The manager got the big calls right. Moussa Dembele’s form has shaded recently, while Leigh Griffiths has been scoring freely, so the latter was the form horse. Not only did Moussa score the equaliser, Newco found it impossible to deal with him throughout.
His circumference of control with the ball at his feet is considerable. I’m not going to burden him with the ‘new Dalglish’ tag, but that ability to shield the ball in tight areas takes me back to my early days watching Celtic. Kenny did this to great effect, creating space for others as he used his strength and close-control to create havoc.
Kenny Millar’s opening goal had been in the post from the first minute as Newco pressurised Celtic off their game. They were the team forcing mistakes of nervous looking defenders (I’m looking at you, Erik). Celtic just didn’t get going early on as the home team controlled midfield with Barrie McKay in particular causing problems.
The turning point came around the time Scott Brown picked up his yellow card (deservedly). It was a typically-calculated Brown intervention.
Moussa’s goal was quite unbelievable. The corner came from a breakaway chance when Scott Sinclair seemed to lose the opportunity by standing on the ball, but recovered to run at the Newco defence before firing a shot which was deflected onto the inside of the post before being knocked behind by a defender for a corner.
Dembele was standing 8 yards out when a high corner fell to his feet. Unchallenged. The ball bounced head-height but Moussa still had time to wait on it falling before finishing into the top corner.
Danny Wilson was marking him when the corner was taken but for reasons all too evident to those who have followed the player’s recent form, he left Celtic’s striker to challenge players already marked. It was an unfathomable mistake.
From that moment on, there was only going to be one result. Celtic should have gone ahead three times in the opening nine minutes of the second half. Their passing was now crisp and fast. Sinclair and Armstrong’s movement made defenders look statuesque.
One stat I’d like to see is the number of touches we had inside the opposition box. We spent a lot of time in there, pinging tight passes, which opened up the home defence. Dembele, Forrest, Sinclair and Armstrong should all have added to the score but Foderingham made himself big throughout and stopped the result from being as embarrassing as the performance.
Forrest made way for Patrick Roberts, who, at his first involvement, released Armstrong with a reverse pass into the box. Celtic had been in this position many times in the minutes beforehand. Their format was to cut the ball back, which is what we were all expecting Armstrong to do, but he released the ball a fraction of a second early across the face of goal for Sinclair to side-foot into the net at the far post.
Craig Gordon had a few comfortable saves, which he dealt with assuredly. Sviatchenko made up for two early poor touches by making the tackle of the game to deny Forrester. Emilio Izaguirre put in his best 45 minutes of the season in the second half; he looked like the player who arrived six years ago.
Mikael Lustig sprinted 40 yards across field to cut-out a breakaway inside the box. Big Jozo Simunovic must be wondering when kick-off is, he didn’t break sweat.
Off-piste mention to Leigh Griffiths, who was warming up behind the goal when the guy who kept him out the team picked himself up off the turf after a fruitless effort. Leigh stepped forward and patted his team-competitor on the back three times while shouting encouragement.
Great team-mates make great teams.
Have a Happy New Year, everyone.
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HH
All the media are hurting..so expect spin..
The silence was observed.. Ask yourself why applause was not used?
Because then you can find NO fault..
BBC a joke too..
A first win at the crumble dome in 6 yrs! Eh, like we ve played the mythical continuity X1, before..?
Also..they said Celtic FIGHTBACK..
LOL the pain is so bad, it’s delicious…
HH
And call out the SMSM at every opportunity…
Sky did not even hide the pain…
No match interviews & obsession with Millers goal..
HH
In a tribute to awe they movies…..may the slump be with you ;-))
FTSFA
H.H.
Wrap up warm if you are in govan/ kinning park/ ibrox area – I’m told it 19 below tonight!!
(Paraphrased from twitter)
Anyone attending how bad is the condition of the broomloan ?
HH
forgot to mention..the hard hat directive is a disgrace..we should complain from this winning position..
If you want to protect YOUR head as and when,that’s your choice..
Are green motorcycle helmets now offensive down Govan way… ?
I’m sure the neurosurgeons at the local Southern General would not be happy about possible head injuries..
As usual, the bitter Govan mob,don’t like their short comings highlighted..aka..the condition of the stadium..
HH
Im greedy, another couple of goals would have been a fair reflection.
Being hyper critical The time wasting at corners..nah not for me. It almost resulted in a equaliser.Not needed we were totally in control of the game.
