Celtic

No Helicopter Sunday—The Spurs’ dilemma.

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.

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Celtic 2—1 Rangers

Celtic—all but—confirm their twelfth title in thirteen years with two first-half goals from man of the match, Matt O’Riley and an own-goal from John Lundstram (my man of the match) enough to give us victory. Cyriel Dessers got a consolation goal just before half-time.

Philippe Clement’s men did not do enough to grab a ‘moral victory’. Rangers have lost three to Celtic and drawn one. Their game plan yesterday was to sit in—like the other Scottish, second-tier teams—and hit and hope. But it could have been gone in thirty seconds with a ball flashed across the Rangers’ box almost ending up in the net.

John Lunstram did manage to score for Celtic’s second goal. Carter-Vickers had played an exquisite ball up and over to the left wing. Daizen Maeda was (again) ahead of Tavernier and going towards the touchline. Lunstrum lunged at his cut back and knocked it into the net. Maeda was booked for his celebrations.

Lunstrum was also booked for his tackle in Alistair Johnston just before half-time. Kenny Miller was the only Rangers celebrity that claimed it should have stayed a yellow. Even serial apologist Kris Boyd marked it out as red. It was the kind of tackle Tam Forsyth routinely administered to Celtic forwards in the early seventies. A slide-tackle that took the man and none of the ball. A leg-breaker, in other words. Clement’s reference to it wasn’t favourable, either. He hinted it had changed the game.

In a way, he was right and wrong. Fabio Silva had almost opened the scoring with a cross-cum shot. He also went down for a penalty, nipping in front of Johnston and falling down in the six-yard box. He’d a free header and would surely have scored had he stood up and been braver. Desser’s goal was unexpected as it was expected in ways we’ve come to expect in recent weeks and over this season. Ball from Silva to the back post, on the left-hand side. Sterling beats Taylor. Scales and Carter-Vickers posted missing as he headed it back across goal. Joe Hart watches him head it into the net.

It was a Rangers’ goal that silenced the 60 000 crowd. At 2—0 the game looked finished. O’Riley had three shots and a free kick that was just past the post. McGregor had two or three shots at goal which tested Jack Butland. Kyogo did what he does. He’d popped up outside the six-yard box and his instinctive shot was just too close to Jack Butland. In other words, Celtic were dominating. For every chance Rangers created, Celtic had three or more. But they were still in the game with Celtic only having a one-goal lead.

With Lunstrum off, the second-half pattern and was magnified. Rangers looked buried. Mahomad Diomonde clattered into O’Riley and gave away a penalty. Another pattern emerged. Celtic’s penalty misses. Powder-puff O’Riley penalty added his name to a roster of players that have missed from the spot this season that includes the captain and goalkeeper.

I don’t want to use words like that spurned Rangers on. Kyogo came off, and that allowed Idah to miss two sitters. James Forrest came off. This was one of the big calls Rodgers got right. Kuhn looks an empty jersey and Forrest has been on fire. It looked a no-brainer, but I expected the German to start. But he did almost score. Jinking into the box and taking too many touches and getting his shot blocked.

Maeda. We love Maeda. If he’d any skill he’d be dangerous and worth tens of millions. He scored two offside goals, but he stayed on the pitch and was the right call.

Brendan Rodgers got a bit of payback with the league done. Punters like me that had called him Judas could eat our words. This was the strongest Celtic team he fielded this season. Most of the punters would have picked the same team. Far superior to anything the blue-hoards could offer. We glory in victory. Ranger got forward in the final minutes. The usual pantomime of Jack Butland coming up for a corner. We did see it out in a game that should have been over. If O’Riley’s penalty went in, I’d guess we’d have hit five or six. We flapped a bit in the end, when we should have strolled it. Rangers got what they deserved—defeat.

