SENTINELCELTS

The old traditional timeslot saw quite a few empty seats strangely, the lineup saw several replacements drafted in, the ref blows the whistle and we are off.
The subsequent 45 minutes plus delivered the best first half I have witnessed from Celtic. Ever!.

Forget the opposition, we would have given Barca a proper game playing like that. Our passing was slick and precise picking out superb run after run, our set-piece delivery was consistently dangerous, plus we had our scoring boots on. Spare a thought for their goalkeeper, plucked the ball out of the net 5 times and went off injured,,all in one single half of football.

It was a masterclass 45, almost a party atmosphere with every Hoop looking to get in upon the act, especially AJ who was the auxiliary striker at times. As I watched it all unfurl I thought we are truly witnessing the end of last years midfield,,Callum, Matt, Reo,,of course Matt’s gone, Callum will stay around and retire a Celtic legend, and I dare say Reo is not an automatic starter anymore after Bernardo and MacCowan both dazzled and offered much more than the Japanese midfielder.
Based on that game alone, the starting midfield trio looked much more balanced, and it would be a bad decision to tear it up after all three justified their inclusion not just through endeavor but with a goal apiece. Choosing the pick of the bunch is very hard, but I’m opting for Bernardo’s simply due to the fact he cleverly finished off a fine passage of attacking play rather than crafting something for himself ala Callum and Luke.
To top off the complete display, both the defense and attack also scored on the day, mark of a good team. Throw in a clean sheet and it was the dream day at the office.

Some points though,,has anyone else noticed Yang getting more gametime than Palma, who was considered the better of the two for a long stretch. I like Yang and kept my eye on him, he did nothing, nothing risky that is. Simple pass, tick. Good movement, tick. At that stage being 5 zip ahead it would have been easy for a substitute to ‘go for glory’ but he did no such thing. The second half instructions were clearly ‘take it easy, no need for heroics’ and call me naive but I like a player who,,,
1,,bids his time without complaint (tick)
2,,works hard behind the scenes to make the breakthrough (I’ve gotta assume that’s a tick)
3,,follows instructions (tick)
4,,puts the team first (tick).
The lad may be sticking around awhile longer, fine by me.

It’s also notable that Barcas hand was forced in regards to Valle. His loan spell could have fallen to pieces, there’s no point in warming a bench when he could be progressing on the pitch, so the Catalans had a choice to make and clearly Celtic would want the answer earlier rather than later. They acquiesced and he’s here until seasons end now, once that’s known he gets the nod to start ala Saturday. I might be reading too much into this but I can see him being first choice for the remainder of this campaign then targeted for a permanent transfer in the summer. His future looks more secure and exciting in Glasgow rather than a longshot at being at bit-part player at home. Let’s play, let him fall in love, let him dictate the move, and our old buddies should be easy enough to deal with.

By Mahe sentinelcelts@gmail.com