Having been ahead only to be pegged back for the second time in a fortnight against Newco, there was a deflated feel inside Celtic Park at the end of the game yesterday. After taking the lead through a Daizen Maeda – Jota combination, Celtic created enough chances to put the game out of sight. They didn’t.
Newco equalised with the best move of the game and thereafter had a hatful of opportunities to win the game and cut the deficit at the top of the table. They also failed in this objective. Celtic remain six points clear with three games remaining, it is now only a matter of when, not if, they will win back their title.
Just as at Hampden last month, Celtic opened poorly, unable to pass through a man-for-man Newco press. The first chance of the game fell to Ryan Kent, who ghosted past Anthony Ralston but did not make a clean contact on the cross, his effort drifted wide.
Maeda failed to make an impact with his first two crosses from the left but his third was drilled into the six-yard box. TV replays showed Borna Barisic repeatedly check over his shoulder for an attack by Jota, but the Portuguese only had eyes for the cross, which he converted without too much trouble from the Newco left back, who will now be familiar with Celtic wingers running from behind him to score.
Newco took control of the game after the interval until Giorgos Giakoumakis and Nir Bitton replaced Matt O’Riley and Kyogo on the hour. In the minutes that followed, Celtic were on top, but could not solidify their lead. That period ended when Newco strung seven passes together inside the Celtic half that released Sakala with a clear shot at goal inside the box, which he finished well.
With home advantage and a significantly lighter playing schedule, you may have expected Celtic to finish the game the stronger, but the opposite was true. Sakala hit the post and had another great chance as Newco piled forward looking for a goal that would keep their title chances alive.
It was a great game of football but by no means a classic Celtic performance. Still, the result ensured the league title will return to Celtic Park for the 10th time in 11 seasons.
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As was seen yesterday, a section of our supporters don’t hold back if they are recipients of missiles thrown by disabled and pension age huns. :-)
The obvious solution to this problem is to ban away fans completely. It will not dilute the atmosphere but it will make for a safer environment. They really are a moronic lot…
Reasonableness
‐————
Of course the rules on visiting fans must be couched as such, and there must agreement-based. This allows smaller clubs with low season-ticket percentages to allow more visiting fans in – vice-versa for bigger clubs with high season-ticket percentages.
Obtuseness
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Of course the Ibrox team a ‘good’ side. Any club who gets to the semi-final(maybe the final) of the EL is a ‘good’ side. What that club has achieved/won over the last ten years is irrelevant and doesn’t detract from its present qualities. It is obtuse to say otherwise.
The fact that we have beaten this ‘good’ side to the title whilst in transition/rebuild mode, is a remarkable feat.
Our winning points margin will probably be six points and be the difference in head to head meetings since February. Celtic – 2 wins/1 draw = 7pts. Rangers – 1 draw = 1pt.
So it was no ‘gimmie’ – we win by beating a ‘good’ side when it mattered.
DESSYBHOY on 2ND MAY 2022 5:05 PM
In my opinion they got wind that something serious had happened, they get ahead of the story and try to smear Celtic with allegations of hate crimes racism and attacking disabled supporters, job done on their part.
================
Agreed
Based on previous press stunts from the hun, there is something afoot
I know nothing but anytime they pulled a squirrel in the past, then they are deflecting something
“DESSYBHOY on 2ND MAY 2022 8:27 AM
Hs
Ballymena I think it was North of the island of Ireland”
I know it was many hours ago but thanks for the reply. I was uncertain if you meant the North of England or of Scotland……I didn`t even think of Ireland !!!
A defeat yesterday would have piled pressure on a team that appears to be tiring with each match.
A draw was a great result for us, given the circumstances.
Although Old Firm FC finished the stronger, we won the league.
Yep, a season after our implosion we are back where we belong.
Probably a year, if not two, ahead of schedule, we are well into our rebuild.
Money will have to be spent, if we are serious about European football, or continuing our dominance in Scotland.
But for now I am enjoying a somewhat unexpectedly happy, end to our season.
Defeat for der hun on Thursday and in the cup final would the iceing on an already sweet cake
TOM MCLAUGHLIN @ 4:53
For what it’s worth, I believe there will soon come a time when Police Scotland will enforce a ban on away supporters at SPFL games between Celtic and Rangers.
