It took 55 minutes to arrive but after Charlie Mulgrew opened the scoring at St Mirren Neil Lennon’s side turned on the style to dump the Paisley side 4-0.
Three single goal victories had almost killed off the festive goodwill among the Celtic support despite watching their side start the new year unbeaten after 19 SPFL matches.
Nineteen minutes after Mulgrew found the net Kris Commons rifled a shot high into the net to complete the scoring following an Anthony Stokes strike and a header from Commons- his 50th Celtic goal in three years.
The return to form was welcomed by the fans with only the combination of the woodwork and some inspired goalkeeping from Marion Kello keeping the score down.
Without doubt the star of the show this season has been Commons who seems to have taken on extra responsibility with the team missing Gary Hooper and Victor Wanyama.
The former Derby County man cost just £300,000 when he arrived in Glasgow three years ago with Lennon in no doubt about the value and quality of his former Nottingham Forest team-mate.
“Kris’s goal return is fantastic and it would be interesting to see how many assists he’s had also,” his boss said.
“He is a player who I believe will get better because there are aspects of his game he can work on.
“At 30 years of age the penny drops but his goal return this season has been good and he’s so important for us.
“He has three, four, five good years still in him and is getting better.
“His vision is fantastic and the chip that hit the post would have been a contender for goal of the season but I’m sure he’ll acknowledge the contribution of Emilio Izaguirre and James Forrest for his goals.”
Morning Joe,
Celtic looked a real good side in the second half in particular yesterday, easy on the eye,free flowing football with an end product, great stuff & Commons in particular set the standards required for a Celtic player in an away game, excellent.
If/when we sign a goal machine, we should be untouchable domestically.
If we look at the team from last year, Wilson,Wanyama & Hooper gone, Van Dijk is better than Wilson, so we really only need to replace Wanyama (Biton) & Hooper?
A major goal grabber is a priority & I would have liked to have seen Celtic try to re- sign Aiden McGeady! HH!
Just the tonic, both players and fans needed,after previous sterile performances.
I hope the downside,of this good performance, is NOT Lawwell deciding,
everything in the garden is rosy.And why
do we need transfers ?
This would be folly on Lawwell’s part. The
feel- good factor of the fans, has to be
maintained, and by signing quality players
( for CL qual. ) this would be achieved.
Morning Peter,
Totally agree with you, when I look around the squad Peter I think we have a really good squad, we just need a couple of prolific strikers & we would be a really good side!
Also if big Lurch is going in the summer, I’d sell him now, would like to see Kasper Schmeichel at Celtic! HH!
Just in,Monti.
Agree re big lurch.
The 6M+ could be put to good use.
Schmeichel is a good shout. A cheaper option would be david Forde at millwall.
The Ireland No1 is a safe pair of hands and is desperate to come to Celtic.
A quality striker we should be looking at is
is Luuk de Jong of Borussia Monchengladbach.Newcastle are trying to get him on loan,We should steal a march on them.
At 23, he is at a good age.He played for Ajax against us, 2 year ago, when we lost four nil.Altough, it was a friendly,he was unplayable against us.
Nakhi Wells would be a cheaper option. And is David Forde not 33 years old
Timtim67.
I am 100% with you, with.Wells.
I think he would be a scoring sensation
up here.
However, he needs a big strong target
man to play off of.
We need a new striking partnership.
timtim,
re forde,yes he is 33.But, as you know
keepers can go on into their late 30’s.
This is getting a bit of a habit. Dream result, but the first half was dire.
I think we’re all agreed on the striking front. I actually felt sorry for big Balde when he came on, he looked like a lost soul. Stokes’s goal was class, but one class goal a half season is just not good enough.
In midfield I like what I see in Biton, think he could be a surprise package. Commons goals are invaluable and his effort is undoubtable but I lost count how many times he had the ball taken off him. He’s never a Lubo but thats exactly the type of midfielder we need.
Lets get biscuit tin opened and spoil ourselves for a change.
hail hail