We won the league because we were better. But we want better than we have. All of last year’s signings can go now. We know O’Riley is going. We need to replace him. We need a new goalie. Scales is a stop-gap. We’re looking at the problem left-back area where we lost so many goals. I’m delighted we won the league. It’s the biggie. Pity about the qualifying round to Champion League riches. That’s always fifty-fifty.

I think Rangers will win the Scottish Cup. Not because they’re better, because they’re clearly not. Just a gut instinct. That will change the narrative for next year and leave Clement and the Rangers’ denizens baying for new blood.  I hope I’m wrong, of course. I wouldn’t want Rangers to win even a game of tiddlywinks. If we win, they’ll still be baying for blood, but Clement will find himself hanging by a thread. Brendan Rodgers can get on his soapbox and castigate us unbelievers again. I’ll take that on the chin any time. We can make a pretty poor season into something better. Nice to see the King, Henrik at the game.       

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Real Madrid—serial winners—Ancelloti-time.

Celtic (my team) played Real Madrid in the Champion League, November 2022. They beat us 2—1 at Parkhead. We should have been well ahead at half-time. Missed chances. Punished and comprehensively beaten. Carlo Ancelloti said all the usual things about the fans and the stadium. Real Madrid are not the best team in the competition. They haven’t been for a few years. That would be last year’s winners Manchester City. Madrid edged them out on penalties. That late, late goal again, doing it for City. Two years ago City looked to get past Madrid. In a team filled with superstars, they just had to see it out in the Santiago Bernabeu. Two late goals, City out.

I’d watched bits of the PSG v Borussia Dortmund (the sixth best team in Germany). PSG hit the post and bar five times. They couldn’t score. They couldn’t get that equaliser. We’d all the usual talk of a defensive masterclass. I see it every week at Parkhead. Opposition teams sit in. Celtic simply have better players. When the diddy teams comes away with a result, my team are castigated and the opposition are lauded. Defensive masterclass as a cliché is always used. Mats Hummels made a joke about it. Ally McCoist, the commentator, was trying too hard to make something special out of it by calling him ‘The Magnet’.  

Another way of putting it is they got lucky. Teams, and managers in particular, need to be lucky.

26th May, 1999. Camp Nou Stadium in Barcelona. Bayern Munich are beating Manchester United 1—0. Game over.

United had run out of ideas. Bayern were seeing it out. Substitutes, Teddy Sheringham scored in the 91st minute. Ole Gunnar Soljskaer on the 93rd minute. Dead and buried. They scored in Fergie-time, which has come to feel like Ancelloti-time.  

 Goalkeepers? Manuel Neuer sold the shirts. Simple. Bayern get the lead and they look to see the game out. Real Madrid look out—again. Neuer makes the kind of goalkeeping error that has an under-ten coach turning away in disgust. Vincius Junior’s shot was of the past-back variety.

The back-up striker, Joselu Mato, didn’t even have time to thank Neuer for dropping the ball at his feet to knock into the net, before he’d scored the winner. Bayern were gone in just over sixty seconds. Harry Kane, who went there to pick up silverware, picked up nought in his debut season.

It’s difficult to imagine the former Stoke and Newcastle striker heading to Wembley to play in the Champions League final.  Carlo Ancelotti looked to have run out of ideas as Everton manager. Going back to Real Madrid…well, that’s hardly a step down. Pep Guardiola is no longer in Spain. Barcelona are no longer the best team in the world. It’s a one-horse race. But when it comes to the Champions League, Ancelotti and Madrid have had the luck of the devil. This looks like being their year, yet again. Can Dortmund beat Madrid? No.  But they can score and they do have ‘The Magnet’. Dog’s chance? Hey Jude, Poor old Harry, it’s a dog’s life.

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Celtic 3—0 Hearts

At the business-end of the season, Kyogo comes alive. Lawrence Shankland almost scored in under a minute. The Hearts forward had a stinker. His handball late in the second-half gave Celtic a penalty, well dispatched by O’Riley into the top corner and made the game safe.

