Brendan Rodgers said he won’t watch Rangers playing at home to Dundee. Neither will I. Both of us will check the score later. It’ll be interesting to see how many season-book holders turn out on a dreich night with nothing to play for. We’ll watch Spurs take on Manchester City.
City have had a shit season by their standards. No Champions League. Despite outplaying Real Madrid, they were knocked out by their rivals. Celtic can only win the league for the fourth season on the bounce by winning their next two matches. They’ve got an FA Cup Final to finish the season. Like Celtic it’s against their rivals and they’ve favourites to also win the consolation prize. The League Championship is the big one.
Ange Postecoglous’s Spurs team led the League at Christmas. They lost four games before their latest home win. They’ve no real chance of finishing fourth and obtaining a Champions League spot. Aston Villa have got that pretty much nailed down. We here all the usual nonsense about playing on until it’s mathematically impossible. The reality is Spurs last two games, like Rangers in the Scottish League, are unfriendlies. Meaningless fixtures they are obliged to complete.
Arsenal fans for once want Spurs to win. In Scotland, and Glasgow in particular, we sneer at other teams having a rivalry that is not written in blood. Ally McCoist said he’d want his son to miss a penalty if he was playing for Celtic against Rangers. I’m reminded of the story (perhaps apocryphal) of when Dixie Deans signed for Celtic his brother, a staunch Rangers man who drove a bin lorry, emptied the contents in his front garden. Which was fair enough. But he called for a second load.
Could you imagine the circumstances when you’d want Rangers to win? The media reminds us of Europa’s and Champions League coefficients and how they’ll affect Scottish football. Fuck them, I say. I want Rangers to lose, regardless.
I’ve got a drinking buddy, Archie. He’s one of the many that got sucked into the Ponzi scheme and lost thousands of pounds investing in Rangers after Chairman David Murray sold the club for £1. Overpriced, I thought. But, hey, I’d have paid a quid for it. Archie tells me when Celtic are playing in Europe, he wants us to win. He’s a Scottish fitba fan.
Nah, I could never say that about Rangers. I was at the game at Love Street when Celtic had to win by five goals and Hearts had to lose. Which they duly did to Dundee. Thank you, substitute Albert Kidd.
Could I imagine a scenario where instead of Dundee, Hearts were playing Rangers and for us to win the league, Rangers had to win, as Dundee did, all those years ago?
It would be tough. Sophie’s Choice, which kid do you want to save? I can’t find it in my heart to say I’d want Rangers to win. But hey, Rangers always beat Hearts anyway. I couldn’t wish it, but if it happened, it happened.
I’ve never been to Spain or the Santiago Bernabéu, the state-of-the art domed stadium, where the pitch is rolled out before the multimillionaire players warm up. I saw Real Madrid under the bright lights of Paradise in their white strips. Johnny Doyle (RIP) scored a double and we we went to the home of Real Madrid and got gubbed 3—0. Laurie Cunningham was the star of the show then. More recently, ‘Don’ Carlo Ancelotti came up against Ange ball and did that slightly patronising thing that all managers do of praising the unique atmosphere of Parkhead while grabbing the points. In the return leg the referee gave the Ancelloti’s multimillion pound team two early penalties for nothing and they ran away with a 5—1 victory, without breaking sweat. Jota celebrated his late free kick as if he’d won the Champions League. Fat chance. These teams are in a different league entirely.
Brendan Rodgers in his first incarnation of saviour (before it all went wrong in a familiar way) did run Josep “Pep” Guardiola Sala close. 3—3 draw at Parkhead. Our previous with these teams is accepting our place in the football world. After the 3—3 draw with Ranger, Real Madrid go it with Champion League holders and favourites and draw 3—3.
I used to watch every and all football matches on the telly. Arsenal v Manchester City, for example, promised much but was a dreadfully boring game in which nothing much happens over 95 minutes.
With three goals in the first 15 minutes, this was much better and more entertaining. I’m not entirely sure what Jack Grealish is for. He seems to get rave reviews for not doing very much more than back-pedalling and falling over. I don’t think he went past the full-back all night. But in two minutes he bought a free kick. Bernardo Silva looked to cross it into the box. Instead, his 25-yard free-kick rounded what little wall there was and past goalkeeper Andriy Lunin, who was late to react, flapped as the ball passed him. Terrible defending and goalkeeping of the lowest order.
Manchester City played a big part in their downfall. Vinícius Júnior caused all kinds of chaos with simple balls played behind the City defence. Eduardo Camavinga’s deflected shot made it 1-1, Rúben Dias gifting an OG in 12 minutes and most improbable of all, Rodrygo giving Madrid the lead two minutes later. The stadium was bouncing as the Madrid turned it around.
Júnior had a big chance to make it 3—1 but hit the side netting after half time.
