In football, the world changes on goals. Not skill, general play, or doing enough to deserve the win. When you are trailing in title chance, running out of games and level in the last 10 minutes of a match you really need to win, a goal changes the world.
Celtic should have been out of sight after a dominant first half, however, we have seen this story too many times this season for anyone to think the same would follow after the break. In the early moments of the second period, Tomas Cvancara missed the second chance when clean through on the Dundee goalkeeper, and that seemed to spark the home side into action.
Dundee are not a good team, but they did what they needed to do to get back into the game – get possession inside the Celtic box. Colby Donovan was the unfortunate defender whose arm met a shot. If Cvancara’s earlier miss motivated Dundee, the equaliser gave them a further shot of adrenaline. Celtic were briefly on the rack.
Change came in the unexpected form of Luke McCowan. With Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain flagging, Luke was preferred to Reo Hatate. I am pretty sure this was about energy. Luke can get around the midfield better than Reo and that quality was judged most required by Martin O’Neill.
Within moments of that early second half miss, Martin readied Kelechi Iheanacho. The Nigerian striker came on immediately after the Dundee equaliser and was able to hold the ball, and bring others into play. These two changes pinned Dundee back, who were not an attacking threat again until a couple of free kicks in the dying moments of the game.
It was a third substitution, Marcelo Saracchi for Kieran Tierney, that completed the win. The Uruguayan made everything look simple – most notably, getting the ball past the first defender and into the box in a manner that an attacker had a chance to get on the end of it.
When Kelechi controlled Marcelo’s cross and spun to shoot I didn’t think he had space at the near post, but this guy has banked tens of millions already in his career for a reason. You feel if we could get 90 or even 60 minutes out of him every week, odds on Celtic winning would shorten.
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an tearmann
No, but the Orion crew have located a soccer ball launched in 1972….
Thinking that a potential home match against Falkirk might be the best bet…
No word yet on the OldTim67 stone….
HailHailBigFellah
Vinnie@10.19
His brother Phil is a plasterer. :)
AN DÚN and others commenting on the bookies odds…
Noting your “… the Huns at 11/10 and us at 2/1 after Dens” it’s important to remember that the bookies are not setting these odds based on what they believe to be the most likely order of outcomes. Probability is not the math discipline in use when they present their “offer” price for a bet, it is significantly more sophisticated than that, and the “prices” are designed to induce punters to place money based on the bookies wanting to dynamically hedge against their already known exposure.
Simply put – in a mature betting market (one with a lot of flow) they expect to win money no matter who wins the league, and their prices have nothing to do with probable outcomes, only to do with a spread which ensures every set of bets guarantees a positive line item in their P&L.
Essentially, the dynamic nature of odds in a mature market will reflect consumer sentiment, and the placing of bets which inevitably follows. So, if Sevco’s “fortunate” home win against Dundee Utd leads to a slew of bears dropping money on winning the league, that will shorten their odds because the bookies want additional exposure to that outcome at a lower premium. Similarly, if Celtic’s win at Dens did not inspire the Hoops faithful to take a punt, then they lengthen the odds in the hope of attracting more interest.
All of this to say, the bookies will always win, while at the same time agreeing with you that I believe there is better value in Celtic at 2-1, because our chances of success are not properly reflected in that price.
A lot of good football related comments on this particular article, and more broad consensus than I can remember seeing on this blog for a good while.
While chiming in I’ll not repeat anything more than what I consider to be the top issues in discussion;
1 – quality minutes from Iheanacho and The Ox could be crucial, so keep them fit and don’t overwork them
2 – a thread yesterday turned toward the idea of fielding our 4 best defenders (all left footers pending changes to fitness reports on either AJ or JA), which would be KT, Scratchy, Scales and Trusty – coin toss to see who lines up at RB, but not the worst idea.
3 – a system/formation which keeps Nygren in the team and in the right area of the field is key to our goal production, so the other 2 lining up in MF should expect to continue owning a disproportionate amount of the work.
