LOOSE CHANGE TO MULTI MILLIONS
No tinkering as Bren keeps Celts rolling
In the war between momentum and preservation, Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers chose right. Just.
His decision to play almost his entire first- choice team between the two biggest games of their season was a risk.
One his predecessor refused to take. And got wrong. Twice.
But the cur rent boss, carrying a Midas touch, got his reward as his players banged home four more goals to send them to Israel on a high.
Sure, they coughed up another careless two for the second time in four days when they were in cruise control.
Once again, though, they were an irresistible force going forward – and that’s what Rodgers is hoping will carry them through Beer Sheva and into the lucrative Champions League draw on Friday.
Goals from Leigh Griffiths, Scott Sinclair and James Forrest in a 15-minute spell before the break broke Saints’ resilience.
And despite a late wobble that saw Danny Swanson and Steven MacLean narrow the gap to heart-attack close, Ryan Christie’s injury-time strike put a far more realistic sheen on the scoreline.
Rodgers said: “Momentum is more important than rest for us just now. I feel that we’re still at a moment when the players can recover.
“You have to be careful as you can lose momentum very quickly. Sometimes you see it in tournament sand campaigns when momentum comes out of a team.
“We drive out of here in a better moment than when we arrived because we’ve now shone in two tough places away from home, Tynecastle and McDiarmid Park.
“And we’ve shown we can create and score goals. It was just a case of managing the squad where I could.
“The team are at a good moment, playing aggressively and with confidence. So just keep on playing.”
Before Celtic’s last two Champions League play- off ties, Ronny Deila made 10 and nine changes respectively – and ended up going out to Maribor and Malmo.
This time, Rodgers has kept his best XI going into the game at ramming speed.
They were utterly dominant here – a yard quicker to the ball in every area.
Although in Saints’ defence, they did keep them at bay for half an hour.
With Steven A nde r son a nd Tam Scobbie m is s ing , the ir defence had an air of the makeshift about it. Richard Foster came straight in at right-back after his midweek move from Ross County, Joe Shaughnessy was in at centre hal f and Paul Paton was wedged tightly on top of them for protection in a 4-1- 4-1.
Which meant very few gaps for Celtic to work in the final third. They were determined to penetrate, though, intricately and constantly working the ball around Saints’ force field.
But it just wasn’t crisp enough and their best early chances came instead from set-pieces.
A great Scott Sinclair free-kick from the side of the box flashed through the bodies but past the far post before the same player
had a volley deflected past by Foster from a corner.
Other than that, a 60-yard, seeing- off-all- comers run by an outstanding Tom Rogic, defied at the death by Alan Mannus, was the best the Hoops had to offer.
All it took was one slip by Tommy Wright’s side to give them the bit between their teeth, however.
Brian Easton lost possession on the half-way line and, before Saints had reorganised, Celtic had capitalised.
The ball went from right to left but Kieran Tierney found Griffiths with the space he had previously been denied and his effort’s deflection off Murray Davidson left Mannus helpless.
Still, the Scotland striker did blot h is 26th bi r thday copybook before the break.
He was booked for a dive, attempting to get a penalty from a Foster challenge he ‘anticipated’.
Presumably Scott Brown had a stern word with him at half-time…
Or maybe not. Celtic would have been too busy lighting the cigars after settling the game with two more goals before the break.
You had to feel for Mannus. Celtic’s build-up play for No. 2 was terrif ic, Rogic feeding Forrest, whose outside of the boot shot was saved superbly.
The keeper also kept out Griffiths’ follow-up but there was nothing the Northern Ireland international could do to prevent Sinclair getting a third bite. He was equally exposed at No. 3, Brad McKay coming a poor second to Griffiths, who freed Forrest to race at the final defender before netting a composed finish.
After a solid half- hour of bodies behind the ball, Wright will have gone in disconsolate at his side’s unravelling.
Saints only had a couple of 25- yarders from David Wotherspoon and Swanson and both were well saved by Craig Gordon. But their hopes for the game rested on their discipline on the back foot and it deserted them for 15 minutes.
On the other hand Rodgers will have been thrilled at the breathing space his side’s efforts had given them to dial things back ahead of Tuesday night.
And the intensity did drop – but not before Rogic had smashed a 20- yarder off the bar, denying him the goal his efforts probably deserved.
The Celtic boss eventually started getting the cotton wool out for some of his starting line-up, a good job well done – or so he thought.
Although he was lucky he actually got the chance to sub Griffiths. His frustrated but cynical trip on McKay could easily have earned him a second yellow. But they all made it comfortably intact for the flight to Israel tomorrow.
Not without a late fright, though. Sub Liam Henderson’s trip on Swanson saw the winger convert the penalty to put what felt like a light gloss on the scoreline that the Perth men barely deserved.
That became a heavy gloss in the last minute of normal time when MacLean clipped home a Swanson cross to set alarm bells ringing.
In the end though, Christie’s rebound from Sinclair’s saved shot re s tored a scoreline that more ref lected Celtic’s dominance.
Four goals conceded in their last two games while three up in each, however, will give Rodgers something to mull over.
Forrest said: “We got a wee bit complacent in the second half at times but we showed character to get the fourth goal and kill the game. We can stop that complacency from happening.
“But momentum is the right word for what we have now because we had a good performance on Wednesday then we all wanted to come here and play because the league is important.”