John Hartson has been impressed by what he is seeing from Celtic’s new boy Luis Palma after Brendan Rodgers’ side recorded a 3-0 win over 10-man Ross County on Saturday.
Inside ten men minutes, the hosts were down to ten men when James Brown, after a VAR check, was sent off for a reckless challenge on Hyunjun Yang.
You would have thought that the goals would have rained in for Celtic, but it wasn’t meant to be, with the scores only 1-0 when the benched Luis Palma was introduced into the action just after the hour mark.
With Ross County keeping every man behind the ball, it required something special for Brendan Rodgers’ side to breathe easy and it came after a stunning long-range finish from Luis Palma.
It’s a certain Goal of the Season contender from the 23-year-old, but he didn’t stop there because he was involved in the action again – Brendan Rodgers shared his thoughts.
This time, Celtic’s summer signing, from the byline on the left flank, dinked a ball to the far post for James Forrest to score and it left a certain John Hartson beaming with joy on Twitter.
Luis Palma praise
“Excellent win for Celtic,” said Hartson. “Palma is a player.”
Celtic still unbeaten
The gap between Celtic and Rangers has returned to eight points and will remain the case because the second-placed side are in Scottish League Cup semi-final action on Sunday – that is why Barry Ferguson needs to be put right for his comments on the Bhoys.
Rodgers’ return to Parkhead is proving to be a fruitful one, with many players performing at the top of their game and the new summer signings looking like top-notch captures – Matt O’Riley has been dubbed the best player in Scotland.
When Jota headed for the exit door this summer, many could have argued that the team was going to miss that bite from the Portugal star.
And whilst Celtic miss his pace, Palma is providing intelligence, brilliant movement, link-up play and creativity in the final third.
It’s another tick in the box to the Celtic recruitment team because another gem seems to have landed on the doorstep.
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