Tag: Leigh Griffiths

Weekend review: Celtic thump Accies whilst the league takes on a retro look.

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Celtic continued their excellent recent form by putting Hamilton Accies to the sword in the early kick-off on Saturday.

A beautifully worked move from a corner on 13 mins saw McGregor play it short to Edouard who backheeled it back to him and McGregor passed into the path of Ryan Christie who stroked it home sublimely.

Chris Sutton said it was a school ground move that Accies should have seen coming. I’ll be honest I spent 12 years at school between primary and secondary and can’t ever remember ever seeing such a move executed during lunch or either breaks on the school pitches but maybe Chris’s school was different.

This all came after a wonderful one-handed save from defender Matt Kilgallon in the box during the opening exchanges that was made even better by Accies defender’s pretending it had hit his face immediately after. It all seemed pretty clear to me and everyone in the stadium and watching at home but referee Don Robertson was clearly taken in Kilgallon’s performance and waved play on.

There should have been more goals for the away team in the first half  and my second half viewing was interrupted by having to attend a school Christmas fair but I recorded it and watched upon my return at 3.30pm.

Incidentally, what is it with Christmas fares in November? Was it like that back in the ’80s and ’90s? I genuinely can’t remember. Seems a bit early but I guess that’s a topic for another day and indeed an entirely different kind of blog.

Anyway back to the football and it was plane sailing for the Bhoy in the second half as an innocuous Scott Sinclair header was backheeled into his own net by the hapless Scott Martin on 68 mins and then the returning Leigh Griffiths came on for his first appearance in seven weeks and drilled home a low struck freekick from the edge of the box on 82 mins.

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Celtic fan Scott Martin is about to love every fan’s dream. 

Ryan Christie nearly made it four before the end but his attempted neat finish was deflected onto the post for a corner late on and that’s all she wrote as Hamilton offered little in the opposite direction and Celtic cruised to an easy three points and retained their spot at the top of the league.

Only two points behind them are Rangers who overwhelmed Livingston 3-0 at Ibrox though the men from the Tony Macaroni Arena had their moments in the first half.

Elsewhere Hearts complete and utter capitulation of the last six weeks continued as they collapsed meekly 2-0 in Paisley against St.Mirren who recorded their first win under new manager Oran Kearney and Hibs also still can’t buy a win as they threw a 2-0 lead away to the bottom of the table Dundee in a 2-2 draw at Easter Road.

St.Johnstone and Kilmarnock are both almost neck and neck in the league sitting just behind Hearts and showed how close they are with a 0-0 draw at McDiarmid Park. The Saints are now unbeaten in six with five wins since we thumped 6-0 on their home patch back in early October and are only five points off the top which is pretty incredible. Killie meanwhile have only suffered one defeat in nine and sit one point above the Perth side as their equally incredible run of form under Steve Clark continues.

The big shock of the weekend though was Aberdeen – our opponents in next weekends League Cup final – getting battered 3-0 at Fir Park by Motherwell. The Dons had been on a four-match winning run which included wins over Rangers and at Kilmarnock and had only conceded one goal in that time. Motherwell meanwhile were coming off a 7-1 trouncing in their last league match against Rangers a fortnight ago.

Needless to say, we’ll start heavy favourites against the Dons next Sunday.

But between now and then there’s a pretty important match against Rosenborg in the Europa League that we must navigate and has to be our priority.

 

International round-up: Scotland 1 – 3 Portugal. Nothing to see here.

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Another international match under Alex McLeish and another defeat.

The reason I bother with these international reviews is because our players generally feature pretty significantly in proceedings.

For this one, Kieran Tierney was allowed to drop out due to a ‘loading issue’ which is bullshit football ‘tech-speak’ for him being tired due to the number of games he’s played so far this season.

No doubt Brendan’s been on the phone and requested that he be rested as opposed to being played out of position in a pointless friendly.

Leigh Griffiths, of course, hasn’t featured in the last two internationals now as he tries to improve his fitness. Of course, we know the real reason is that he can’t stand Big Eck and his banal ongoing decision to choose Johnny Russell and Steven Naismith up front ahead of him.

Craig Gordon was back in after being fairly dropped for the on form Allan McGregor and also back in the line-up was James Forrest, ludicrously not started against Israel after scoring four times for us the weekend before, and ex-Celt Stuart Armstrong. Callum McGregor also got his latest cap. Jack Hendry also got a start which was purely due to Charlie Mulgrew and John Souttar being unavailable.

On the whole, it was much better performance though ultimately another bad result as the ruthless Portuguese punished every error from Scotland, proving that even without the scandal-plagued Ronaldo why they are rated number seven in the world rankings.

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Just another day at the office.

Portugal’s goals came in the following order:

  • HĂ©lder Costa (43′minutes),
  • Macedo Lopes (74′minutes),
  • TuĂ© Na Bangna (84′minutes)

Costa’s was a tap-in after an Andy Robertson mistake but the other two were fabulous goals. A great header from Lopes after a floated cross to the edge of the box and a peach from Banga just inside the box subsequent to skinning Graeme Shinnie.

