Celtic are 12 points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership table after a routine 2-0 win over Kilmarnock at Celtic Park this afternoon.
A Jota goal and an Ash Taylor own goal pushed the Bhoys towards victory in a match that started off slowly but burst into life after the interval.
Ange Postecoglou will be pleased with today’s work but what are the main talking points coming out of the encounter? Here are three of ours…
Reo Hatate entertains the home support
Japanese midfielder Reo Hatate was a joy to watch this afternoon, especially in the second half when he found himself with more time and space on the ball.
He was the orchestrator making everything good happen for Celtic and it was his devilish first-time ball into the box that bamboozled the Kilmarnock defence and led to the team’s second of the afternoon.
Hatate has had his critics recently with some questioning his overall contribution to the Bhoys, but on this showing it’s clear he can bring joy and class to Celtic. He has a wonderful playing style and in full flow, there’s no one I’d rather see surge forward with the ball at Paradise.
Jota is back on track
It’s been over two months since Jota last scored for Celtic, away to Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League. In recent weeks he’s been struggling with injury knocks and illness but before the match Ange Postecoglou declared him ‘ready to go’.
So it transpired as the game progressed. He wasn’t quite at his lightning best but his contributions in the first half were crucial to pushing the Bhoys to a lead.
It was his run and flicked finish that made it 1-0, reading Daizen Maeda’s low cross into the box perfectly after a fine through ball from Alexandro Bernabei.
Undoubtedly there is more to come from the Portuguese as he works back to a peak but with 14 direct goal contributions so far this term, we should look forward to that number increasing more.
Celtic’s solid defensive unit
Cameron Carter-Vickers was another who excelled today. He didn’t have loads to do defensively but when called upon in one-on-one battles or needing to block and tackle – he stepped up. It’s another clean sheet for the American international and his defensive line.
Carl Starfelt also contributed to that with Alistair Johnston getting stuck into a few tackles himself. Bernabei meanwhile was given lots of opportunities to move forward as a result of others’ discipline.
Celtic are often lauded for their attacking play and rightly so but today was more evidence that we have the best defence in the country by a distance. Carter-Vickers is the biggest reason why.
In other news, Cameron Carter-Vickers prepared new Celtic signing for Ibrox ‘toxicity’ ahead of derby.
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