NEW BHOY BARKAS JUST THE BUSINESS FOR CELTIC
Greek goalie proves a shrewd acquisition and he believes that there’s more to come
EXORCISING the ghost of Fraser Forster from Celtic will take time and patience. On Saturday, Vasilis Barkas took the first step.
The Greek international arrived in Glasgow for £5million as a default option when Neil Lennon’s first choice had a late change of heart and decided to fight for his place at Southampton.
The indications are that the battle is now lost. Alex McCarthy played for Saints in Saturday’s defeat to Crystal Palace and Forster is now likely to go back out on loan.
Celtic always knew that was a possibility. Yet two things football clubs are never blessed with during a transfer window are time nor patience. They went to AEK Athens and signed up Barkas instead.
In his first five games, the new Bhoy had not had a great deal to do. The work he had been given — notably against Ferencvaros — hadn’t been done especially well. Given the news of Forster’s renewed availability last Friday, then, a flattering 5-0 win over Ross County was a good time to show why Celtic signed him. He needed a big day at the office.
The one about an Irishman, a Norwegian, a Frenchman and a Greek on a day trip to the Highlands sounds like a Bernard Manning joke from 1972. Yet this was the reality of Celtic’s new-look defence in Dingwall. In the first half, in particular, the communication was disjointed. By time up, Barkas, debutant Shane Duffy, Kris Ajer and Christopher Jullien had found some kind of understanding. Even if the final outcome was distinctly harsh on Ross County.
‘It felt good,’ said Barkas after his best game for the club so far. ‘I always feel good when I do my job and my job is to keep clean sheets.
‘So, when I manage to do that, it makes me feel as though I am helping the team.
‘It was not so easy for me at first because I was coming from another country and the football here is different.
‘I tried to find what the coach wanted from me and I tried to find what my team-mates want from me and, with every game, I start to feel better and better.
‘Game by game, I feel that it gets better, but I’m sure I need more time to see what Scottish football wants from me.
‘There is more heart here amongst the players. Also things like a lot of the matches have rain, so the pitches are faster and that is something which you have to adjust to. ‘These are the things you start to find out, so that’s why I say that, game by game, I can get better because I will get more and more used to the different situations which will come to me.’
Since week one, Lennon had planned to go back to the 3-5-2 formation which served his team well in the second half of last season. Even now, the lack of a natural left-sided wing-back — Charlton’s Alfie Doughty remains a target — makes that tricky.
Yet the return of Odsonne Edouard from injury forged a highly-promising strike partnership with £5million Albian Ajeti up front.
Edouard opened the scoring with a composed penalty after he was tripped in the area by County defender Jordan Tillson after just three minutes.
Ajeti doubled the lead 17 minutes later, taking advantage of
County’s poor management of an Olivier Ntcham free-kick to squeeze a low shot under the squirming clutches of goalkeeper Ross Laidlaw.
The Swiss international has already recorded a goal every 32 minutes for Celtic, domestically. There will, you sense, be many more.
Yet a 2-0 lead for Celtic didn’t tell the whole story. Iain Vigurs threw a bouncing left-footed free-kick into a crowded area, the ball skidding up and striking the post after Barkas got the faintest of touches.
Suddenly the Greek was in business.
He produced another terrific stop from a goal-bound back-post header from Ross Stewart, before denying the beanpole striker once again early in the second half.
Despite their high press, energy and a spirited resistance being worthy of a couple of goals at least, County were buried when Duffy claimed his first Celtic goal after 59 minutes — a bullet header from Callum McGregor’s corner.
On days like this, the decision of Premiership clubs to wave through five substitutes begins to look like an act of self harm.
In the last half hour, Celtic were able to parade a beauty pageant of multi-million pound players to the catwalk.
Already Patryk Klimala has a touch of the Kenny Miller about him. Give the Polish striker time to think about the kind of golden chance laid on a plate by Edouard and there’s a 50-50 chance he’ll blow it. Invite him to pull the trigger instinctively — as Mo Elyounoussi did 15 minutes from time — and he’ll bury it.
Klimala’s second goal for the club came after a meat and drink Ajer tap-in after good driving work on the left by Ntcham.
County’s anguish was only amplified by another terrific Barkas save from a Ross Draper header before Oli Shaw smashed a 25-yard free-kick against the post.
If the home team’s defending was ragged and unconvincing, no one would have begrudged them a 5-3 defeat. To score no goals at all was harsh in the extreme and owed much to the growing confidence of Celtic’s new keeper.
‘I don’t put pressure on myself,’ said Barkas. ‘I came from a big club in Greece and I know that Celtic is one of the biggest clubs in the world, so every game we want to win.
‘Sometimes we might not play as well, but every match is special (because) at Celtic you have to win them.
‘We need to have some time. We are 11 different people who started. Maybe some of the other players who were involved have played together in the past, but not all of us at the same time. That’s why I say, game by game, we will become better.’
ROSS COUNTY (4-5-1): Laidlaw 5; Randall 5, Iacovitti 6, Donaldson 5, Reid 7; Gardyne 7 (Charles-Cook 79), Tillson 5 (Draper 65), Vigurs 6 (Kelly 79), Paton 5, Stewart 7; Mckay 3 (Shaw 31).
Subs not used: Morris, Watson, Munro, Wright, MacKinnon. Booked: Tillson.
CELTIC (3-5-2): Barkas 8; Duffy 7, Jullien 6, Ajer 6; Frimpong 6, Brown 6 (Turnbull 77), McGregor 6 (Soro 77), Ntcham 7 (Christie 71), Forrest 6; Ajeti 6 (Klimala 61), Edouard 7 (Elyounoussi 71 ).
Subs not used: Bain, Taylor, Elhamed, Welsh. Booked: Ajer. Man of the match: Vasilis Barkas. Referee: Andrew Dallas. Attendance: 300.