THAT DEFEAT at Livingston has started to produce one or two Silver Linings for Celtic. The first was seen on Saturday when an emphatic team performance produced enough goals to take us back to the top of the goalscoring charts, which would become significant the next day when the league table settled down after the weekend activities and Celtic were back on top, not as the Rangers fans are suggesting because C comes before R in the alphabet (actually it’s C before t – have a look at our new Premiership league table and note that Celtic are top and the Rangers are in second spot), but because Celtic had scored more goals.
That performance against Ross County sets up up nicely for an eagerly anticipated shot at Lazio on Thursday night.
The second Silver Lining came at Tynecastle with the newly crowned October Champions, bottling it straight away, as they inevitably do when they get anywhere near the top of the league. That Tavernier defending is almost as funny as the time Ali G asked the ‘I’m British’ DUP man if he was on holiday in Ireland.
Go on Ali pic.twitter.com/LW2HeDSJka
— lonewolf (@lonewol10150417) October 21, 2019
Then there’s the media. Superscoreboard’s Hugh Keevins was actually calling the Rangers and I quote, ‘Champions Elect’ after we lost to Livingston and they beat Hamilton at Ibrox. The Daily Record went big on their ‘super-computer’ that told us that the Rangers were going to win the league – they haven’t referred to the updated opinion of their super-computer since the Champions went back to the top of the table on Saturday and stayed there on Sunday.
Incidentally I caught five minutes of Superscorebaord last night and the irate caller was lamenting the love that some Rangers fans have for their manager, who he reckons is a failure in all the big games that matter, only beat Celtic once in a meaning game, the second win was a Dead Rubber (something we have said repeated on here), lost out in both cups last season to Aberdeen and is by no means certain to beat Hearts this time in the league Cup semi-final. It sounded like the beginning of another Winter of Discontent in Govan, another Silver Lining.
But perhaps the most important Silver Lining is the fact that Ryan Christie picked up a two match suspension and that means that he rested up at the weekend and is fully focused on Lazio. And while Celtic as a team had a wrong to put right against Ross County, Christie has his own point to prove and he gets his chance against Lazio.
“Lazio is huge and it will be great to get back to Parkhead after the Cluj game at home,” Christie told the media yesterday, as reported by Evening Times.
“We were all buzzing with that win and this will hopefully be another big European night. It will be a great occasion but we also need to match it with a performance. I can’t wait for it and that goes for all the boys.
“It’s so frustrating to still be serving the suspension. That’s the thing with a red card, it sticks with you for a few weeks. But I’ve kept training hard and been doing some extra running.
“It’s not too long a break and I can hopefully be involved. I’ve kept myself ticking over and it would be good to get the chance to make an impact,” he said.
With Christie suspended, Tom Rogic played in that number 10 role behind the striker at the weekend and was in much need of the game game – another Silver Lining. The Australian is likely to drop to the bench on Thursday with a fully focused Christie set to take out his own personal frustrations on the Italians.
“Lazio are a huge name in European football. I am too young to remember when they won Serie A and were one of the best teams in Europe. But I remember Simone Inzaghi (the Lazio manager) and his brother (Filippo) playing from when I was younger.
“For me Lazio are an Italian giant, probably just outside Juventus. It will be a brilliant experience to play against them, home and away.
“When the draw was made for the Europa League, you see the big names coming out and you realise how much quality there is in the competition. These are the games you look forward to as players and we will be looking to get a result.
“It’s a massive match within the group and we have touched on that as a squad. In a tough section like this, you need to make the most of your home games and use that advantage. When we play at Celtic Park, we always look to get three points.
“The aim coming into the Europa League was to win the home games and then see what we can do away from home. We need to go and back that up now, and hopefully get a good result.
“It’s a competitive group and we have already seen that anyone can beat anyone. Cluj were fourth seeds but we have found out how good a team they are. We did well to get a draw in Romania in the Champions League qualifiers.
“Then you see them beating Lazio at home, so they will be looking to pick up points. Lazio and Rennes are also good teams so it’s a tough group – but one we hope to do well in. We have four points from two games but we want to kick on from here and get another good result.”