——
That is the nuclear option and may be the way things will eventually go.
However the organisation & atmosphere of one of the world’s most iconic derby’s being determined by a small percentage of hatred-filled wrongdoers, is a sad, sad, situation.
then we should tell them to stick their tickets and we don’t want thems at ours.
so Anges first game at the edwardian lavvy. first with fans allowed during the pandemic.
Rangers INVALIDATED the 700 tickets (reasonable amount ?) given as the allocation to Celtic as our board could not gaurantee they would be able to give 700 at the next celtic park game (becasue no one knows if we might go back to a lockdown.
so AGAIN, they did what they wanted, no agreements with others, just did what they wanted.
—————–
2021-08-29: TheRangers 1-0 Celtic, SP
Match Pictures | Matches: 2021 – 2022
Trivia
KO: 12:00
First Glasgow Derby for Ange Postecoglu; first meeting of both teams this season, with Sevco the league title holders for the first time in their history. Celtic never defeated Sevco last season and were hammered in the last meeting.
Debut for Juranovic played at left back due to injury to Taylor.
Sevco invalidate 750 tickets given to Celtic so no Celtic fans at Ibrox next Sunday.
However the organisation & atmosphere of one of the world’s most iconic derby’s being determined by a small percentage of hatred-filled wrongdoers, is a sad, sad, situation.
———-
do you mean the rangers board ?
CELTIC MAC on 2ND MAY 2022 5:04 PM
bgfc et al
Cheers – CELTIC MAC – I agree re: opening themselves up to a potential liability, and expect the Board would want to avoid that (especially given the litigious nature of our unpleasant neighbours).
What I was envisaging was that the provision mentioned – “the number of visiting supporters shall be determined by the (SPFL) Board” – provides the Board the opportunity to agree – if it wished – with the home team’s view of zero away fans being invited to attend, irrespective of what the away team wanted.
So – in our case – had we failed to agree with The Rangers that ‘zero’ was the number of fans that would be invited to attend (for the perfectly good reasons already mentioned) the Board could impose ‘zero’ on The Rangers if it chose to.
Looks as if Celtic probably agreed with The Rangers on a figure of 700, otherwise the could have said something about it – but admittedly, we can’t be sure.
HH
BGFC
If we beat Hearts this Saturday the league isn’t won we need 1 point or 3 up at Tannadice to reclaim the league,as for players coming in 6 or 7 in my opinion with as many leaving in the summer,Ange will leave Japan and Australia in transfers ,Germany ,Croatia ,Turkey and Italy are the place’s I would really look to for bringing players to Celtic .
Kerching
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Show this thread
Saint Stivs pointed out how few of these Celtic players have won a league championship before and it is good to bear that in mind. Scottish football is a cauldron and Ange and his new signings have had to hit the ground running. Fortunately, some invincible survivors from the doldrums of last season, in the shape of McGregor, Rogic and Forrest turned up at the right times to gel the new talent together. Along with the likes of Ralston, Welsh and even Mikey Johnston. No 2 John Kennedy must have played his part too for ensuring some kind of continuity and training methods in general are improving. Hearts is the ideal opposition for the next big game coming up and I would love to see Jota, Kyogo and Abada lead the line.
What’s up with Ajeti atm ?
He looked like he was maybe coming onto a game before he got injured.
Is Lewis Ferguson worth a punt ?
As an option for our midfield ??
I don’t it’s as as our team looking tired ,Sevco had to win yesterday so the adrenaline would be high ,but we should be able to cope with them ,with a bit of luck we clung on with a draw .
Jimdom,
Forest my second team because stayed there for 8 years,two houses down from the one Martin O Neil stayed,when he was at Leicester.I get your point,C,Mon B,mouth.Will be some game.
Lewis Ferguson is at his level at Aberdeen,the young right back Ramsey would be worth a punt,
RIMTIMTIM on 2ND MAY 2022 5:44 PM
I was going to mention John Kennedy as being crucial to gewtting us over the line considering he has been involved in 9 league wins as a coach.
