2016-08-20: St Johnstone 2-4 Celtic, SP

Trivia

• Celtic sit second on 6pts, whilst Sevco are ahead on 7pts but we've a game in hand.
• First annoying really early Saturday kick-off time, 12.15pm
• Back to the league after incredible 5-2 win over HBS in European Cup playoffs, 2nd leg on Tuesday coming
• Scott Brown announces he is to retire from international football.
• UEFA charge Celtic fans with illicit banners for last game in European Cup playoffs at home!
• Olympics finishes on Sunday (next day). Incredible two weeks for the UK who make history and have won an increcible 67 medals, 27 are gold. Congrats to all. Ireland though have a mostly forgettable two weeks.
• Big game on Tuesday as Celtic play in the second leg play off v Hapoel Beer Sheva to get into the Champions League group stages. Celtic are 5-2 ahead.

Review

(Bubba of KDS)
Tremendous first half capped by a wonder goal

We understandably tried to see out the second half using minimum effort but we're clearly not good enough at the back yet

Moving brown out of midfield lost us control, let's not do that again

Rogic was blowing out his arse but had to stay on on account of being forced into other changes after some predictably awful refereeing

Thomson was a joke today in a game that should have been easy, but booked 7 players, cert for the zombie game

(columb of KDS)
Seriously exciting going forward and sloppy all day at the back.

Brilliant to watch in the first half and took the foot off the pedal big time when it looked in the bag.

Rogic was great – a lovely footballer.

James Forrest – I don't know what to say – he looks as if every part of his game and fitness has improved massively – aware of what is around him and composed on the ball. Great first half and a magnificent goal.

Tierney was …. Tierney. A gem.

St Johnstone hardly got a kick yet we could have chucked it away.

Brendan will sort that out.

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Stats

Possession
Home 32%
Away 68%

Shots
Home 7
Away 19

Shots on Target
Home 5
Away 5

Corners
Home 1
Away 6

Fouls
Home 12
Away 1

Articles

St Johnstone 2 – 4 Celtic: Late scare for champions
http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/celtic/st-johnstone-2-4-celtic-late-scare-for-champions-1-4208254
Celtic's Scott Sinclair celebrates his goal in the 4-2 win over St Johnstone. Picture: Craig Williamson/SNS
STEPHEN HALLIDAY
Celtic made improbably hard work of what had looked set to be the most routine of victories as they staved off a late St Johnstone fightback to maintain a 100 per cent start to their Scottish Premiership title defence.
Brendan Rodgers’ team were cruising when they led 3-0 through goals from Leigh Griffiths, Scott Sinclair and James Forrest at the end of a one-sided first half.
But just as they had in midweek against Hapoel Beer-Sheva, they saw that advantage cut to 3-2 as Tommy Wright’s men suddenly threatened to snatch a point.
Substitute Ryan Christie’s stoppage-time goal ensured Celtic claimed the victory they fully merited but left Rodgers with mixed feelings. “That could leave a little bitter taste in your mouth,” said the Celtic manager, “but I can’t forget how good they were today.
“For 99.9 per cent of the game, we were outstanding. I don’t think the scoreline reflected the game at all.”
McDiarmid Park is a venue which has proved more troublesome than most for Celtic during their recent period of dominance in Scottish football, having dropped 12 points in their previous nine visits to the stadium. But the prospect of Saints enhancing that statistic from their perspective on this occasion looked utterly remote by the interval. After a stilted opening period to the game, Celtic gradually converted their overwhelming control of possession into a commanding lead.
The home defence, without the services of several key performers including skipper Dave Mackay and veteran stopper Steven Anderson, were placed under additional pressure by the inability of their more advanced team-mates to retain the ball whenever it did come their way.
There was an inevitability of the resistance breaking, which it did in the 28th minute. Tom Rogic was actually slack with a pass wide to Kieran Tierney on the left but weak defending by Richard Foster allowed the Celtic full-back to secure the ball and surge into the penalty area. His cutback found Griffiths, celebrating his 26th birthday, whose left-foot shot took a deflection off the prone Murray Davidson and beat goalkeeper Alan Mannus via the underside of the bar.
Celtic doubled their lead five minutes before the interval. Rogic was the orchestrator, his incisive pass finding Forrest whose shot was parried by Mannus. Griffiths, who moments earlier had been booked for diving in a bid to earn a penalty from a Foster challenge, pounced but saw his effort also blocked by Mannus. But it was third time unlucky for the ‘keeper when he was beaten by Sinclair’s follow up shot.
The game was effectively up for Wright’s team when Celtic made it 3-0 just four minutes later. The Saints defence were badly exposed as Forrest latched on to a Griffiths flick and swept towards the penalty area. As Paul Paton backed off, the winger guided a superb shot with the outside of his right boot beyond Mannus’ right hand into the corner of the net.
Celtic appeared in the mood to seriously put their hosts to the sword as they began the second half in aggressive mood with Rogic thumping a shot against the crossbar with the beleaguered Mannus beaten.
But perhaps inevitably in such a seemingly comfortable situation, some of the urgency gradually drifted out of their performance. Even when Saints pulled their first goal back from the penalty spot in the 83rd minute, Danny Swanson converting the kick after he was clumsily tripped by Celtic substitute Liam Henderson, it looked little more than a minor irritation for the champions.
There was a sudden air of mild panic among the travelling support, however, when St Johnstone reduced the arrears to 3-2 six minutes later. Celtic were down to ten men at the time, Henderson off the pitch receiving treatment to a head wound which he claimed had been caused by a flailing elbow from Murray Davidson.
Swanson’s cross from the right caused confusion in the Celtic defence and MacLean bundled a close range shot beyond Gordon.
The signal for three minutes of stoppage time gave Saints hope of completing the most unlikely of comebacks but it was Celtic who struck again with Christie ramming in a close-range shot after a Sinclair effort was blocked.
“I’ve had better days,” said Wright who saw his team’s unbeaten start to the season come to an end. “There’s no doubt Celtic were excellent today but we gave the ball away far too often and conceded poor goals.”