HUNS skelped
my mother said they’d be days like these :)))))))))))))
thought Moussa broonie and Armstrong were immense today.
Doc you and yours have came into my thoughts often today.
HH
Evening
Resisted the temptation to open the Jura. So far
Is the Garner picture not a windup ie some fan who paid to get his name on the jersey? Oh the humanity
I cannot think of any calendar year end in 40 years when I have felt such contentment with the way the football side of Celtic is going. Since the debacle in the Camp Nou our manager has shown a total mastery that eclipses even Martin O’Neill in his debut season ( close I agree) or Big Billy’s annus mirabilis of 87/8 – this is the kind of shrewd leadership that has been missing for such a long time. Ronny, NFL and WGS did more good things than many would admit but Brendan is way ahead of them.
The players deserve a lot of credit as well obviously – a good manager-hell a great manager- can do so much but the way the players such as Simonovic, Gordon, Forrest, Broony, Izzy, Lustig and Armstrong have improved out of all recognition is inspiring. Super Leigh may not be doing as spectacularly as 1 year ago but he still looks good to me. And as for Moussa and Sinky- have we ever had two such instant smash hits arrive at the one time? And they Hunskelp.
I am writing this sober at the end of a personally taxing week ( and year) and 2016 has been at times a grotesquely awful one. Celtic are but a distraction in the grand scheme of things. But these last 3 months have been as pleasing a distraction as any I know.
Jimbo67
GFTB-like I’ve said awready,you’re a big reason I stopped lurking,I like your shoite:-)) I hope you your good lady and the wee blade and all your family have a year to enjoy mhate
Right I’m off to enjoy my night with Hun’s and their cousins fae Tynie, enjoy the New Year when it happens !!!
If you watch the winning goal you will see Armstrong run from 10 yards inside their half into their penalty box to get into a position to receive Paddy’s pass.
Nobody picked him up as he ghosted forward.
Tiredness? Lack of Awareness?
Or just plain rank rotten?
Just listened to the breaking of the minutes silence on several media sites. The headline”I hope you die” accompanies it. Now there was obviously some noise coming from one side of the ground in the distance,not much though but the offending comments clearly came from the Newco end.Do I expect a statement on Monday calling for the banning of Newco fans from ibrox? Shocking that a minutes silence in memory of the dead isn’t observed but the desperation to attach blame on Celtic by some Newco fans has clearly back fired. To the person who shouted it?i wish you a long life.
PRESTONPANS BHOYS-it would change more than that mhate:-))
will be in my cot early as we have the weemhan tonight,
So wishing you all a braw 2017, may you be granted all your needs and even a couple of your wants.
HH and thank you for being here.
Res12CSC
Hi Bhoys
That picture of their dirty sleekit no.7 waiting in the hospital.
Is the wee guy with him patting his back and saying “we just don’t have the money for crisps”.
By the way to all the bhoys at the game well done for silence it bothered them that much that you were all silent they started shouting. TAKE A BOW BHOYS.
I see we left the toilets at our end in better condition than they were in originally,but did anyone check the other ones.
KEEP THE FAITH
Italiabhoy,
Stewart Weir ( Larkhall ) is sports editor of The Herald and a big zombie fan who has surrounded himself by Matt Jackson, Chris Union Jack and a plethora of other zombies to recreate The Rangers News.
So it’s no surprise he conspires with his mucker Jabbas lead to damage Celtic and take the shine off a reasonable day at the office.
Weir has other interests outside his Herald Sports editor role with his radio work where he works hard to continue the continuity lie.
With The Heralds circulation in free fall I would expect those above him to push him out gently and let him expand his radio career.
It must kill them to write about a Celtic victory. Even then no Celtic fan should buy the Rangers News.
Our seats were right at the cordon in the Broomloan front. The silence was NOT broken by a Celtic supporter. There was noise coming from the concourse beside where I was seated. A monkey in the Union Bears section then shouted ‘peado’. A Tim responded with, ‘Shut up ya zombie bas@@@@’. From the monkeys was a reply of, ‘Fenian bas@@@@’. After a few seconds a further shout of ‘I hope you die’ came from the monkey section.
If anyone suggests that the silence was broken by us they’re either lying or they have an agenda.
JIM PAYNE on 31ST DECEMBER 2016 7:13 PM
Good post mhate,hope yir back gets better (still guilty about pushing you outside Hampden) hh n have a grand new year.
