The Hoops may have had one eye on their trip to London later this week but they took care of business efficiently at Celtic Park yesterday when they beat St Johnstone 5-2. Marco Fortuné got his first couple of goals for the Celts, much to the disgust of tabloid journos and radio pundits throughout the country, and two goals from Shaun Maloney and one from Scott McDonald completed the rout against the side from Perth.
Manager Tony Mowbray said after the match that he had already decided on the team that will face Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in Wednesday's Champions League play-off 2nd leg. Celtic will have to score two goals without reply just to get themselves back into the tie after losing the 1st leg 2-0 at home last week and the manager will send out a team that he hopes can achieve what others have described as Mission Impossible.
"When the Arsenal draw came out the hat I think my idea of how the team might play was settled pretty quickly," said the Celtic boss. "Obviously, the result of the first leg alters your thought patterns of how you might set up for the second leg. If we had been sitting here 2-0 ahead I would probably play a different team than if we were 2-0 down."
" We have to go and score some goals." he continued. "I am pretty clear in my mind what my team is going to be next Wednesday but wait and see. I understand that I get judged. If we lose 2-0 then I've got the team wrong again. But if we manage to win 3-0 everyone will be pretty happy hopefully."
"I would have preferred 5-0." admitted Mogga. "But I think our team is going to be capable of scoring plenty of goals as we go along. The quality we possess in the team it is going to ask lots of questions of the opposition regardless of how many men they play at the back or how many men they put behind the ball. We have some individual talent that can unlock doors for us."
Gary Caldwell's was again the centre of unwanted attention today. Following his calamitous display against Arsenal last week, when he was responsible for both of the Gunners goals, he again showed a shocking error of judgement when he glanced a header directly into the path of onrushing Saints striker Colin Samuel. The Trinidad and Tobago international gleefully ran onto the ball and struck an unstoppable drive past Artur Boruc to make it 2-1.
Mowbray knows stand-in skipper Caldwell from his Hibs days and he insisted that he'll have no qualms about playing the defender against Arsene Wenger's team on Wednesday, in fact the boss admitted that 'Heid' is virtually assured of a place in the starting line-up most weeks. "I'm not concerned at all as he is an outstanding individual." Mowbray said. "I said to him there 'Don't become your own worst enemy, don't feed the monster that's chasing you. Just do your job, be consistent week in week out.' He understands that and I've got no fear he will have the opportunity week in week out to be a top player for us as he will play most weeks."
Summer signing Marc-Antoine Fortune was pleased to get his first goals for club since his move from Nancy and now he has the Gunners in his sights. "I am very happy as it was at home and we won." he said. "I just try to do my best every match and I knew one day I would score. Every player wants to play in Champions League games against the big sides and I hope to start every game but the team comes first. It will be difficult as Arsenal are a very difficult team to play. We did it against Moscow so we will see on Wednesday what will happen."