HOLDERS’ WAKE-UP CALL
Sleepy Celtic stung into life by Jags’ goal
CELTIC’S League Cup defence remains on track, but only after a jag from Partick Thistle jolted Brendan Rodgers’ team out of a sleepy performance.
Defeat to AEK Athens in midweek has changed the season’s landscape at Parkhead and, with Champions League football off the agenda, even the carrot of chasing a third consecutive domestic Treble proved insufficient to spark Celtic into top gear.
Rodgers’ line-up showed six changes from the team that started in Greece, and although a first-half Leigh Griffiths goal settled the nerves, the champions clunked along in third gear until Thistle forward Andrea Mbuyi-Mutombo scored an unlikely equaliser with a quarter of an hour remaining.
Substitute Moussa Dembele countered within a couple of minutes, then Tom Rogic put the game beyond doubt as his clinical finish nudged Celtic over the line and into the quarter-finals.
With Scott Bain starting in goal and rare outings for the likes of Cristian Gamboa and Mikey Johnston, perhaps the biggest talking point in the Celtic team was the return of Emilio Izaguirre.
Always a popular figure with the Celtic support, Izaguirre’s first touch was applauded and he was quickly showing signs of the qualities that made him such a favourite during his initial seven-year spell with the club.
Scotland’s Player of the Year at the end of his first season in the country, the Honduran’s powers seemed to wane over time and he was eventually usurped by academy graduate Kieran Tierney before moving on to Saudi Arabia, where he spent a miserable year.
Although not as fleet-footed as he was during those early days, Izaguirre showed plenty of his old bite in the tackle and linked well with Scott Sinclair down the left flank.
With Gamboa providing assists for the final two goals, Rodgers could at least praise his two full-backs at the end of what he branded a ‘passive’ performance.
‘Cristian Gamboa did great for the two goals and Emilio is worth a mention, too,’ said the manager. ‘Having been away for so long he came back in and showed real quality on the ball, along with composure and top fitness.’
It was Sinclair who teed up the opener, wriggling his way past Shea Gordon and along the byline before cutting back for Griffiths to force home a deflected shot.
Otherwise it was pretty much Rogic versus Cammy Bell for most of the first half. The Australian forced an excellent save from the goalkeeper before the opener and then peppered the goal with shots and even a header without seriously threatening to add to Celtic’s lead.
Olivier Ntcham did manage to beat Bell shortly before the interval, but his dipping drive clipped the bar on its way over.
Thistle found it nigh on impossible to lay a glove on Celtic during their time in the top flight and in the wake of relegation it looked even less likely yesterday.
One serviceable effort from Blair Spittal tested Bain’s handling, but Celtic were playing within themselves.
Sinclair curled an effort just wide around the hour mark and Dembele, by now on for Griffiths, made something of a hopeful ball from Izaguirre by bundling past Thomas O’Ware and stinging Bell’s palms with a shot.
There seemed little obvious danger for the visitors but when defender Jack Hendry went wandering aimlessly with the ball, alarm bells started to ring.
As the only Celtic centre-back recently not to report injured, get himself suspended or simply down tools, it seems harsh to criticise the 23-year-old too heavily, but the former Thistle man continues to look uncomfortable.
The introduction of Aidan Fitzpatrick gave Thistle the spark manager Alan Archibald was looking for. Spittal headed down for the youngster, who skipped all too easily beyond Kristoffer Ajer. There was still much for Mbuyi-Mutombo to do but he managed to squeeze a shot beyond Hendry and in off Bain’s far post.
Celtic woke up. James Forrest — who had replaced the disappointing Johnston — fed Gamboa and the full-back delivered a cross which Dembele knocked home with his thigh.
The third followed quickly, Gamboa again providing the assist, for Rogic to side-foot home.
‘Their substitutes were stronger than ours, I think that showed,’ remarked Archibald. ‘We were delighted to get the goal and for 70 minutes I felt we matched them. But as a team when you score a goal you are always vulnerable.’
For Rodgers, it’s now on to Lithuania for the first leg of the Europa League play-off against Suduva.
After a troubled week, he was evidently happy just to progress.
‘Over the last week or so the players have had something they’ve never had before — losing back-to-back games,’ said the Celtic boss. ‘I said to them before this one, that if there’s one thing you’re guaranteed in football and in life then it’s disappointment.
‘I expected us to recover today and win but we need to look above that to the performance level.’