Phil Foden’s equaliser was a thing of beauty. With Kevin de Bruyne’s injury Foden had stepped into the number ten role behind the striker. I’ve seen lots of Erling Haaland recently. None of it has been good. Foden is a giant of the game, but here he too was dwarfed by the occasion. Mostly non-existent. But when Silva, City’s best player, created a space for Stones to make a pass to Foden on the edge of the box, he instinctively banged it in the top corner. Sixty-six minutes gone and there looked like City’s retention of the ball and overall superiority was going to pay off.
Five minutes later, City went ahead. Gvardiol took a heavy touch from Grealish’s pass. The ball seemed to get away from him, but he hit in the top corner. It was a game of great goals.
Júnior’s cross looked like one of those floppy crazy things player hang up when they have ran out of ideas. Federico Valverde, who never scores goals, caught is sweet and smashed it into the bottom corner from the edge of the box as if he’d been practicing that move all night and this was the time to show it off.
3—3 with almost ten minutes to go.
Toni Kroos had been substituted for Luka Modrić. The German is touted as one of the best in the world. He did nothing of note.
Let’s talk about Luka Modrić. Phil Foden went off with an injury, but if he wants to play as the highest level he needs to do a Luka. We gave him a standing ovation when Madrid beat us at Parkhead. The little man created a goal and scored another. In this game he helped turn the tide. Shouting and gesturing. Give me the ball. You could see him pointing. There’s talk of him retired or being retired at the end of this season. Celtic should offer him a ten- year contract. We’ve had nothing like him since losing Ľubomír Moravčík. Martin O’Neil once famously said when we were being outnumbered and outgunned in a European tie, ‘give the ball to Lubo’.
Give the ball to Luka and good things will happen. Phil Foden, Jude Bellingham, Vinícius Júnior, Erling Haaland, were pedestrian. Luka caught the eye. This man cannot retire at the end of the season. Nothing much has been decided in the tie. They go head to head next week. City should win. But you never know with Luka in the ranks. This is what a great in the game looks like.
On paper there seems certain symmetry. Both teams scored with a deflected goal. Both teams scored from the penalty spot. And a substitute scored for both teams. Rangers also had a ‘goal’ disallowed with the score 2—1 to Celtic and the ball brought back to near the half-way life for a clear foul on Iwatta after Dessiers thought he’d scored. Both teams if they win all their remaining fixtures will win the league.
Rangers were expected to win at home, and they didn’t. Rangers fans had little to shout about in the first-half. Fabio di Silva falling over a lot and a Connor Goldson header that came off his shoulder when he really should have scored.
Celtic were 1—0 in sixty seconds. A long ball in behind. Tavernier tried to clear as Daizen Maeda closed him down. The ball came off Maeda and into the net.
Rangers couldn’t string together two passes. Celtic dominated, but they were to get their half-time lead from a corner whipped into the box. Carter-Vickers and Liam Scales were first to react. Scales tried to get a toe poke onto the ball from three-yards, but Jack Butland smothered the ball. The England wannabe found himself lucky after Kyogo nearly nicked the ball off his toes twice, but he did make a decent-enough save from an O’Riley header the Celtic midfielder should have scored from.
VAR however brought the game back and showed Goldson clearly elbowing the ball in the six-yard box. Clear and obvious penalty. Matt O’Riley stepped up and delivered, scoring with one of those chips down the middle I hate.
Kyogo had a few shots on goal and ghosted in a few times. Hatate got a shot away. A few efforts on goals that could have led to the crucial third. A two goal lead is more often enough, but when Rangers get one back at home anything can happen.
Brendan Rodgers claimed ‘the momentum of the game of the game was changed with the penalty’ which clearly wasn’t a penalty. Ten minutes into the second-half, with Rangers winning more of the ball, without looking very threating, Fabio Silva went down again. It was inside the box. John Beaton booked him for simulation. The correct decision. But he was sent to the monitor, the booking rescinded. It even seemed Celtic might be penalised twice. Once for a penalty that wasn’t a penalty. And for Alistair Johnston, who was on a booking to pick up another yellow, for letting Silva fall over him.
James Tavernier is good at penalties, and has had plenty of practice. He whipped it into the top corner, leaving Joe Hart with no chance. 2—1 seemed fragile.
Hugh Keevins talked about Celtic’s management being given a let-out clause because of refereeing incompetence in letting an eight-point lead ebb away. He’s right, of course, we shouldn’t have let a sub-standard Rangers team back into being favourites for the league. But when Beaton gets it wrong again today as he clearly did also at Tynecastle. Call is conspiracy theory, call it what you like. Celtic were in control of both games. That’s four points or more that incompetence or worse has denied us. Rangers are still in it, not through luck but help from officialdom.
Abdallah Sim hit the equaliser after a wicked deflection left Hart with no chance. McGregor was at fault here. The Celtic captain playing a ball across the midfield that failed to find his man, Yang, who was also poor in his response. And Rangers were flooding into the box. The ball deflected off the Celtic captain.