4 – strategy/tactics/selections are secondary to outcomes, so accept where we are at, trust MON and support whatever team is on the field, expect them to give 100%, and hope that is enough!
5 – related to #4, what’s being said in fan media and elsewhere is unimportant, but for the 4 games at Celtic Park it is crucial to maximize home advantage – over to BW, and his ability to get the GB back in the stadium
6 – we are no worse than the other 2 title contenders, but experienced winners should be expected to hold their bottle – no excuses! Hearts will fold, but Sevco need to be submitted!
7 – the final schedule clearly favors us, with 4H and 2A, while Sevco will have 2H and 4A, and Hearts with 3H and 3A. More specifically, we get both of them at home, while Sevco also visit Tynecastle. Our home games should take care of themselves, but there must be no Tannadice repeat at Motherwell or Falkirk.
8 – Allowing for the 7 players injured or in recovery, there were 5 players left out of the 20 man squad yesterday; Balikwisha, Mvuka, Adamu, Murray and Bernardo. With a handful of critical games left, and a couple of players potentially returning from injury, it seems reasonable to assume that these guys will not feature again.
In a season where the board have set new levels of catastrophic incompetence, it would be unconscionable for them to continue excluding the GB from home games, given how that could specifically assist Sevco realize all of the advantages that they derive (as described by BURNLEY78) from winning the league. Sustaining the dispute at this stage of the season, must be considered tantamount to professional neglect.
melania turns to trump and says ,…..
no i dont see a rabbit
meanwhile with no irony at all the nasa expert said
the automated waste management system had broken because of two identified problems.
number 1
and number 2.
and it isnt working because something is blocked.
i take it back , i dont think they are going to the moon.
it is faked
and finally. and i love this one .
shortly the rocket will transit the dark side of the moon and all transmission will be lost
lets go over now for live pictures
RKM
@rkmtimes
JUST IN🇨🇳🇵🇸❌🇮🇱🔥
“Chinese military cargo planes arrives with humanitarian aid to the people of Palestine.”
https://nitter.catsarch.com/rkmtimes/status/2041194360461824377#m
Hopefully the tide has turned in Genocide land.
China/Iran/Russia/NorthKorea are not being bombed because they have Nukes!
Something to think about there.
YNWA
Vatican Media Live
https://www.youtube.com/live/03pYP2Nmreo?si=88dVIb-Yw3s6teqy
Ave Ave
Post Scriptum
Benedictus by Karl Jenkins
https://youtu.be/ibwxzxER_pY?si=UHsGfE0gatdLVz_D
Ave Ave
Good morning CQN
A beautiful morning already with a fine day to come.
One of those countless good days to be a Celt.
Positive all the way.
https://youtu.be/ncbEucjsNFU?si=j5OH08v2mkXfNmk5
Including on the interweb thingy.
Accelerate the GB’s return for four matches
Short term urgent need trumps other.
Projecting as a unified force will unsettled our rivals who see our division as a weakness.
Same applies to the SMSM.
It can translate to more voices, louder voices and longer voices inside Celtic Park
… and can cue chewed fingernails elsewhere.
PS – imagine you are a Hearts or R2ngers fan wondering
“This is the tight league race with them playing badly … whereas we’ve been steady either for a season (Hearts) or months (R2ngers)”
What happens to us if they start to play quite well?
Good morning CQN
When you are so talented you take away the breaths of your teammates
https://x.com/Yamalgalaxy_19/status/2041261155100799337?s=20
Trivela passing
https://x.com/EliLeezayy/status/2041085675982766148?s=20
aff oot
If we have been playing badly for a season (?), how come the title race is so close?
I don`t think we have been as good as we were in many of the past seasons but neither do I think we have been as bad as many on here suggest.
Good morning all.
Seems positive news re GB back for Saturday
new article posted.