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Trivia
- Blinker was out with a dislocated shoulder picked up in the Liverpool game immediately previous. Thom came in for him and Hannah dropped out with Rieper restored for the league game.
- Darren Jackson was on the road to recovery after brain surgery and had been released from hospital – in fact he had attended the Liverpool game.
- Andy McCondichie, the Youth keeper at the club had gone out on a month’s loan to Hamilton Academicals.
- Kenny McDowall was appointed Reserve team coach. The ex Partick Thistle and St Mirren player had been working as a coach with the SFA.
- The position of Paul Lambert kept on throwing up reports – either Dortmund were saying that he wasn’t for sale or the player was saying he was happy in Germany – there looked to be continuing work going on behind the scenes to sign him. Eventually Lambert said that he would like a return to Scotland and that it would be better for all if it was sorted out sooner than later (Scotsman, 23/9/97).
- FIFA finally said that Celtic had no case to pursue a £3million pound transfer fee for John Collins.
- Two birthday goals for Henrik – the second being a great free kick
Review
An easy win with the Bhoys starting to fire on all cylinders. Larsson and Donnelly were starting to make a partnership, Burley and Wieghorst were controlling the midfield and there might just be the foundations of a solid partnership between Stubbs and Rieper.
Teams
Celtic (4-4-2): Gould; Boyd, Mahe, McNamara (O’Donnell, 70), Rieper, Stubbs (Hannah, 84), Larsson, Burley, Donnelly, Thom, Wieghorst.
Subs Not Used: McKinlay.
Scorer: Larsson (27, 39)
Aberdeen (3-5-2): Leighton, Rowson, Tzvetanov (Anderson, 71), Smith, Inglis, O’Neil, Miller (Gillies, 64), Jess, Newell (Windass, 71), Dodds, Glass.
Bookings: Inglis, O’Neil (Aberdeen).
Referee: B Orr (Kilbarchan).
Attendance: 49,017.
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
Stats
| Celtic | Aberdeen | |
| Bookings | 0 | 2 |
| Fouls | 13 | 11 |
| Shots on Target | 11 | 2 |
| Corners | 12 | 2 |
| Offside | 5 | 2 |
Larsson is the hair apparent
Scotland on Sunday 21/09/1997
Celtic 2 Aberdeen 0
JOCK BROWN said it rather hopefully at first, but who could object if he crowed after this. Forget Paolo Di Canio, he told us during the hype of the troubles which beset his club’s start to the season, in Henrik Larsson Celtic have a new hero now.
It’s true. The extraordinary contribution the Swedish striker has made to getting Wim Jansen’s new side off the ground came to a head yesterday against a pliant Aberdeen. Two very good goals were the fruits of Larsson’s labours, a dominant and dashing performance the vine. “He,” said the unexcitable Jansen, “is doing well at the moment.”
Celtic were complete in their mastery here and fallible -Larsson excepted – only in front of goal.
There was no evidence of the mental or physical fatigue Jansen had feared Celtic might suffer following Liverpool. If anything -with Andreas Thom desperate to break back into the side and Marc Rieper keen to make an impressive home debut – they seem enervated.
“We played very well, particularly in view of the game on Tuesday. Normally you’d expect players to be tired but they kept playing the ball well and showed the same concentration as against Liverpool. That was the most important thing,” Jansen said.
Particularly encouraging will have been his defence which, for the first time this season, was just about error-free. Joe Miller, so important in the few games Aberdeen have done well in this season, has never quite been capable of troubling top-class defenders. For once Celtic appeared to have a few.
Aberdeen are creating all manner of gruesome statistics under Roy Aitken, one of which is they have yet to score at Celtic Park during his reign.
In many ways it was hard to know how Aberdeen played, because they had so little of the ball. As usual their supporters will alight on Eoin Jess’s contribution, but more significant was the injury to his partner Paul Bernard, without whom Aberdeen had no one to stem the green tide in midfield.
Nothing was ever going to match Tuesday night’s atmosphere, but you could still detect its residue around the stadium. Before kick-off Celtic came out in a stately walk and lined up across the centre circle like sides do before internationals. This and the huddle were greeted feverishly.
Tuesday appears to have sharpened the appetite of those players who did not feature. Thom simply bubbled with intent. Three times in an opening burst of Celtic pressure he flew inside from his station out on the left and created chances.
For a while Aberdeen survived by defending a little deeper than normal and relying on breaks from midfield. Stephen Glass played Billy Dodds in on goal during one of these, but the striker fluffed his shot. Larsson and Simon Donnelly may waste the odd chance – as Donnelly did from a Thom cutback in 24 minutes – but they hardly waste a pass. Two minutes after his miss Donnelly squeezed the most juicy through ball into the Aberdeen box. Larsson got on Gary Smith’s wrong side and side-footed past Jim Leighton for the opener.
Larsson, with his Alice band and burnished dreadlocks, is an unusual looking fellow. He is an unusual player too. Fleet and clever he yet appears to possess the strength of a middleweight boxer. He is forever emerging from heavy tackles at the last gasp without you knowing how and invading spaces you didn’t actually know were there. However, lovely shot as it was, there’s nothing mysterious about his second goal – a 20-yard free-kick. Leighton lined up a large wall but then for some reason stood behind it. Larsson simply chipped it up, over and into the empty space at the goalkeeper’s right.
There was a period during the second half in which Aberdeen hardly got a touch. Leighton would kick it out, Rieper or Alan Stubbs would return it and Celtic, after one of their neat attacks, would return it to Leighton again.
It must worry Aitken that his least mature player, the substitute Ricky Gillies, appeared the only one with enough poise to spend any time on the ball when Aberdeen were being overrun. Gillies’ appearance improved his side marginally but soon enough Celtic were in on goal again. Larsson did everything but gift-wrap the ball for O’Donnell, but the midfielder wasted a fine opportunity.
Manager Interview
Wim Jansen, post match:
“It was a good game for the crowd. Henrik showed why we bought him.
Andreas Thom:
“We’re finally getting things together.
“Earlier in the season, with a new coach and new players, there was an understandable lack of appreciation of each other. These things take time, but we now talk a lot more to each other on the field and it looks as though it is beginning to come right. I’m feeling better about myself, too, but I’m just part of the team thing.”
“Larsson’s movement is very good. t does damage to defenders. If Donnelly keeps up his progress, the Scotland manager is going to have to look seriously at him with the World Cup finals in mind.”