should have been much more with other chances going a begging including Ryan Christie clipping one just past the post from close range in the opening minutes and then hitting the post as he tried to slide one home soon after the second.

Callum McGregor nearly scored one of the goals of the season in the second 45mins as he ran from his own half into the Hearts goal and rounded a couple of defenders before striking it just past the far post.

James Forrest did make it four after some nice intricate play on the edge of the box from that man Edouard again resulted in the winger turning and burying it past ‘Bobby’ with aplomb.

Forrest then was taken down in the box by Hearts striker Craig Wighton as Celtic terrorised the Edinburgh clubs goal once again and Ryan Christie stepped up to make amends for his earlier misses and stroked home the fifth and final goal sending the keeper the wrong way in the process.

All in all a resounding victory which takes us within a point of Hearts with a game in hand.

Craig Levein later admitted he’d played it safe and it had backfired though I think even if they had been more adventurous things might actually have been worse as his side went back to the capital with their tails firmly between their legs. Even Steven MacLean kept his hands to himself after the scandal of the recent ‘bawsgate’.

So now Celtic go into this Thursday evenings match with Red Bull Leipzig in pretty incredible domestic form though I’ll reserve any talk of that for another article.

Elsewhere Rangers ended their three-match winless run and once again underlined the managerial genius of Steven Gerrard as they scored twice late to rescue three points against a struggling St.Mirren at New St.Mirren Park in Paisley.

Loveable rogue Alfredo Morelos was lucky to survive a 50 pence piece being directed at his genitalia  that he didn’t seem to notice and after the game St.Mirren keeper Craig Samson had collected enough coins in his goal to afford a Big Mac meal en route home as Scottish football fans continue to show amazing financial frivolity in the face of the oncoming Brexit.

Kris Boyd also got a rare runout at home for his beloved Kilmarnock against Aberdeen and scored a penalty midway through the first half which led to him losing his mind and going crazy in front of the Aberdeen support as he goaded them with reference to his weight before an off the cuff dance resulted in a five pound note being hurled at him. He later used this to purchase a lasagna and two bags of monster munch at a local Tesco express.

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Boyd goes bananas. 

Clearly, motivated by Boyd’s banal celebration Aberdeen went onto win the game 2-1 with Barry Ferguson’s nephew Lewis curling in a late free kick in front of the travelling faithful who celebrated wildly though Boydie had long since departed to purchase his aforementioned post-match meal by that point.

Just another weekend in the mad, mad world that is Scottish football. Just remember no matter how all of the results turn out every club brings it upon themselves.

 

Post-match analysis: Dundee 0 – 5 Celtic. A massacre at Dens while it kicks off big time elsewhere.

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Well, I think it’s pretty safe to say that we’re back to being in fine fettle now.

Domestically at least.

A rampant Celtic tore hapless Dundee apart on Halloween with four goals in the first half all started by a beautiful strike from star man Tom Rogic on the 20 minute mark followed  by a penalty conversion from Scott Sinclair just after the half hour, James Forrest finishing off a sublime passing move with a neat finish on 38mins and then Odsonne Edouard tapping in the fourth just before the half-time whistle blew after some fine wing play and a cut back from Forrest.

The second half saw Celtic predictably drop down a few gears whilst Dundee put on their best guiser masks and started hammer throwing as they committed to keeping the score down.

That didn’t stop Ryan Christie bursting through on goal to finish expertly on 48 mins and Kieran Tierney should have made it six when he placed it past the post when it seemed easier to score after a fine low cross to the back post by substitute Daniel Arzani.

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Arzani wishes the Celtic support a hello and a goodbye. 

Incidentally, we finally got a glimpse of the highly touted Man City loanee Arzani who looked a little off the pace but still pretty tasty all before he went down in a heap on 78 mins before being taken off on a stretcher. Sadly early reports indicate ligament damage and that he’ll be out for nine months so safe to say we won’t be seeing him again. Thanks for the memories, Daniel. We’ll always have Dens.

The performance was a continuation from what we’ve been seeing from the Hoops since the mauling of St.Johnstone at McDiarmid Park nearly four weeks ago and saw us rack up our 18th goal in four domestic games.

Yes, Dundee are pretty much on their arse at the moment with their shellshocked new manager Jim McIntyre probably wondering what the hell he’s has got himself into and gave nothing going forward all night incredibly registering no shots on goal. But Celtic still put them to the sword in impressive fashion none the less.

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Who’d be Jim?

Let’s hope we can continue this on to our top of the table clash with Hearts on Saturday with victory seeing us close the gap to 1 point with a game in hand over the jam tarts.

Over at Tynecastle last night they played out an eventful 0-0 draw with city rivals Hibs that saw their keeper smacked in the chops from a Hibs fan – no way it was a punch but still was uncalled for – and Neil Lennon got coined by one of Hearts more impassioned supporters who our ex-manager would now like to meet for a friendly one to one over a cup of tea or words to that effect.

Elsewhere crisis continued to envelop Rangers as they dropped points to Kilmarnock – who in fairness are no mugs these days as we found out to our own detriment earlier in the season – just as their financial figures were released revealing trading losses of over ÂŁ14 million to the year ending June 30th.  Interesting that they decided to release the figures just before a home game kicked off. It’s almost as if they are trying to divert attention. Still, Dave King is very confident things are moving in the right direction and he looks pretty trustworthy.

I’m told that Europea League qualification will sort all things financial out. Strange how it’s been painted as financial salvation over in Govan yet our elimination from the Champions League and subsequent qualification for the very same Europa League has been painted as a near financial disaster. Funny that.

Anyway, it’s all going well on the good ship Celtic for the moment and there can be no doubt that the team has their swagger back.

Let’s hope the re-established domestic dominance can be translated into a positive European result in one weeks times as we desperately need to beat Red Bull Leipzig at Celtic Park next Thursday.

Anything but victory effectively eliminates us and defeat combined with Salzburg winning in Norway would confirm it.

I was disappointed we prioritised the weekend’s cup semi-final against Hearts over last Thursday nights away game against the Germans.

Europe for me is always where good Celtic teams and managers really prove their worth and by and large in the past three seasons we’ve been found wanting.

I guess I can delve a bit deeper into that quandary next week so for now, let’s just enjoy our continued return to form whilst all of our rivals faltered on Halloween night.