Joe Ledley scored the only goal of the game that saw Celtic leapfrog Rangers at the top of the SPL. Celtic dominated throughout but it was a game full of controversial incidents. Lee Wallace appeared to have opened the scoring for Rangers but Fraser Forster scooped the ball out of the net. In the second half Gary Hooper was sent clean through by Georgios Samaras but was incorrectly flagged for offside.
Referee Willie Collum declined to show a red card to Lee McCulloch, David Healy and Kyle Lafferty despite plenty of provocation but Rangers never looked like forcing an equaliser once they went behind.
Celtic had the ball in the net early on when Rangers’ keeper, Allan McGregor spilled the first of two Gary Hooper shots he failed to keep hold off. Georgios Samaras was on-hand to clip the ball over the keeper but was flagged for offside. Despite Celtic enjoying the majority of possession Rangers had the best two chances of the first half. Wallace’s header which Forster’s alertness kept from hitting the net and then Carlos Bocanegra had a gilt-edged chance from six yards out but made a clumsy connection with his knee and sent the ball over.
Sone Aluko caused Celtic some problems early on when playing wide right but with Celtic dominating central midfield Ally McCoist pulled Aluko into the middle, which didn’t prevent Beram Kayal and Victor Wanyama from controlling midfield but blunted Rangers attacking options.
The gales which blew through Glasgow today faded as the game wore on but they were still strong throughout the first half with Celtic playing into the wind. On a couple of occasions Fraser Forster’s clearances didn’t reach the halfway line, in contrast to the second half, when his clearances repeatedly ran through to McGregor in the opposite goal. As a result, half time was a welcome break for Celtic.
The second half was five minutes old when Charlie Mulgrew got his first opportunity to send in a wind-assisted in-swinging corner. There is something curious about a 6’3” central defender taking corner kicks instead of trying to get on the end of them but Mulgrew’s delivery provided evidence as to why this is.
The corner was fast and direct but dipped five yards from goal at the far post. Four players jumped for the ball but Joe Ledley picked the flight of the ball out of the blustery confusion. All the ball needed was the faintest touch to send it bulleting high into the net.
Adam Matthews dominated the right side of the field. His pace allowed him to recover to inhibit any attack down the Rangers left while his control and passing pegged Rangers back throughout. Rangers played Nikica Jelavic on Thomas Rogne, who was hooked when the pair met at Hampden in March, but the 21-year-old Norwegian was never in trouble this evening. Jelavic was a sorry looking shadow of a football player who is flattered by reported interest in him.
Beram Kayal was taken out of the game by Lee McCulloch, who was red carded on his last appearance against St Mirren, but with Kayal on the deck McCulloch hung a limp ankle in the air while writhing in pain. It looked like a break for the Rangers player but he got up after referee Collum decided against showing a red card.
The league’s poorest player, David Healy, made a late cameo and should have been shown a straight red card for a dangerous lunge at James Forrest. Fellow Irishman, Kyle Lafferty, was also lucky to escape a red when he took Adam Matthews out of the game as Rangers lost their discipline late on.
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Taken from Daily Record comments –
As a Rangers fan what really worries me is that what worries me is that the average age of that Celtic team l time Craig Whyte splashed the cash. I’d like to see time Craig Whyte splashed the cash. I’d like to see Drogba, Berbatov, Brambles, Ian Black and Kenny Miller signed immediately. We are desperate. Drogba, Berbatov, Brambles, Ian Black and Kenny Mille Drogba, Berbatov, Brambles, Ian Black and Kenny Mille signed immediately. We are desperate
They are really deluded lol
HH
67Heaven … I am Neil Lennon..!! Tick Tock !! says:
29 December, 2011 at 11:57
I give the credit for the performance not only to the players but to Neil Lennon as well, in the pre-match conference he said how important on field discipline is and mentioned it was drummed into him by Martin O’Neil, Gordon Strachan and Dario at Crewe, he knew exactly how Salister would set out his team.
We rose above them and gubbed them even if it was only 1-0, psychologically it was as good as a 6-2 victory.
Today is one of the sweetest days I have had in over forty years of supporting Celtic..
SP
Well done last night Bhoys, great win under extreme conditions and against severe intimidation from the Huns, as usual!
The Celtic team handled it very well and for me young Adam Matthews and Thomas Rogne were both superb but there was not 1 poor performance from a Celt.
Delighted for Joe Ledley to get the goal as once again he was excellent as I think he has been from day 1. And a special mention to Fraser Forster who has really grown in confidence over the last few months and it was a wonderfull save from their ONLY shot on target
I texted my pal last night to ask him to remind me to never wright off Neil Lennon again!
I had, like many others, started to doubt his ability but 9 spl wins in a row and a 17 point turnaround deserves massive praise.
