It was good to get back to domestic football after a three week break for the International Football, although basically it’s not really a break for Celtic when we have so many players away on International duty to countries all around the world.
After a bit of a shaky start defensively it was good display at Motherwell, our speed of play going forward was a lot better than it has been in the last 3 or 4 games. It looked as if martin tweaked our system as well, it looked basically like a 3-1-3-1-2, with Benji playing as a number ten behind Big Kasper and Camilo, and it seemed to work well enough, especially in the second half. I think big Kasper may be suffering with a wee bit of a lack of confidence, I think we saw that when he passed to Benji for his goal instead of taking the shot on himself, I’m pretty sure he will be a big success for Celtic once the goals start flowing again.
We had good displays all over the pitch, with special mention to Kieran and Mika, who were both outstanding, but you would have to say the man of the match was the Well Keeper Alex Paulsen, who made a string of outstanding saves in both halves of the game, due mostly to him, we didn’t win by six or seven goals at least, it was also good for us to keep a clean sheet, and score a couple of goals.
Another big bonus was the return to the squad of Filipe Jota, that will give the Management Team, the rest of the players and the supporters a big lift, at a time when we were a bit deflated. Motherwell showed that they are a good team, and will cause a lot of teams in the League problems, but in a game that was far from dirty, but certainly competitive, we picked up two yellow cards from only four fouls, then Steven Mc lean and Don Robertson deny Celtic what looked like a stonewall penalty, it doesn’t come as any surprise to the Celtic when these decisions are made by the aforementioned officials.
So it back to the training ground again before a run of very difficult matches, starting with the trip to Lisbon on Thursday night, followed by a home game against the runners up from last season, and then Celta Vigo before the trip to Easter Road, and finish the month at home to Dundee Utd. All winnable games, although Benfica are a top class team, and surprisingly they like us are not in the Champions League, we only need to cast our memory back to the latter stages of last season, to see what can be achieved by hard work and playing at our best.
I suppose it’s a case of trying to juggle our options and priorities, do we go full blast in Lisbon, or do we do what Martin has already alluded to, make our priority winning the League, and pick a team that emphasises that target. I think we need to find a middle ground, if can win our remaining home games, and pick up some points away from home, that should see us progress to the knock-out stages.
Glasgow’s still Green & White.