Chris Sutton has been left somewhat confused at the Celtic celebrations at the weekend given that as things turned out Ange Postecolgou’s side failed to beat theRangers in the cinch Premiership Glasgow Derby.
“It was a bit confusing at the weekend seeing all the celebrations at the weekend at Parkhead considering Celtic didn’t win,” Sutton noted in his Daily Record column this morning, adding: “Well, that’s what Todd Cantwell said, and who are we to argue with him?
“He said Celtic didn’t win, it was (the)Rangers who lost. So by that logic, Celtic won’t win the league, (the)Rangers will lose it? I’m not sure that’s how football works. There are winners and losers – and it’s clear who’s who in Glasgow at the moment.”
Sutton points to the same old story, of loser excuses that now come out of Ibrox after every game against Celtic played this season. “It just baffles me about the rhetoric from (the)Rangers after these games as it’s the same all the time,” the former Celtic striker stated.
“After the Ibrox game in January it was, ‘we’ll see the real Rangers (!!!) at Hampden’. They lose that one and it was ‘it’ll be different at Celtic Park’. Now it’s ‘we showed we can win at Hampden again’, ‘next year we’ll be a real force’ etc, etc.
“It’s just the same old story. The way they’ve reacted to Saturday you’d think they had won the match. Listen, there are no moral victories in this fixture. And Cantwell coming out and saying Celtic didn’t win it, is just back in Fashion Sakala territory. If you are in that Celtic dressing room, you’d stick that away and remember it for cup week.
“Cantwell didn’t make much of an impression on the match on Saturday, he would have been best keeping his head down. I understand Michael Beale and James Tavernier have to sell some kind of story. This time it was ‘we played well and deserved something from the game if it wasn’t for some dodgy decisions by the ref and a couple of errors’.
“I get that. The Alfredo Morelos effort ruled out was harsh but it was a 50/50 call and not deemed to be a clear and obvious error by the VAR officials. But that was the first real chance they’d had in the game. I didn’t quite get Beale’s complaining about handball from Jota for the second. It didn’t hit his hand and even if it did it would have been accidental and not from the goalscorer, so the rules would have allowed it anyway,” Sutton, quite correctly, pointed out.
“It was a little bit desperate and perhaps some deflection. They can write all the letters to the SFA they like but look at all the stats. Celtic had more possession, more chances, more shots on goal, more corners, Allan McGregor had more saves to make. It was a close game but can anyone really say (the)Rangers did enough to win it? I’m not even sure (the)Rangers fans would believe that.”
The point Sutton doesn’t make is that theRangers have benefited from an incredible number of decisions this season yet still find themselves twelve points behind Ange Postecglou’s side. Indeed the points total that theRangers have at the moment would in many other seasons have them within touching distance of winning the title. Yet Celtic’s form – having dropped just five points all season ( the 2-0 defeat at St Mirren last September and the 2-2 draw at Ibrox in January in a match where the refereeing decisions clearly favoured Beale’s side).
