Celtic moved to within goal difference of securing the Scottish Premier League title by opening up an 18 point lead with six games remaining after a two goal victory over St Johnstone at Celtic Park today. Second half goals from Georgios Samaras and an own goal by Chris Millar settled the game which looked even for long spells.
Samaras has been like a player reborn in recent weeks and continued in the same manner today. From the opening minutes of the game he thundered down the left wing using pace and skill at close quarters to strain the St Johnstone defence.
Gary Hooper could have done better when Anthony Stokes fed him early on but his chip was collected by St Johnstone keeper Allan Mannus. Once play stopped referee Salmond booked Maybury for his foul on Stokes as the Celtic striker played the ball forward for Hooper but despite therefore acknowledging the offence, the ref failed to pull play back after Hooper failed to gain any advantage.
Kris Commons is still looking for his first goal of the season and twice came close today. In the first half Stokes held the ball inside the box until Commons arrives to shoot from 8 yards but he knocked the effort narrowly wide. In the second half a swerving shot was on target for the top right corner of the net before Mannus got a touch.
Liam Craig was St Johnstone’s principle threat and he brought a good save out of Fraser Forster from a free kick midway through the first half. Celtic struggled to create much in the opening period but Michael Lustig crossed from the right wing but found no takers despite running along the six yard line.
Celtic should have taken the lead a minute from the break. Commons sent in a free kick, Samaras missed a header and Mannus blocked but Charlie Mulgrew was on hand the head the rebound, only to see his effort cleared off the line.
Cillian Sheridan and Francisco Sandaza both had good headed efforts to open the scoring early in the second half but neither found the target.
Celtic stepped up the pace just after the hour after Ki and Matthews replaced Stokes and Lustig. Scott Brown saw a shot from inside the D saved.
The opening goal arrived on 66 minutes after Georgios Samaras was involved in a couple of scuffles. The Greek international was grounded inside the box and was then shoved off the ball within seconds of getting back to his feet, again inside the box but the referee didn’t see it. Samaras clearly took exception to this treatment and a moment later shielded the ball using his body until he was dragged to the ground.
It looked like a feisty play by Samaras who was clearly animated. When Kris Commons swung in the resultant free kick Samaras rose and headed back across goal and into the net.
St Johnstone pressed forward looking for an equaliser and might have got one had Adam Matthews not made a last ditch interception to turn the ball behind for a corner. With St Johnstone forward for the set piece Celtic broke quickly. Commons carried the ball forward, and with everyone one else on the field running at full pace, he took a second before sending a 60 yard pass across field to Ki. Ki moved inside before playing the ball out to Samaras on the right. Samaras crossed for Hooper but the ball was turned into the net by Millar.
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Just reading about Fiorentina and their demise in the 2002.
A rich owner Cecchi Gori trying to emulate Berlusconi and failing. They went bankrupt in 2002 and into the fourth division.
Sir David Murray I good this will be your legacy.
thank goodness, thought i was the only one who thought lustig done o.k. we are a young team and we are getting better. we lost two of our best players for most of this season (Kayal/ izzy) and by all accounts the polish centreback coming in this summer is very good, pacey and aggressive, lets hope so.
chavi, cha, wilson, dan, looven’s, o’dea, thompson, blackman, mcginn, paddy, jaurez, murphy, radmussion, ki, hooper and commons (i’d sell as well)
so we should have some money and a lot of wages to sign up a powerful centre forward and creative midfielder
kevinlasvegas,
Of course you don’t see what Thommo and Johann bring to the party. That’s because you are not in the dressing room, the training pitch, the media room or the dug out.
Lenny’s happy with them, we should be too, anyway, hail hail mate.
Setting free the bears – I agree with everything you have just written, great post.
Happy days
TJ
Good = hope
sftb
i thought having Sammi and Commons switch wings nullified Sammi`s threat
i thought the subs were well made today
New Neil Lennon tune, brilliant
http://youtu.be/2DTs1P28Juw
TJ
kevinlasvegas on 1 April, 2012 at 18:07 said:
Yeah, Im not digging at Neil at all, I look at everything that man has to put up with in this so called civilisation and bow my head in respect to this strong strong man, But i think on the park he may need some advice and i don’t see what either Thommo or Johan bring to the table in terms of helping Neil out. They seem to do nothing but draw a wage
What!!! how can you have any clue what they “bring to the table” ??
Good Win today means £95 for http://www.justgiving.com/NiamhsNextStep and Niamh Curry’s fight against Neuroblastoma.
If anyone has a spare Fiver or Tenner and you are looking for a home for it then remember Niamh and her fight. A 5 yr old facing this disease is just desperate. Why there are no protocols to treat such a disease in the UK is beyond me… but that is the way of it.
I appreciate that many of you have donated already and that prior to that you gave fantastic support to Vanessa Riddle who suffers from the same condition.
Stylian Petrov faces a hard fight, yet he is a professional athlete facing a known disease which can be treated here with the best of medical care. As a Bulgarian Internationalist, a former Celtic player and the immediate past captain of Aston Villa he will get loads of support– which in such circumstances really does make a difference and gives you hope.
