Anderlecht V Celtic - Player Ratings

Here’s the player ratings from another stroll in the park over idiots who couldn’t cope with us.

Craig Gordon - 7

The goalie has been deservedly slaughtered for his below par performances in previous CL fixtures, but was in fine form last night, making an important save directly after we took the lead, as well as a great stop from a Gerkens strike in the second half. He’ll probably have a tougher task against Hibs this Saturday!

Mikael Lustig - 7

Murder for the first half hour! He was like Harvey Keitel in Bad Lieutenant! All over the place and looked as if he was going to burst into tears at any moment, but as soon as we made it 1-0, he came into the game a lot more, and took the sting out of the rare Anderlecht attacks by using Craig Gordon as much as possible as a safe option. Well done to the man that I continually work myself into a shoot over.

Jozo Simunovic - 9

Move aside Dwayne Johnson, this is the real Rock. After a horrendous showing two weeks ago against PSG, the big man turned up and ensured Onyekuru and Teodorczyk got nowhere all night. The man of the match, in this ‘writers’ opinion.

Dedryck Boyata - 8

Quite incredible that this guy, who chucked it twenty minutes in against Rangers in that semi final that ended Ronny Deila, was one of our main men last night in the Champions League. Lazy passing aside for the opening half hour, he grew in stature and was excellent alongside Jozo. The big test will be a double header against Bayern for him, as this was possibly as easy as it’ll get for him at this level.

Kieran Tierney - 8

Another ridiculously composed performance. Was rarely troubled, and was clever in possession, and managed to put in a cracking ball for the opener. Again, the Bayern matches will be a serious step up for him, and his upcoming tussles with Joshua Kimmich should make for compelling viewing.

Scott Brown - 7

Did well to help the team recover from a terrible opening spell, and like the rest of the team, came onto a game to dominate the appalling Belgian champions. I would rest him for Saturday’s game as well, and let his hamstring injury recover.

Patrick Roberts - 7

Played the same way he did against PSG, taking on men and being very positive on the ball, but unlike the PSG game, where the ball was taken off him at every turn, he had so much more time and space last night, and even managed to ‘score’ when he took full advantage of the terrible Olivier Deschacht’s error to make it 2-0 on the night.

Olivier NtCham - 7

Correctly started ahead of Stuart Armstrong for this game and after a shocking opening, calmed down to play in Kieran Tierney for the opening goal with a marvellous pass. I would keep him in the team for Saturday as well.

Tom Rogic - 5

Not a good night for the big man, wasteful on the ball, and didn’t give a good account of himself in general, and was replaced midway through the second half.

Scott Sinclair - 6

Far better performance from him last night, after his lazy display against PSG left me raging! He was an excellent outlet all night when we needed to counter Anderlecht, and even weighed in with the third goal when Anderlecht had clearly packed it in.

Leigh Griffiths - 7

Goals at international level and now CL group stage level in 2017, he’s shut me up and may well be the man to start against Bayern, and after last night, it would be justified. His work off the ball was very good and an example of that would be his run and anticipation for the opener. Anderlecht’s defenders just stood around like clowns waiting for Tierney to spray the ball across goal, and LG was only too happy to tap it in.

Subs : Callum McGregor, Nir Bitton and James Forrest - all three came on, didn’t do anything stupid and helped us towards the win so take a 6 each and be grateful.