A wee birdie told me on friday night , that having attended the directors box a few weeks ago as a guest of the club, that opinions shared is that Ange rates him immensely,
Someone mentioned the camraderie of the coaches on sunday.
MADMITCH @12:22 PM
SFTB @ 12.08
Poor defensively — your stats mark you out as a Bronski / SPL boy.
Our performance in the EuL / EuCL — you might have heard of them / Thursday nights on BT — would suggest that we have a lot to learn regarding the defensive side of football.
The use of stats points you out as someone willing to consider how the objective evidence, however insubstantial, alongside the subjective perception. Doing the opposite marks you out as an egotist.
Alongside your ego issues, you may have a reading problem. I specified these stats as SPFL stats- I made no reference on this occasion to our European defensive weaknesses. In your initial post you were arguing that our defence was weak in reference to an SPFL match and you, too, did not reference the European level. Therefore, it is legitimate to place SPFL stats into the mix in any argument as to whether our defence is weak at SPFL level.
The previous day, I actually posted my concerns about our defensive record under Ange in Europe. Perhaps your reading issues caused you to miss that or perhaps your Bronchi jibe was just typical of your attempts to take a discussion to an ad hominem level when you can’t tackle the substantive issue. It is pretty unconvincing to those of us who have merely read your posts and do not know you personally, to portray yourself as some Big Swinging Dick, even if one of those words definitely applies, in the tough world of private enterprise and, therefore, much better positioned to understand those issues than the pygmies who dare to disagree with your points. I’d also suggest that it would be even harder for people who do actually know you to recognise the self-description you are attempting to project in the Virtual world of social media.
I’m sure your job is lovely and it does not preclude you from having an opinion and expressing it. I wish you would reciprocate instead of inventing what you consider to be belittling occupations and psyches so you can dismiss their opinions.
Sorry if you missed the evidence on display yesterday — there was quite a lot — but we were again poor defensively.
I was there in person and I saw the complete game. As I have stated before you see some things better in the flesh and other things better on TV. The objective evidence, however, remains- we conceded one goal in 90+ minutes. That proves our defence is not perfect but then no one did or would claim that it was. It neither proves nor disproves that we have a weak defence because it is too small a sample, just as resting to a drawn game in our Invincible season would not justify an accusation that we lack a winning mentality.
I saw Tony ralston do a Barisic on Kent’s early chance. I saw CCV have a rare weak game as he was bothered by Sakala. I saw Starfelt have his best game in a Celtic shirt but I remain conscious of his weaknesses. I saw Greg Taylor work hard to minimise his weaknesses and acknowledge his strengths. And I saw a coach who has moulded these 4 into an effective SPFL defence in a short space of time as reflected in our SPFL stats.
In your original post you argued that yesterday showed we had a weak defence and you are still asserting that. You did not specify that we had a weak defence only when you consider Europe. In fact you failed to reference Europe at all. As with your obscurantist initialisations, you cannot expect others to know what you meant to say when you fail to state it competently and clearly yourself.
RK was not handled well in the first half — MF not doing enough to support the FB.
FS was not dealt with well in the second half and if he had a bit more class he could have had a hat trick and really spoiled our day — the MF had evaporated by the time he took his goal.
Ryan Kent has played well against us before and he was an effective player yesterday. Sakala was hit and miss and CCV was not as good as he had been. The point remains that no versions of the Sevco team this season have managed to score more than once in 90 minutes – they have scored 4 times in 5 games within 90 minute periods. Yet again, hard facts show that we do not have a defensive problem playing them. We were poorer yesterday in the second half and we were poor in the semi final 2nd half and in extra time. Yet we have never conceded 3 goals as they did to us earlier this year.
Consequently dream on with your Hame’ll dae me view of our defence.
It is a dream and a figment of your overactive fact-avoiding imagination
So my main point stands — we are not good defensively but the SPL does not highlight our weaknesses while the EuL / EuCL do and that is nowhere good enough if we want to be players in the CL and not tourists.
That is not your main point; it is your revised point but fair play for actually taking some account of reality into your assessment. If you can remain on that plane, we might even spot areas of agreement in our assessment as I agree, without the hyperbole, that we are not yet good enough to defend well in Europe. And, guess what, we’ll never know but I’d guess Ange agrees with that view also. Difference is that he will have a chance to change things.
