‘Brutal in it’s ferocity and savage in it’s nature’ – Jackson sends Celtic warning out to our wannabe rivals

I stated in yesterday morning’s pre match article that the Hearts game could either be the beginning or the end for Martin O’Neill.

By the beginning, I meant the start of a run which kick starts our season into life.

By the end, I meant a loss would result in us heading into Wilfried Nancy territory.

Well, we got our answer.

Seven goals, five of them before half time, and Hearts left looking for somewhere to hide.

Keith Jackson was at Celtic Park, and he didn’t hold back in the Daily Record this morning:

This wasn’t just any old beating. This was a butchering.

A blood-curdling rampage which began in six minutes when Kieran Tierney poached a header from a yard or two out and which did not slow down until Hearts were reduced to a quivering mess.

It was brutal in its ferocity and savage in its nature.

I couldn’t have put it better myself.

Actually, I probably could have, but I’m not going to argue with a headline as good as that one.

Jackson believes Martin O’Neill’s tinkering and tweaking finally paid off yesterday

And I’d go along with that, up to a point.

For weeks we’ve watched Martin throw a different team at the wall every time, and for weeks it hasn’t stuck.

Four defeats in five games will do that to a manager.

But if Thursday night in Lisbon revealed one thing to us in the midst of a humiliating defeat, it’s that we might just have found an effective starting front 3.

I wrote about it in my early morning article today, and I’ll say it again.

From the kick off yesterday, the combination of Osmand, Duran and Hassan proved lethal.

Osmand scored twice in the first half on what was his first senior start.

Duran, through the middle, looked far more comfortable than he has done out wide.

Hassan hit the base of the post when we were 2-0 up, and he had the Hearts defence chasing shadows all afternoon.

Jackson says Osmand “looks every inch an unexpected wildcard”.

Make no mistake, that’s a fair description.

The boy is 20 years old, he is in a hurry, and he runs at defenders like he hasn’t been told how this is supposed to go.

Our main opposition in the Scottish Premiership will have been wishing that Martin O’Neill did not discover this formula

Think about that for a second.

Anyone who fancies themselves as a challenger this season will have watched what happened to Hearts, and they won’t have enjoyed it.

The Ibrox side included.

Because this isn’t a team that has been carefully assembled and polished over a pre season.

It’s a team that appears to have stumbled on its best attack inadvertently, by accident, on a night when everything else went wrong.

And that’s the part that should worry them.

If it works this well by accident, what happens when Martin actually knows what he’s doing with it?

Now, I’m not getting carried away here.

Hearts were poor.

Jackson himself says the Tynecastle side contributed to their own collapse, and he’s right.

Wouter Vrancken set his team up as if defending was somebody else’s job, and we took them apart for it.

Hearts aren’t Celta Vigo.

Having said that, you can only beat what’s put in front of you, and we beat it by seven.

The £11million man sat on the bench and we scored seven without him

Kasper Hogh was hooked at half time in Lisbon, shortly after giving the ball away.

Yesterday he didn’t even start.

Jackson reckons that tells you the manager has seen quite enough to know we aren’t getting our money’s worth.

Harsh?

Maybe.

Then again, when the boy came on he set up Nygren for the seventh with some unselfish work, so who am I to judge him on one afternoon?

But an £11million striker watching from the bench while a 20 year old makes his first start is not a sign of a squad working the way the board told us it would.

Funny how it always comes back to that.

Jackson calls Martin the old fox, but is there life in him yet?

Well, that remains to be seen.

Kieran Tierney opened the scoring after six minutes and then set up Duran – and he was outstanding.

If he’s coming back into form, that alone is worth the admission money.

How much life, exactly?

A week ago I’d have said not much, and I wouldn’t have been alone in saying it.

One game doesn’t wipe out the damage of the last few weeks, and it doesn’t fix a defence that has been leaking chances for fun.

Jackson makes the same point himself when he asks whether this is a genuine turning point or just another spike in a succession of early season dips.

That’s the question that matters.

Did yesterday halt the slide?

If it did, then the momentum has to go into Thursday night against Celta Vigo.

Not just the result, but the shape, the front 3 and the intent.

Because a Europa League campaign doesn’t forgive you for being good only against Hearts.

Jackson put it neatly when he said Martin came back swinging.

But the fight is far from over.

So the beginning, or the end?

Thursday night, and Sunday next at Easter Road will reveal all…

Bring on Celta Vigo!

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