Celtic 3-0 Kilmarnock : finally some home relief. | shanksy67's Blog

Well we won at home! horay!, and we won comfortably.

It was good, as good an all round performance as we have had recently in the premier league. But of course it was a home game against a bottom end of the league team, which we have a good record against generally, and the performance of course wasn't completely infalible. In saying all of that however they were far more positives to take from the game as there were negatives, and although we havent turned a corner yet, still reason to be pleased.

We started with McCourt on the left, Samaras upfront and kept Crosas and Nguemo in the midfield. Zaluskas was again in goals, with Loovens infront of him for the suspended McManus and it was a welcome return for Fortune who managed to make the bench at least.

Things started for us well, controling the temple of the game and dictating the pace. early on as usual, our wide men were involved causing Killie problems. We managed to play much more balls into the box during the opening stages which I was please about, and came close to scoring on a few occassions. Hinkels movement up the flank was superb at times, and killie couldn't really deal with the overlaping. The opposition were trying to play good football, had quite abit of the ball, but could really penetrate us with any real conviction. We should much more determination on the ball, to come forward and get an early goal. And thats what we got, with a stroke of luck perhaps. McCourt characteristically took matters into his own hands and went on a widing run, unleashed a shot which was blocked an fell to McGeady, who shimmied past a defender and prolifically shot past the keeper into the net. Clinical maybe, but judging by McGeady recent performances he should be able to finish like that more often.

Maybe a shade lucky, but it came at a time when we were asking all the questions. Our second goal, that pleased me the most. It was a well worked attacking move, the ball came down the right flank, nice interlinking play between McGeady and Hinkel who put a superb cross into the box , Samaras flung himself on the end of it, leaving the keeper no chance and it was 2-0. Thats the sort of goal I want to see our strikers getting and team in general scoring. Composed passing, good delivery into a dangerious area, and FINALLY someone thier to get on the end of it. Simple enough, but we simply don't do that enough. After that we settled into the competition. The only scare was right before half time. A set piece  situation was played in to our box, and not properly dealt with, it was again played back in, and Kevin Kyle popped up with a free header three yards out from goal, which he somehow scuffed and put wide. It he put it in before half time  and made it 2-1, it perhaps could of been very different.

In fact out defending didn't get much better in the second half as killie tried desperately to get back into the game. Kyle AGAIN got another two free headers inside our eighteen yard line, exposing our complacent tendancies in defence. But much like the first half we continued to  press forward, as if we were aware of our own fragilities, that a two goal lead wasn't a completely safe scoreline.

Samaras was lively , as he has been in most of our games to be fair to the big man. You can't really critisise his determination too much. His runs from deep were brilliant causing them concern. The usual double change came, and McGinn entered the fray, as did Fortune. Our play rather than getting stagnant, continued at a determined pace. Fortune, done o.k picking up the ball and trying to make an impact, but in truth made little, only his first game back though.

It was McGinn who deservedly scored a third, again a great passing movement, and a finish that matched, his first for the club, and a good first at that. The third came at a killer moment for killie , just as we were getting into the latter stages of the game. We could of added further to the scoreline if it wasn't for the goalkeeper,but that wasn't to be, but a good day was still had by all, except Kilmarnock that is.

It was good, but again it was the result that was more important, three points, the performance was a significant bonus. Our movement was much better, if a little intricate at times (mainly McCourt and McGeady have that tendancy, samaras joined in on the act also), but our general play seemed to be much more cohesive. Midfield looks much better with the two sitting players, Crosas i'm sure has made an impact. Simple brisk but keeps things ticking and links up play well, without having to defend too much. He seems to have a much better partnership with nGuemo in the centre. Lets not talk too soon though because I think much more challenges could come in from midfield. Upfront we seemed livelyer than usual. Fantastic to see our strikers get into the box regularly in the first half, and manage to get on the end of things. Defensively we were o.k aswell. Our marking should have been tighter on a few occassions though, almost fatal.

Lets be realistic about things still. it was better but it was against a lower league side. We were also under pressure to get a result after midweek, we had to perform better. And also there is still a fragility about our play , we need to play like this, and get these type of RESULTS regularly at home in order to SIGNIFICANTLY improve as a team, and to stand a chance at winning the league this season. But it at least shows, that we can play well as a team, and shows the ability of some individuals that were in doubt, like Samaras and McGeady, now for abit of consistancy, and if we purposely take confidence from the game, then hopefully we can achieve that consistantcy, but i don't want to praise the team too much. It was good, but we NEED to build on it.

as for thursdays game, it will be very difficult for us to get a win, and i doubt we will. But its test, and although in my opinion we are virtually out of the competition, we can still gain from the games remaining. This will give us an opportunity to TRY and play well. To work on the things that have been troubling us, and to gain experience in big game situations away from home. I don't know if i can be bothered with it tbh, I can't help but think if we  get hammered then it might be detrimental to our mentality.Maybe but we are a big team and must deal with these sort of games, and make the best of them, and hopefully we can by playing well and getting a result over there which would be a good achievement for us in itself at this moment in time.

Thanks, and please keep in touch,

shanksy.