A win is a win at any time, and the three points we won on Saturday were as important as any we have won this season. St Mirren are always difficult opponents, they are fit and well organised, and they have a couple of very tall players in their team, which obviously means set pieces are very important at both ends of the pitch, but mostly from a defensive point of view especially it is a challenge, and thankfully I challenge we were successful in fulfilling.
I thought we played well in the first half, we were quick and aggressive in our press and once again should have scored more than the one goal. It looked to me that we started off playing in a 4-1-4-1 formation, with Callum in the holding midfield role and the Ox joining Benji, Yang and Daizen in the middle, obviously the latter two mostly in the wide areas. I’ve said all season that I think Benji Nygren is a No 10, he is not a midfield player or a winger, he has a natural ability to find space in and around the box, he should be playing off a natural centre forward, and sadly for us Big Tam seems to lacks confidence when chances arrive, so maybe someone closer to him would help.
Why things changed in the second half I have no idea, but we seemed to stand off the Saints plyers instead of doing what we did early in the game, press them aggressively, so we basically handed them the initiative to go forward and put us under pressure. That changed for the better with the introduction of Arne Engels and Kelechi Iheanacho, the two of them made a big difference, with the strength of Arne and the ball retention skill of kelechi, sometimes we don’t really appreciate what Big Arne brings to the team, I thought his willingness to make tackles was great, and in the last minute of the game he showed his brain for game management by stopping Luke Mc Cowan from taking a quick free kick and possibly giving away possession with less than a minute to play, maybe if the referee had allowed the advantage rule just prior when Yang played Luke in after kelechi had been fouled the game would have been over at 2-0, once again the match official had a poor game.
It was great to see a full stadium again at Celtic Park, no matter what the problems are in the background, the success of the team must be our 100% objective, we now have a semi-final against St Mirren next week, then five more League games to complete the League season, and then hopefully a Cup Final. Everything is still in our own hands, if we win the seven games then it will be a successful season for us. We will have to do it on our own, no-one is going to give us any help, and certainly not the match officials. There is a bit of hope that AJ and Callum Osmand could be fit for next week, added to Big Arne and Kelechi being fir again is a huge boost for us, as is the improved fitness of the Ox. But for sure we need to give everything in every game, there will be time for rest when the season is over, that goes for everyone, both on the pitch and off it, nothing less is acceptable.
Glasgow’s still Green and White.