Niamh faces a disease which after a certain stage is just not treated in the UK.
She is not a professional athlete, nor is she famous or in the public eye.
As Christy or Natalie Merchant would say she is one of the ” Faceless, Nameless, Innocent, Blameless and Free”– except she is not free of the disease. So instead of being free to play around or ride on a bike like any other 5 yr old, she undergoes chemotherapy, stem cell ops, Radiotherapy, blood transfusions and surgery in an attempt to remove the tumour.
More treatment is needed if she is to survive and that alas takes Money.
So if you can spare a dime that would be great. If you don’t have a dime, then a prayer or a wish would be good.
There but for the grace of God goes the rest of us.. as my mother used to say.
Cheers
Brogan
I learned very little from Today’s game. It merely confirmed what I already knew, namely
Sammy is by some distance the best footballer at our club.
Anthony Stokes is a forward of average ability who will beheld back by his attitude.
If a club in England offers us anywhere near £5M for Gary Hooper I would take it and move on.
Glen Loovens will cost us points and games if we persevere with him
We need a coaching staff who can think beyond 4-4-2
How can any of us know what they bring to the table, Much like Peter Grant when he was with mogga, never heard from him. But before the turn around this season and the watershed at killie, our set pieces (thommos field) and CB (Mjalbys field) were both weak points to our team when surly they should have been our strengths with both these guys experience but like you guys say if Neil’s happy with them then who am i to say. But they still lack experience was my point and it still stands i think it would bring consistancy to the team.
KLV
stephbhoy on 1 April, 2012 at 18:12 said:
I too agree that Lustig had a good game. However he had to be subbed because the team was not moving forward quickly enough.
Lustig held the line well. We needed forward momentum. Matthews, then Ki anchoring a forward midfield position gave the team the platform to take the game.
Good subs by Lenny.
kevinlasvegas
“But i think on the park he may need some advice and i don’t see what either Thommo or Johan bring to the table in terms of helping Neil out. They seem to do nothing but draw a wage.”
Seriously, Kev ! On what evidence would you base that! I’m not saying it’s not true because, I have no evidence either. If you are up at Lennoxtown 5 days a week, you might develop half an idea about their worth but you’d need to be privy to the coaches discussions too, in order to round out the view.
I don’t have that perspective or privilege. Do you?
If you base your opinion on their coaching ability by looking at the players on the field, then there is some validity to that but, even then, you have to realise that is not the only variable in operation. If Johan was seconded to the Barca coaching staff next week would he be a better coach because the players were better? Would Thommo be a poorer coach if he went to become manager of Hibs and we based our opinion of his worth on the play of that team?
All I know is that a winning manager, Neil Lennon, likes and trusts these two guys. If he felt they were poor and not doing their jobs, he would have fired their asses.
IMO it seems churlish for posters to be criticizing Lenny at this juncture of the campaign. On the brink of another league title and a momentous celebration to boot. Lenny, nobody is more deserving than you- savour it and know that we all love you as our leader and general.
Anyway! How about that big galloping Mhan from Crete? We love you too Georgious!
thai tims today at school on sammy goal
brilliant !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vWnbYuQgqE&feature=youtu.be
sftb
fwiw, I said before the game St Johnstone would be stodgy, hard to break down, that Sammi, Brown and Forster would be important, and that a good performance from Commons would be necessary. We got all of that today, and I (and most of those offering criticism) am delighted with the win.
There’s a difference between analysing where the management team and players went wrong and saying they’re not good enough.
Agree with you 100% on backing the team at the ground – fan patience is difficult to achieve at a club in Celtic’s position (although the Green Brigade have been superb all season), but your reaction seemed aimed at CQNers offering their thoughts on the tactics of the opening 60 minutes. Apologies if that’s not the case.
A solid if unspectacular win today.
The most pleasing thing for me was once again seeing Brown, Mulgrew and especially Sammi have storming games.
I do worry more and more about the Stokes/Hooper partnership. I can’t remember the last time they had a good game together.
I still bleat on about a target man who can hold up the ball and bring our midfielders into the game.
At the moment I would certainly drop Hooper in favour of that target man.
Hope to see Brozek get his chance int he run in.
i’lll tell everyone what johan and thommo bring, they are bringing the spl trophy alongside lenny.
we have more clean sheets than anyone in the spl and we have scored more goals than anyone in the spl.
wow i kicked the hornets nest with my opinion there didn’t i. This is my favourite site for celtic talk but you really need to watch what u say huh, oh well thought it was a blog for opinions, Only the right ones it seems, Neil can’t do no wrong then and we dare not say other wise it seems.Hail Hail Bhoys and 1 point more to glory. ; )
KLV
The issue with playing Sami and Kris Commons n the wide positions is simple – both are more effective on the left. With James Forrest out we only really have Scott Brown who can play wide right – which I think suits him although he is clearly not a winger.
Summa 009
Re your question on the last thread. Sammi has had a great second half to the season. Lenny really found the way to get the big man switched on. He has led by example in a way I would not have thought possible. He doesn’t get my vote though, as others have been consistently good all season – Ledley and Charlie for example. Cheers pal.
is there any plans to have a larger singing area next season???????????
