Thoughtful
Celtic’s six shooters provided the 17,000 fans at Parkhead last night with plenty of entertainment and Neil Lennon lots of questions before naming his team to face Hibs on Saturday.
Georgios Samaras, Anthony Stokes and Gary Hooper shared the goals tonight as Daryl Murphy watched from the stand with two other recent scorers- James Forrest and Paddy McCourt- missing through injury.
Recent cup ties at Celtic Park have made for painful viewing as Falkirk, Aberdeen and Hearts celebrated victories but there was to be no repeat of those results or another cup ‘shock’ from 2000. This time around Inverness Caley Thistle were unable to live with the pace of Celtic’s play which for once was matched by a killer instinct around goal.
Much of the praise for the performance belongs in midfield where Ki Sung Yeung gave his manager a reminder of just what he is capable of.
Playing alongside Joe Ledley, Ki was responsible for a number of eye- catching passes that kept Hooper and Stokes harassing the visitors defence.
After two seasons of slow build up and territorial domination without any bite it was a pleasure to see a Celtic team hurting opponents.
Down the flanks Efrain Juarez and Samaras were vital as they stretched the Inverness defence and created openings for Stokes and Hooper who quickly seemed to develop an understanding.
It took a last gasp clearance from Ki in the first minute to deny the visitors a chance  but in the 17th minute it was Celtic who took the lead.
A corner from the right was cleared to the edge of the box with Samaras well placed in front of goal to re-direct Ledley’s shot high into the net.
Four minutes later Hooper showed that his sharpness hadn’t been blunted by his lay-off with an instinctive turn eight yards from goal before sending his shot high into the net.
Stokes, Juarez and Samaras all had chances to increase Celtic’s lead before a bizarre third goal seven minutes from the interval.
Samaras timed his run perfectly to collect a great diagonal pass from Ki but his weak shot was parried by Jonny Tuffney with incoming defender David Proctor bundling the ball into the net.
Lennon resisted any half time changes although he had been forced into an 11th minute change when Emilio Izaguirre pulled up with a muscle injury sending Charlie Mulgrew on as a direct replacement.
Inverness stuck to their passing game despite the scoreline but were left chasing shadows when Celtic moved up through the gears.
Just before the hour mark Samaras notched number four when he dispossessed Proctor in the box before drilling a low shot into the net.
That was the call for Stokes to get himself on the scoresheet with the 22-year-old Dubliner scoring his first goals as a Celtic player on home soil.
Timing his run to beat the offside trap Stokes raced in on goal in the 74th minute only to be sent tumbling by Tuffney who was yellow carded by referee Dougie McDonald with Stokes dusting himself down before netting from twelve yards and putting in his application to become resident penalty taker.
Goal of the night was still to come and was duly delivered in the 81st minute by Stokes showing all the form of a striker bursting with confidence.
Fancying his chances 25 yards from goal the striker let rip with a great diagonal shot that gave Tuffney no chance.
The win, the goals, the performance were all very pleasing.
The demons and distress of the last two season’s appear not to have been passed on to Lenon’s new look side. They play with purpose and pace, they believe in themselves for a manager who has as much to prove as any of the players.
Judgement won’t be delivered domestically until October 24 but two months into the season Lennon’s team have made their mark on the fans who are again looking forward to getting along to the match.
There are various permutations for the six attacking places against Hibs on Saturday with as many options for places on the bench.
Picking up points is the best way to build up confidence and momentum, game by game you can see this Celtic side growing into a formidable unit although the mix in defence isn’t as comfortable as elsewhere.
Back-to-back home wins over Hibs and Hamilton will set the side up nicely for the next international break- as the clock ticks towards the October 24 visit from Rangers.
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