Adam Idah had come on and had an impact. He’d got in behind the Rangers defence a few times and set up his teammates. He thought he’s hit the winner two minutes after Sima’s deflected shot had brought them level. 88 minutes. He twisted and turned in the box and Connor Goldson could only watch as the ball went past Jack Butland.
Eight minutes added to the ninety. Rabbi Montondo swerved one into the far post, 93rd minute, with Alistair Johnston standing off him. Yang showing him inside and too easily beaten. An equaliser, of course, Phillipe Clement said his team deserved. The usual waffle about team spirt. Rangers are a poor team. I’m disappointed Celtic didn’t beat them today. But sometimes you’ve got to hold your hands up and say the officials gave a big helping hand. If both teams win the remaining fixtures, they’ll win the league. Celtic have Rangers at Paradise. We’ll dominate that game as usual. Whether that’s enough to win the league, I’d like to think so. It was a great point today for the home team. Not so great for us. Not disastrous either.
We all know the story. Win at Ibrox and we’re clear favourites. Lose and it’s for Rangers to lose. I’ve not even considered the draw. Win or bust.
We pretty much know what the team will be. It’s much the same team that started against Livingston. Callum McGregor, if fit, will come in for Tomoki Iwata. Quite simply, he’s a better player. He’s been the best player on the pitch in the last couple of derbies. I’ve no evidence to say that he’ll start, other than wish fulfilment.
Brendan Rodgers may take the longer-term view. But there is no longer-term view.
I’m with Chris Sutton in emphasising the importance of Reo Hatate. His stand-ins, and there’s been a long line that includes Paulo Bernardo, aren’t as good. Hatate, to me, is one of the best midfielders in Britain. Rangers have nobody that would get near him, or indeed our midfield. That’s why I think, if we overcome the usual up and at them, and settle into our passing game, Celtic are much better. But even under the sainted Postecolglou, we had games in which were bullied. I hope this is not one of them.
Up front Daizen Maeda and Kygo strike terror into the Rangers’s backline again and again. Feed them and we’ll win.
It seems that we have options on the other wing. Luis Palma may be available. I don’t really care. He doesn’t do enough for me. (Obviously, I hope he proves me wrong.) Yang looks to be second-pick to Nicolas Kuhn. Kuhn had a terrible start to his Celtic career and looked a dud. He’s played himself back into contention. I know it’ll never happen. Maeda starts for a number of reasons, but I’d play James Forrest ahead of all three would-be wingers.
We need Carter-Vickers to be on his game. Simple. He’s not playing against world-class opposition, but he makes us stronger because he can pass and move. He won’t get bullied.
Liam Scales is back from injury. He’s been a first pick for a while. He’ll need to help Taylor deal with a lot of high balls fired in his direction. He’ll need to make sure he wins his headers at Rangers’ free-kicks and corners. They’re bigger than us and win more headers. We need to have a plan for dealing with that.
Rangers really fancy themselves for this one. They have hauled us back in the league, which is a major disappointment. But let’s be blunt, there’s nothing especially good about this Rangers team. The frustrating thing for us is we’ve not been much better. There’s lots of way we can lose this game. But if we play our football we win. That sound a bit Ange Postecolouish (remember him?) but it stays true.
No Kyogo. No McGregor. What we have got is the—unexpected—chance to go top of the league again. Not taken. I’m of the generation when ten-men-won-the league. I remember it well, the Jungle bounced and Parkhead rocked when Murdo’s strike hit the back of the net.
This is yet another game we could and should have won, but didn’t, which is a worrying and familiar pattern for a damp-squib of a season. Hearts have beaten us twice this season. Celtic have been dominant in all areas of the park when playing them, except goals scored and conceded.
Brendan Rodgers rightly had a shout about the match officials. John Beaton on VAR and referee, Robertson. Matt O’Riley had the ball in the net. Adam Idah had the ball in the net. Lawrence Shankland had the ball in the net twice, but only one counted. Idah misses a penalty. Grant scores a penalty.
Who is next up for taking penalties for Celtic? Rangers may be 90% certain they’ll get a penalty, but they’re over 95% certain they’ll score from it. Celtic are 50/50.
Idah is the latest culprit. The game had started much as we expected. Celtic dominating the ball. Hearts filing back into a defensive shell. Hoiking the ball forward when caught out. Hoping for corners and free kicks to take them up the park. Long throws and corners, perhaps a wonder strike to get a goal. Tame penalty. The title race could be in Idah’s miss.
Equally, it could come down to Yang’s sending off a minute later. Yang had a good cameo against Dundee. Our wingers have not performed well this season, both individually and collectively. He’s the latest to step up and get a start. His ability to go past players gives him a real chance. His sending off, as Rodgers reminds us, unmerited. He did lift his boot into Cochrane’s face on the touchline. I can say the usual things about it not being malicious. A booking—probably. A red card? Not in my book, but after the referee was told to check it by VAR it seems a 99% certainty. What happened to the referee’s discretionary powers?
