Timothy Weah – On our way to make it 10

Ladies and gentlemen, Timothy Weah

What a start Timothy Weah has made to his Celtic career. Three goals in five games with an assist or a goal every thirty six minutes. This currently makes him the most prolific striker in the Scottish Premiership and given the fact he is only eighteen, that is quite the statistic.

Weah starred in Sundays victory over St Johnstone as he came off the bench to not only assist the opening goal, but also score himself. However before Weah’s introduction Celtic struggled to break the deadlock due to the phenomenal performance of saints goalkeeper Zander Clark. Despite the large amount of possession the hoops could not seem to find their way past Clark, who it looked like was on a one man mission to keep a clean sheet.

The game was crying out for a bit of magic and Weah provided it when he was subbed on for an injured Edouard. Almost immediately he started to make a difference with his runs in behind causing St Johnstone all sorts of problems. It was this that led to the first goal when an excellent pass from Scott Brown played in Weah who only needed one touch to control it, another to steady himself and then a further one to drill it along the ground to James Forrest who poked it home, much to Zander Clark’s dismay.

Unfortunately not long after Forrest limped off injured with a suspected hamstring problem and this, along with Odsonne Edouard being strechered off, will be real concern for Brendan Rodgers.

Weah would soon get in on the act when he finished off an excellent counter attack which saw himself, Scott Sinclair and Callum Mcgregor run almost the full length of the pitch in a matter of seconds. This secured an important result for Celtic, which keeps them six points clear of Rangers at the top of the table.

Project management

Celtic are a club that in recent years have always felt like a project when realistically they should have been well on their way to be becoming the finished article. The most recent example of this is the clubs failure to properly invest in the last couple of transfer windows and the lack of backing given to the manager in signing players in key positions such as at right back.

The fans frustration was clear to see on Saturday.

Frustration aside, Celtic looked to make it three wins on the bounce when they played Hamilton on Saturday. Much like the previous two games they dominated possession from the start. They had plenty of chances with the Hamilton goalkeeper pulling off a string of terrific saves including in an excellent one on one with Weah, who really should of scored. Despite his terrific first half performance it was his own mistake that gifted Celtic the lead when he allowed a Callum McGregor shot to slip through his legs just before half time.

Into the second half and Celtic continued to dominate but there was an air of sluggishness about their play. Despite the high rates of possession, a lot of the passing was poor and the ball was consistently being played back. However Celtic would go on to score two more with Christie getting a lucky rebound after the keeper spilled the ball and Sinclair scoring a header after not being picked up at the back post. It was a good result even though the performance was quite average. They will need to be better however when coming up against better opposition.

Saturday was a reminder from fans that the clubs bid for ten titles in a row is not a project and that it is something they cannot allow to slip away.

Wanting what you cannot have

I have always been fascinated by the men who sign for Celtic that I know the club can’t keep. Players such as Robbie Keane and Patrick Roberts are amongst the talent who I have grown to love most in my time watching football. After Wednesdays game against St Mirren I can now add Timothy Weah and Oliver Burke to the list of players whose departures I won’t ever get over.

Putting the future emotional damage to one side, it was back to basics for Celtic on Wednesday, as they returned to league action for the first time since losing the title to Rangers on the 29th of December. Brendan Rodgers made one change from Saturdays victory against Airdrie, with Kristoffer Ajer replacing Dedryck Boyata. Almost identical to the weekends performance, Celtic dominated possession from the outset. The ball was moving fast and the opening came on the 11th minute when Burke scored his first goal for the club with a header from a Ryan Christie free kick. Celtic continued to pile on the pressure in the first half and the Paisley side were opened up again when Scott Sinclair was fouled inside the box. Just like on Saturday Sinclair stepped up but this time he converted the spot kick.

Into the second half and Celtic continued to dominate. It was only a matter of time before the next goal came and it arrived on the 55th minute when Burke scored his second. Ten minutes later he was replaced by Weah who himself would go on to score four minutes from time. It was another instinctive finish from the American, who similarly to the weekend, ran in behind and finished with one touch.

Even though both Weah and Burke have just arrived it is fair to say that I am already upset at their future goodbye posts on Instagram.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

When The Outhere Brothers wrote their song “Boom Boom Boom” they could only dream that the track would be played at a 4th round Scottish Cup game. However I am sure they will be glad to know that they can now tick that off their bucket list. While some fans complained about the tune, I think I can speak for everyone when I say that it is a musical masterpiece compared to the Scott Brown tribute song released last year.

Questionable song choices aside though, Celtic had a job to do on Saturday. Coming off their embarrassing performance against Rangers and the three week winter break which followed, the team had a point to prove. The game started as many would have expected with Celtic dominating possession and Airdrie putting every man behind the ball. The game was going to open up eventually and it happened just after the half hour mark when Izaguirre was fouled inside the box. Scott Sinclair stepped up but his spot kick was saved. This was the start of an up and down game for Sinclair which saw him miss an open goal shortly after before scoring in each half and then being denied a hat trick due to a poor offside call from the linesmen.

Scott Sinclair was involved in a lot of the games key moments.

Airdrie offered little throughout the game, apart from a moment in the first half when Scott Bain pulled off a remarkable string of saves in a row to deny the league 1 side an equaliser.

Celtic played with pace and intent throughout and this was exemplified when new signing Timothy Weah came off the bench to score. An excellent pass by Dedryck Boyata played Weah in behind allowing him to slip the ball past the goalkeeper. As he scored the aforementioned Outhere Brothers track played and if he continues to play like he did at the weekend then I am all for it.