Kyogo scored in three minutes. VAR took almost as long to decide he was onside and it was a goal. The Hearts keeper opted to punch out a corner. Hattate on the edge of the box, looked to shoot, but instead opted for a lobbed cross. Kyogo nipped in front of defenders and keeper to head into the net.

Hatate, in contrast, had one of those games where he ballooned shots over the bar and gave the ball away, but he’s still one of the best in midfielders in Scotland. He literally rolls with the ball and creates pockets of space all around him

The Japanese’s forwards second goal was a thing of beauty. Hearts had shaded possession. O’Riley on the right touchline on the half hour mark played one of those precision passes you see on video screens. Kyogo’s finish was also sublime. Running onto the ball and volleying home from inside the box. Simple but effective.  

They had created chances. With Joe Hart making a wonderful fingertip saves from Devlin to keep Celtic ahead. Overall, the Celtic keeper had a great game. He wasn’t as busy as his counterpart in the Hearts’s goal, Zander Clarke who had to deal with almost twenty shots on goal and was easily Hearts’ best player. But Joe Hart had to make important saves at important times. And  he was up for it. Vargas’s  onside and offside shot was saved by Hart (if it went in, he’d have been on). And late in the game with it 2—0, Taylor went down on the touchline and Hart had to come out to block another one-on-one.  

Brendan Rodgers went for the same team that started against Dundee. No surprise that James Forrest, who dragged us out of a giant hole of our own making, keeps his place. Nicolas Kuhn must be doing something extraordinary in training because he’s shown little on the big stage. It was good to see Kuhn, for once, hooked before Forrest. Maeda coming on. Forrest was by far our most effective winger. I’m hoping it’s Forrest and Maeda next week when we’ll beat Rangers and we’ll go through all that bullshit of it being not mathematically done yet.

 Of course, we know Daizen Maeda is back. That thought fills me (and I suspect many others) with joy, because our win today and next week—and we’re Champions. Maeda always turns up against Rangers.

We’ve been reminded Hearts have beaten us twice. One was a free hit at Tynecastle. A penalty that wasn’t a penalty and a man sent off that shouldn’t have been. But we’ve moved on. Hearts other win is something we’ve grown used to. Smash and grab. Hearts actually played better today, shading possession in the first thirty minutes. This goes way back to the Postecoglou era and in recent matches against Dundee and Aberdeen, we’ve been lucky.

We were seven points ahead. Five points behind. Now we’re six ahead with the finishing line in sight. Plan A—beat Rangers and it’s done. But as Hearts showed in spells today, if the opposition get the first goal (we certainly hope not) then it’s not a given we’ll win. I’m pretty sure we will. Plan B is win out remaining matches. I’m pretty sure we’ll do that too. Then it’s fifty-fifty for the last game of the season and Cup Final.

We’ll take the league. First and last and always.  

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Dundee 1—2 Celtic

A James Forrest double gets us over the line. With four games remaining, Celtic, with a win over Hearts, can effectively win the league by beating Rangers at home in the penultimate match. This was a twitchy match. Like many others we could have been out of sight or left reeling in injury time when Mellon missed a free header at the back post.

The Dundee plan was exactly what we’ve come to expect. Sit in, hit longish balls towards the forwards, focus on Taylor and Liam Scales side of things were Celtic are vulnerable to cross balls and corners in particular.

Celtic do what we always do. Started well with seventy or eighty-percent possession, with a few half-chances. Nicholas Kuhn and Reo Hatate threatened. The latter hitting the post with a wonderful drop of the shoulder, in the second half, but his shot hit the inside of the post. With Celtic two ahead that would have settled the match. Hatate is not back to his best, but he always tries to make a forward pass. He was the best midfielder in Scotland last year. Kuhn has had teething problems with his teeth and weight loss. I’ve yet to see him play a good game. To me, he is an empty jersey as he was again today.

