Someone forgot to tell Celtic to save some goals for Wednesday. At least that is what it felt like, as the Bhoys demolished Sunderland 5-0 in front of a raucous 7,000 Celtic supporters on their travels to the Stadium of Light.
It was an impressive all-around performance, with Celtic largely trotting out its second team and fringe players. Names like Kristoff Ajer, Anthony Ralston and Calvin Miller all saw time in the back of Celtic’s formation.
That should give you a clue as to what the Bhoys were trotting out on the day. It didn’t matter though, as the Hoops put up a 5-0 scoreline and it was last season’s surprises that did most of the damage.
But, what did we actually learn from Celtic blowing away one of the favorites to win the English Championship? Let’s look at three takeaways from the victory.
Callum McGregor Isn’t Going Anywhere
Over the past few weeks it seems that young central midfielder Callum McGregor was being squeezed out of the Celtic side. Between new signing Olivier Ntcham and returning stars Stuart Armstrong and Tom Rogic, where was there room for McGregor.
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Well, a hat-trick effort against Sunderland certainly was a statement of intent from the 24-year old midfielder. It still may mean he sees the bench more than the pitch this season, but even in a diminished role, McGregor hasn’t lost the spark in his play.
As Celtic see the injury bug hit the squad, McGregor is the perfect cover and still clearly a player who has a future with Celtic. McGregor proved valuable in attack after the Bhoys were blanked during midweek action.
You have to love a guy getting an opportunity and making the most of it. McGregor is doing his job — forcing a tough decision on match day for the manager. We’ll see if it earns him even more playing time though.
This is a perfect example of exactly what Rodgers and Co. have been talking about in terms of competition within the squad. Everyone is going to be better for performances like this in friendlies and on the training pitch.
Dorus de Vries Still has Quality
It has been a very long time since we’ve seen last summers goalkeeping signing Dorus de Vries. His rocky start to his days between the pipes at Celtic and the return to form of Craig Gordon in late August settled the debate.
But, de Vries was arguably one of the top three players for the Hoops against the Black Cats on Saturday. Celtic were up 2-0 as Olivier Ntcham was caught in no-man’s land in the box and committed a penalty. de Vries stepped up and Celtic kept a clean sheet as a result.
It wan’t just the double save either, as de Vries also came up big on a one-on-one breakaway situation for Sunderland in the second half. Celtic kept a clean sheet on the day, but it was because of de Vries and not for a lack of action on his part.
His distribution out of the back, which was supposed to be his strong suit last season, was on point and most importantly, he was sharp when called upon.
Kristoff Ajer Rising Quickly
In what is not-so-subtly becoming a trend under Rodgers, it appears another younger player thought to be on the fringe of the squad has shown to be valuable. After being thrown in to the fire against Rosenborg, Ajer earned a start against Sunderland and was one of Celtic’s best players on the pitch.
His partnership with Kieran Tierney, who was playing out of position in the center of defense, was really good. Ajer was confident in his positioning and much more confident on the ball today. Ajer was able to pick out Miller down the wing on multiple occasions and never really had issues with bad passes or putting teammates in troublesome spots.
These past two performances should give Rodgers and the fans plenty of confidence that they have the necessary cover at center back. It should also be an interesting next few weeks with Sviatchenko wanting to go and how Ajer’s performances help inform Rodgers’ decisions at that position.
Dare we say we have another star rising? It may be too soon to declare that, but Ajer is showing some of the same signs we saw from Armstrong, McGregor and Boyata as they made room for themselves in the Starting XI last year.