CELTIC won 3-1 against Livingston away on Sunday in convincing style.
The Hoops even missed a penalty but still did more than enough to be good value for their win. Ange tweaked his side more than many fans expected for the midday kick-off and there were big decisions that had Celtic dropped points, would have been called out by many fans.
The inclusion of Bitton and Forrest at the expense of O’Riley and Abada raised eyebrows but the manager got it spot on. There was also the decision to keep Maeda up top and leave Giakoumakis on the bench. Both Forrest and Maeda scored to help Celtic to victory.
74' – Triple #CelticFC sub:
➡️ O'Riley, Giakoumakis & Abada
⬅️ Rogic, Maeda & Forrest⚫️1⃣-3⃣🟢 #LIVCEL | #cinchPrem | #COYBIG🍀
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) March 6, 2022
We’ve been saying it for a while now, if Celtic are going to win this league, they have to call on their whole squad and Ange is doing that. The manager didn’t make any late subs last week against Hibs at Easter Road and the game fizzled out. This week he was making sure his squad was used well.
A huge takeaway from the game came in the 74th minute. With Celtic comfortable, the manager had the luxury to bring on three players in the one go, in a show of strength in depth by the manager.
The three who could have started the match; Giakoumakis, Abada and O’Riley all came on for the final 15 minutes. It didn’t fundamentally change the game but bringing players off who have ran their race and to have that quality on the bench is fantastic to see.
At the start of the season, we didn’t have much of a bench at all. As we head towards the final eight games of the season, having a strong squad could could be the difference.
Not sure you know what “under the radar” means