Celtic were lucky not to be a goal down before the break. Iwata was brought in to stabilise the back four. To allow McGregor, perhaps, to be moved forward. Quite simply, he’s another that doesn’t look good enough. He was caught on the ball in the middle of the park, with a simple pass available. Beni Baningime slides in to take the ball. Alan Forrest played in Shankland inside the box. Shankland scores, only for the goal to be brought off and disallowed because he was marginally offside.
Iwata is not to blame for the penalty just before half time. VAR got it wrong. The referee got it wrong. Rodgers got it right. Both Alistair Johnson and Iwata went for a header inside the box with Stephen Kingsley. Johnson got to it but not convincingly. It barely made it outside the box. It came back into the box and Hearts had a corner. VAR asked the referee to check for handball. It had hit Iwata’s arm and hand as he jumped and jostled with his own player, but it was unintentional and should not have been given. Both VAR and the referee are culpable here. Call it conspiracy. Call it bad luck. The effect is the same a goal down at half time.
Kyogo came on at half time. Paulo Bernardo went off. Another loan signing that had failed to establish himself in the team. With both McGregor and Hatate out, he’ll never have a better opportunity. I wouldn’t keep him when the loan period is finished. No firm evidence suggests he’ll be a first-team regular. Talented but doesn’t do enough.
Perhaps the only bright spot was Kyogo’s second-half cameo. We know he can do enough. He got on the end of an O’Riley pass, but man-of-the-match Zander Clark dealt with it easily enough. Kyogo also played in O’Riley. Clark made another save. None of them were of the top drawer variety, but they didn’t have to be. He denied Idah from close in, but Celtic’s second-half performance lacked belief. It also lacked players from the bench that could have come on and changed things.
Heart’s second and killer goal, ten minutes into the second half, was well-enough taken by Shankland inside the box. Calem Nieuwenhof had stumbled and fell inside the box with Scales and Carter-Vickers in front of him. The ball came off his toe and went to Shankland. This is what bad luck looks like.
On Friday we didn’t expect to go top. On Sunday night, we didn’t. Rangers remain mediocre. We’re battling with a squad that’s not fit for purpose. I’ve got a feeling we’ll stumble over the line and win the league. Next up the Scottish Cup. We’ll not win the Cup, is my gut instinct. Nine games to win the league. We can win nine of them. We need to start scoring all of our penalties. Get a bit of luck. Get McGregor and, hopefully, Hatate fit. I don’t care about next season. I don’t care about Joe Hart leaving. I do care if O’Riley leaves this summer, as he surely will. But we’ll get top price for a brilliant player. None of these things concern me. We need a clear-out of players. But we need to win the league. Simple. Days like today happen. Let’s hope they’re the exception to the rule, rather than the rule itself.
Brendan Rodgers likes to make the quip, ‘Rangers were always coming,’ when he was Celtic manager. True or not? He left mid-season and Neil Lennon got us over the line. Ten-in-a-row was a disaster waiting to happen.
Ange Postecoglou pressed the reset button and gave us the Treble. But we were the stepping stone to Spurs. He stayed two seasons. Rodgers signed up for three years. But few of us would be surprised if he decides to leave at the end of this season.
Let’s talk about Rangers. They’re average. But they got to the Europa League group stages. We’ve beaten them twice. Home and away. Lots were made of decisions going against them. But if you asked a neutral (if such a thing exists) who the better team was and who deserved to win—Celtic would be the answer.
But how can an average team keep winning every week as Rangers does and Celtic fail to do? Who is at fault?
Many people have been talking about injuries to Celtic regulars. Carter-Vickers stands out. But we’ve paid a couple of million for two centre-halfs, one of them Gustaf Lagerbeilke looks a dud. Maik Nawrocki slightly improved, but Aberdeen exposed his shortcomings and he sat on the bench for the match against Hibs. These are not upgrades. Stephen Welsh plays against Hibs, gets subbed. Liam Scales becomes a first-pick every week. It’s not even standing still, when we start missing Carl Starfelt.
Joe Hart isn’t great with cross ball or with the ball at his feet. But he’s done OKish. Rangers always seem to have the better goalie. We’d rather have Jack Butland than Joe Hart.
Alistair Johnston covers the ground up and down the park, but is average. Still he’s better than Tony Ralston. Like most folk, I like Ralston and his story of perseverance and endeavour getting him a new contract. For me, he’s a stopgap, holding down a place where an up-and-coming youngster should be.
Josip Juranovic was good for us in lots of ways. He came in for a couple of million and we doubled our money when selling. Postecoglou played him at left-back most notably at Ibrox. Tony Ralston can’t play at left back. Neither can Johnston. They have a tendency to keep cutting inside, or bring the ball back the way, into a congested midfield.
