Celtic answer critics in St Johnstone win as one man symbolises positive changes

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Celtic fired back at some of their doubters yesterday by recording a dominant 3-1 victory over St Johnstone at Parkhead.

Despite having the bulk of possession in the first half, the Bhoys took until the 40th minute to open the scoring. In typical fashion, Kyogo Furuhashi evaded the Saints’ backline with some expert movement to nod home Nicolas Kuhn’s pinpoint delivery.

Following the whistle for the second half, Furuhashi turned provider, cushioning the ball before flashing a left-footed centre to Kuhn, who would’ve found it harder to miss the target.

Control was the order of the day for Celtic while holding 74% of the possession, which they were able to capitalise on further, courtesy of a drilled strike from James Forrest set up by an intelligent switch from Matt O’Riley.

Connor Smith pulled back a consolation for the visitors; however, there was very little not to smile about concerning our general level of performance.

The Bhoys have netted 14 goals in their last three home fixtures; meanwhile, the input of some fringe players has helped to slightly allay fears regarding squad depth, something that Brendan Rodgers will be keen to address in the summer.

Tomoki Iwata symbolises positive changes at Celtic

Doing the simple things with minimal fuss is key to building positive momentum, and Tomoki Iwata continued his recent run of form by turning in an excellent display at home to St Johnstone yesterday.

Per Fotmob, the Japanese midfielder earned a match rating of 7.7/10 for his exploits; however, his ability to keep the engine room ticking over had a major hand in our attempts to suffocate the opposition.

In total, Iwata completed 111 of his 117 attempted passes on the day (95% accuracy), 15 of which entered the final third. Offensively, he also missed two big chances, though they were defied in resolute fashion courtesy of a goal-line clearance and an excellent save from Dimitar Mitov.

Taking into account the other side of the game, the former Yokohama F.Marinos man completed one clearance, three defensive actions and six recoveries in total, protecting the back four efficiently when called upon.

Sofascore cite that Iwata also excelled in the field of long balls, making four longer-form passes from six attempts.

Of course, captain Callum McGregor has been duly missed in the sixth position, and his return will be welcomed wholeheartedly by the Celtic support; nonetheless, Iwata has done a more than adequate job in his absence, proving he could have an important role to play during the season run-in.

Once the international break concludes, it will be intriguing to see whether Iwata keeps his place when we take on Livingston the week before our much-anticipated trip to Ibrox.