James Forrest—yes I used to slag him off, but even a blind Rangers supporter would recognise him as our best winger in a poor bunch—match winner. Brendan Rodgers said something along the lines of he was the best winger at the club. Play him, many of us have been saying so for weeks. Palma looks good enough for backup. Yang may prove a good buy next season or the season after, but it doesn’t look good. Kuhn (sigh) I don’t understand why he keeps starting. I’m waiting for him to prove me wrong.

Forrest has nothing left to prove. But he’s only 32. His first goal on the half-hour mark was a belter. Kyogo teed him up from the edge of the box. A ball fired into the Japanese striker. He spun away with the outside of his boot. Forrest took it first time on the volley and fired it in the net.

Around the hour mark, after Dundee had started the second half strongly and corner after corner created goal scoring opportunities for the Den’s men, Forrest robbed a defender on the edge of their box. He played a give-and-go with Hatate and got on the end of it. Ricki Lamie and Portales played like Laurel and Hardy and Forest nipped in and nutmegged the keeper. That looked like job done.

Forrest, of course, comes off for Palma. Kyogo off for Idah. But it was the loanee Norwich striker that brought Dundee roaring back and looking for an equaliser. Mo Sylla and Jordan McGhee headed past the post and straight at Joe Hart. The Celtic defence looked to have cleared—yet another—free kick. Portaless’s downward volley was nothing like Forrest’s, but it hit Idah and wrong-footed Joe Hart.

Hart found time to get a late booking for time wasting. He deserved it. But it would be interesting to see if the same rule was applied when we play home and away and keepers take an eternity and opposition players fall down.

Man of the match by a mile, James Forrest. I gave him the man of the match for his contribution against Aberdeen. Let’s hope he’s a certain starter for the remaining fixtures. We still lose too many goals. McGregor still looks off the pace, but he’s still far superior to Iwata. If we can get Maeda back and Forrest on the other side, we’d be full strength for the remaining four league fixtures and the cup final. We’ll win the league, not the cup. I’ve been saying that for a while. I hope I’m wrong and we win both. Maybe Kuhn will get a hat-trick in the Cup final. Let’s just get over the line. Hearts at home. Home win.

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Aberdeen 3—3 Celtic (win on penalties after extra-time)

Aberdeen win the moral victory, but Celtic get to the Scottish Cup final after penalties. Bojan Miovski has a good scoring record against Celtic. He was at it again today. Two minutes in and he’s in behind the defence and scored. Game on.

We’d 88 minutes to retrieve the match. Yang missed an early chance, when he really should have scored with a back post header. He’d an awful match.

I’m not sure Kuhn on the other wing is much better. He did grab the equaliser. Kyogo had robbed Angus MacDonald just outside the Don’s box. His shot was blocked and Kuhn simply slid it into an empty net. We’d another seventy minutes to grab a winner.

Just after the hour mark a real winger came on. I used to slate James Forrest. Lately, (as in before the Old Firm game) I wanted him to start. Here’s the reason why. He came on, drifted in off the wing and bent a shot into the bottom corner of the net. He’d another few chances were he was unlucky. He did more in his cameo that our two other so-called wingers, before bizarrely getting taking off in extra-time of extra-time for  Maik Nawrocki to shore up an increasingly unreliable defence.

But his substitution had the opposite effect. Liam Scales has been on the slide recently. He wasn’t as awful as Yang, but most of the Aberdeen goals came down his side. Scales was also lucky to get away with a hand ball. Replays suggest it might have been outside the box, but it was marginal, on a day when everything Scales did seemed laboured.  

Not as lucky as Carter-Vickers, who looked to have given away a stonewall penalty. He clearly kicked Hoilett. Both luck and VAR came to Celtic’s rescue again. Carter-Vickers has had a great press and pundits are telling us how good he is. Not today. He did make a few blocks but Mivoski got the better of him for the first goal and, generally, got the better of him and Scales.