Our wingers do the same thing. Jota wasn’t irreplaceable. Neither was he world-class. So we were always going to take the £25 million. But he got in behind Scottish defences and he got us goals and assists. Palma looks average. Kuhn, who I’ve only seen against Hibs, but he looks like another Lagerbiekle on the wing. I hope I’m wrong, of course.
Maeda can’t trap a ball and hasn’t a trick in him, but he does the doggies between players and gets the odd goal. He was always going to play under Postecoglou and so it has proven with Rodgers.
Abada? He scored a lot of goals in his first season. Obviously, when you score a couple against Rangers you go way up in estimation. Fast and direct. Likes to shoot, which is good. Can’t take a man on. No trick in him, which is bad. I hate when wingers keep bringing the ball backwards as Abada, Maeda, Kuhn and Palma do. I’m not wanting a Jimmy Johnstone (well, really I do) type display every week, but our wingers are predictable. Opponents double on them and wait for them to step inside—or go backwards.
Losing corners and free kicks.
Greg Taylor had his best seasons under Postecoglou. His inverted left-back role with him mainly playing in midfield suited the way he played, the way we played. He was no Kieran Tierney, but he was adequate. Opposition teams hoofed it long up to their right and our left hoping to get a knock on, a free kick or corner. That was their best chance of scoring against Celtic and remains so.
Taylor’s replacement, the young Argentinian Alexandro Bernarbei is tiny and skilful, but can’t defend. For a defender that’s not good. For opposition teams that’s a gift waiting to pay out. Celtic have supposedly been looking at this area since we lost Anton Rogan.
We all know Kyogo plays every week under Postecoglou. His repayment to the manager and us was goals, goals, goals. He always scored against Rangers. That’s gold. He scored in the Champions League. Chris Sutton suggests his team mates have let him down. The manager has let him down. I’m with him on this one
Norwich loan signing Adam Idah scored two penalties on his debut against Hibs. Great. I was overjoyed and raised the roof. Rodgers compared him to Dembele. I used to have this argument with my mates about who was better Dembele or Griffiths. Idah is not Dembele. Nor is he Griffiths. Kyogo has proved he can be better than both, but he needs chances. More balls into the box and cut back from the byelines.
Celtic have be far the best midfield in the league. Matt O’Riley will be away in the summer for anything upward of £25 million. If we can’t get that because clubs are no longer spending crazy money, he’ll be here until Christmas. He’s playing like Hatate played last year.
Hatate has been missing for most of the season. His pre-season was terrible. He looked out of sorts. Then he signed a new contract. Got injured and has largely remained injured. David Turnbull had another chance to make his mark, but he’s away to Cardiff. Hatate has been a big miss from last season. Getting him back to were he was would be a major part of the wining the league.
Tomoki Iwata played in front of our defence against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park where we were defeated. Callum McGregor went back to his boyhood and pushed forward. Iwata gets injured and McGregor drops back into his traditional role.
It seems strange that Odin Holm and Paulo Bernardo auditioned for the Hatate role in midfield in Champion League games. Bernardo, in particular, had played more Champion League ties than Scottish league games before he seems to have become a regular. He’s skilful and elegant. Scored against Rangers. Big plus. The usual big talk, small talk, about signing him from Benfica when his loan deal finishes. He’s making the right noises. I’m not sure anybody would want it to be a done deal in the same way we wanted to keep Jota and Carter-Vickers.
A significant part of the problem is that this new manager we’d never heard of, Ange Postecoglou, came from Japan. He’d a list of players he wanted and needed. Kyogo. Hatate. Maeda. Carter-Vickers and Jota were here. They were all cheap and available.
Rodgers has come back from a long losing run at Leicester that got him sacked. His first-time as Celtic Messiah, he’d a list in his back pocket, Sinclair and Dembele. No A-list in his pocket for this season or next. Just an open invite. Audition list. We’ve fallen back into the trap of letting agents dictate who come here and they’re dealing with executives and directors. Money talks to money. We’re seen as being active. The team lines don’t lie. £70 million in the bank. A poor team on the park. What happened to Celtic is what happened to Neil Lennon. Short-term thinking. Ironically, the only thing that matters is Champions League cash. If Ranger gets it this year— and I’d say it’s fifty-fifty—although I think we’ll sneak it, but we’ll not win the Scottish Cup, then they really are back. They’ll have been handed £40 million. If Rangers truly are coming. Rodgers is leaving. Simple.
Celtic took three points with a raft of substitutions. Brendan Rodgers made three changes to the team that started against Hibs, but failed to take three points— Oh getting the all-important winner, smashing it into the top corner from inside the box, after being playing in be fellow substitute Holm.
