2018-12-08: Celtic 5-1 Kilmarnock, SP

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Review

(flatbackground of KDS)
Great performance. McGregor is immense in that sitting role, his touch and passing are excellent. Christie with his usual MOTM-contender performance which he produces every 3 days.

Forrest has more strings to his bow every time you watch him. Never seen a left foot finish like that from him before, and he played a peach of a long pass for Edouard in the 2nd half. He seems to be getting better technically, which is so enjoyable to see in a player.

Thought Benkovic was rash giving away the penalty. Don't think it was inside the box, but I don't know why he went to ground in the first place. He's a class act but he does have moments that remind you he's only 21.

Izzy was excellent and it's good to know we've got the option to rest Tierney when necessary. Not as athletic as Tierney (thought his yellow card was a case of "eff this, I'm not running all the way back with you mate") but his touch and control are superb for a fullback.

Better from Sinclair, especially in the second half. I'm reluctant to get too carried away about him beating players once the game's already won though. Either way he's in our strongest starting 11 atm.

Thought Ntcham was good when he came on, Griffiths on the other hand offered nothing.

The pitch looked quite cut up, which surprised me a bit.

Teams

Celtic

• 1 Gordon
• 23 Lustig
• 5 Simunovic Booked at 9mins
• 32 Benkovic
• 3 Izaguirre Booked at 75mins
• 42 McGregor
• 49 Forrest
• 18 Rogic Substituted for Ntcham at 62'minutes
• 17 Christie Substituted for Brown at 77'minutes
• 11 Sinclair
• 22 Edouard Substituted for Griffiths at 68'minutes

Substitutes

• 4 Hendry
• 8 Brown
• 9 Griffiths
• 12 Gamboa
• 15 Hayes
• 21 Ntcham
• 29 Bain

Kilmarnock
26Bachmann
2O'DonnellBooked at 31mins
16Boyd
17Findlay
3Taylor
27Tshibola Substituted forBrophyat 45'minutes
6PowerBooked at 53mins
8Dicker
7McKenzie
11Jones
19StewartBooked at 54mins Substituted forNdjoliat 78'minutes
Substitutes
1MacDonald
9Boyd
12Ndjoli
18Waters
22Millen
25Brophy
29Burke

Referee:Nick Walsh
Attendance:58,457

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Stats

Home Team
Celtic
Away Team
Kilmarnock

Possession
Home65%
Away35%

Shots
Home20
Away9

Shots on Target
Home11
Away5

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Home5
Away4

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Home14
Away13

Articles

Celtic 5 – 1 Kilmarnock: Celtic return to top after hitting five

Ryan Christie celebrates his goal for Celtic. Pic: SNS/Craig Williamson

Andrew Smith

Published: 16:48 Saturday 08 December 2018
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/celticTheir remarkable ascent to the summit of the Premiership brought much chatter of fairytale for Kilmarnock. The ruthless evisceration meted out to them at Celtic Park had only the bitter tones of Shane McGowan’s Fairytale of New York, though.
Celtic played through them, played round them and simply played them off park in a devastating four-goal first half the ensured their return to the top of the table. A position that their 5-1 victory will see them retain unless Rangers beat Dundee by a four-goal margin on Sunday.
Brendan Rodgers afterwards acknowledged that the mark set by the Rugby Park men had been the motivation for a sparkling display that was the equal of the best they have produced this season.
Their rampant desire, and ability, to get after Kilmarnock was redolent of the dismantlings they have dished out to Aberdeen whenever the Pittodrie men have asked them questions with their positioning in the table in recent seasons. Rodgers dismissed any suggestions that his team had reacted to the Ayrshire club being over-hyped, maintaining the “absolutely brilliant” efforts of Steve Clarke and his squad “deserved” to talked-up. Today was merely a case of those efforts proving the inspiration for his team to step it up.
“That’s very fair,” the Celtic manager said. “That is what I have been leading into with the players in the last couple of days: I feel the competition will make us better. We always focus on our own standard of course, but the competition helps you to improve and get better. Kilmarnock had every right, and everyone should rightly say how well they’ve done. But I think our performance done the talking today and the level and the hunger of the players. It was a great day, good for the supporters as well. It gives them the confidence that they’ve had in the team over the last few months. It allows us to keep improving.”
Kilmarnock, defensively disjointed without the concussed Kirk Broadfoot, were blown away by a side restored to first-choice status following the seven changes Rodgers made for the 1-1 draw at Motherwell. That meant captain Scott Brown being returned to the bench, and, not necessarily in a cause-and-effect scenario, Celtic being returned to the fluent, fearsome attacking force they have been these past two months.
The ratcheted-up finishing prowess of James Forrest kicked off the demolition after five minutes. On an afternoon when he took his scoring tally to 14 in 14 games for club and country, the winger produced an exquisite first-timed strike from a pinpoint ball flighted in from the left by Emilio Izaguirre. The Honduran excelled on an afternoon when he earned only a second start of the season after a tight hamstring led to Kieran Tierney being rested.
Forrest’s second, and Celtic’s fifth midway through the second period, followed a lacerating run from Ryan Christie that led to him being wiped out by keeper Daniel Bachmann, with the ball breaking to Forrest who curled in from an unforgiving angle before referee Nick Walsh could blow for a penalty.
Inbetween times, a move involving Callum McGregor, Christie and Rogic allowed Odsonne Edouard to steamroller his way through to make it 2-1 after 25 minutes, seconds after Craig Gordon had scrambled a save from Jordan Jones. The third came from the outstretched leg of Mikael Lustig, who took flight to direct a McGregor corner in just after the half hour mark.
On the stroke of the interval, Christie curled a free-kick into a space to the Kilmarnock keeper’s side that didn’t exist and the Rugby Park outfit must have feared a real goal avalanche of an afternoon.
Celtic hit the goalframe twice as this was avoided, with Benkovic catching Greg Stewart on the line of the penalty box to bring them the consolation of a goal that then reduced the deficit to 4-1, Eamonn Brophy converting the spot kick.
Brown appeared for the closing 15 minutes but the likelihood of the Celtic captain dislodging any of the central performers that started yesterday for Thursday’s Europa League decider at home to Salzburg would not appear to be in Rodgers’ thinking following a “brilliant team performance”.
“Listen, I have compassion for players, especially those that have done amazing for me,” he said. But what I don’t have is sentimentality. It’s clear that the level and the fluency of the team is there. I have that compassion for players but my job is to win games and to win titles.