Aberdeen’s late and even later goals were identical. Substitute, Ester Sokler, headed in at the back post from a cross from fellow substitute Junior Hoilett on the 90th minute.

Sandwiched by a coolly taken Matt O’Riley strike high into the net in extra-time.

Junior Hoilett flung another cross into the back post where Scales et al were found wanting, and the Aberdeen captain, who’d gifted Celtic an equaliser in the opening minutes, scored on 120nd minute to make amends.

Penalties. We all know what happened next. Hart the hero and the villain. Hitting the post with a spot kick, but saving that crucial one that took us to the final.

My man of the match was James Forrest, which says it all. I think we’re fated to win the league but not the cup. I hope we win both, of course. Rangers implosion has been wonderful but there’s still work to be done. The joy of a cup final, but poor in defence, poor in midfield and missing lots of scoring opportunities doesn’t make good reading, but does make a good game for the neutral. I’m never that. Move onto the next game. Dundee away. Play like this and we’ll win nothing.

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Celtic 3—0 Saint Mirren

Zach Hemming had little or nothing to do in the first-half. Celtic had two enforced changes from the team that started against Rangers. Liam Scales has picked up an injury. I’m not particularly worried. He’s been on a downward slide. Nawrocki gets his chance and did OKish. I am worried about Maeda. We saw his value at Ibrox. It’s not so much the work he does with the ball, but his closing down, in that sense he is irreplaceable.

Yang got the nod. He took the wrong choice with a chance in under sixty seconds. He could have shot, but chopped back. His form has been up and down as it was here. The same could be said for Kuhn. He’d a disastrous start to his Celtic career and then had a few assists. I’d have preferred Forrest at Ibrox and Forrest now, which tells you everything you need to know of what I think of our wingers. But Kuhn made a few tentative passes and you wonder if he should have shot instead.

Most of our goal-scoring opportunities came from the right wing. After giving away the penalty that wasn’t a penalty last week, Alistair Johnson had a man-of-the-match performance with a hand in our two goals.  

Reo Hatate from the edge of the box and an attempted nutmeg inside the box were one of the few other first-half chances. O’Riley a sidefooted shot but didn’t look like scoring.

But it was Hatate’s genius that opened the scoring. A pass from Johnston and inside the crowded box, the Japanese international pinged it into the top corner to open the scoring and the floodgates of relief in the 53rd minute.

 Much has been made of there being lots of rain over Dundee. No conspiracy. Just Scottish weather and bad groundkeeping. The assumption being, Dundee wanted to avoid defeat by employing a rain maker. Someone explain that to me. All our games are must-win now. We take it for granted that is going to happen. But I get nervous, pre-match. We’ve seen what happened this season and it’s not been good enough.  

We’ve had high winds over Paradise making it harder to judge passes. A twelfth man. With Saint Mirren and all other teams coming to sit in, including Rangers, we know what to expect. Long throws were their primary weapon. In the main we dealt well, with them. Carter-Vickers brings composure to our defence and allows us to pass from the back.  But corners present the same challenge. But Saint Mirren’s first, and only corner, didn’t come until the 89th minute and we were 3—0 up.  

Kyogo’s goal, fifteen minutes into the second-half, settled the game. Again it was Johnstone with the assist. A delightful ball over the top took out Gogic. Kyogo from almost inside the six-yard box headed home.

Celtic upped a gear. Greg Taylor, strangely reluctant to shoot, with Hemming saving awkwardly with his knees locked together. Yang getting into a muddle in front of goal, again.  Hatate’s effort swinging past the post.

Obviously a quiz question in later years, both teams made six substations. We weren’t really sure how that worked. Something about a head knock.