Carter-Vickers isn’t on the bench. I take it he’s injured. Nawrocki as an unused substitute. He’ll be back. I take it from this our Swedish international Lagerbielke is out on loan at Christmas. He does look a dud, but early days. We’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.
Phillips took Carter-Vickers his place in the team. Scales keep his place in central defence as expected. Both were at fault for the loss of the opening St Mirren goal after seven minutes. Philips stood so far off Greg Kiltie, he let him look up and pick out the inswinging crossed ball he was always going to put into the box. Scales and Taylor both stood off Conor McMenamin who, from close range, guided his header into the net.
Robertson takes a measuring rod to his new recruits. Anyone under six-foot is rejected. His teams (like other teams in Scotland) play a 5-4-1 system. But it’s really. 10-1. Our attack against their defence. Balls fired out in the general direction of Celtic’s smallest defender, Greg Taylor for a knockdown or knock-on or corner or free kick. It worked well for St Mirren in the opening ten minutes.
Forrest comes in for Maeda. This season (and last) the Japanese international has most often done the running for two men. And Forrest had one of those gilt-edged snap-shots from eight yards you just expect to end in the net. Zach Hemming saved it. He also saved from Maeda and Kyogo in injury time, when Maeda’s fellow Japanese international was through on goal, played in by Holm, and missed a sitter to make it safe.
The St Mirren keeper fell down on cue early to waste time, but he’d one of those games when we wondered if it was going to be our night.
He’d saved a stinging shot from an early Turnbull effort. Palmed a Gogic miscue past the post. But the former Motherwell man scored what was the goal of the night. He wasn’t to be denied and equalised with a curling effort into the top corner in the eighteenth minute after Matt O’Riley had kept the ball alive.
Turnbull then created the penalty and missed the penalty he created before half-time. He took a first-time shot, which after a VAR recommendation, showed it had hit Gogic’s arm. Celtic are rotten at penalties. Our strike success rate must be the lowest in the league. Rangers, by contrast, must get the most penalties and have the highest conversion rate. Turnbull hit the post with his shot. Luis Palma got to the rebound and struck it first time. The keeper blocked it. Matt O’Riley’s header went over the bar.
The Honduran had probably his best game. He found himself unlucky not to score, had the beating of the full back and helped create most chances, which came down the left hand side.
Yang, his substitute replacement, had arguably an even better game. Against Hibs Palma was terrible. Maeda equally so. Each winger in the game against St Mirren showed a cameo of their skills. No duds tonight.
We miss Hatate, but we’re going to keep missing him until Christmas. Turnbull started tonight. He really should have been the hat-trick hero and walking off with the match ball. Bernardo has been under the lights against probably the best team we’ll play this year in Atletico. He did OKish, without standing out. He didn’t stand out at Easter Road when he started. Holm might fancy himself to sneak in and grab the spot. He’s got the ability. Does he have the temperament? Football first.
Celtic’s directors go to war with 200 season ticket holders they identified as The Green Brigade. I’m sympathetic to the Ultras. More sympathetic to those Palestinians in Gaza and The Left Bank were ethnic cleansing is happening on telly.
As great, great grandsons and daughters of the Famine years my allegiance is those cast in the role of vermin and of no human value. We’ve all got our stories here. For many of them we’d need to put our hands over Brother Wilfred’s ears.
Back to league business. Reo Hatate’s opening goal was a boy’s own effort after twenty-two minutes. A nutmeg on Watson in midfield. A shimmy to take him to the edge of the box. A curler into the corner. Loan Kilmarnock keeper, Will Dennis, had no chance, but helped keep the score down. The Japanese playmaker had a poor start to the season. But this was just goal of the season stuff. His passing range was back to its best as he won man of the match and could have had a hat trick, coming closest with a second-half dart into the six-yard box. And we expected him to finish. We really did suck in our breath and wait.
Kyogo could have had a hat trick too. An offside ‘goal’ flagged in under ten minutes. Maeda could have a hat trick. The two Japanese internationals trying to outdo each other in the box like Keystone cops.
Greg Taylor and Anthony Johnson could have hit three. I’m joking about the full backs, but they had most shots on goals in the early stages of the game.
No excuses about plastic pitches, but swampland might have been a problem in past seasons. Our team’s selection today more predicable. The return of Carter-Vickers. The inclusion of Luis Palma. The late goal on Wednesday night was a gut punch, perhaps more than Palma’s disallowed ‘goal’.
He got our second goal today in a home match that Celtic are expected to dominate and usually do with around 75% possession. He was lucky. The ball played back from Hatate looked offside.
McInnnes’s teams, like other Scottish teams, aim to hit our fragile backline on the break. The rise to the first team of Liam Scales has been impressive. He’s kept the jersey. With Lagerbielke as competition that’s perhaps not of epic magnitude, but it still needs him to win his headers and pass from the back. As Chris Sutton mentioned (and the rest of us already know) we lose too many goals from corners and free kicks (as in the first goal in Rotterdam and midweek shows again with perhaps too much clarity) while offering little from corners other than more short corners. Scales got on a few balls whipped into the box.
