3 Takeaways: Celtic punish Killie in League Cup

We knew squad rotation was going to happen as Celtic went in to the League Cup. But, we likely didn’t expect the scoreline to go the way it did.

Celtic, with eight changes to its lineup from the SPFL opener against Hearts on Saturday, took down Kilmarnock 5-0 in the Betfred League Cup.

With that kind of a scoreline one would think there wasn’t much to take away. That couldn’t have been further from the truth though, and that is in large part because so many squad players saw action on Tuesday night.

So, what did we learn from Celtic’s massive win? Let’s look at the biggest takeaways from this match.

Kieran Tierney is Brilliant. Period.

Look, we all know that Tierney may be the best player Celtic have produced from its youth ranks in decades. But, what he did against Killie on Tuesday was just incredible.

He moved inside and put on the captain’s armband as Scott Brown was out on suspension. Oh, and something about an average age of 19.2 years for the entire back four in defense.

Despite the youth, Tierney, who was the elder statesman of the group, led them to a clean sheet and it wasn’t even that difficult. Perhaps that is as big an indictment of Kilmarnock’s overall quality as it is about Celtic’s young defense.

But, the fact that there were no mistakes for Killie to take advantage of is a great feather in the cap of all of the defensive players and in Tierney’s leadership.

We haven’t even gotten to Tierney’s most brilliant part of the day. How do you top leading a group of 19-year-olds out and bringing in a clean sheet? Well, a 40-yard screamer of a goal from the fill-in center back will do.

Tierney uncorked just such an effort and it is the early and likely Goal of the Year for the Hoops. Just take a look at this:

And this angle:

Brilliant effort from the lad, and one that proves if he wants to stay at Celtic he is exactly the future captain this club needs.

Scottish Football is Brutal

How serious does a Scottish Premiership take the final 16 of the Betfred League Cup? Well, Celtic didn’t take it very seriously with a ton of youth and only four regular starters in the lineup — Craig Gordon, Kieran Tierney, Stuart Armstrong and Leigh Griffiths.

More from The Celtic Bhoys

• Celtic handed fresh injury doubt before Feyenoord game
• Celtic’s £40.7 million announcement should scare Rangers
• Brendan Rodgers makes superb claim about returning Celtic player
• BBC pundit makes sensational claim about Celtic hero Kyogo
• Kyogo Furuhashi sends clear message to Celtic doubters

It still managed to win 5-0 and was never really challenged much…by a Kilmarnock team that threw out its best effort.

Now, of course Kilmarnock is tipped as a favorite for relegation out of the Scottish Premiership. But, should any premiership side get drubbed by a bunch of youngsters who are arguably the third choice at their respective positions?

We dared to ask this question while talking to other fans in the Chicago Celtic Supports Club chat — could Celtic have played its U-20 team and still won?

It was partly in jest, but it wouldn’t honestly surprise me given the lack of quality from Killie.

I chalk this up to a major indictment on the quality within Scottish football. I mean, Killie did nothing….NOTHING, to challenge Celtic in any way. About the only challenge that was presented was when a rough challenge resulted in Eboué Kouassi going off injured early on in this contest.

Would a virtually all-second team side beat any EPL side? How about in Germany or Italy? I know those are all top leagues, but is it too much to ask of Scottish football to bring something competitive to the table?

It wasn’t like stars like Leigh Griffiths had to do all the work to get the goals needed to scrape by. Anthony Ralston got his first competitive goal at the age of 18, while Jonny Hayes gave Griffiths his first goal with a brilliant move that cause the defender to take him down in the box.

This was as impressive for the young Celtic players as it was depressing for the state of Scottish football.

Celtic weren’t alone though, as newly promoted Hibs demolished Ayr 5-0 in another Tuesday night tie. At least that came in a SPFL and Championship clash though.

It was also Celtic’s 50th straight win…and something tells me maybe there are just a few more coming before Celtic lose another match.

Young Celts Are Enough to Carry Domestic Football

Many fans, myself included, have been clamoring for Celtic to add a few more pieces to the puzzle. To be fair, much of that has been directed at the needs of the squad on the European front.

But, if Tuesday was just a small sign of things to come from five players under the age of 20, then Celtic may not need to do much in the way of buying players.

Kristoff Ajer, Anthony Ralston and Calvin Miller showed plenty in defense, while both Kouassi and to a lesser extent, Kundai Benyu, also were good in their own right. It was a shame Kouassi couldn’t see the game out because he was having a brilliant start with his linking play and defensive grind helping keep Celtic focused.

But, the biggest lesson on the night is that Celtic likely has all it really needs to get through this season domestically already on the roster. Does it need to strengthen for its goal of advancing out of the Champions League group stage? Yes.

But again, can Celtic really bring in a squad player that is going to make the difference on one end and get bored with domestic football.

Brendan Rodgers has a strange balancing act ahead of him, but it may be the perfect mix of youth in the domestic game and the full-strength squad all the time in Europe.

Let’s just say there isn’t much this squad hasn’t proven it can handle so far and adding anything else to the mix just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

Next: Paddy Requests Return to Hoops

It’s ride or die with this group of player…unless we get a major windfall or Patrick Roberts actually gets to be reunited with buddy-for-life Kieran Tierney.