Five findings: Celtic 3-1 St Johnstone (H)

Apart from a double save in the dying seconds of the game, you could have put Craig Gordon in the stands in the front row and St Johnstone still wouldn’t have scored a goal of their own.

Boyata’s own goal led to moans and groans from fans but were soon turned to cheers as Griffiths deflected effort sailed over the Saints ‘keeper to level the scoreline. Rogic’s trickery inside the box and a well-taken goal gave Celtic a deserved lead at half-time. A third from the head of Charlie Mulgrew gave Celtic a comfortable advantage as the game finished 3-1.

I’m not saying we were amazing, but maybe someone who got slated several weeks ago by everyone made a very fair point about the current state of the top flight of Scottish football…

John Collins was right

Celtic’s number two is right, just like he is to Deila, the majority of the teams in Scotland are second-rate compared to Celtic. That is why it frustrates me so much when we are seen to be buying players off teams when we have much better quality already or can find better quality in other leagues. That’s what our scouting system is for instead of sitting in Scotland all summer. St Johnstone had two shots on target in the 94th minute. The 94th minute! Yet Collins can’t say these teams aren’t creative enough to beat Celtic? Ok.

It remains to be seen what kind of opposition Aberdeen will be against Celtic this year and Hearts have impressed early on but I expect their squad to be too thin to cope with a full season, especially the Christmas period.

Vendetta against Boyata

What is going on here? All I saw on Twitter after the own goal was this:

ffs… Boyata own goal again…

— Willem Lansink (@Willem_Boyata) August 29, 2015

Another cross another boyata own goal, pile of shite that lad

— Jordan James McBride (@JordanJMcBride) August 29, 2015

I’ve been thinking it for a while, now I’m going to say it. Efe Ambrose is a better defender than Dedryck Boyata. He’s so fkin bad ?

— David Docherty (@daviddc2m) August 29, 2015

The problem is, it wasn’t even Boyata’s fault. He could do nothing but turn the ball into his own net otherwise a St Johnstone player was on hand to score himself. Celtic had two chances to deal with it. Izaguirre needs to do better and not let the winger walk past him and get the cross in so easily. Two, Craig Gordon made a mess of coming to collect the ball and could have prevented it from reaching Boyata. Why is everyone so quick to throw Boyata under the bus instead of identifying how the ball got there the first place.

Blackett unveiled

New signing Tyler Blackett was unveiled today at Paradise and he’s a unit! Having seen him play last year for United I didn’t realise how big he was and hopefully he has a big presence about him in the Hoops shirt this season. If we can get another gem like we did with Denayer then we’re flying. I am looking forward to seeing him play whether it’s at centre-back or left-back.

Is Izaguirre finished at Celtic?

Once Celtic’s best player and voted the league’s best player in the 2010/11 season, after one season he was a bargain for £600,000 from Honduran side, Motagua. He was even linked with a move to Manchester United at one stage, but it’s all falling apart for the 29-year-old. He’s a very good attacking full-back, however, he is to a large extent terrible at defending. Numerous occasions he has been found out defensively and maybe it’s time to say “thank you and goodbye”. He was great – but that was 3 years ago. We need a replacement and new signing Blackett along with Tierney and utility man Mulgrew can be the other options.

Van Dijk’s swansong at Paradise

Having just watched the 90 minutes I switched off the game and knew it could be the last time I could see the Dutchman in the famous Hoops. What fans at the game saw after was a player saying goodbye. His body language was that of a farewell after the final whistle. He wasn’t last to leave the field as walked down the tunnel with his head bowed. Van Dijk shouldn’t feel ashamed of leaving to further his career. I commend him for his tie at the club and proving to be Celtic’s best centre-half for quite some time. His ability for a centre-back is world class, I hope he can just put it together for his next club and make a name for himself in the Premier League – his likely destination.

Overall

Another three points though nothing to get excited about given the quality of the opposition. Commons is making a case to start ahead of Deila’s fellow Norwegian Johansen and it seemed plenty of fans were glad to see him dropped today for the Scot. What we hope for now is some departures and replacements brought in to freshen the squad up and prepare for the Europa League and the top of the table clash with Aberdeen after the international break.