“Only a fool would forecast the result of a football match” is one of the many sayings attributed to Willie Maley, and certainly it is amazing how often the “experts” get it wrong. But from any rational analysis, things look good for Celtic on Sunday.
In the first place, we must forget the last two games. There were deficiencies against Dundee and Hamilton – no doubt about that – but Sunday is different. There will be no all out defending from the opposition, and it is to be hoped that our manager has by now spotted the weak links in the forward line and acts appropriately.
There is little wrong with the rest of the team but there must be punch up front.
My team would be as follows assuming that everyone is fit, and I am going for a flexible 4-3-3 formation;
Craig Gordon – if Craig is less than 100% fit, Scott Bain would fit the bill instead. Come to think about it, Dorus de Vries is not the worst in the world either, but Craig Gordon on form is the best around.
Kristoffer Ajer – mistake on Sunday on the funny pitch, but good enough to learn from it on grass.
Jack Hendry – time for him to step up to the mark. The way he played for Scotland against Hungary shows that he has it. ( HENDY IS CUP TIED SO WON’T PLAY)
Kieran Tierney – self evident!
Callum McGregor – one of the great things about the versatile CaleyMac is that he can play one either side of the park. He is not a full back, but this is his chance in a more forcing role.
Scott Brown – self evident! No show without him!
Stuart Armstrong – if he plays to his potential, there is no one to beat him.
James Forrest – not everyone agrees with his high rating…but I do.
Leigh Griffiths – must get the nod over Dembele, simply because he gives the impression that he wants to play. Dembele usually does well against Rangers (he certainly did last season) and may get his chance in the second half if things aren’t going too well.
Patrick Roberts – this talented player must be played from the start ahead of the earnest but under performing Scott Sinclair. Like Dembele, however Sinclair must be kept sweet and given a seat on the bench. You never know when you might need him!
The bench thus contains men like Rogic, Dembele, Sinclair, Musonda, Simunovic, Ntcham and Boyata.
The discerning reader will spot that 8 of my starting 11 are Scottish. This is no xenophobia, I assure you, but I often feel that in really crunch games, a Scottish player understands just that little bit more about Scottish conditions, pitches, referees etc. and what Hampden is like on the big occasion
There are of course imponderables – the weather is often significant, the refereeing (Bobby Madden, I believe, on Sunday) is crucial and in spite of what everyone tells you, there is something called “luck”. But I think that this team is good enough to beat the current Rangers team. I don’t agree with the chant “Oh, the Rangers are sh…” but they are frankly, not as good as us, with quite a few sub-standard players. But they will come at us and they will try.
But we do have the psychological advantage of having beaten them a month ago with only ten men at their own ground. We are the “champions-elect” , we have a manager who is not under threat and we beat them this time last year in the same competition. In addition the Scottish Cup is our competition. We have won it 37 times as distinct from their 0*. Everything looks good for Sunday, and every Celtic fan in the world will either be at Hampden or watching it on TV. I don’t think that the players will let the fans down.
David Potter
*The previous Rangers club won the Scottish Cup 33 times.
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