But then Greg Taylor goes and spoils a good theory by scoring from a Maeda flick on to make the game safe ten minutes after Kilmarnock had scored on the 82nd minute.
Greg Taylor was looking for a foul on the edge of the Kilmarnock box, but the referee played on. We were short at the back. Watson scored from a cut back. Unbelievable as it seemed Kilmarnock were back in the game.
Less than five minutes after scoring, Kilmarnock should have equalised. A ball to the back post (no surprise). Three big Kilmarnock players queueing up. The ball goes sailing over Joe Hart’s bar. McInnnes’s game plan in micro.
James Forrest missed a great chance, once and then again. Maeda had another pop. Oh, who came on for Kyogo, got excited and tried to pass to himself. Work in progress. Yeh, we know, Oh, Oh, Oh!
Vassell, the Kilmarnock striker, missed a sitter at the back post at the death, which would have made it 3—2.
Celtic denied an earlier first-half penalty by VAR. Kyogo and Hatate both wanting to take it. Neither have been great penalty takers. It’s probably time to pass penalty taking duties to Luis Palma. He’s not got much pace. Doesn’t seem to have a trick that gets him past his opponent. In other words, he’s not Jota. But he does know how to keep the ball. More importantly, he’s a goal scorer. His effort was denied midweek. Given an offside goal by VAR today. On another day we could have hit nine or ten. On another day we could have been held to a draw with McInnes spouting the usual stuff we heard a million times before. Celtic deserved to win. We did win. Our defence isn’t very good. That’s the weakest part of our team. We proved that again today. But we’re ten points clear of Rangers. We hope St Mirren stay in touch at the top and win tomorrow.
All the usual gung-ho things about Europe are being spouted, but realistically as fourth seeds in the group, we’ll finish fourth. Our only consolation has been Rangers’ implosion. Top of the league and we’ll stay that way coming to the break for international football. Stay that way until the end of the season. I’d like to think so. If we can get out defence sorted we’d be an impressive side in Scotland and hope to win the double. That’s all we can ask for now. Brendan Rodgers celebrates 700 games a manager. Pretty bog-standard today. He won’t be complaining.
Three minutes of additional time in the first-half. You’d hope Celtic would see it out. Go in at half-time goal-less, perhaps Celtic fans feeling we were slightly unlucky not to score. A free kick thirty yards out. You’d hope Kyogo—the smallest man on the pitch as Martin O’Neil pointed out—wouldn’t be in a key position in the wall. He didn’t stay strong. You’d hope Joe Hart would save a ball that bounced on the way into net. Calvin Stengs’s free kick was nothing special. It wasn’t even in the good variety. Feyenoord are given a half-time lead. The win in their hands without doing anything of note.
You’d get odds of around 5/1 for a Celtic win against Feyenoord at De Kuip before the game started. The win at Ibrox took much of the pressure of Brendan Rodgers. Not many of us expected a win. Most of us would settle for a draw. Especially when we are a goal down and playing away in Europe. Our defensive frailties have been highlighted and for good reason. Carl Starfelt wasn’t good enough for Celtic. Gustaf Lagerbielke looks a dud.
Midway in the second-half. I’m not sure if it was a foul or a penalty. He’d already picked up a yellow in the first half for a stupid challenge he didn’t need to make. Celtic down to ten men. Even with Hart’s save from Paixo on penalty duties the game looks beyond us. No talk of redemption for Hart. A howler is a howler. But I’m a big fan of the dog’s chance. We were still kinda in it.
Brendan Rodgers had rolled the dice before the penalty. He’d brought on Yang for Luis Palma and Odin Holm for an out of touch Hatate. Holm had showed up well as a substitute at Ibrox. Here he put the wrong kind of mark on the game. A straight red for a studs-up challenge on Wieffer. Checked by VAR. Game over. Celtic down to nine men. The best we could hope for was keeping the score down.
From the resultant free kick the right back Geertruida scores. But it is chopped off by VAR. A later Feynoord goal was also chopped off for offside. 15 minutes left to go and seven minutes stoppage time. It was too much.
Lingr gets to the byline. Johnston knocks the ball to the edge of the box. Alireza Jahanbakhsh fizzes it past Hart. Game over. But still plenty of time for Feyenoord to score more.
Terrible goal to lose at half time. Two red cars. Two goals disallowed by VAR. Palma’s penalty claim was also looked at by VAR but not given. Celtic were in this game, but flung it away. We’ve been at Champions’ League nights were we were torn to shreds. This wasn’t one of them. In some ways, this was worse. We could have taken a point or three. Not just bad luck, but ill-discipline and quite simply poor defending. We’ve been talking about it for five years.
