CELTIC DON’T STOP... TRYING TO GET BETTER
Ange’s Bhoys blow away sad Hearts and still aim to improve
KYOGO was doing his dance in front of his adoring audience. Big Ange was punching his chest as his name was chanted by the same people.
But in the background, almost noticed, Reo Hatate was involved in an intense chat with his countryman Yuki Kobayashi, who had played the second half and served notice that he will be another invaluable import from Japan.
Hatate was twisting and turning, perhaps showing him which side he prefers to receive the ball on.
Whatever it was, the message it displayed was that this really is a team that is not going to rest on its laurels anytime soon. It might be homing in on a treble – although there is still much work to be done – but there is a commitment to keep getting better.
Let’s face it, Hatate and his mate could have joined in the fun at the end of a match that was touted beforehand as a major test but, like so many before it, became another example of Celtic’s domination of the domestic game.
That they didn’t said everything about their work ethic – a facet that ran right through their team from the very first blast of Kevin Clancy’s whistle.
Hearts away in a Scottish Cup quarter-final should have been a cracker but the truth is, Celtic were so far ahead in every aspect of the game, that it became a runof-the-mill mission completed with the minimum of fuss.
Within 45 seconds, Postecoglou’s men had set up base camp on their hosts’ 18-yard line. That’s how long it took for Hatate to arrow a shot towards the postage-stamp corner only for Zander Clark to make the first of many fine saves.
Yet within a minute the big man was picking the ball out of his net as the men in front of him failed to handle the pace and intensity of Celtic’s start.
Jota got in behind Hearts’ wing-back Stephen Kingsley and when his cross arrived in the box, Aaron Mooy arrived with the precision timing of a Rolex and inside two minutes the clock was ticking on Robbie Neilson’s side. To be fair to the Hearts manager, if he’d glanced into the main stand he’d have seen a group of players who would have given Hearts a far better chance if they’d been decked out in maroon rather than in their civvies. Craig Gordon, Craig Halkett, Robert Snodgrass, Beni Baningime, Peter Haring, Lawrence Shankland, Liam Boyce, Stephen Humphrys, Yutaro Oda and Gary Mackay-Steven were all out injured and Hearts couldn’t cope with those losses.
Their midfield in particular, Andy Halliday, Orestis Kiomourtzoglou and Jorge Grant, were all too similar, adept at trying to plug holes and fill spaces but rarely able to string together a sequence of passes to trouble their visitors.
A consequence of that was that Josh Ginnelly up front cut a lonesome figure and although he tried all he could to discomfort the Celtic defence, he didn’t get much help from his mates.
one save of note, a good one at that, low down to his left with the score at 1-0, to deny Toby Sibbick.
And despite being second best, they were still in the game until the dying seconds of the first half when Celtic’s quick-wittedness came to the fore with a sharply taken throw-in allowing Mooy to find Alistair Johnston charging down the right.
The Canadian’s low cross was good, Kyogo’s finish at the near post was simply sensational and Hearts went down the tunnel with their hopes extinguished.
That feeling was replicated in the stands. Celtic had doused the fire that usually rages in the home support on these occasions and the second period was a lesson in game management.
Cameron Carter-Vickers, who had not put a foot wrong, put the finishing touches to it all with a header from Matt O’Riley’s free-kick and it was entirely right that the crowd behind the goal into which he scored rose as one to acclaim him.
While so much of this Celtic team is about flair and dare, the freedom with which Kyogo and Co play can only be carried out in the knowledge that behind them, the back door is patrolled by a bouncer who is far more than a bruiser.
Great positional sense and a good user of the ball, CarterVickers is as vital to the league leaders as anyone in Postecoglou’s ranks and the manager knows it.
“He’s been outstanding from the moment we signed him,” the Celtic boss said.
“He’s a really great defender. In our back four, you need to do a lot of one-on-one defending. Physically, he’s as strong as anyone.
“He’s got great awareness and he’s an intelligent footballer in terms of understanding the game in the areas he needs to protect.”
He was certainly too good for the Hearts attack on Saturday. Neilson admitted his men were second best.
“It’s hugely disappointing to go out the Cup,” he said. “We have done really well in recent years and we had hoped this year we would be able to take the next step but it wasn’t to be.
“To lose such an early goal is a disappointment but the players managed to get a foothold back in the game and to lose a goal right before half-time was a real killer.”