And there’s yer dinner. 😂
Tom
You know what I mean. 😉
Still some coming on and saying Ange knows best about Hatate.
Please give me a game where Hatate has played well in the past 2 months?.
Ange,miracle worker,is not the Pope,who some believe is infallible.Not me.We started Sundays game a midfielder down.You have eyes,you can see this.Just what is the point.?
We know the boy is brilliant,but we know the boy needs a good rest
For Gods sake use your brain.
Reading back I can well understand the disappointment on the blog. Yesterday morning we were all set for a big party, then in the 67th minute of yesterdays game – suddenly the party gets postponed for at least another week. Postponed not Cancelled. So the disappointment is understandable, yet reading some of the posts you would have thought the party had been cancelled completely. We’re not good at being patient are we.
Scotland’s allocation for the 2022-23 European season:
Champions: UCL group stage
Runners-up: UCL 2QR
Cup winners or 3rd (has to be Hearts): UEL playoff round
4th: UECL 3QR
5th: UECL 2QR
St Stivs has won the debate about the tickets.
IMHO.
Give them fek all.Let the SPFL sort it out.
NORRIEM on 2ND MAY 2022 5:49 PM
Is Lewis Ferguson worth a punt ?
As an option for our midfield ??
Not for me N
C/L Group stage requires top level
ADI_DASSLER
Aye. But your actual question was:
What do u think would happen if Celtic took that stance ?
Kenny Miller is a tit.
call their bluff and give thems nothing
TOM MCLAUGHLIN @ 4:16 PM
When are people going to get it into their heads that it is strictly against SPFL rules for any club to refuse to allocate a section of their stadium for visiting supporters?
————-
Fine Tom. No problem.
Wouldn’t want to be seen to be breaking those robust, well thought out, covers all eventualities, SPFL rules.
Use justifiable health and safety concerns, based on repeated criminality, to reduce their allocation to 0.1% of stadium capacity.
61 tickets @ £16,394 each.
Adi, is that news?😂
Happy for the League win to roll on.More agony for them.RB gub them on Thursday,then we dance around on Saturday with the trophy.
What’s not to like?
RB will knock them out Thursday.I am putting my money where my mouth is.
TB,
Hatate is 24, and played less football across the 2 leagues than Callim McGregor has, he cant be knackered that bad,
maybe homesick and culture shocks, but physically tired, cmon, he is an athlete/
your right thought about the guy arguing about the tickets allocation
lol
That was not great game of football Paul
Nervy, huff n puff ,lack of quality from both sides
LIONROARS67 on 2ND MAY 2022 6:12 PM
Scotland’s allocation for the 2022-23 European season:
Champions: UCL group stage
Runners-up: UCL 2QR
Cup winners or 3rd (Hearts) UEL playoff
4th: UECL 3QR
5th: UECL 2QR
———-
LR67 – cheers.
Is this confirmed?
CL 2nd qualifying round for runners-up seems a bit harsh ….
Even for Old Firm FC.
So 3 banana skins to negotiate?
Hhmm
Joe Hart described it as a bit of a basketball game.
Exciting end to end for the neutrals. Frustrating for fans of either team and disappointing for the coaches, neither of whom wanted a basketball type game.
It could have been a good or a bad game depending on what category you were in
I spoke with a few people who beforehand were saying a draw was a great result for us (I agree) but who were, nonetheless disappointed with the kind of draw we got as a team hanging on to a point.
It is possible to be delighted with the point AND mildly disappointed with our team.
Reo Hatate has had 5 weeks off in 15 months. No pre-season, moving to and settling into a very foreign city. They say Tokyo is like outer space compared to Europe, can you imagine being 24 and landing in Glasgow in January.
For a midfielder who has played his entire career in Japan I would have thought that getting used to the speed and physicality of scottish football would take more than 4 months
As Paul67 often reminds us, footballers aren’t robots.
We see him for 60 minutes every week, Ange knew the player before he came and sees him close up every day. He has more riding on the performance of a key midfielder than any of us.