Celtic 4-1 Hearts

The league flag was raised and the standard set as Celtic overcame a physical challenge from Hearts to run out worthy winners.

Straight out of a battle in Norway on Wednesday night Brendan might some minor changes the most notable of which was an enforced change drafting Bitton in as Centre back for the stricken Sviatchenko. Griffiths started up front having recovered well from his cameo on Wednesday night.

Hearts set out their stall to defend deep with the aim of countering around their focal point of Lafferty up top. Lafferty has a reputation as a bit of a maverick and we got to see his aggressive nature early doors with a ridiculous amount of fouls and squaring up going on. It was no surprise that he was booked but the fact that he got so much latitude with the sheer volume of fouls surprised me. The bookies must have been rubbing their hands at the prospect of a Lafferty sending off.

Celtic started slowly, establishing their typical dominance of possession but only carving out one chance of note and even that was from a set piece. Movement off the ball enabled Griffiths to whip the ball to the back post, finding part time centre back Biton in space, who could only guide the ball tamely past the post with just the goalkeeper to beat.

It would be Biton that would make amends though, his beautiful diagonal pass picking out the snaking run of Griffiths who brought the ball down and shifted the ball between his feet to deceive the goalkeeper and covering defender, enabling the ball to roll past them and into the corner of the net. A predatory moment of skill to poach the lead for the Hoops.

Celtics dominance of possession was a recurring theme in this game and whilst the Celtic pressing game was a major part of this I felt that Ntcham slotted perfectly into the engine room alongside Brown. His confidence to get on the ball, make a smart and positive forward pass belied his lack of game time at Celtic. He was very much on the same wavelength as his team mates and I look forward to seeing how he develops his game going forward.

The first half ended with another glimpse of Rodgers Celtic at their best- fast,intricate short passing found McGregor inside the penalty box on the angle but he could only fire wide of right hand post with Sinclair in close attendance.

1-0 at Half Time is always a dangerous score but Celtic were soon to double their lead as Sinclair made up for a poor miss by reacting first in the box to a defensive error from a corner to scuff the ball into the corner of the net from close range.

The third goal was a much more elegant piece of play as a beautifully threaded ball found McGregor once again inside the penalty box on the angle- this time he floated an unselfish cross onto the head of Griffiths who powered the ball into the unguarded net. The writing was on the wall for this Hearts team and there would be one more painful moment for them before the game was through. This time it was Sinclair who turned his man to drive forward into space in the central area, slipping the ball to McGregor who placed a wonderful shot into the roof of the net, a well deserved reward for his tenacious play.

With a 4 goal lead and 3 points in the bag, Brendan shuffled his deck by taking off the talismanic Griffiths (his only fit striker), the energetic McGregor and the supremely confident Ntcham for the talented Rogic, Hayes and Armstrong. Celtic as a team seemed to take their foot off the gas but Hearts would get a consolation as reward for some positive substitutions. Goncalves ran on to a ball over the top and a weak challenge by Simunovic enabled him to smash a shot on goal that Gordon could only weakly divert into the top corner.

I still have concerns over our defence, it is our nature to take risks by overloading with our fullbacks but there were situations today that could have been avoided with smarter defensive play. Something to work on, especially from set pieces as I believe that Astana will be a threat in that area.

Overall though, it was an impressive first outing from the Bhoys in the league and I look forward to watching us again on Friday