Well that should be the league wrapped up now surely? Celtic came out on top today in an exciting contest against their title rivals to extinguish what little hope theRangers had of clawing back a significant lead as we head in to the latter stages of the league campaign. Once again Ange had the upper hand against the increasingly annoying Michael Beale, who has been firmly put back in his box, for another few weeks anyway.
Today’s match was certainly exciting, but rather than two teams playing at their best duking it out it at the highest level it was actually a game littered with mistakes from both sides. Celtic were far from their best today, which will make the relative ease in which we ended up securing all three points even more galling to our biggest rivals. I was shocked at how many mistakes and misplaced passes we delivered in the opening period of this game.
I honestly can’t remember us being so careless with the ball in a long long time under Ange Postecoglou. To be honest most of the team was guilty of this but I have to single out Aaron Mooy in particular, someone who is usually so precise with his passing. He will get a pass however as he is only returning from injury, hopefully that’s the ring rust shaken off now.
I was also shocked at the sloppiness of the usually rock solid partnership of Cameron Carter-Vickers and Carl Starfelt at the heart of defensive. Today they looked a bit out of sorts, with Carter-Vickers, who has been one of my players of the year so far, being particularly guilty.
Thankfully for our creaking defence we had Alistair Johnston at right back, a player who is a throw back to defenders of old who’s main priority was defending. He wasn’t shy in getting stuck in and his contribution was vital at times in stopping our rivals from being handed clear goalscoring chances. I believe the Canadian is a clear upgrade on Josip Juranovic, yet another fantastic Postecoglou find.
Celtic perhaps should have been a goal down today in the first half. The ‘foul’ committed by Alfredo Morelos was soft to say the least although you could perhaps say that there was a bit of a shove on Alastair Johnston which gave the referee a decision to make.
I wouldn’t have been happy if the shoe was on the other foot, put it that way. Something that has left me totally bamboozled however is both James Tavernier and Michael Beale’s post match comments claiming Celtic’s second goal should have been chalked off due to a handball. The ball clearly hits Jota in his crown jewels as opposed to his hand, obvious sour grapes (as opposed to Jota’s sore ones) from theRangers men.
Kyogo again showed how important he is to this Celtic team. He is the type of player who can be anonymous in a game then suddenly pop up out of nowhere and score vital goals. He proves on a weekly basis that Ange’s decision to stick with him as our number one striker when perhaps some of us were calling for Giakoumakis to get more game time was absolutely correct. His two goals today were exactly the type of chances you want your striker to get on the end of.
Our third goal today was scored by Jota, clearly inspired by the pre match performance of Ellie Dixon singing ‘Jota on the wing’. Seriously though, it is clear to see why Jota is such a fan favourite, his pre recorded interview with Sky Sports that was aired before the match shows he’s an incredibly bright and humble young man who is thoroughly enjoying his time being part of our football club. It was also a delight seeing over-the-hill Allan McGregor being embarrassed in front of a full Celtic Park, let’s hope the Gers reward him with yet another contract extension at the end of this season.
Just as it looked all but over at 3-1, and I started calculating how much my pre match 3-1 bet would be paying out, Celtic once again went missing at the back, letting James Tavernier in for this second goal with an unchallenged header at the back post. Slack defending once again which I’m sure Ange Postecoglou will be keen to remedy during next week’s training sessions.
I was also disappointed by Matt O’Riley’s challenge that gave away the free kick which lead to their first goal at the end of the first half. It was clear to see at that point that their only threat was coming from set pieces. We need to learn from these mistakes and be sure to not repeat these same errors in the cup semi final.
Overall we will be all delighted with today’s result that basically wraps up the league title once again. The performance however will definitely need to be looked at. They will be gunning to make sure we don’t complete a treble this season and our general sloppiness and mistakes must be rectified heading into that huge cup game.
The treble must be the priority this season after falling agonisingly short last season. Ange deserves to add his name to the list of treble winning managers. I have a feeling our players will be determined to deliver it.
We. Never. Stop
Conall McGinty
A relaxed Celtic v a desperate Rangers in the semi will result in a Hoops win
Hail Hail.