Celtic take massive step in the right direction vs Aberdeen

Someone, somewhere has pressed the Celtic reset button and we can identify what that’s started to fix after Sunday’s Cup semi final win.

Sunday’s semi final was another much improved performance in places for Celtic. That follows the progressive efforts away at Aberdeen and Lille.

Celtic aren’t out of the woods yet, there’s more improvement that needs to happen to raise the performance further. A 2-0 win over Aberdeen in a Scottish Cup semi final to pave the way to sealing a possible fourth consecutive treble, that’s surely a positive step indeed.

What’s changed and made a difference? Let’s start with the team, it’s been much quieter on the leaks front, the mole may have been dealt with. And then when we see the official selection, the reaction has been more smiles and admiring nods than shock, surprise and bewilderment.

That of course lies in more players now being available for selection. Nir Bitton covered the Kris Ajer gap very well. We saw Odsonne Edouard back and looking sharp until he ran out of steam. Neil Lennon had several strikers available for a change. Mohammed Elyounoussi brought his Lille form to Hampden. Laxalt continued to look great in the Hoops, what a find! Shane Duffy defended well and while he can do more on this next point, he did simplify his passing at times.

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There was a fantastic 20 minutes or so in the first half where it all came together perfectly for Celtic and we saw Ryan Christie make a very perfect shot selection with a fantastic opening goal and much, much less in the way of wayward attempts wasting possession. The whole squad sparkled in that period, as good if not better than they have seemed so far this season.

The players had more confidence, swagger and attitude, which also made another step change of improvement. The second half faded after a bright start for Celtic, but they looked comfortable and Lennon made sensible substitutions at the appropriate time.

And most Celtic supporters will also nod and generally agree with the managers view of the performance, which hasn’t always been the case over recent matches.

Overall it looked like pressing a reset button to get Celtic rebooted and loading up their better form. It could be a great step forward and the game against Sparta Prague on Thursday offers another opportunity for a quality performance.