We have won nothing yet but we are on the right road again
Hail Hail and a Hoopy 2012 to all of the Celtic family
The Smallest CSC
correct
i`d forgotten about that
btw
he also red carded a Hamilton player for less than Healy`s tackle and that player had been on the pitch for a min or so
as i`ve said above Collum is spineless insofar as the huns are concerned
also consider Thomson`s red cards in previous games against Hearts away ….no second thoughts there
Right,
off to a wedding. 400 for the meal apparently! Should be quite a celebration.
Jobo
When I cant put my slant on the laptop loyal offerings you know we have won and are top of the league
Hail HAil
Standing up at Celtic Park for Neil Lennon and singing in the rain,
Making huns smell the glove and he´s gonna make sure it happens again and again,
Sally and Whyte they have to be the standing joke of the year,
We give them the run around, they´re lost and down, and cant lodge an appeal
Pay your bills on time, hey,
It´s the same for everyone, you see,
And take a look in my face, for the last time,
I never knew you, you never knew me,
Sing hello hello – goodbye,
Sing hello hello we´ll wave goodbye,
You tried to make it work, hun friends on red alert and putting in the boot to the highest degree
You’re used to wearing less, and now your life’s a mess, so insecure you see,
I put up with all the seasons, but this is one season that’s going to be played our way
[Chorus:]
Sing hello hello we´ll wave goodbye
Under the green and white I can see the make-up sliding down,
Well hey little hun you will always make up so take off that unbecoming frown,
As for me, well we’ll find someone who’s not going cheap in the sales,
A nice little business like that will give us a steady life and we wont keep going
off the rails,
[Chorus:]
Sing hello hello we´ll wave goodbye [repeat]
Hail Hail
new article posted.
Fair play.. Clyde just opened lunch time show with PARADISE… Loved every second of it..
Daddy started out in San Francisco,
Tootin’ on his trumpet loud and mean.
Suddenly a voice said, “Go forth, Daddy.
Spread the picture on a wider screen.”
And the voice said, “Daady, there’s a million pigeons
Ready to be hooked on new religions.
Hit the road, Daddy. Leave your common-law wife.
Spread the religion of the rhythm of life.”
And the rhythm of life is a powerful beat,
Puts a tingle in your fingers and a tingle in your feet,
Rhythm in your bedroom, rhythm in the street,
Yes, the rhythm of life is a powerful beat.
To feel the rhythm of life,
To feel the powerful beat,
To feel the tingle in your fingers,
To feel the tingle in your feet.
Daddy spread the gospel in Milwaukee,
Took his walkie-talkie to Rocky Ridge,
Blew his way to Canton, then to Scranton,
Till he landed under the Manhattan Bridge.
Daddy was the new sensation, got himself a congregation,
Built up quite an operation down below.
With the pie-eyed piper blowing, while the muscatel was flowing,
All the cats were go, go, going down below.
Daddy was the new sensation, got himself a congregation,
Built up quite an operation down below.
With the pie-eyed piper blowing, while the muscatel was flowing,
All the cats were go, go, going down below.
Flip your wings and fly to Daddy,
Flip your wings and fly to Daddy,
Flip your wings and fly to Daddy,
Fly, fly, fly to Daddy.
Take a dive and swim to Daddy,
Take a dive and swim to Daddy,
Take a dive and swim to Daddy,
Swim, swim, swim to Daddy.
Hit the floor and crawl to Daddy,
Hit the floor and crawl to Daddy,
Hit the floor and crawl to Daddy,
Crawl, crawl, crawl to Daddy.
And the rhythm of life is a powerful beat,
Puts a tingle in your fingers and a tingle in your feet,
Rhythm in your bedroom, rhythm in the street,
Yes, the rhythm of life is a powerful beat.
To feel the rhythm of life,
To feel the powerful beat,
To feel the tingle in your fingers,
To feel the tingle in your feet.
To feel the rhythm of life,
To feel the powerful beat,
To feel the tingle in your fingers,
To feel the tingle in your feet.
Flip your wings and fly to Daddy,
Take a dive and swim to Daddy,
Hit the floor and crawl to Daddy,
Daddy we got the rhythm of life,
Of life, of life, of life.
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
Man!
Mon the Hoops
If he is a Celtic man…. His editor isn’t. Someone Is hurting :)
Navanbhoy
I got to say I thought Hooper was rafael, his lack of effort and workrate was a disgrace! Kayal agreed with me as well as he was having a go at him for most of the match!
Starry Plough…….absolutely….!!!……….win, lose or draw………NEIL IS THE MHAN for me……..after what he went through last year, and remained ‘at the helm’……..he is already a Celtic Legend
Still smiling here in Kirkie! Well done Lenny and the bhoys!
I would like Celtic to keep winning so that there is such a gap between us and
them to allow us to mix it with them without worrying about the result or the cards.