SFA ready to back proposals for new League Three
Those two [McGregor and Christie] along with Tom Rogic, have been sensational in how they play.”

BBC

By Jonathan Sutherland

BBC Scotland at Celtic Park

From the section Scottish Premiership

Mikael Lustig
Mikael Lustig's first goal of the season put Celtic three up

Celtic responded to talk of a title challenge by Kilmarnock by annihilating Steve Clarke's side 5-1 to return to the top of the Scottish Premiership.

The Ayrshire club led the division at kick-off but conceded four first-half goals as Celtic flexed their muscles.

James Forrest, Odsonne Edouard, Mikael Lustig and Ryan Christie scored for the champions as the visitors folded.

Eammon Brophy pulled one back after Rory McKenzie was tripped, but Forrest added his second to complete the rout.

Kilmarnock slip to second place and trail Celtic by two points, having played two games more. They will drop to third on Sunday should Rangers avoid defeat at Dundee.

Rodgers lauds 'outstanding' Celtic win
Kilmarnock boss Clarke blames tiredness
Reaction & as it happened

Champions exert authority in devastating opening

Kilmarnock had conceded just 12 goals in 16 games this term, but shipped four in 45 minutes as Celtic exerted their authority from the off. The tempo was high as the champions flew at their visitors.

Emilio Izaguirre – in for Kieran Tierney, who had a slight groin injury – swung in a cross for Forrest to open the scoring and the goal seemed to energise the fans and Celtic never looked back.

They made it 2-0 as Tom Rogic beautifully cushioned a through ball into the path of Edouard, who made no mistake.

Lustig converted from close range to make it 3-0, before Christie put the seal on an outstanding first-half performance with a sublime free kick to make it 4-0 at the break.

How disappointing this must have all been for a Kilmarnock side that had dominated the headlines after taking top spot in the Premiership midweek.

Only the most optimistic Rugby Park fan would have dreamed of a comeback, even when Brophy scored from the penalty spot to make it 4-1 after McKenzie was felled by Filip Benkovic.

But in truth, Celtic could have won by more. Forrest made it 5-1, hit a post, and had a couple of penalty claims. Scott Sinclair also hit the woodwork as Celtic crushed the Kilmarnock uprising.
Ryan Christie's free-kick was his seventh goal in 10 games
Ryan Christie's free-kick was his seventh goal in 10 games
'Celtic show up when it matters again' – analysis

Take nothing away from Celtic, they were superb. But this result also throws into focus just how well Kilmarnock have done in winning two and drawing two of the four previous games between the sides. It was also a reminder of just how difficult it will be for any club to challenge the established order of power in Scottish football.

This underlined the sense that Celtic really do show up when it matters. Rodgers will be hoping that now happens again on Thursday in the crucial Europa League match against RB Salzburg.

The only crumb of comfort for Kilmarnock is that their upcoming fixtures offer a chance to get things back on track – all four games before the winter break come against sides in the bottom half of the table.
'It was an outstanding team performance' – reaction

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers: "We knew we had to play at a high level to get a result. The players deserve a huge amount of credit because of the quality of the football we played.

"When we got the other side of Kilmarnock's midfield our quality in the wide areas and in the centre got us some fantastic goals. All in all it was an outstanding team performance.

Kilmarnock manager Steve Clarke: "I thought Celtic were terrific first half. They were sharper than us and a little bit brighter.

"A big factor in that would be that they had seven fresh players all rested during the week and good to go and I'm flogging my back four. Now we can give them a rest and get ready to go again."