4 deep-dive details from Celtic's rout of Ross County as Vasilis Barkas' brilliance ends Fraser Forster longing

The Hoops will be delighted with the end result but things weren't quite as plain sailing as you might have expected.

A 5-0 win should give Celtic fans plenty to cheer as their attacking prowess left Ross County reeling in Dingwall.

But there was the odd shaky moment during the first half and Vasilis Barkas pulled of a couple of solid saves as Neil Lennon 's men introduced Shane Duffy into the fold and reverted back to the 3-5-2 that served them so well after last season's winter break.

The management team will be delighted goals were spread through the team with Odsonne Edouard, Albian Ajeti, Duffy, Kris Ajer and Patryk Klimala all getting in on the action.

Lennon will feel that despite their sloppy exit in the Champions League, his side are now showing signs of a potency going forward in the hunt for history.

While County boss Stuart Kettlewell felt that it was a result that flattered the visitors, a look at the statistics for the game tells you the men from Glasgow were worthy winners.

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They had more of the ball, better chances and were more aggressive across the pitch.

Here are four details you might not have noticed at first glance.

Vasilis Barkas shines

The big keeper was on the receiving end of some criticism from Andy Walker heading into the weekend who hasn't been impressed so far.

Walker told Sky: "I think it's quite right of some Celtic supporters to question the new goalkeeper Barkas because he cost a lot of money.

"In all honesty, I haven't seen him make a big save yet."

In fairness to the £4.5m signing, he hasn't had a lot to do with the Hoops only conceding four goals so far this season.

While he may have hoped to do better with Tomak Nguen's winner against Ferencvaros, it was hardly a howler. Part of the problem, of course is nothing to do with the new boy at all, but the man whom he has replaced. 

Fraser Forster pulled off some other-worldly stops last year and was always a huge player in the biggest of games. They are big shoes to fill but County certainly tested his mettle for the job yesterday.

The 0.99 expected goals stat for the game showed statistically the Highlanders should have scored at least once with the quality of their chances. The saves to deny Ross Stewart either side of the interval were top class.

Barkas stood up to everything that they threw at him and will be delighted to play such a major role in the clean sheet.

Corner supremacy

The signing of Shane Duffy was always going to make Celtic meaner and more dangerous at set pieces and they lived up to that notion.

With 6ft 5in Kris Ajer and 6ft 6" Christopher Jullien already a big threat, the 6ft 4in Irishman only adds to the armoury.

Viewers of Amazon Prime's excellent All Or Nothing Spurs documentary would have seen Jose Mourinho warning about the dangers of letting Duffy roam freely in the box and if a double Champions League winner respects his quality you know he's going to cause damage in Scotland.

The Hoops only put two of their 7 corners onto the box but Duffy managed to get on the end of one while a short corner led directly to Ajer's goal.

Like Martin O'Neil before him, Celtic may be outplayed but their physical presence at set-plays mean they will always be a threat in games. And this is an area they will only continue to improve as they work on it throughout the season.

Callum McGregor's brilliant passing

Much has been written about McGregor's tactical and technical brilliance but it's only because his consistency of performance is so high.

Across 78 minutes he assisted twice.

First he whipped in the free-kick that County's hapless defenders failed to clear before Ajeti drilled home.

Second he delivered a pinpoint corner onto the head of Duffy for his goal.

His dead-ball delivery is amongst the best in Scotland and one of the key aspects of how the Hoops penetrate when up against a deep lying defence.

With a 91 per cent passing accuracy you'd normally expect a deep midfielder like Scott Brown, the 28-year-old was often high up the pitch passing and probing, looking for an opportunity and rarely looking for the sideways pass.

Odsonne Edouard's penalty technique

Ryan Christie may be the Hoops go-to penalty technician but Edouard is yet to miss in his professional career and you can see why.

The Frenchman has an interesting technique where he begins his run looking at the keeper, slows as he approaches the ball with his head down, then looks again to check for a commitment.

It's only then that the 22-year-old finally hits the ball.

By this point he had completely outfoxed County's Ross Laidlaw who stayed on the spot having realised he had over-committed in the wrong direction.

The icy cool and technical prowess of the former PSG man is what is attracting interest from the likes of Arsenal and he showed it once again here in this fleeting moment of absolute quality.