All Aboard

 

All Aboard

Walking along the Gallowgate towards the bright lights of Celtic Park on Wednesday night, you could feel that old electricity in the air. Man and boy I’ve walked that walk, and in days long gone it would be the tall pylon, standing like a lighthouse in the darkness, that would guide us to the old stadium. As the rivers of green clad humanity flowed towards the new place, their songs rising into the dark Glasgow sky, you could feel something was afoot. There was hope in their hearts that at last the ghost of last season could be exorcised. Yes, Celtic were missing key players and had a poor record in derbies in the past couple of years but this was a new Celtic side, full of heart and running. Ange Postecoglou also has them playing a brand of fast, attacking football which if not always getting the rewards it deserves, at least promised to give Celtic a fighting chance.

The decision of Rangers to deny Celtic any tickets for Ibrox this season meant Celtic reciprocated. Their players would therefore be entering a noisy bear pit at Celtic Park as 60,000 of the noisiest fans in Europe were arrayed against them. Not since the legendary Barcelona game of 2012 have I seen the stadium as animated and raucous. The players came out to a wall of noise and Rangers on loan ‘wonder kid’ Amad Diallo looked visibly nervous at the assault on his senses he was experiencing. From those first moments when the whole stadium roared out ‘You’ll never walk alone,’ the fans kept up an incessant racket which cascaded onto the pitch and had the desired effect of driving Celtic on from the very first moment of the game.

They played at a high tempo throughout and harried and hounded their opponents into errors. This was exemplified when Croatian internationalist, Borna Barisic tried to start an attack down Celtic’s right flank. He was met by a turbo charged Callum McGregor who forced him back into his own half, before the experienced Rangers player passed the ball back towards his own goal keeper as McGregor audibly snarled ‘shite-bag!’ at him. Celtic were up for this game and every single player in the famous old hooped shirts demonstrated a degree of hunger and desire to win that had been lacking at times last season.

Abada, the hero with a late winner against a Dundee United side, which in truth offered more resistance at Celtic Park than Rangers did, ran Barisic ragged.  With Jota on the other flank and supporting full backs joining in attacks at every opportunity, Celtic carried threat with every attack. The 3-0 half-time lead could easily have been 5 or 6 but the game was effectively over when the ever-alert Abada raced past the flat-footed Barisic to score the third goal. This though, was a team performance, typified by Joe Hart racing from goal to snatch the ball from the feet of Arfield and immediately look to begin an attack. A moment later Hatate was curling the ball past McGregor at the other end. It was as solid a team performance as we’ve seen in Ange’s time and as he explained after the game, the team is improving week by week but still has a lot of developing to do. Hatate is still not fully fit and will be an even more impressive player when he is.  

Their emphatic 3-0 win over their rivals puts Celtic at the top of the table and perhaps ahead of where many thought they would be at this point in the team’s restructuring. The fact that they destroyed Rangers with key men like Rogic, Turnbull and Kyogo missing augurs well for the future. No one is fooling themselves that it is any more than a big win as there are still many twists and turns to come this season. It is however a major bursting of the Ibrox bubble as they now know they have a real fight on their hands. Last season’s meek surrender of the title hurt a lot of Celtic fans, but the class of 2022 won’t be brushed aside so easily.

When the season was in its infancy, Ange Postecoglou castigated a journalist for suggesting the league was over after Celtic lost their first three away games. Celtic were six points off the pace and sitting in sixth spot in the table, having collected just ten points from the first seven matches. He shook his head and commented…

 ‘It’s a weird league, you call things early here, don’t you? It’s remarkable that seven games in people are calling the title already. It’s just not how I work. I’m not pulling up stumps after seven games just because other people think there is some sort of insurmountable challenge for us. I know people are wanting to push me onto some kind of ledge somewhere but that’s not going to happen. I know what this club is all about and what the expectations are.’

His words are as true after Wednesday’s stirring victory as they were back in September. Nothing is settled in the league. Celtic is in a good position, playing well and full of confidence, but no more than that. There are almost 50 points still to be fought for so it’s one game at a time. Postecoglou said…

"Our end goal was not to be on top spot in February. Being where we are at the moment means that we've progressed, we've improved and we're a step closer to the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is to be successful at the end of the year. I haven't sensed any change in mood or atmosphere amongst the players. They've come in today ready to work hard and to get ready for what's going to be a difficult game on Sunday."

The Eddie Howe saga now seems a distant dream as Celtic fans take their new boss to their hearts. Some have spoken of ‘dodging a bullet’ with Howe although we’ll never know how he would have fared in Scotland. What we do know is that the man in the manager’s chair has done a tremendous job in building a team in just six short months. When Postecoglou’s Yokohama F Marinos side played Manchester City in a very competitive friendly in 2019. Pep Guardiola raved about the style of play the Japanese side adopted. They gave a full-strength City a real fight before losing 3-1; City’s third coming in the 94^th minute of a game in which the J League side had 58% possession. Guardiola said…

"Yokohama played some incredible football and they were an incredible test for us. I knew how good they were and it was tough for us,"

Raheem Sterling was also suitably impressed by how Postecoglou’s side played and said after the game…

"They’re probably one of the best teams I’ve seen play out from the back and they played some great football so it was a great test for us.’

That is the measure of what Postecoglou wants to achieve at Celtic. He wants the Hoops to be competitive not only in Scotland but also in the European arena. That journey has only just begun and there are exciting times ahead.

All aboard the Ange Express! It’s going to be quite a ride!