A disappointment in a way, but enough to give us a little hope for the Scottish Cup. We fell down in the predictable ways of not being clinical enough up front and our ponderous defending from corner kicks, but it was probably a fair result over the piece, and it did prove that there is no reason why we should fear Rangers in the Scottish Cup. We have a 50% chance of winning our 41st Scottish Cup.
Elyounoussi and Edouard remain infuriating. The goal was nothing short of brilliant – the sort of goal which we associate with Celtic in the past – but between the two of them, there were an awful lot of chances went a-begging. Possibly, Edouard was unlucky to be booked, but the whole thing could have been prevented if he had just belted the ball first time, as I at least have been encouraging him to do all season. It is so annoying to see him unable to become the truly great player that he has the latent capability of being.
And surely, Martin O’Neill is correct about full backs taking the back post at corner kicks. Everyone else should “tak a man apiece” as Sunny Jim of old used to say, and at least one full back on a post. Remember the defending team have an advantage because one attacker is actually taking the corner kick. Forget this theoretical stuff about zonal marking! Stick to basics.
These were the negatives. The positives were a really good team performance, and without a shadow of a doubt the best game I have seen Diego Laxalt play for the club. Jonjoe Kenny had a few moments of weakness but was basically quite sound, and Stephen Welsh, Callum McGregor and Scott Brown all had good games, although all defenders must take a share of the blame for the defending of the corner kick. Ryan Christie? Good and bad. Some very good touches in the first half, but there were times when he seemed to disappear. David Turnbull likewise. If these two can be on top of their game, this team can go places, but they need to take a grip of the game.
But there was a good feel about the team today. It was encouraging in that respect. It is now up to John Kennedy to bring out the good things from this squad and deliver that Scottish Cup. That would, at least, be something from this unfortunate season.
And at least everyone behaved. No clowns outside the ground, and only a few over zealous bookings from Willie Collum, who nevertheless had a good game in the pleasant spring sunshine.
Our most important game coming up? Yes, yes, I want Scotland to qualify for the World Cup too, but Celtic’s most important game is now Arbroath v Falkirk on Tuesday night.
David Potter
Quite right about men on the post, especially the back post. It cost us today … and at Ibrox on January 2nd. Have a look at videos of the January game and – in addition to nobody being at the post – you will see that Morelos was completely unmarked then (as he was today). Sloppy!