Close menu

Reo Hatate the hero as Celtic reach summit by humbling tired Rangers

By Tom EnglishBBC Scotland

Last updated on .From the section Scottish Premiership

When Reo Hatate's race was run, the Japanese midfielder slowly made his way pitch-side at Celtic Park then turned and gently bowed to the stadium, a gesture of gratitude for the thunderous ovation he was receiving.

So giddy were the home fans by that point that it wouldn't have been a surprise had all 60,000 of them bowed right on back. Frankly, had they simultaneously genuflected and offered up thanks for Hatate and the man who brought him into their world, Ange Postecoglou, it would hardly have been a shock.

Hatate scored two goals and assisted with a third for Liel Abada against Rangers before taking his leave. His class going forward was enough for the home support, but when it's coupled with a desire to work back and assist his defenders then you're into a different realm of player adoration.

Old Firm games are supposed to be anxious affairs for newcomers but Hatate made light of that notion. When they turned off the disco lights, he illuminated the place and he wasn't alone.

This was a rout with many moving parts. Josip Juranovic, Matt O'Riley and Abada did such a tag-teaming number on poor Borna Barisic that the Croatian was taken off at half-time. When Postecoglou said it would be unfair to single out any one player in this pummelling of Giovanni van Bronckhorst's side, he was correct, but he did it anyway. He had some special words for Hatate.

It was the comment about his player still having a way to go to find full fitness that made you think. If this is him not at full throttle, what's he going to be like at maximum pelt? What are Celtic going to produce when Hatate and Kyogo Furuhashi eventually get to play in the same team? Celtic still haven't had their best team on the pitch.

You could say this game was won in five minutes when Hatate scored his first or in 42 minutes when he got his second or on the stroke of half-time when he crossed for Abada to get the third. Or you could say that the game was won before any of that happened, before the players even came into view.

What was stark from the first minute was Celtic's edge. There was no early caution, no wary sparring. Postecoglou's team, metaphorically, came out throwing punches and Rangers looked shocked amid the volley. Instead of keeping it tight, Celtic went for the early knockdown - and they got it. They were in Rangers' faces from then on - and Rangers looked stunned. They became desperately ragged. After 45 minutes the game was half-over, but really it was long over. It could have been four, five or six. All that was missing was the towel coming in.

Celtic are now top of the league. In the aftermath of this victory they celebrated like a club that was exorcising some ghosts. The past year and more has been brutal (first world Scottish football problems, it's true). A dismal season last time round, a ton of rancour as Rangers stormed to the title, high profile exits from the dressing room, the manager's room and the boardroom, protests outside the stadium, a failed bid to land Eddie Howe as manager, a chief executive, Dominic McKay, appointed in a fanfare before leaving abruptly with so many unanswered questions and then airbrushed from history.

Into this morass came Postecoglou. The early weeks were not good. He called out the slackness of player recruitment, more than once. Remember him saying publicly that he mustn't be getting his message across clearly because not enough was happening to get the players he needed in the door? Pointed. Those were dicey times.

Celtic lost league games to Hearts, Rangers and Livingston. When they exited the Champions League the back four that finished the fateful game against Midtjylland was Anthony Ralston, Stephen Welsh, Dane Murray and Adam Montgomery. Two teenagers, a 21-year-old and the elder statesman, Ralston, who was 22.

The journey from that point to this point has been impressive. Nobody can know whether Celtic will win the title but what was roaringly obvious on Wednesday was that they're back. Their fans had plenty of evidence, but maybe it needed a victory against their oldest enemy to convince them that the dial has shifted again in Glasgow.

Certainly those post-match celebrations had a power about them that suggested that it was the full stop being applied to what happened last season and early this season, the chaos that Postecoglou has turned on its head. In one way it doesn't seem that long since banners outside Celtic Park called for heads. In another way it seems like an age ago.

Odsonne Edouard and Kristofer Ajer were sold in the summer for a combined £28m, give or take. Postecoglou has practically rebuilt an entire team for less than the cash brought in for those two players. Kyogo Furuhashi, Hatate, Josip Juranovic, Abada, O'Riley, Carl Starfelt, Yosuke Ideguchi and Giorgos Giakoumakis all cost money, but the total was in the ballpark of £23m.

Cameron Carter-Vickers, Jota and Daizen Maeda are all loan transfers. The first two have been big successes. Maeda is only just in the door. After the slapstick days of spending £8m on Albian Ajeti and Patryk Klimala combined plus another £5m on Vasilis Barkas and the chunky loan fees for the likes of Shane Duffy, Diego Laxalt and Jonjoe Kenny and assorted other failures, this must feel like nirvana for Celtic fans.

And it's Postecoglou's doing. Celtic had a crisis in goal and he fixed it with the signing of Joe Hart. They had major full-back issues, but Juranovic - for only £2.7m - and the rejuvenation of Ralston addressed that one. They lacked wide attacking options so he got Jota and Abada who have 21 goals between them. They needed a replacement for Edouard and he got Kyogo, who's on 16 goals in 26 games including both in a 2-1 League Cup final win. Ryan Christie left and he got Hatate, now the decisive character in his first Old Firm derby. David Turnbull got injured and he signed O'Riley, who's started wonderfully.

At this point, you'd have to say that Postecoglou has been the biggest success of the lot. Turning this thing around, from where it was last season, has been a terrific feat of management. It's a different world that's been created. On Wednesday night, nine of the club's starting XI were Postecoglou's signings.

His counterpart was an angry man, but this was not a failure that dropped out of the sky. Rangers were defensively awful in Dingwall on Saturday, they toiled to a 1-0 win over Livingston at Ibrox and had a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Aberdeen at Pittodrie. They've been far from impressive for a while now.

They've conceded six goals in their past two league games. In all of last season's league campaign they conceded just 13. Of course they have the wonderful Aaron Ramsey until the end of the season but they look tired. There wasn't just a huge gap in quality on Wednesday. In terms of effervescence, the difference was glaring. Kyogo was a human spark plug for Celtic when he arrived. Van Bronckhorst could do with Ramsey jump-starting his new team in the same way.

The Welshman's quality is unquestioned, but he'd better be coming to Glasgow in the mood for a battle - because he's in one.