After a fine performance and 3-0 victory over Livingston, Celtic have ended the weekend as they started – four points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership table.
Ange Postecoglou’s side comfortably dismantled the West Lothian side, who have made it very difficult on their own patch for a variety of Bhoys teams over the years. Goals from Kyogo Furuhashi and Greg Taylor in each half were enough to send the team on their way to a win, with Jota rounding off the scoring late on to delight the away support.
What are the big takeaways from the encounter? Here are three of ours…
Showing everyone how to counteract Livingston
Last week Livingston drew a lot of praise for earning a point away to Rangers at Ibrox, and rightly so. They deeply frustrated Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side, forcing them into over 70 crosses and shutting them out until a home equaliser right at the death.
Today, Celtic demonstrated that patience, incisive movement and a gameplan of forcing the ball intro central areas can effectively break down David Martindale’s side. We weren’t reduced to hopeful balls into the box, we simply took control of the game and manipulated Livingston’s defence enough to get the three points.
I wouldn’t regard today as a blow-away performance, but it was certainly an effective one. You could see the mechanics of Ange’s system causing Livingston problems – specifically our full-backs playing so centrally aligned with midfield support and the wingers pushing in too. The Tony Macaroni used to be a hellish place to visit – Celtic made it look routine today.
Ange’s ace in the hole remains Greg Taylor
Greg Taylor continued his exceptional Celtic season with a man-of-the-match performance today. In the early stages, he was so influential that you could reasonably say he was running the game.
For the opening goal, he found himself in acres of space after a clever run forward, delivering a nicely weighted through ball for Kyogo to fire home.
Then, in the second half, he embarrassed goalkeeper Jack Hamilton with a raking shot from distance that went through the opponent’s legs.
He was consistently part of the effective rotations that gave the Bhoys such a foothold in the Livingston half and allowed us to dictate the tempo and phases of play. He is undoubtedly one of our most important players right now and the job that Ange Postecoglou has done on him over the last 12 months remains remarkable.
Jota is back
It was fantastic to not only see Jota back in the matchday squad but come off the bench and then score his sixth goal of the season in all competitions.
The Portuguese is arguably Celtic’s most talented player and his absence has perhaps been a bigger blow to the team than most people have realised.
Having him fit, available and sharing in the confidence of today’s victory is a huge boost to Postecoglou’s options. Tuesday’s match against Real Madrid might come too soon for him in terms of a start, but he could be in the starting eleven for next week’s match at home to Dundee United.
Celtic, across the board, look healthy and motivated. It all bodes well for going into the World Cup break in as strong a position as possible.
In other news, Ange Postecoglou offers typically frank assessment of Celtic’s Champions League campaign.
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