The truth about Celtic vs Hearts as Robbie Neilson tries to warp the narrative

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Celtic continued their strong start to the season on Sunday afternoon, picking up another three points in a 2-0 win against Hearts.

Goals from Kyogo Furuhashi and Giorgos Giakoumakis helped the Bhoys return to the top of the Scottish Premiership, achieving 12 points from four games.

With Celtic taking an early advantage in the Scottish Premiership and picking up another win, you would hope most of the talk should have been about how impressive Ange Postecoglou’s side has been at the beginning of the new season after putting in a solid display.

However, that somehow hasn’t been the case, with the Hoops’ brilliant start to the 2022/23 campaign being overshadowed by the discussion of referees.

The latest manager to do so was Hearts boss Robbie Neilson, who saw his side go down to nine men in the latter stages of Sunday’s game.

Both Alex Cochrane and Toby Sibbick were shown second yellow cards in the dying minutes after cynical fouls on Callum McGregor and Liel Abada.

With a huge night to come in Europe for Hearts on Thursday, many might have expected Neilson’s focus to switch straight to their tie against Zurich, especially after a tough trip to Parkhead.

However, the Hearts boss complained about referee Kevin Clancy’s performance, implying that his decisions impacted the game.

Celtic may not have been at their absolute best in the 2-0 win, but any suggestion that Ange Postecoglou’s side didn’t deserve to come away with all three points is simply not true.

The truth is that in the first 45 minutes, the Bhoys looked sharp in attacking areas and were unfortunate to find themselves only one goal ahead going into the break.

The second half may not have produced the same energy levels, but Celtic’s midfield and frontline still had plenty of chances to kill off the game, and if it wasn’t for the performance of Ross Stewart, it would have been far more on the afternoon.

So far this season, Celtic have also not put a foot wrong in defence. And, although the attacking force in the Hoops side may not have been at its free-flowing best, the defensive back four certainly was.

Mortiz Jenz and Cameron Carter-Vickers look to be striking up a brilliant partnership at the back, leaving the away side with very little to work with all afternoon.

Neilson might have felt Hearts were still in the game when they saw two men (deservedly) sent off. However, they failed to register a shot on the Celtic goal, with Joe Hart having nothing to do all afternoon, thanks to the performance of the men in front of him.

It is a side of the game that Ange Postecoglou has vastly improved during his first 12 months in the dugout, conceding the least amount of goals last campaign.

And thus far, the Celtic manager looks to have taken his side to another level in their ability to defend the goal.

Joe Hart has arguably only had one save of note to make all season, keeping the scores level during our trip to Ross County earlier this month.

So, although Robbie Neilson might have been looking to change the narrative of this game and suggest that the referee had his part to play in the result, it was all down to the work of Ange Postecoglou’s side across the field, who put in a solid defensive performance which gave the Edinburgh side no chance on Sunday afternoon.

In other news, Report: John Kennedy looks set for Celtic stay as Midtjylland hold talks with managerial candidate.