Celts 14 Clear Before Ibrox As Philippe’s Flops Flop Again…
“Never in doubt!”
Brendan Rodgers’ ear-to-ear grin told its own story as his rampant squad crushed St Johnstone at a bhoyant Celtic Park. This wasn’t just a game of two halves, but of two games, since the faithful spent a considerable amount of time with their iPhones or Androids pinging.
It wouldn’t have mattered a jot how many changes the boss made for this tussle; the result was, as my learned friend Peter Gilmartin always ventured, “Never in doubt!”
No Calmac, no sweat
No Calmac, no sweat, as the midfield generals, Arne Engels, Reo Hatate and Paolo Bernardo put on a show worthy of Champions. And, Champions we will most certainly be once again come May (or January?) since there is not one top flight club in Scotland worthy to be dubbed, ‘rivals’ or ‘contenders’.
An early seasonal on-fire Aberdeen flattered to deceive before giving up the ghost, and a possible tilt at the Champions League, whilst theRangers had a brief flurry before reverting to type. Fraudulent aspirants, both of them!
Meanwhile, Champions-elect, in December, Celtic’s rout of the Perth men was rudimentary, as every player, from Alex Valle and Alistair Johnston, to the resurgent Yang Hyun-Jun and Kyogo swarmed all over their blue shirts from the first whistle, to the last.
No excuses, no appeal, no rant, no blame-attaching
Saints manager, Simo Valakari was refreshingly candid at the end; “They don’t let us breathe!” No excuses, no appeal, no rant, no blame-attaching.
A stunner from Nicolas Kuhn, a double from Kyogo Furuhashi, and a clever slot from Daizen Maeda sealed the deal, but the power play from all over the park was frightening, especially from an oppositional point of view.
Meanwhile, over at Fir Park, the claret and ambers were doing likewise to Philippe Clement’s theRangers, much to the mirthmaking of 60,000 Paradise-dwellers whose heroes were playing concurrently.
Tony Watt robbed of a goal
A double before half-time had the Steelmen on easy street before Hamza Igamane made it eachy-peachy with a double of his own. As expected, there was some drama afoot in darkest Lanarkshire though as ex-Celtic hero, Tony Watt had two goals chalked off.
But, hold the back page! The main event of the evening came when, under pressure from ex-Barcelona slayer, Watt, Jack Butland literally punched the ball into this own net for his second aberration in a matter of days.
Just as Flip-Flop was seen scurrilously scrolling Butland’s contractual fine-print to find an exit clause, VAR came to his rescue.
The suits hurriedly inserted a new clause which stated that, in case of an emergency, the striker was not entitled to compete for the ball, despite no contact with the ex-England netfinder, sorry, minder.
There was a clear and obvious offside in the blue camp at the Ibrox men’s first goal too, but, I’m sure there will be a letter from the sent-off-for protesting, Stuart Kettlewell, carrier-pidgeoned to the SFA to discuss incidents which will have ‘the whole of Europe talking’. Clement’s phone must be going off its dial!
A sterling week for Celtic
All in all, it’s been a sterling week for Celtic. The Bhoys have romped 14 points clear of their soon-to-be-runners-up, with an epic encounter at Ibrox to come on Thursday, 2 January 2025. Beaton, Muir, and the ghost of Bobby (R.H.) Davidson will officiate for sure.
I cannot remember there ever being a dead-rubber in a New Year fixture between Celtic and this entity, or the last.
Well, there’s a first time for everything, but, for some clubs, there’s maybe a second…
Hail Hail!
Eddie Murray
Likewise, I can’t recall the new year Glasgow Derby, having no relevance to where the league title is ending up?
All this before the chimes of the new year, have even been rang out?
However, I still believe Rodgers will want to put the performance of the league cup final right also?
Only problem is it will mean the end of the Belgium waffler, and don’t know yet, whether we want to end the comedy gold that such a clown, provides ourselves?
Biggest issue we face on Thursday, will be the scum allowed to play the thuggery football against us, yet again?
So more concerned regarding potential injury issues, especially as we have far bigger fish to fry for the remainder of this season, than what the scum have to offer