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<\/p>\nA polished and enthusiastic performance from Celtic swept away Icelands champions at Murrayfield last night. The hoops scored four, van Dijk and the re-born Pukki getting two apiece, while the visitors tried, but weren’t really allowed to keep the ball for very long.<\/p>\n
Deilas pressing game worked, the players stuck to their tasks , and now we can relax and wait for the outcome of the St. Pats -Legia Warsaw game tonight.<\/p>\n
Celtic didn’t give their opponents any space or time, and when they moved forward themselves it was with speed and precision, all of which makes me wonder why I was even remotely worried. If this improvement continues, and if the players can keep this sort of effort, then this could well be a season to remember.<\/p>\n
Todays word is “fickle “. Which I always have been, and always will be.<\/p>\n
Apart from the goals and the movement, the most interesting, and encouraging aspect of the game last night was the way the players kept it going until the end. Even with the game well and truly won, they kept harassing the opposition, they kept looking for more goals, and they didn’t seem to tire, especially as this was only the second competitive game of the season.<\/p>\n
The match stats, taken from UEFA.com, tell their own story. Celtic had 27 efforts on goal, 14 on target. Thats an attempt roughly every three minutes. Which is some going no matter who you are playing.<\/p>\n
Murrayfield , the replacement venue which also had me worried a bit turned out in the end to be an excellent venue. Great atmosphere, and according to those who were there, largely surrounded by friendly police and helpful stewards.<\/p>\n
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That was when you got there, the m8 traffic and problems with the trains meant that several fans missed the kick off-including Holmbert Fridjonsson, who at half time ,tweeted this, with a comment to tell us he was “finally here ”<\/p>\n
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The club had tried its best pre match to help organise the trip, but it looks like most people had just figured that it was only a short hop to Edinburgh, and even though they had left plenty of time to get to the capital, it seems like everyone started out at the same time.<\/p>\n
Hopefully, it won’t happen for the next game, as we should all be the wiser.<\/p>\n
After the game, manager Ronny Deila was happy enough.<\/p>\n
I think.<\/p>\n
“I think that the first half was good. We started the game well and we’ve been talking about set-plays a lot in the past two weeks and we got a result through that, so that’s something we are happy about. We created some good chances.<\/em><\/p>\n “The pitch was better. I wanted us to be even quicker. We have to work in training and in matches so we can get the tempo even better.<\/em><\/p>\n “We want to create things and entertain the fans. You need the ball and the tempo in matches. Today was a good start but this is not the best opponent that we are going to get.”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0Of course, the Scottish press were over the moon with Celtics win, and they show it on todays papers;<\/p>\n \n Celtic turned down a “derisory ” offer from southampton for Forster yesterday, but it means that the end game has begun. Well, really begun this time, some would argue the acquisition of Craig Gordon was when it really started, and there’ll be more to come.<\/p>\n \u00a0Deila, obviously , wants to keep the big Englishman, who , to be fair, is in no rush to get away.<\/p>\n “We want to keep Fraser because we want to qualify for the Champions League and build our team.<\/em><\/p>\n “We want to do what we can to keep him here.”<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0“He came to Celtic and did a good job, but Celtic have also been fantastic for him.<\/em><\/p>\n “And I hope that will continue because we need our best players.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n “He is a fantastic goalkeeper.<\/em><\/p>\n “We will see because in the end something will happen.<\/em><\/p>\n “Whether that’s now or in the winter or next summer I don’t know.<\/em><\/p>\n “We have to keep on going and things are happening around my players all the time.<\/em><\/p>\n “But they have to train good every day, and that’s one of Fraser’s best skills.<\/em><\/p>\n “He is an unbelievable professional and I know he really wants to play in the Champions League.”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Meanwhile, as the real stuff takes precedence with Scotlands top clubs, others have had to make do with friendlies. A report from the Daily Record attempts to show that things are still on track for Scotlands newest club over in the USA;<\/p>\n ALLY McCOIST praised Darren McGregor for giving Rangers their bite \u2013 even though it was Ian Black who delivered the sandwiches in Sacramento.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>![\"Embedded](\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/BtLzjh_CAAAvMPU.jpg:large\")
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The Ibrox boss was delighted to see his summer signing from St Mirren score the equaliser with his first touch after coming on as a half-time sub in their 2-1 win over Republic .\u00a0<\/span>
However, McCoist insists it wasn\u2019t just the big defender\u2019s strike which made the difference, but his attitude.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
The Rangers boss, who was annoyed at a lack of tempo in the first half, said: \u201cI was disappointed as there was a lack of aggression in our play \u2013 and by that I don\u2019t mean running round kicking people.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
\u201cI mean a tempo to the game, attacking the ball, to go and pass it quicker. The difference in the second half was that McGregor and Marius Zaliukas attacked the ball.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
\u201cIn the first half Sacramento were taking a touch and turning.\u00a0Suddenly, Darren was right up their backsides.<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
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