A wee bit of payback. The thug mcculloch, the streak of pash laughatme
and that monkey Healy all stretchered off. Would be worth a few bookings and losing
IMO.
Good Morning,
That was a statement of fact as as well as a greeting!
Today, marks the anniversary of the death of the late Harold MacMillan, former Prime Minister and author of the famous speech from where we get the phrase “Winds of change!”.
That is a timely phrase when we examine the state of Scottish football this December Day.
The winds of change have certainly blown through the SPL in the last few weeks with Rangers oft repeated substantial points lead being replaced by a 2 point deficit and inferior goal difference in favour of Celtic. Such a turnaround was unthinkable only a few weeks ago, with many rightly fearing for Neil Lennon’s future at Celtic Park.
The winds of change have also somehow blown through the perceived position of the Ibrox club. Some 9 months ago, the press were feeding us all sorts of stories about the ability to deal with the Big Tax case, the sale by David Murray, the arrival of the Motherwell Born Billionaire, his links to Braehead and the pots of Gold that lay at the end of his rainbow.
Now, that same press pack— of whom, one national and international journalist of my aquaitance who was home for Christmas said that they were no more than a bunch of scribblers with sharp elbows begging for a story that suits their daily need—have somehow gradually let it be known that Sir Minty has skulked from these shores in a blaze of ignominy, that Rangers financial health is pathertically dire and awaiting the last rights, and that far from having anything to do with Braehead,Craig Whyte is more likely ( but as yet not wholly confirmed ) to have more to do with Brigadoon.
Last, but by no means least, it might be said that the Wind of change has swpt through the Celtic dressing room like a whirlwind in the last few weeks, with the side who looked so shaky against Kilmarnock and in the early stages of the Europa league suddenly developing a backbone and a belief that had hitherto not been dreamt of!
Strangely, I do not believe in this Whirlwind turnaround approach. Nor do I buy into the notion that some form of miracle has been worked. There are plenty of occasions when I have written of the spirit of Celtic (both past and present) and while that spirit has no doubt played a part, not even the great Celtic experience and heritage can take the credit for the simple truth that now stares us in the face.
The plain fact is that Neil Lennon, his back room staff and his players have simply taken a chance– or rather one chance after another. This has not been a whirlwind turnaround at all, but rather a slow steady tortoise like steady progress in hunting down the Rangers hare.
It is like the opening of a door of opportunity, which in turn leads to another door, which opens onto another door and so on. As each door opens and you go through, you achieve a success and a confidence which bolsters you for the next door, the next challenge and brings the confidence for the next success.
What Lennon has managed to do is to instill a confidence in his young team that was so obviously missing at the start of the season. That confidence, from Goalkeeper right through to Centre Forward, acts like a glue holding that team of players together. A team of old heads may well have that confidence automatically, but this is a team with an average age of 22. A team that has been ravaged by injury and enforced change throughout this season, and a team that until now has had to dig deep for every point and face opposition who, until recently at least, would have taken to the field believing that this Celtic team may just be there for the taking!
But not anymore! Now, the teams in the Scottish league face Fraser Forster– the maker of miracle saves and man who just might look twice his size between the sticks. They face Adam Matthews- no longer a 19 year old prospect, but one of the best International backs certainly in Britain possibly in Europe. Charlie Mulgrew is no longer a utility player, but a commanding figure in whatever role he is asked to perform. Joe Ledley is just a plain all round class player–someone you would want in your team every game. Wanyama– no longer an unknown kid from Kenya but a tower of footballing strength who will take nonsense from no one and who will do damage with the ball in the midfield. Kayal has returned to those commanding performances that made everyone rave last year,and Brown – now a veteran at 26- appears to have realised that he is meant to be a leader, a general to these young bucks with his tenacity and drive.
James Forrest will only grow in strength and others will seek to nullify him by doubling up with twice as many in opposition– by doing so you leave twice as much room for Hooper and Stokes. Hooper of the barrel chest and tremendous strength in front of goal, Stokes who has improved his game and effort from his Hibs days and who has a real threat to bring to the fore. Ki, when playing amongst this lot packs some guile and silky skills to worry an opposition, and of course the greatest tunround of all is Samaras. Georgios is not so much of an enigma any more, but rather a piece of a jigsaw puzzle that at long last someone has figured out. Leave him out there on the left. Don’t ask him to come inside and spearhead an attack– just let him do his thing way out there, because like Forrest there is not a single defender in the SPL who will deal with him– it will take two or possibly three. He may not score a huge number of goals from there but he is such a pain to play against– such a streaky bundle of pace,skill,ingenuity and torment— that a defence must always look at what he is about so taking their eyes off the others.
With an injection of confidence we at last see what Samaras can really offer. More importantly, big Georgios can see and feel what he can really achieve!
