SENTINELCELTS

Morning,all.

A bitterly cold night at Celtic Park with the temperature plummeting to minus seven had a slightly reduced crowd watching as Celtic beat Dundee United 2-0. Goals in each half secured the points, but not before United had given us a few scares in the second half. You really have to ask yourself why Goodwin didn’t tell his players to play like that for the whole game, or at least from when they went a goal down, but we are used to teams setting up negatively against us and struggling to remember what to do when they get the ball into our half.

It was a comfortable enough result in the end but an unconvincing performance throughout. Typical really of our form in the last two months since the Aberdeen and Leipzig games. BR picked the same starting XI as Sunday, which is unusual in itself. Even more unusual is that it wasn’t the XI who took to the field! Kühn injured himself in the warm-up and Yang was drafted in as his replacement. He did well enough, showing for everything and covering more of the pitch than most, but he is still not quite there. The question is whether or not we persevere with him or sell/loan him in one of the next two windows. 

Speaking of which, The Record was at it again yesterday with a wee tale designed only to unsettle one of our players. In this case, it is Engels being chased by Atalanta. I think we can safely call this out as completely fabricated pish. Engels is unable to play for a third club this season,having already appeared for Augsburg and Celtic. But that is by the by. What is important is that I thought he put in another MOTM display last night, and he is fast becoming one of our more important players. It’s a pity the fans weren’t singing his name more often,but they were busy regaling us with a Roll of Honour from the past. Everyone from Jinky to Jota. You can guess why!

To the goals then. McCowan cut into the box from the right and hit a low shot to the keeper’s left. He could only parry it into the box, and Maeda doesn’t have to be asked twice in these situations. This came after Trusty had hit the bar, but despite constant pressure and about a dozen corners, it was still only 1-0 at half time. 

Second half started pretty much like the first, but that didn’t last long. United came more into the game, threatening us mainly down their left. The defenders had to be on their toes for much of the half, with our opponents not scared to shoot on sight. Schmeichel had to be really sharp on one particular occasion, which had us all heart in mouth for a few seconds. We really needed that second goal, but it didn’t look like coming. 

Then it did. With only a few minutes remaining, Palma swung the ball into the box from deep on our left. Bernardo cleverly dummied it for Maeda who rolled it back towards him. Bernardo dummied it again, this time for Hatate to blast home. A really smart piece of work from all involved, but particularly Bernardo who will feel aggrieved at not even getting the assist for this one! Not that he’d be caring much, this side certainly knows what teamwork is. Note-one goal scored via a shot from outside the box. Another via an early cross from a deep position. None scored from our constant tippy-tappy stuff.

The end result sees us with three points on a night where it would have been easy enough to drop a couple. We are now sixteen points ahead of our rivals who play at Dens Park tonight. All we have to do is keep winning, because while I’m not alone in wishing for better performances, I would settle for 2-0 in every game. And certainly against Young Boys!

We move on now to an away match in Dingwall at lunchtime on Saturday. I suspect the temperature may be even worse there, but three points is what the game is all about. More of the same, please.

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Above article by BMCUWP