Celtic fans will be waking up this morning basking in the glory of another win over Rangers after the impressive performance against the Ibrox club at Celtic Park.
The 3-0 hammering of Ragers puts Celtic five points at the top of the Scottish Premiership table and in a real position of strength with one fixture league fixture left to go until the international break.
One of the most pleasing aspects of yesterday wasn’t just the performance of the Celtic team but also the strength that Brendan Rodgers can call upon after doing some good work in the summer transfer window.
The Celtic boss broke the club’s transfer record after signing Arne Engels for £11m as well as adding six other new faces.
But John Hartson has named one of the new summer arrivals as Celtic’s ‘best’ of the window after watching the Parkhead club beat Rangers.
Kasper Schmeichel is a ‘fantastic’ signing for Celtic
Hartson told The Go Radio Football Show, “They’ve added some really good players. Engels got on today, did okay.
“Valle, a left-back cover for Taylor. Valle might even get in as first choice. We saw today Idah coming on for Kyogo.
“You got Ralston there. He hasn’t made many changes on that right side, but he’s got Forrest today who came on for Kuhn. So Celtic now have got options.
“They made six or seven new signings. They’ve got another fantastic keeper in Schmeichel. That could be arguably the best signing that Celtic have made.
“He’s right up there to replace someone like Joe Hart. So they’ve got momentum.
“They are riding the crest of a wave. There’s a feel-good factor there. They’ve just beaten Rangers.
“They go into the Champions League now with a good feeling. They have a massive crowd at Celtic Park. Whether or not they can test the best clubs in the world, we’ll have to see about that.”
Schmeichel’s excellent Celtic performance vs Rangers
Kasper Schmeichel was the man that Rodgers identified as being the perfect replacement for Joe Hart this summer.
And whilst the big Dane has had nothing much to do between the sticks in the opening games of the domestic season, in Celtic’s win over Rangers, Schmeichel showed exactly why Rodgers was keen to have him at Parkhead.
Rated at 8.1 by Fotmob, Schmeichel was one of Celtic’s best players on the day. The 37-year-old made four important saves against Rangers as he kept another clean sheet in the Scottish Premiership.
Schmeichel also made two diving saves and six ball recoveries as Rangers drew a blank at Celtic Park.
Out of his 47 touches of the ball, Schmeichel made 38 passes of which, 92% of them found a Celtic jersey. The big ‘keeper also had a 67% accuracy with his long ball passing.
It was in these games that Rodgers clearly identified Schmeichel’s experience in the game as being vital and yesterday at Celtic Park, the former Leicester City goalkeeper proved what he brings to this Celtic team who look absolutely rampant now.
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