Celtic’s win against Hearts was the club’s 25th Scottish Premiership win.
After a shaky first ten minutes, Celtic got a grip of Hearts, and as soon as Daizen Maeda’s first goal hit the back of the net, there was only ever going to be one winner.
The Japanese winger could have had a hat trick had it not been for the woodwork but overall, it was a very comfortable win in a game where Hearts never really threatened Celtic’s dominance.
However, it was Neil Critchley’s post-match comments that caught the attention after the Hearts boss made a claim that can be shot down simply by using the stats of the game.
Neil Critchley admits Hearts had ‘a tough day’ at Celtic Park
Hearts did have a few opportunities in the game but stand-in keeper Viljami Sinisalo kept a clean sheet in just his second start for Celtic.
And Critchley rued those chances as he hailed Celtic’s ruthlessness in front of goal.
Critchley told Sky Sports: “It’s been a tough day for us. I thought we started the game very well. First 15-20 minutes, we came in with a game plan to be on the front foot and be aggressive, and I felt we did that very well and created some good moments.
“But we know that there’s a high risk to what we’re doing, and that can create a high reward. But if you don’t quite get it right, then they have the quality at the other end to hurt you, and that’s what they did.
“The first two moments they get to the goal they scored from. We have a big moment to go 2-1, which, again, keeps us in the game, and we missed it.
“And then the game went away from us just before half time.”
Neil Critchley backtracks and says Celtic ‘never really hurt’ Hearts
After admitting Celtic did hurt his side, Critchley then seems to walk back his original comments by highlighting the number of saves Craig Gordon did, or did not, make.
Critchley continued, “So, in the second half, we just felt, not that I ever wanted to be that type of team, but we just came off them a little bit and tried damage limitation, so to speak.
“And I don’t think they really hurt us and got to the goal. It’s not like Craig has made loads of saves. So you can only ask, as a coach, that the players try and do what you’re asking them to do to the best of their ability, and I thought the players did that.”
The BBC match stats kind of disprove Critchley’s comments in that whilst Gordon didn’t have many saves to make, Celtic did attack the Hearts goal plenty to times during the game.
- Shots: 12
- Shots on target: 6
- Shots off target: 5
- Attempts outside of box: 3
- Goals scored: 3
Those would suggest that, in fact, Celtic did hurt Hearts and then some.
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