Adam Idah got a late goal in the 89th minute. Luis Palma should have scored but fluffed it. His rebounded shot hit by Paula Bernardo. The ball looped into the air and easily knocked over the line by the Norwich loanee. Every point counts. Every goal counts as we know from the recent past. We weren’t as ruthless as we could have been, but after a wind-strewn first-half, most everyone would have settled for a three goal, full-time lead. Let’s hope it doesn’t snow on Hampden next Saturday.

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Rangers 3—3 Celtic.

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.

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Win or bust, Rangers at Ibrox, Sunday.

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.

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Celtic 3—1 St Johnstone

Pre-match, We’d Never Work Alone was song by different-abled kids in sign language. Celtic in any language is our team. We’ve stuttered. Looked off the pace. Not today. Kyogo Furuhashi, Nicolas Kuhn and James Forrest scored, but there was something extraordinary that we were only three goal to the good.

Joe Hart was angry when Connor Smith netted Saints’ consolation goal. Substitute Stevie May heading across goal, Hart making the save and Smith netting the rebound, in which was the away team’s only effort on goal.

There was still time added on for an Idah effort to be saved. Alistair Johnston to have a goal disallowed, even though he was onside and for Iwatta to miss a sitter, heading over by two yards.

 Brendan Rodgers made two changes to the team that won against Livingston. Carter-Vickers comes in and so does Kyogo. Both improve the team. The difference was this was Kyogo of old. He could have hit four or five. He’d two goals disallowed for offside. Scored with a fabulous header with a dinked pass from Kuhn (also checked for offside). And set up the goal the effectively finished the game, with a minute gone in the second half, playing a ball across the goal for Kuhn to tap in.

We await the return of Hatate and McGregor then we’ll be back to full strength. Idah drops to the bench, because, quite simply, he looked like a Norwich reserve last weekend.

First twenty minutes, as we expected, total possession. Kuhn half-chance the only threat. Craig Levein is predictable. His sides sit in. Open and expansive isn’t going to happen. Sidibeh lands a quick long ball forward and took on Carter-Vickers. One-on-one. That’s what St Johnnstone were playing for. But there was only one winner. We were far enough ahead after seventy minutes to rest the American. Odin Holm coming on for him.

But it was the new-old boy, James Forrest that made the difference. O’Riley hunted down the ball in the last third. His ball across the box played in Forrest. He took his time and picked the corner of the net. He almost made it a double in the last few minutes. His shot blocked. 

O’Riley, like his midfield partners, looked back to his best. He’d a late free kick tipped onto the bar.

Kyogo earlier had also lashed a shot off the bar. He’d an early one on one saved. In retrospect he should have played in Maeda for a tap in. He chested in one and scored another both offside. His run in behind from Greg Taylor’s pass was something he did all afternoon. The difference today was his teammates found him.  

A chance missed as the ball bobbled about the box. Bernardo had a chance cleared from a first-half corner. Iwata had a shot cleared off the line. Kyogo just off target as he chips one over Mitov but also the bar.

Celtic denied what looked like a stone-wall penalty after thirty minutes. Matt O’Riley whipped in lots of corners and we looked like scoring from most of them. Carter-Vickers had a shot on goal from ten yards, which was blocked. Maeda (as usual) got to it and whipped in the rebound. As expected, lots of players were on the goal-line and in the six-yard box. Kucheriavyi kept the ball out of the next with his hand. I don’t care if it’s natural of unnatural. If his hand isn’t there, it’s a goal. If his hand is there, it’s a penalty. No penalty.

Great to see Kyogo hitting top gear again. Maeda did what he does every week. Kuhn got man of the match. I’d written him off as a dud. I wanted to be wrong. Maybe Lagerbielke will also prove me wrong. The international break gives us breathing space to get our top men fit for Livingston and then Ibrox. If we can win those games—and I’m sure we can—then we should win the league. Today was high-tempo football was some great cameos. It was like old times. Disappointing to lose that goal and not score more. For those of us that remember Helicopter Sunday, we know goals for and against can decide who wins the league. We always need a wee bit of luck.  

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