sport

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 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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Hearts 2—0 Celtic.

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.  

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St Mirren 0—2 Celtic.

Celtic at home to Livingston in the quarter-finals isn’t the pick of the round. But it is a pick we’d have taken.

Celtic’s Japanese duo, Kyogo and Maeda score a goal in each half on the sixteenth and fifty-second minutes take us into the next round. Anyone watching us recently knows how easily that can be overcome. The Celtic defence knows what to expect from a Steve Robinson team that measures his players by their height and muscularity. Apart from a Gogic overhead kicks, one which hit the bar, and another palmed away by Joe Hart, the Celtic defences for once deserve plaudits on a stick and uneven park that made playing football tricky.

 Brendan Rodgers shuffles the team once again. Liam Scales, last year’s loanee, has become an ever-present (on merit). Ralston, of course, is in for the injured Johnston. Welsh a stand-in for Carter-Vickers, with Nawrocki an unused substitute on the bench, highlights, yet, again, money wasted. Bernarbei in for Taylor. The young Argentinian was unlucky to pick up a late booking today. And he has played well enough in his last two games to maybe make Taylor’s return a choice that is not automatic.

Bernardo drops out, no great surprise there. Kuhn, at best anonymous at Easter Road, also is replaced by Maeda. He showed his usual tireless energy (and  lack of control and wrong choices)

Palma comes back into the team, for no better reason than the other wingers have been indifferent. The Honduran was booked for a dive inside the St Mirren box. But he also had an assist in both goals.

The big news was Kyogo starts, but so does our penalty taker, Idah. Rodgers played Kyogo in a less advanced role in friendlies at the beginning of the season. Rodgers made the comparison of playing Edouard and Dembele up front. Idah had one or two chances to shoot, but he didn’t take them and was largely anonymous.

Kyogo’s, twelfth goal of the campaign in the sixteenth minute, and the opening goal here, was a slick move. McGregor out wide to Palma. His cutback to the edge of the box taken first-time by Kyogo. It may have taken a slight deflection, but it ended up in the corner of the net. And it gave us that cushion we needed as St Mirren continued to lob balls into the box.  

Palma’s cross into the box, in contrast, was volleyed onto the bar by O’Riley at the back post. Maeda knocked in the rebound to give us the safety net that we needed with St Mirren pushing up the park and winning many of the fifty-fifty duals.

Joe Hart had a good game coming out to punch away many of crosses coming into the box. Our midfield and forward lines not so good a game. We didn’t dominate possession as we do usually. The playing surface didn’t help. A win is all we wanted. We got that. Move onto a home tie against the team bottom of the league. Few would back against Celtic making the semi-final. Today’s tie looked a lot tighter on paper.