Stevie Naismith posted a consultation at the death resulting from a beautiful back-heel from another ex-Celt Gary Mackay-Steven which set him up for a tap-in.

Scott McKenna had missed a stick-on opportunity to equalise earlier with a diving header that went inches past.

All of the Celtic players did okay with the exception being Jack Hendry who continues to look way out of his depth when faced with any opposition remotely resembling quality.

For McLeish, the 4-4-2 formation with an actual left back playing in position worked better and with the recalls of Forrest and Armstrong there was a lot more vibrancy to the team but the same old errors continue to be punished. Rather like Celtic in Europe Scotland look completely incapable of keeping the back door shut for 90 mins.

Anyway, Big Eck staggers onto the doubleheader with Albania and Israel next month after this sorry weekend brought his record to two wins and six losses. Willie Miller remained optimistic that his friend could pull it off in the Sportscene studios last night obviously completely oblivious to what has occurred so far under his former central defensive partner.

Post-match analysis: St.Johnstone 0 – 6 Celtic. How’s about that then

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Finally Celtic produced a performance worth raving about after a pretty tepid opening few months to the season as they found not only their shooting boots but some actual form in Perth.

It’s been a bit of a slog so far this season with elimination from the Champions League qualifiers, no wins away domestically in the league and generally pretty monotonous and uninspiring play week in, week out.

That all changed though at a wind and rain swept McDiarmid Park on Sunday.

After a ropey start where the Saints clearly fancied their chances and decided to take it to us, no doubt believing we would be drained both physically and mentally after a second-half roasting by RB Salzburg on Thursday evening, and created a few decent chances with a Danny Swanson volley from close range stinging the palms of Craig Gordon.

For the first 10 mins, Celtic were struggling and you couldn’t help but think ‘here we go again.’

Thereafter though it was a slaughter.

Celtic rained down attack after attack on the Perth sides goal and eventually took the lead after 15 mins when an Edouard shot was saved by Zander Clark only to rebound back to James Forrest whose shot made it into the back of the net after an unsuccessful attempt by Clark to claw it away.

Edouard, who had been unlucky not score only minutes previously, then did get on the score sheet only seven mins after the opener, finishing from outside the box with a neatly drilled finish into the far lower corner.

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French Eddy and Ross Callahan compare dance moves.

In the final 15 mins of the half, the floodgates truly did open as Forrest added another three to his previous effort, combining well with the majestic Rogic for each one and showing some wonderful finishing ability with both feet.

All of those three goals were special with the first seeing him finish off a 1-2 with the aforementioned Rogic which cut the Saints defence apart and then the Aussie playmaker feed him through to finish with his right foot and seal his hat-trick. Forrest’s final goal was probably the pick of the litter though as he played another 1-2 with that man Rogic again and raced through on goal from his own half before finishing low past Clark also again.

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A liquid finish from the impressive Forrest.

In amongst all of that, a Leigh Griffiths free-kick effort from 30 yards produced a wonderful save from Zander Clark who was actually having the game of his life in between picking the ball out of the net.

Nobody could have predicted 5-0 at halftime in their wildest dreams and a shellshocked looking Tommy Wright was clearly regretting his decision to play expansive football and attack an apparently bedraggled Celtic.

A beleaguered Tommy Wright demands the ref blows the final whistle.

As is often the case after that kind of first half the goals dried up in the second period with Callum McGregor tapping in a sixth after some neat build-up play on the 84th-minute mark.

Previous to that Danny Swanson got a straight red card for hacking down Forrest who was on the charge again. Swanson had clearly seen enough of that in the first half and refused to stick around for more.

It was quite a day, easily Celtic’s best domestically so far this season, notwithstanding the Rangers game, and before we unilaterally dismiss the level fo opposition let’s not forget that St.Johnstone had been unbeaten at home since late February.

So Celtic now climb to the third spot in the league, only three points off the top and with a vastly improved goal difference. Not a bad way to go into the international break and let’s just hope this is a return to the dynamic free-flowing football we had previously associated with Brendan’s reign at the club.

Kris Boyd must be raging.

 

Post-match analysis: Red Bull Salzburg 3 – 1 Celtic – The same old story!

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Sometimes it’s great to be proved right.

This isn’t one of those times.

As predicted Celtic were pretty emphatically swept aside by Red Bull Salzburg in the Red Bull Arena last night.

Like most, I had approached the game with little to no belief that we could get something due to a combination of our opponent’s red-hot form and our own indifferent performances thus far this season. That plus the fact our record away in Europe is generally God awful.

So I was pretty shocked when after about 90 seconds Odsonne Edouard got the better of Andre Romalho and then finished expertly after a hopeful ball over the top from McGregor.

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French Eddy wheels away.

Thereafter we actually played the game pretty well with a good defensive shape and looked pretty tasty at times on the break.