Got the grand weans tonight so time to get them ready for bed – hope to have wee a celebration drink later.
thelurkintim
your use of the F word even dropping a c does you no credit.
But wish you and yours and the whole Celtic family a great New Year
God bless Celtic
till 2017
move our squad on a year
move the squad of the team currently in second a year
the likelihood is we will be stronger in our squad
we can’t sit on our laurels, recruit well pl this jan
It doesn’t take a top detective to work out that the “I hope you die” was too clear to come from the Celtic end. The media are saying no one knows where the shout came from,how convenient why don’t you work it out.? I also find it sad that a Newcoer so disgusted by the breaking of a silence in memory of the dead shouts ” I hope you die.”
Warburtton post match…”second half we have 4 or 5 good chances”…really??
HT- they just cany help their selfs
Fairhill Bhoy
Cheers, this was one of the quietest Celtic v same flies game for me, MissGFTB tries to stay up for the bells (she has never managed it yet) so I promised her I would be home after the game, if I stayed at my nephews I would probably be sleeping by now, only had a couple of ciders watching the game but seeing the joy of all around me was pretty dam amazing
Celtic under this board & Brendan are in a good place, I would prefer our board to stand up more for our support that’s my only gripe with them
Leftclicktic you have a great 2017 and spoil the wee mhan rotten the morra
Tgcw
The shout definitely came from the monkeys section.
Some on FF saying there was a shout from the Club Deck as well as one from our end.
Heard Nicky coia has passed away
Gary67
Thers a clear shout of “bobby sands” that breaks the silence.
Morons at both end that would break a minutes silence
From the club site.
CELTIC Football Club would like to thank its magnificent supporters for the tremendous backing they gave the team in today’s dominant 2-1 derby triumph over Rangers at Ibrox.
Brendan Rodgers’ side continued their outstanding start to the season at the home of their city rivals by fighting back to claim a thoroughly merited win, which extended their lead at the top of the table to 19 points with a game in hand.
And throughout the whole of the contest they were roared on from the away end by the Hoops faithful, whose positive and vibrant support helped spur the team onto their 15th consecutive league victory, meaning the champions have completed the first half of the domestic season without defeat – a remarkable achievement.
The Celtic fans have played a massive part in this success and once again they delivered for Brendan Rodgers and his players on a memorable day for the club on and off the pitch.
Today’s result was the perfect send-off to 2016, and everyone at Celtic Football Club would like to extend their gratitude to the Celtic supporters for their unwavering backing to the team and wish them all the best in the new year.
Jimbo67 7.13
You leave Ronny out of this :-)
Hope your on the mend and I agree Brendan is the best manager in my lifetime, better than Martin & Neil (in my opinion) and I love Neil :-)
Voguepunter
Obviously a delayed reaction after your assault!
Seriously though its frustrating – a wee night out on the Gallowgate would have been fine if dishevelled way to end the year. Instead it’ll be a packet of Fruitellas and Dembeltion Derby.
Jimbo67
The Lurkin Tim:
Deleted, language.
NOTTHEBUS on 31ST DECEMBER 2016 7:37 PM
That’s not the case, read my post mate.
GFTB
Ah Ronny. Well he did sign Stuart Armstrong for us. (And both our central defenders).
Jimbo67
What an embarrassing situation at the QEUH A&E dept for the no 31 in the charts Hun heart throb that is Joe Garner.
Not only did his mighty SEVCO get pumpt in The Govan crumbledome but he ended up number Four in the triage queue behind the auld fella wae the bleeding piles the wee lassie wae the sprained wrist and a walloper who had an allergic reaction to Chick youngs face on sky sports.
Apparently the Huns are gonnae make an official complaint on the length of time poor Joey had to wait for NHS treatment .
Sounds like the Rosshall bill has not been paid again.
Bet the new super striker is
” GLAD ITS ALL OVER ” ;)
First off happy new year to one and all. Be you clappy miner or happy shafter.
Second fantastic result and performance from all the Celtic family today. From the support confounding the media to the team sticking it too the Sevco works team.
Finally, hurrah I hear you cry, isn’t it amazing that journalists can “hear” offensive coughing but struggle to locate the exact source of a clearly shouted insult when it comes from different sections of the same ground.
Anyway Hail Hail and happy new year.
JIM PAYNE
In my defence…it wis a shite result that day…take care.
I’m sure I remember a picture of Bobo Balde in full kit sitting in A&E after he broke his leg. I thought that was very poor at the time but maybe it’s standard practice?