Celtic 2-0 St Mirren was the scoreline last night, with all of our good work being done in the first 10 minutes of the second half.
Mohamed Elyounoussi and James Forrest bagged the goals that kept the Hoops top of the table. Both strikes came early on in the second period, with Saints camping in and defending for their lives at times.
But there’s no getting away from the fact it was a poor first-half from Celtic. The Hoops had plenty of the ball, but there was a real lack of goalscoring opportunities being created. The likes of James Forrest and Ryan Christie had openings, but many of our shots came from long-range.
Despite that, however, Neil Lennon said he wasn’t displeased with the first-half performance. Speaking to the BBC, Neil said the following:
“I wasn’t unhappy with the first-half performance but we played into St Mirren’s hands by being hesitant with our passing and trying to force things. Second half was tremendous – no panic.
“I just wanted a bit more energy and attacking threat. We needed more oomph and I certainly got that second half and we could have won by a lot more.”
First-half performance wasn’t ideal, but Neil is working wonders at half-time
It’s difficult to agree with Lenny that the first half wasn’t too bad. In truth, we were dreadful and created next to nothing outside of Forrest’s strike against the post.
Lenny was saying that he believes Celtic were trying to force the issue too much in the opening 45 minutes. But the truth is we were hardly forcing anything. St Mirren didn’t have to work too hard to get in at 0-0. Like Lenny says, we were too hesitant in our passing, and failed to break the visitors down.
Fortunately, we have a pretty inspirational manager in charge who’s getting his message across to the players at half-time.
In the last three home games, Celtic have been flat in the opening 45 minutes. The games against St Mirren, Lazio, and Ross County respectively have seen us go into the break struggling to penetrate the opposition.
Yet, come the second half, there’s a real zip about how we’re moving the ball and our combination play is a lot quicker and sharper. It’s clear Lenny is getting them pumped up for the second 45 in these Parkhead fixtures. He knows how important it is to keep up our form in these matches against lower opposition.
However, were forcing things in the first half last night? Absolutely not. That’s one thing ourselves and Neil will have to disagree on!
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