I could go on and mention Dan, Rogne,Commons, Lustig, Izzy, McCourt, Kelvin Wilson etc etc etc but the fact is that I don’t need to.
I see others talk about the January transfer window and that we should not be complacent. I agree. There would be no harm in a really top class centre forward, and some cover for the goalkeeping position. A commanding centre back would never go wrong nor a midfielder who represents both grit and guile.
But the truth is that at Celtic Park there is a momentum– a momentum that stems from the under 19’s and beyond. A philosphy that syas we will get the good young players and we will develop them into champions, into great players. As yet, Neil Lennon has not delivered that championship and the win over Rangers does not guarantee any such success. But it does point to the fact that waht he has assembled so far is a tremedous bank of raw material to work with and fashion into the finished article. They are not there — yet— but with the opening of each door, the achieving of each small success,the accumulation of each three points, the young raw material gells into an unstoppable force, a free wheeling juggernaut.
There will be setbacks and slipups, and that is when Lennon,Brown and co must pick up the younger guys– but I suspect that those younger ones are no longer as delicate and impressionable as they were a few mionths ago. They now have it, they believe, and over the past few months they have proven their worth and value against teams that are far better than any in the SPL– so who should they be afraid of or concerned about? The answer is no one!
As for the rest of us? We too find our confidence lifted and belief in the club reassured. We walk taller, and stride forward with a confidence that our Celtic is putting a team on the park who are worthy of the name.. Celtic!
There is a Celtic way, and when the wind blows the Celtic way then all others are simply blown away as the rest of the SPL have found out of recent. We support– as we did last night— and that support lifts the young fellas afield, who inturn lift themselves ,which in turn lifts the support who then lift them higher still and so it goes on. That is the Celtic way– with messages on here and on twitter from Celts in every corner of the globe. The players and the press see these messages- it reinforces the plain simple fact that what 11 young men do in a patch of grass in the eastend of Glasgow is anticipated and debated throughout the whole globe. Now there is a miracle!
As for Craig Whyte and Rangers, well they must look to tomorrow.I am not concerned as to what they do or don’t do, because in truth I do not believe they possess anything or anyone who need bother this Celtic team in their current mood at all. What Rangers and their fans should be afraid of more than anything else is the truth. The truth that there is a huge wage bill that cannot be sustained. The truth that there is a huge tax bill on the horizon that simply cannot and will not be paid. The truth that there is no money for investment in a new playing squad of any significance. The truth that there is no evidence of the Whyte pot of gold nor a plan to take that club forward. The truth that there have been changes at the SFA which means that the administration of Scottish Football will no longer be conducted by a cabal or secret society of whatever nature and that their decisions where unfair can be scrutinised and subjected to legal enquiry.
Rangers have to face these truths, and no amount of spin or public slight of hand can keep the truth hidden.
Perhaps, the greatest spin merchant of all time was the Russian Grigory Rasputin. The so called mad monk and fabled mystic gained unparalleled support and favouritism in the Russian royal household after supposedly saving the Tsar’s son! This was a dubious claim to say the least, and eventually those who had welcomed him realised that he was no more than a charlatan and a phoney. Accordingly he was poisoned,shot and thrown into the icy river where he eventually drowned! A somewhat harsh and oppressive sentence that would not be tolerated in polite society today of course. However, his end- like the end of any other charlatan– was and always would be inevitable!
But all that happened on 30th November 1916– some 95 years ago tomorrow.
Rangers should fear tomorrow and the tomorrows that follow– but for Celtic tomorrow can’t come fast enough!!!
Celtic Football Club——- a breath of fresh air since 1887 (ish)
Afternoon bhoys, what a great day it is!
Delighted with the team performance and the win last night, really clicked as a unit. Several players shone last night but the stand outs for me were Sammy, Kayal and big Rogne (Jellyfish is probably still in his pocket).
Wanted to ask anyone at the game though, what was Rangers’ display? Apparently they were meant to have something “pure funny” to get it round us, though all we saw was them littering the pitch with their leftover Quality Street wrappers from Christmas Day. Was that their main display? Suppose it would be witty in bear lingo :S
Celtic win Wednesday
Birthday yesterday
Home for a quick shower and change today
Off to Whistlin’ for a pint now
Hogmanay the morra
Sober by Valentine’s day
As for the Rangers’ sweetie wrapper cavalcade, I tapped Scott McDonald on the shoulder (He sits in front of me in the North Stand when he can get away from his insurance selling and make it down from Kirkaldy) and said
“That’s us definitely won then”
“How’s that?”
“Well that stuff they’re throwin on is foil…… Fianna Foil (sic)”
Ta ra
Hail Hail
Estadio
http://videocelts.com/2012/01/blogs/kenny-millers-sky-sports-misery