Top Corner
That is just a great piece of footage of the Thai Tims– bloody brilliant!
Any talk of Killie making room for extra tickets for Celtic fans next week
kevinlasvegas
far too much conjecture and self contradiction in your posts
cannae follow you big man
Murray broken in 4th game which lasted about 12 minutes.
Match LONG on quality and short on errors.
High quality game Novak leads 3-1
See Wattie
Dignity moaning in Herald today about greedy, self interested SPL clubs taking advantage of a weakened Rangers.
Would this be the same Rangers who always looked after Number one and business being business were quite ruthless in their dealings with Airdrie and Dundee when the were in administration.
STV Raman goes in for a bit of critical thinking:
Raman Bhardwaj @STVRaman
Interesting to note Martin Bain drops legal action against RFC & does interview with tabloid as ch 4’s @alextomo makes allegations re EBTs
Hail Hail CQNers
I haven’t been able to post for a good while now but can’t miss the opportunity to say Congratulations and well done to all Celtic supporters for your unstinting support for our manager, players, past and present and the way you watch, criticise and give of your best to demonstrate what a fantastic club we belong to.
The team’s performances over the course of a whole season are always prone to interference by officials and this season is no different to any of the seasons I’ve been following Celtic (since 1955 as a wee boy in the Main Enclosure next to the tunnel)
Enjoy the fact that no matter what they come up with Celtic are once more about to be crowned Champions of Scotland. Our differences of opinion over team selections, “honest mistakes”, trouble on the South Side and so on matter not a jot.
We are the Champions!!!!!!!!!!
Loud and proud. Let them all know it.
Hail Hail and God Bless the Best Supporters in the World and the best club in the world.
Championees Championees
Hail Hail
Kenny Dalglish looking more and more like a relic of 1980s bootroom management philosophy. Whatever you say about Sir Furious, the guy has constantly improved and re-invented his approach.
up over goal
“Agree with you 100% on backing the team at the ground – fan patience is difficult to achieve at a club in Celtic’s position (although the Green Brigade have been superb all season), but your reaction seemed aimed at CQNers offering their thoughts on the tactics of the opening 60 minutes. Apologies if that’s not the case. ”
It’s a bit of a cross -over worry that I have. I think blog criticism may be wrong, churlish or pig-headed but I do not think it is very important, per se. But blog thinking reflects fans thinking and negativity breeds negativity. If you believe that your fellow support is highly dis-satisfied, you will feel empowered in giving vent to that dis-satisfaction at a match. And, at a match, it is far from an unimportant issue, as our players and managers keep telling us.
They too feel that fans have a right to express their opinion but they (the coaches) have a duty to tell us that this can have an adverse effect on the team. It’s easy to avoid blog criticism and paper and TV criticism, by just avoiding the coverage. It is hard to ignore it at a game.
We will be celebrating soon. Momentous events.
We win back the league after 3 years without it.
We see our spendthrift opponent who taunted us with “biscuit tin” and “balance sheet” jibes (criticisms that infected some of our own supporters too) going bust.
If you cannot be deliriously happy at this point in Celtic’s history, I wonder what it will take.
We cannot take much of this too seriously. Neil does not read CQN to find out how to run a team or who we should sell or buy. Frankly, neither you nor I nor most other CQNrs have a football resume to allow us credibility in these roles.
That is why the people who are Celtic coaches and scouts have earned those posts in a competitive working environment rather than on a blog.
Pleased to see the hoops getting back into winning ways
Big sammy, well deserved man of the match
Keep up the great work big guy
Just one point to collect then we can have our next big party
Thankyou Neil Lennon and team for getting us into this position
Hail hail
Gordon_J
I think Sammi will do fine up front – he was more effective than either Stokes or Hooper today, and we looked best when Commons had a free role in front of the midfield 3.
Kilmarnock have made more tickets available to Celtic supporters. From 9.30 tomorrow the £30 tickets are available by phone, online or by calling at the ticket office.
Quonno . Kilmarnock have given us the 3 stands so yes more tickets , they go on sale tomorrow morning to season tickets holders.
Setting freethtbears…….BRILLIANT …..AND SPOT ON …… WE NEED TO SUPPORT OUR TEAM THROUGH THICK AND THIN
haha
good one BRTH
glad you enjoyed it
and fine effort by you in relation to Niabh
whats the latest total for her ?
setting free the bears on 1 April, 2012 at 18:43 said:
up over goal
Identifying deficiencies is not automatically being negative.
For example does anyone honestly think that without strengthening present side is good enough for even a token appearance in Champions League.
quonno on 1 April, 2012 at 18:35 said:
Don’t know, but seems Killie are keen to make a few bob out of it, so you never know.
Hate to upset anyone with a ticket for the game, but I’d rather save the winning game for Celtic Park. :)
Great result today. Next home game will see us party. :)))
I hope Celtic management have their thinking caps on, some inventive celebrations has the potential of making it a very memorable day. Particularly for Lenny and he deserves it.
Eric