A look back on the weekend action at Celtic Park and Pittodrie now that the dust has settled…
Celtic 1-1 Motherwell – Our draw on Saturday afternoon was disappointing, frustrating even but the hysteria that followed was perhaps OTT.
There’s no getting away from the fact that Saturday’s draw with Motherwell was hugely disappointing for the Celtic support. The team were well below par and we got what we deserved in the end, so we can have no complaints.
Everyone is emotional after such a set back, and can be forgiven for knee jerk reactions, but some supporters especially on social media go into overdrive and repetitively paint a picture of doom. In the cold light of day it’s still disappointing to have dropped points in such a manner, but the bigger picture is very clear and it’s one that looks very promising.
We are still top, and with theRangers bottling it up at Pittodrie, our lead is still a commanding one with eight points still separating us and the Ibrox club, albeit they have a game in hand.
We know if we play to our strengths we can beat anyone. We just need to do it more consistently, but I’m sure it’s something Brendan is working tirelessly to improve. Predicting bleak outcomes does no-one any good, it’s quite frankly baffling behaviour. As a club we’ve won 11 of the last 12 titles. We’ve won five trebles in those 12 seasons.
Doubting the team’s ability is bemusing. After all we’ve consistently proved we are the serial winners in Scottish football. We have winners on the park and winners in the dugout. Have faith in the team. They’ve been there and done it, and will continue to continue to do so.
Aberdeen 1-1 theRangers – Andrew Dallas on VAR duties rescued a point but it’s too little too late as latest Ibrox club blow their big chance to close the gap.
Yet again theRangers proved that the pressure is inevitably too much for them to handle. The onus was on Philippe Clement’s charges to make advantage of Celtic unexpectedly dropping points at home to Motherwell by beating Aberdeen at Pittodrie yesterday lunchtime.
The mainstream media and theRangers support both had their favourites as stick-ons to cut the gap to six points with a game in hand. Some even had it cut down to three, assuming that the game in hand was a formality, while others went a step further by also including a win at Celtic Park on 30 December that would make them league leaders going into 2024. Too many chickens being counted there.
No one had read the script to Barry Robson and Aberdeen though, and the Dons almost pulled off a victory but for a predictable and controversial penalty awarded deep into stoppage time to deny the Pittodrie side all three points. Tavernier took hit it straight down the middle to earn Clement a point.
It’s been like that for years, no matter who’s been in charge and big Philippe is now finding that out for himself. Let’s hope that this continues for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile we can comfort ourselves knowing we have a manager and players who have proven they can handle the pressure.
Next up in the Scottish Premiership for Celtic is a Sunday lunchtime trip to face St Johnstone in Perth, where the McDiarmid Park groundsman is presumably explaining to new Saints manager Craig Levein, that no, he can’t grow the grass this week, because it’s winter.
St Johnstone v Celtic kick-offs at mid-day so Brendan Rodgers’ side can move 11 points clear ahead of the 3pm kick-off at Ibrox where St Mirren are the visitors. Before that though Stephen Robinson’s side play Ross County tomorrow night up in Dingwall.
Brendan Rodgers will be focused on the Champions League match in Rome tomorrow evening in the early kick-off against Lazio before he turns his attention to St Johnstone, who like Motherwell took a point from the Champions and league leaders when the sides met at Celtic Park at the end of August.
Just an Ordinary Bhoy
