Celtic 3-Aberdeen 1

By: Matt | August 15th, 2009

Tony Mowbray and Celtic started the SPL campaign off with some flair today, going up to Aberdeen and winning 3-1. Celtic were on the attack from the beginning of the match, creating numerous chances that kept Aberdeen on the back foot. The Green and White wolves were certainly circling the Sheep and Aiden McGeady finally got Celtic on the scoreboard with a, quite frankly, Scott McDonald-like goal. Marc Antoine Fortune created a chance close to the goal that was deflected, but it found the diving foot of Aiden McGeady and it was in the back of the net. Celtic continued to seem to be playing down hill for the first half and McGeady got his second goal in the 42 minute after a good pass from Marc Antoine Fortune and a great strike from the top of the 18 yard box. Scott McDonald added a third for Celtic just two minutes later, capitalizing on a poor clearance by the Sheep defense. The Bhoys went into the locker room on cruise control. Unfortunately, they came out on cruise control as well and seemingly took the 2nd half off. Aberdeen were able to get one back with a nice strike by Sone Aluko, but it was not enough and Celtic coasted to the 3-1 victory. After the jump, check out my thoughts and some highlights.

-Marc Antoine Fortune will score about 10 goals this season, maybe less. He will get some pelters from fans about this total, but make no mistake, he is a key cog in the Celtic attack. He wins long balls, uses his strength to allow more attackers to get forward and can string a pass. His finishing is not the greatest, but he still plays a huge role in Tony Mowbray’s plans.
-Andreas Hinkel was wonderful coming forward, overlapping McGeady and others. This really put Aberdeen on the back foot. However, he had a howler of a defensive game. He actually TRIED TO CLEAR THE BALL ACROSS THE GOAL! Hopefully it was just a bad game. With loud rumors that Hull are interested in him, he might be worth a punt. However, that is not true if it’s only for the reported 1.5 million quid that the media is reporting.
-Aiden McGeady was easily the man of the match. The Dons were pissing themselves with every run he made in the first half. I’ve never seen defender backpedal so quickly when an opposing player came at them. McGeady finally showed some prowess finishing as well. He was able to get his foot on a deflection and his second goal was a great strike. Very promising start.
-Shaun Maloney also had a good game getting forward and creating chances for Celtic. Which is why it was worrying when Maloney had to leave the game late in the contest with an injury. It seemed to be a knee injury, though Maloney was seen walking under his own power. Hopefully it is not serious, but I would not bee surprised if Scott Brown got the start in Maloney’s place, with Marc Antoine Fortune getting a bit more wide.
-Ok, so after one game it might be premature to say this, but Massimo Donati for SPL Comeback of the Year. Donati was great as both a holding midfielder and a Center Half again today. It is amazing what a combination of not running your gums to the press and a new manager will do for a player.
-Another solid match for Danny Fox. Hinkel was the focus of most of the Celtic attacks, in terms of the fullbacks, but Fox did well in defense, especially since his knock when signing was his tackling ability.