We reduced Salzburg to some speculative shots from distance and right before half-time we looked to have increased our lead after another stampeding run at their goal from Edouard ended up with the same player scoring again after Salzburg keeper Alexander Walke saved well from a James Forrest effort but alas French Eddy had strayed offside.

Then came the second half and well…………….as the title alluded to we completely capitulated.

Salzburg went through the gears and we got deeper and deeper with Craig Gordon saving well from Dabbur and you hoped we had weathered the storm but then bang on 55 mins the same man was left standing alone in the box and with Jack Hendry marking thin air five yeards away he received a cutback from Hannes Wolf and swept it home for the equaliser.

From then on out there was only one team in it and wave after wave of attack resulted in a second Salzburg goal as Japanese internationalist Minamino almost waked in with Boyata missing wildly with a sliding challenge and Hendry again taken to the cleaners.

An inevitable third came when Dabbur swept home a penalty after Forrest was adjudged to have taken down Andreas Ulmer with 18 mins to go. It looked harsh, to be honest, but what the hell Forrest was doing in that position in the first place is anyone’s guess and it very much was a winger’s tackle.

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Forrest sees red.

Substitute Junuzovicat smacked one off the post late on and Celtic provided little to nothing going forward in the whole of the second half so it was a relief to hear the final whistle. 

Performance wise Leigh Griffiths was an empty jersey all night, Ntcham was absolutely wretched, Lustig continues to add weight o the belief that he is a spent force and Hendry as previously stated is lost in a Celtic jersey.

We desperately need Benkovic back in defence and sorely missed both Rogic and Brown, the latter especially in the second half as the team looked absolutely rudderless.

Yes, we didn’t expect a win or even a draw and yes Salzburg now remain undefeated at home since November 2016 in all competitions – which included rattling Lazio 4-1 in the quarter-finals of this very competition last season – so on the face of it, there is no disgrace.

But they were nowhere near the level of the Champions League teams we’ve faced in recent years ie: Barca, PSG, Bayern Munich etc yet in the second half we folded against them in almost identical fashion.

Brendan’s record in European football at the club is pretty poor, to say the least.

It currently stands at 14 wins from 36 matches for a 39% win percentage with 14 losses and 8 draws. In those 36 matches we’ve conceded 55 goals and scored 54 but it’s away from home where it really comes eye-watering.

You see on the road that was our 18th away tie under Brendan last night of which we’ve won four with five draws and nine defeats scoring 18 and conceding a pretty remarkable 36 so an average of two a game.

Too often we looked disjointed, confused and hopeless at the back and it’s been going on for three seasons now with no end in sight.

Our next two Europa League games are a doubleheader against RB Leipzig with the first game two weeks next Thursday so three weeks to try and get the likes of Benkovic, Rogic and Brown back and try and find some form as well as an actually feasible gameplan for playing away in Europe.

This really is turning into one long hard season.

Post-match analysis: Celtic 1 – 0 Aberdeen. Another win and Jim Brogan tribute.

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I didn’t get to see the game.

In fact, I’ve only just seen the highlights.

Aberdeen played well and Gary Mackay-Steven nearly came back to haunt us in the first half with a mazy run where he then typically fluffed his lines when through one on one with the keeper. Good save from Gordon in fairness.

Niall McGinn also had a decent effort from distance whizz just past the post but down at the other end, Edouard was unlucky to see a wonderful effort crack off the post from 25 yards.

He later had to go off after being assaulted on the edge of the box by Scott McKenna though Bobby Madden ludicrously adjusted it to be nothing more than a 50/50 challenge when in reality it was a wild attempt at a WWE style drop-kick from the Aberdeen defender.

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You can clearly see he’s focused purely on the ball.

That aside Celtic were a bit wasteful and Aberdeen remained a threat with Leigh Griffiths having to head one off the line from a corner.

Scott Sinclair came on for French Eddy and conjured up a wonderful goal via a back heeler midway through the second half.

An important three points and it maintains our pretty incredible home record this season of eight wins and one draw from nine matches, with six clean sheets.

It was also vitally important for Scott Sinclair who as we all know has been bang out for form recently which just isn’t acceptable for one of the highest paid players at the club.

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Niall McGinn knows what’s coming.

Before the match, the players dawned black armbands for the second time in the week and observed a minutes applause along with the fans for Jim Brogan.

I was at Jim’s funeral that morning and was disappointed to hear that the club had made no official contact with the family outside of flowers sent to the crematorium where Jim was finally laid to rest after a Requiem Mass at the Cathedral earlier which was attended by many Celtic greats such as Danny McGrain, Davie Hay, John Clark, Dixie Deans and Bobby Lennox to name but a few.

Hopefully, they can resolve that in the coming days and weeks though it’s another example of how disconnected clubs are in the modern day from the people who have played such a pivotal role in their history. Alas……

I was able to stream the game onto my phone and show some of Jim’s family the round of applause just before kick off as well as his picture on the big screens.

Thankfully we got the right result in the end.

It was tough and hard fought but the win was ours. A fitting tribute to Jim.

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