ONLY time will tell whether Brendan Rodgers can emulate or even eclipse the achievements of his illustrious predecessors as Celtic manager when it comes to titles and trophies accumulated.
But Rodgers has, despite having only spent seven months in his role, already surpassed the feats of Davie Hay, Jimmy McGrory, Billy McNeill, Martin O’Neill, Gordon Strachan and even Jock Stein in one respect.
This narrow 1-0 triumph over Hamilton at Parkhead last night means that he has made the best start domestically of anyone to ever occupy his position in the entire 128 year history of the Glasgow club.
Read more: Leigh Griffiths: Hamilton strike shows I can play up front with Moussa Dembele for Celtic
The Irishman’s side extended their unbeaten run to 19 games with the slender victory to ensure that he pipped the record set by O’Neill after his countryman had taken over back in 2000.
It was a fairly uneventful evening for Celtic otherwise. A goal from Leigh Griffiths in the first half meant they extended their lead over their city rivals Rangers, who they meet again at the end of this month at Ibrox, at the head of the top flight table to 11 points. They still have two games in hand to play.
However, the formations used and the personnel utilised were certainly a significant departure from the norm. Leigh Griffiths and Moussa Dembele found themselves together in the same starting line-up for the first time since the 3-0 win over Inverness Caledonian Thistle at home last month.
Read more: Leigh Griffiths: Hamilton strike shows I can play up front with Moussa Dembele for Celtic
The two strikers have dovetailed nicely at times in the 2016/17 campaign - not least in the Betfred Cup semi-final against Rangers at Hampden back in October when Griffiths set up Dembele for the winning goal late on – but usually one or the other has featured.
Rodgers fielded a strong side despite the opposition being just two points off bottom spot in the top flight. But the set-up of his team was a radical change to the 4-2-3-1 which he ordinarily favours.
Emilio Izaguirre found himself relegated to the bench and Mikael Lustig, Erik Sviatchenko and Jozo Simunovic formed a three man defence. Scott Brown dropped back alongside them when the visitors were in possession.
Griffths, who had netted against Partick Thistle at Firhill, on his return to the team on Friday evening, found himself operating in a far deeper role than he does ordinarily with Dembele up front by himself.
There was no shortage of endeavour from the Scotland internationalist, or Stuart Armstrong, Callum McGregor, Patrick Roberts and Tom Rogic alongside him in midfield, but their opponents restricted the chances which they created in the opening half hour.
Indeed, it was Martin Canning’s men who first threatened to net even though the trickery of Roberts side on the right had proved difficult for them to deal with.
Two Ali Crawford corners in rapid succession nearly resulted in the opening goal. Sviatchenko headed the first one out and Massimo Donati, the former Celtic midfielder who was making his return to Parkhead, forced a save from Craig Gordon with the second.
That header seemed to provoke a response in the home team; they produced their first shot on target a minute a later and then opened the scoring soon afterwards.
Roberts supplied Simunovic in the Hamilton area with a cheeky chip in the 36th minute and the centre half tested Garry Woods with an arching header.
Griffiths, though, made no mistake shortly afterwards. Rogic sent Dembele clean through on goal with a defence-splitting upfield pass and the centre forward unselfishly supplied his team mate who shrugged aside the close attentions of Grant Gillespie and stroked home a left foot shot.
It was further evidence, in just the sixth game and only the third league match that the duo have paired up in from kick-off, that the two can form a potent partnership in attack for the Scottish champions.
Crawford, who is sure to be the subject of some interest during the January transfer window, tried his luck from long-range early in the second half, but Gordon had little difficulty gathering the ball.
Read more: Leigh Griffiths: Hamilton strike shows I can play up front with Moussa Dembele for Celtic
Celtic should have put the result beyond doubt in the second half. The outcome of the game was far closer than it really should have been. Armstrong shot wide after a fine attacking move, Gary Mackay-Steven just failed to get on the end of a Roberts cross after replacing McGregor with an empty net gaping and Rogic shaved the post with a typically-ambitious effort.
Hamilton will, despite the defeat leaving them languishing in the tightly-packed bottom half of the Premiership table, be heartened by how they performed. A late Crawford free-kick, after referee Crawford Allan had reversed his initial decision, was cleared top safety by a frantic Celtic defence.
Eamonn Brophy, the young Irishman who netted twice for Hamilton in little over a month last season, nearly bagged a third with just three minutes remaining. Gordon, though, was alert to his shot and kept another clean sheet as it drifted wide of his left post.
Nir Bitton came on for Demeble in the final moments and helped his side to see out the match. The Israeli may well get the nod to start in the absence of Brown, who is suspended, on Saturday when Dundee visit so the game time will have done him good.
Celtic have now won 14 of the 15 league games they have played under Rodgers. There is little sign of them losing any time soon on the evidence of another professional display and deserved win.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel