Joy of six for ice-cool Celtic
● But Lennon can expect tougher test against Ferencvaros or Djurgardens
Celtic manager Neil Lennon expressed his satisfaction at his team’s comprehensive 6-0 win over KR Reykjavik in the first qualifying round of the Champions League and feels it sets them up perfectly for what he expects to be a far tougher test against Ferencvaros or Djurgardens next week.
Two goals by Mohamed Elyounoussi, along with an own goal and further strikes by Christopher Jullien, Greg Taylor and Odsonne Edouard saw Lennon’s side swat their Icelandic opponents aside at Celtic Park. They are scheduled to be at home for another single leg tie in the second qualifying round against the winners of tonight’s match between the champions of Hungary and Sweden in Budapest.
After his team’s last two Premiership games were postponed following full-back Boli Bolingoli’s breach of Covid-19 protocol, Lennon appreciated the value of their return to action.
“It was a good night’s work,” said Lennon. “It was really important to get 90 minutes’ work into the legs and obviously to negotiate the tie as well. To score six goals and keep a clean sheet is very good. I’m pleased with a lot of what I saw tonight.
“We asked them at half-time not to let up after being 3-0 up. Any lethargy or lack of match practice, they need to get through it. I’ve been there myself.
“So it’s important to try to increase the intensity and get the games into their legs. We’ll see how they are on Thursday but they should get a benefit from that. We’ve got a big couple of weeks coming up now so it’s important we keep our focus.
“There were a lot of good positives to come out of that. It sets us up nicely for the weekend at Dundee United and obviously for the next round in the Champions League next week.
“I don’t really have any preference who we play. They are two well-organised teams. I’ve been impressed with Ferencvaros from what I’ve seen from them so far.
“It will be interesting to watch the game on Wednesday night, I think it will be tight. It’s going to be difficult for us, no matter who we play.”
Celtic players of a certain vintage might have had their memories stirred as they watched their old club contest a European tie with the shouts of those on the pitch echoing around empty stands.
The strangeness of this pandemic age has extended to Parkhead side starting a continental campaign behind closed doors for the first time.
The imperative was to ensure it did not become the second time they exited an European competition in so ghostly an environment.
The unwanted first came back in 1985, in the now defunct Cup-winners’ Cup. Then, as a consequence of supporter misbehaviour across a tie engulfed with enmity against Rapid Vienna the previous season, Uefa ordered that they play the home return leg of their first round meeting with Atletico Madrid at a deserted Celtic Park.
There any similarities between last night and that day in October 1985 end.
The valiant effort of securing a 1-1 draw in the Spanish capital 35 years ago counted for nothing as the absence of a home crowd willing them on proved a telling factor as Celtic slumped to a 2-1 defeat in their own backyard.
Frankly, last night Neil Lennon’s men could have the 60,000 Icelanders braying at them, with everyone of them pointing laser pens in their eyes, and you would imagine they would still have taken KR Reykjavik to the cleaners.
“As poor a side as I have seen in a long, long time,” John Hartson said during the Premier Sports TV coverage.
In fairness to Celtic, the crispness and slickness of their early play exposed every one of their visitors’ myriad deficiencies.
They were patently determined to put behind them both their lumpen display at Kilmarnock and the league hiatus caused by Boli Bolingoli’s lunacy that followed it.
Moreover, in Mohamed Elyounoussi they had a man on a mission to make a pitch.
Albian Ajeti, Celtic’s new £5 million striker, watched from the bench as his former Basel team-mate set out dismantling KR with brio.elyounoussi kicked off the cuffing with a defly executed sixth-minute opener, finishing with a low shot from close range.
He finished things off with his second and Celtic’s sixth.
Ajeti may have started on the bench, only appearing once Odsonne Edouard and constructed a 72nd-minute fifth goal with dazzling daintiness.
However, the Swiss forward’s very presence at the club has raised questions over where Elyounoussi will fit in. There appears an acceptance that Lennon will switch from his current default of 4-2-3-1 to a 3-5-2 in order that he can unleash Edouard and Ajeti in tandem on opponents.
As well as negating the deployment of straightout wingers, which Elyounoussi really isn’t, the system change brings into play wing-backs, which Elyounoussi really isn’t either.
The Norwegian international is an attacker who can provide invention and an injection of pace.
If it transpires that there are only three midfield slots to vie for in a 3-5-2 system, the 26-year-old would seem a natural fit for the No 10 role that was once the preserve of the now peripheral Tom Rogic and is effectively currently in the possession of Ryan Christie.
There was no battle for Celtic in easing past Reykjavik last night. Instead, the walkover only highlighted the fierce internal battles to come for those in Celtic’s engine room.