We brought in Nat Philips and he gets injured. That’s just central defence. We’re reliant on Liam Scales. A player we were quite happy to send back to Aberdeen, who played mainly left back for the Dons. We should have better. We can afford better. This was one Celtic could have won. Down to reserve-reserve players. Gutted.
Michael Beale is under scrutiny. Rangers took a hammering in Eindhoven. That puts us £20 million ahead before a ball is kicked in Europe. Redemption day was to come at Ibrox yesterday. The Union Bears organised a meeting in George Square after the game. I was there. Where were you, lads? All I heard was greeting. A disastrous week for Rangers.
Brendan Rodgers car horn tooting going down London Road, arms aloft, he knows this gets him breathing space. I’d have taken a draw before kick-off. Most of my mates were thinking the same way (not that I’ve got many mates, cheers Laughing Boy). I didn’t think Nat Philips would start. He didn’t. The team Rodgers put out was the one I thought he’d play. We were missing two centre-halfs. Carter-Vickers would have strolled this game as would Hatate.
I can never find anything good to say about Rangers. I’m not going to start now. They were awful. They had a ‘goal’ chopped off on the first minutes. Even Kris Boyd couldn’t find it in himself to suggest Rabbi Matondo wasn’t offside.
Then they had Kemar Roofe’s ‘goal’ chopped off after about 30 minutes. Cyriel Dessers, who is allegedly a Rangers forward, fouled Celtic defender Gustaf Lagerbielke, who is allegedly a centre-half. The irony here was we were worried about Liam Scales starting. Lagerbielke is the one we’ve got to worry about. We got rid of Starfelt and got a younger replacement that looks no better. When the other defenders come back from injury I don’t expect Lagerbielke to make the cut. I’ve been wrong before. That guy with dreadlocks that started against Hibs. Henrik something.
Calum McGregor bossed the first half and was the best player on the park. Matt O’Riley appeared in flashes. David Turnbull didn’t. He’s had his chance. I think he’ll be return to back up. We cut Rangers open three times. Kyogo should have had a hat trick before the goal almost on the half-time whistle, which is always a great psychological blow. It wasn’t exactly Ange ball, but it was a fuck-you to Rangers. A long punt from Joe Hart, who had a good game. Goldstone’s header, played into Kyogo who took it early and fired it away before Butland could move. The Rangers keeper is perhaps the only player in blue that got pass marks. That tells you all you need to know. The perfect finish to the first half. I think we can safely say, if Kyogo was playing for Rangers, he’d destroy our defence.
The second half? Well, more of the same from Rangers. Firing long diagonals. Kemar Roofe is always going to beat Taylor in the air. But Roofe is exactly the kind of player Taylor likes to play against. He’s been having a hard time recently with fast-paced, strong, attacking wingers. Much like Tavernier can’t cope with Maeda’s all-action style, Taylor is comfortable with a false winger that’s largely immobile and doesn’t have a trick in him. On the other side of the park, Rabbi Matondo, who does have a trick, but I’m not sure anybody knows what it is. Certainly not Beale, who deemed him surplus to requirements, before starting him here. Celtic’s new signing, winger Luis Palma, who Beale says didn’t want to sign him for Rangers, had a better game than Matondo, and he stayed on the bench. Alistair Johnston had it easy.
I think Liel Abada should do more. He had a shot saved five minutes into the second-half. From McGregor’s pass, earlier in the game, he did set up Kyogo for a chance that should have been converted. Maeda coming in at the back post, for once got beaten to the ball by Tavernier. A collector’s item. I think we can safely say Maeda will start most weeks. We’ve about three other wingers looking for a start. The young Israeli, despite signing a new contract, might find himself benched. His statistics are good in goals scored and assists. He’ll have a real battle. He came up against Sterling, who was a novice at this position. This as easy an afternoon’s work as he’s going to get.
Jurgen Klopp was there watching not much football getting played, and if there was any quality it came from the hoops. He’d a chance to asses Oh and Yang after seventy minutes when we went three attackers on two Rangers defenders. Oh should have passed to Yang for a tap in, but he fluffed it. The German wouldn’t have been impressed.
Rangers substitute were more of the same. Sam Lammers, for example, rounding Joe Hart and with an empty net, falling over. Todd Cantwell getting his obligatory booking—to show how true blue Union Bear he is—falling in the box, again, and claiming for a penalty. Seven minutes added to the ninety. All noise, no substance. We can enjoy our break during international week. Much has been made of the disallowed ‘goal’. The better team created more and had better chances. Celtic despite our injury woes deserved victory. Beale ball is about deflecting criticism. Rodgers, after an uninspiring and dispiriting start, can relax for now. When the theme tune of the Champions League plays, we’ll face the music. This team is not good enough for that level. But we’re better than Rangers. That’s all that matters for now. Our new signings need to step up. A good week for Liam Scales and Brendan Rodgers in particular.
odonnellgrunting 