2017-08-19: Kilmarnock 0-2 Celtic, SP

Match Pictures | Matches: 2017 – 2018 | 2017-18 Pictures

Trivia

• Back to the league
• Celtic won in the Champions League play-offs first leg comfortably 5-0 v Astana, equalling a record win in this round.
• Five Celtic academy players lined up today. Did well in what was a drab match on a poor pitch.
• Aberdeen win and keep their challenge up with Celtic.
• Sevco draw with Hearts, so Celtic are five pts ahead of Sevco already after just three league games. Their manger is well under pressure.
• Gay pride march in Glasgow today, so banner by GB to mark the occasion.

  Transfers:

• Ex-Celt van Dijk still up for grabs for record amounts. Big spin-off for Celtic.
• Stuart Armstong signed a 2 year contract (to 2019), the talks had been protracted, and his form had suffered, so hopefully he’ll get back his workrate and form now. On the other hand it’s a short contract, and cynics believe he’ll be gone in time.
• Celtic’s interest in Rivaldo Coetzee has been confirmed by his club Ajax Cape Town. The South African international was watched by Parkhead scouts
• Paper talk that Burnley to bid £10m for Simunovic
• Paddy Roberts expected to sign on for Celtic next week, but will it be an expensive loan?
• Plymouth Argyle to sign Turkish striker Nadir Ciftci on a season-long loan from Celtic next week.

Review

(kevtic of KDS)
Today highlights how far ahead we are and how far we've come in such a short time. Imagine Delia had a played that kind of line up, we would have been Today I was looking forward to seeing how the young boys played especially after the league cup win. None of them let the side down and most of them equipped themselves very well. We were comfortable for the majority of the game without really putting Killie under extreme pressure. We just didn't let them have the ball.

In the end it was just too easy. So much to look forward to already this season.

(Pawel B of KDS)
That was far easier than it shouldve been. Kilmarnock were utter pish. Didnt put any pressure on our young defence at all. Hopefully they'll get flushed away this season.

Ajer and Miller were both very good and thought Broony was excellent as well. Big Tam stole the show though. Think the last week has proved that his is defo our first choice CAM.

Still feel that were are quite a bit hindered without a striker but killie were so poor you wouldnt have noticed today.

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Stats

Kilmarnock
Celtic

Possession
Home37%
Away63%

Shots
Home3
Away15

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Home0
Away6

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Home5
Away5

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Home15
Away6

Articles

Kilmarnock 0 – 2 Celtic: Changed Celtic coast to victory
Celtic's James Forrest celebrates his opening goal. Picture: SNS/Craig Williamson
Andrew Smith at Rugby Park
Published: 14:33 Saturday 19 August 2017
http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/competitions/premiership/kilmarnock-0-2-celtic-changed-celtic-coast-to-victory-1-4536537
Goals from James Forrest and Callum McGregor gave a much-changed Celtic side a 2-0 Ladbrokes Premiership win over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.
There appears to be a Celtic senior side, and a side they send out to face Kilmarnock. For the second time in 12 days, changing half their personnel from the previous encounter didn’t make one blind bit of difference to the outcome of a joust with the Ayrshire club. If yesterday’s largely unremarkable 2-0 win wasn’t as painful for Lee McCulloch’s men as the earlier 5-0 Betfred Cup battering at Celtic Park, it was still an occasion to make them wince. After a fourth straight defeat of a season that has already brought three home league losses, it could be no other way.
Fresh from their Champions League exploits in the pizzazz-filled 5-0 play-off success over Astana, the visitors weren’t that fresh. Understandable, after the emotional high of that night. A starting line-up shorn of Leigh Griffiths, Scott Sinclair, Jozo Simunovic, Mikel Lustig, Olivier Ntcham and Nir Bitton, was well-served by Scottish full-backs Calvin Miller and Anthony Ralston and former Kilmarnock loanee Kristoffer Ajer.
The crucial contributions were made by men who often do make them, however. No one more so than Tom Rogic, whose balletic grace with the ball at his feet was central to the two goals plundered by the Scottish champions.
A meandering sort of affair was shaken up by the Australian’s capacity for driving daintily into his opponents’ penalty area – as he did to set his team on their way against an Astana side who they will play again on Tuesday in Kazakhstan to fullfil their Champions League play-off commitments.
Rogic seemed to skip over the challenge of Adam Frizzell in the 40th minute before squaring for James Forrest – auxiliary striker once more – to squeeze a low shot through a ruck of players in with a deft side-foot from eight yards.
Aside from an effort that new Kilmarnock signing Eamonn Brophy tugged wide from an inviting Chris Burke corner late on, a 47th win in a 51-game unbeaten domestic sequence under Rodgers was never threatened. It was sealed two minutes from normal time when Rogic galloped forward and sought to release substitute Griffiths, only for the ball to arrive at the feet of Callum McGregor – ghosting in behind his team-mate – who despatched it past Jamie MacDonald clinically.
“The goal is absolute magic,” Rodgers said of Rogic’s contribution to the opener. “I was right behind it and you just notice him lift the ball over the defender to continue his run. If he tries to play it along the floor, the defender blocks it. But he’s a big, big talent and he has the awareness to cut it back for what wasn’t an easy finish for James.
“And the second one, it’s the difference between a player who allows you to go forward or just keep possession. We want to keep the ball but we also want to penetrate and with players like him in the attacking third, the ability is there to do that. He’s fantastic.”
Rodgers, effusive in his praise of the now under pressure Lee McCulloch, delighted in the manner he felt his makeshift team exhibited the understanding of a more experienced first 11.
“All the players train hard and they understand the structure of the team,” Rodgers said. “Then it’s just replacing one player with one of a similar profile. That’s what you look for whenever you’re recruiting players. And how I work in particular there needs to be a certain ability to run, be mobile and have technique.
“They need to be able to take on board information so if there’s a player who comes through into the system they should have all of those attributes, so that when you take one out another one goes in – then it’s just a clone really.”
Celtic will be cloning such straightforward wins across the Premiership campaign, no doubt. Right now, McCulloch would love to introduce that into the DNA of a Kilmarnock team that have completely lost their ability to prosper in their home environs.
“You could argue we’re better away from home, although we don’t know that yet this season,” said McCulloch, whose team have a fourth straight home league game next Saturday when Hamilton will be visitors.
“In the last seven years, it’s been the worst home form in the club’s history. I would love someone to tell me why that is, because there’s been different managers, different players, different pitch. I would quite like to find the answer to that. But it had nothing to do with the performance today.”
If McCulloch was disconsolate – “we do need to start picking up points now” – Rodgers provided the contrast. “Did anyone see me fall at half-time? I’ll put a claim in, I think. You didn’t see it? Good.”
Cue much waggery about it being Rodgers’ first notable slip-up in 15 months in charge.

