Champions head north


First stern test of the season coming up on Saturday as Inverness host champions Celtic in the lunchtime kick off at 12:30. Two of the top young talents in the Scottish game will be on display in Callum McGregor for the visitors and our own Ryan Christie likely to get his fourth start of the campaign.

If there's ever a good time to get Celtic, then this could be it with this game sandwiched between their quest to qualify for the group stages of the Champions League, after their reinstatement to the competition when Legia Warsaw fell foul of the regulations and were removed from the event. They faced a tough away game at Maribor last Wednesday and the return game follows this Tuesday at Parkhead. Cheat Derk Boerrigter will miss this one after his blatant dive against St Johnstone was spotted by the beaks and he serves a two match ban.

May 2011 was the last time we defeated Celtic in Inverness and our last two games against the Celts saw us ship eleven goals without reply at Parkhead. Our only home game last season was much tighter with Celtic edging it 0-1, thanks to an early Kris Commons goal. Young Christie came tantalisingly close to securing a point in that game but was just unable to direct a header on target in the final minute.

Ginger Jaggy has been busy sorting this preview for us.........

The league champions head north for their first domestic test against the League leaders up in the highland capital. John Hughes’s new look side took apart the runners up of the last two seasons last weekend, now we have our eyes firmly set on the champions and favourites to retain their title.

There is no better time to play Celtic with the situation going for us to pull off another of those famous victories. We have picked up 7 points from our 3 matches without conceding. Celtic has played a game less and although they have won comfortably in both outings so far they have looked far from convincing. Their 3-0 opening win away to St Johnstone only came after a mistake and a dodgy penalty award got them out of a hole. For the first hour they looked devoid of ideas to break down an organised and stubborn Saints side who grew in confidence and had chances of their own to put even more misery on the hoops after their embarrassment in Europe. The score line was a surprise against a table topping Dundee Utd side that put up very little resistance, but looking at the goals it was less of one of those Celtic performances but more about mistakes and some abysmal defending from set pieces.

The Celtic side is as weak a side that Caley Thistle will have played in the top flight. There have been better which we have beaten in the past so we shouldn’t be daunted about the challenge. Players are gone and with Fraser Forster another high profile player away, Scott Brown injured, a lot will rest on the talent of Kris Commons as Ronny Deila tries to stamp his authority on his new club. But for all this we still must not underestimate as they still have the largest resources and budget in the league.

 As for us, well it looks like the penny has finally dropped. Last season Yogi tried to implement the start of his philosophy but it failed to work with a lack of preparation work in training due to the fixture congestion we suffered. There were still complaints after a disappointing 0-0 draw against newly promoted Dundee just under 2 week ago but last weekend showed the potential of this new style if the players do click. 2-0 was a flattering score line for the Steelmen as it could have been potentially close to Celtics demolition of United last Saturday. But scoreline aside it was a complete performance where Motherwell never got a sniff. Our boys kept the ball so well and pressed with such efficiency that you could be mistaken for watching a Barcelona match from a few years ago. Seriously though Motherwell, a side that has been a bogey side for us were given a footballing lesson. Hopefully we can continue that form as we face the hardest challenge this season.

Celtic will start favourites but as long as we don’t end up anywhere near the hiding we suffered at Parkhead last season then it will be an improvement. But I think we can rise to the occasion and get a result after Celtics travels to Slovenia.              

Yogi has this to say ahead of the big game

Inverness will be without Captain Richie Foran who is reported to be a few weeks from returning and Danny Devine is short of fitness after recovering from his injury. There is a doubt over the fitness of James Vincent but like last week, we never missed him and have players of equal calibre to step in, with Watkins, Doran, Ross and Williams looking to start.

Celtic are without naughty Bhoy Boerrigter, and Scott Brown is out along with James Forrest and Adam Matthews. Not a major problem for the Hoops with their depth of squad, and one which Deila might tamper with anyway as the money spinning Champions League Qualifier is more important for them in the bigger picture with the Premiership a mere sideshow.

tm4tj Prediction:- Early season interfering with European games is usually the best time to tangle with the big Bhoys although Dundee Utd came a cropper last week. Our defence is key to taking anything from this game and so far they have been excellent. Will we get a result. Yes, anything is possible but I am going for a draw, although we might lose our defensive clean sheet. 1-1 for me as long as we concentrate for ninety plus minutes.