BBC

By Tom English

BBC Scotland at McDiarmid Park

Celtic maintained their 100% start to the domestic season after surviving a late St Johnstone comeback in Perth.

The champions scored three goals in 16 minutes before half-time, Leigh Griffiths rifling home a volley before Scott Sinclair tapped in a rebound.

James Forrest's superb run and finish effectively settled matters, but Saints rallied with two late goals.

Danny Swanson converted a penalty before Steven MacLean bundled in, but Ryan Christie sealed it in injury time.

The substitute's smartly taken goal ensured Celtic claimed their second win from two games.

Their focus will now turn to reaching the Champions League group stage, with Brendan Rodgers' side preparing to fly out to Israel for Tuesday's second leg of their play-off against Hapoel Beer Sheva with a 5-2 lead in the tie.
Griffiths 'had no need to dive'

In the opening 25 minutes, Celtic's most productive attacker was not Griffiths or Sinclair or any of their other go-to forwards, it was Kieran Tierney, their young full-back.

He put in two crosses that caused Saints bother, then he won a free-kick that Sinclair fizzed just past a post. His key play was in the build-up to the opening goal, causing the panic down that left side, from which Griffiths sent Celtic on their way.

On his 26th birthday, Griffiths was again terrific. Count his assists during the course of the season and it won't be a millions miles off his goals tally.

There was a negative here, though. He got booked for diving – and rightly so. Does that make him a cheat in Scott Brown's world?

Hearts fans will holler – and they already have – that what Brown said about Jamie Walker he should also be saying about Griffiths. The striker had no need to do it.

Celtic 'so dangerous in attack'

There's a far greater speed of thought in Celtic's attack. Their second goal came from a turnover in midfield.

Celtic came alive in those moments and Saints – terribly weakened by the loss of injured defenders – were a confused mess at the back.

Poor Alan Mannus made two fine saves in the midst of this rapid Celtic attack, first from Forrest and then Griffiths. He couldn't make a third. Sinclair put it away.

What a dangerous attack Celtic have now. So much pace and goal-threat when opposing teams lose concentration.
Reborn Forrest back to form
James Forrest scores Celtic's third goal after a mazy run
Forrest's sumptuous finish with the outside of his right foot put Celtic in command

Nowhere is the Rodgers effect more evident than in the return to form of Forrest, who took Griffiths' beautifully cushioned delivery and ran and ran to score the third.

This was the Forrest of old, reborn as a winger with elan and confidence.

At the end of last season he looked to be finished at Celtic. Now he looks a big threat to Patrick Roberts on the right-hand side of Rodgers' midfield.
Celtic's Achilles heel

Credit Saints for the fightback and for shining a light on the big Achilles heel in this Celtic team.

Hapoel scored two swift goals midweek and there were two more here – the 82nd-minute Swanson penalty, after a clumsy challenge from Liam Henderson, and the 89th-minute goal for Maclean after more weakness at the back from Celtic. Unbelievably, they were now hanging on.

St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright went for the equaliser, going 3-4-3 at the end, but it backfired when Christie drilled in the fourth.

Saints' mettle is beyond question, as is Celtic's capacity to construct goal mountains.
Post-match reaction:

St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright: "There is no doubt Celtic were excellent, particularly first half, but we contributed to that.

"The three goals were all poor goals from our point of view. We gave the ball away cheaply on the halfway line, we don't win the second ball in midfield, something we are brilliant at, and the third goal…we should deal with the problem on the halfway line and we don't.

"That's not taking away anything from Celtic, they were magnificent. We showed character in the second half and were better and if we had maybe a bit more time we might have pulled off an unbelievable result."

Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers: "I thought 99.9% of that game we were outstanding. The quality of our football, in particular the first half, was excellent. I don't think the scoreline reflected the game if I am honest.

"We got four goals and we maybe could have got another four, which is a huge compliment to the players because this is a St Johnstone team that has done really well under Tommy Wright."