BBC
Celtic clocked up another dominant performance and victory over Kilmarnock thanks to strikes by James Forrest and Callum McGregor.

The goals came late in both halves, and were created by the vision and touch of Tom Rogic.

Celtic were not at full strength, making six changes to the starting line-up, but still commanded the game.

Kilmarnock were restricted to half chances and unable to disrupt the visitors' accomplished passing.

The victory – Celtic are now 52 domestic games unbeaten – moved the defending champions top of the Scottish Premiership, with the rest of the teams still to play later in the afternoon.

Kilmarnock have now lost all three of their opening league games for the first time since 1995.
Celtic midfielder Callum McGregor
Celtic midfielder Callum McGregor wrapped up the victory with a second goal with two minutes remaining

Brendan Rodgers' team selection was an expression of Celtic's growing dominance. Only five players remained from the side that began Wednesday's Champions League play-off tie against Astana, and five of the starters at Rugby Park were graduates from the club's youth academy.

The back line, in particular, was testament to Celtic's potential strength in depth, with Kieran Tierney the eldest at 20, alongside Anthony Ralston, 18, Kristoffer Ajer, 19, and Calvin Miller, 19. Elsewhere, Kundai Benyu and McGregor were provided with opportunities to impress and Forrest returned to his makeshift centre-forward role.

Kilmarnock ought to have responded with a sense of purpose against a visiting side that was not at full strength, but the recent 5-0 Scottish League Cup defeat to another Celtic side that contained several fringe players, would also have played on their minds.

The home side conceded territory and possession to Celtic, as they sat off the visitors, stayed behind the ball and attempted to close off their passing angles. Celtic are accustomed to facing that level of containment, though, and they merely passed from side to side with an air of calm governance.
Kilmarnock manager Lee McCulloch
Kilmarnock manager Lee McCulloch has watched his side lose their opening three games for the first time in 22 years

Rodgers talks often about the strategy of his side, and elements of this display were recognisable, such as Miller playing high and wide on the left, Benyu tucking in as another central attacker, and Ralston dropping back when attacks were on the left to leave a solid back three.

Patience rather than urgency shaped Celtic's approach. Scott Brown was central, collecting the ball from his centre-backs, moving it from flank to flank, and also providing a further level of defensive security on the rare occasions when Kilmarnock carried the ball forward.

There were moments for Celtic to endure, as Ralston headed a Stephen O'Donnell cross wide of his own post, but otherwise the visitors could play as if convinced of their eventual breakthrough.

It came when Rogic embarked on one of his ghosting runs into the Kilmarnock penalty area, ambling past tackles before slipping the ball back for Forrest to side-foot into the net.
Celtic defender Kieran Tierney
Kieran Tierney was the elder statesman in Celtic's defence, at just 20

Brown, with a header wide, and Miller, with a ball that flashed across the face of the goal, also troubled Kilmarnock in the opening half. The left-back might also have added to the advantage after the break after linking slickly with Forrest, but stabbed the ball straight at Kilmarnock goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald.

The Rugby Park manager Lee McCulloch tried to alter the game's dynamic by withdrawing a midfielder in Steven Smith and replacing him with the striker Eamonn Brophy, but Celtic took further control.

Rogic flitted in and out of the game, but his touches always carried the potential to be flourishes of creativity. With a deft shuffle and release of the ball, he sent McGregor into the penalty area late on, and the midfielder calmly steered a shot past the exposed MacDonald.

The goal ended the tie as a contest, but in truth Celtic had never looked in anything other than total control.