For all of our dominance yesterday, you have to think there is room for considerable improvement. Passing in the first half was frequently poor, shooting throughout the game was invariably off target, and when we managed to keep it down and between the sticks, the keeper was able to read the shot. Gilks played well, but the truth is we flattered him.
Moussa Dembele grabbed all the headlines with his back-heel-flick-nutmeg-winning-goal, but I spent much of the game debating whether it was time he was rested. Against Newco last month, he held the ball up and linked play, while finding and exploiting space. Yesterday his linking was poor and he seldom found space.
The incisiveness we enjoyed watching as recently as the outing against Manchester City, was missing against Gladback on Wednesday and at Hampden yesterday.
There were also enormous positives. Jozo Simunovic and Erik Sviatchenko were absolutely critical on Celtic’s grip on the game. Their positioning – when we were in possession – kept the ball flowing. They both gave us playmaker performances, and they didn’t miss a beat defensively either.
Again, just as on Wednesday, it didn’t work for Nir Bitton. When we play out from central defence like this the deep-lying playmaker role is crucial. He need to create space for us to move the ball forward, while he becomes an auxiliary defender as our full backs are so high up the field.
Stuart Armstrong came on and played higher up-field than Bitton and managed to put the squeeze on Newco.
The game reminded me of the League Cup semi-final two years ago, when Celtic subjugated an impotent Newco without scoring the volume of goals their superiority deserved. There was a chasm between the teams, which makes my belief that Celtic can play a lot better all the more interesting. Conversely I suspect that was a high water mark for Mark Warburton’s team.
The portents are good that he believes that game was a sign of progress.
As for Craig Thomson, that was self-evidently not good enough.
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TOSB
See my reply to TTR!
The Timreaper…
To be fair New Rangers social media were ripping into wee Barrie yesterday for his performance.
I suspect they will be spitting bile at his comments today.
HH
There is indeed a chasm. The most one sided one-nil defeat The Rangers have suffered in their short history.
Listening to some of the blue nose pundits afterwards they seem to be in complete denial that their team are a great distance away from matching the quality of our beloved Hoops.
Billy Dodds thinks they need a year or so to get the right quality to compete domestically (for second place I assume he meant). He also opined that The Rangers (2012) are in the same place that Celtic are in relation to Champions League (we need additional quality to compete on that stage). I agree we need additional quality to compete on Champions League stage but as we bring in that additional quality it will only go to assure our complete dominance of the domestic league.
Our benchmark is not the other teams in the SPL it is the likes of BMG that we need to be measuring ourselves against and then raise the bar further when that is achieved.
All this “No gap,we matched them”guff is orchestrated by The Fat Controller.We witnessed his work at the Cup final.I am sure this is all pre written for them to spew out to the media.He has total control over everything they utter,as was proved at the humbling of Magic Hat at the press conference.
Turkeybhoy on 24th October 2016 12:33 pm
I’ve not seen the report you comment on, so I can give an opinion on that. Do you have a link?
As for the kid being bottled, I was in the vicinity a short time before and experience tells me that it’s probable that it happened the way it has been reported. It’s unlikely that the Rangers fans being escorted by the police would be openly drinking as they were walking down the road.
Time will tell as I hope the culprit has the courage to come forward or his “associates” report him. This is a kid who has been badly injured!
KTF
TurkeyBhoy
I remember it well. Jozo must have been in agony with that type of injury. Personally, now that it’s sorted, hopefully, he’ll go from strength to strength and become a Celtic great. I thought both he and Erik the Viking were brilliant yesterday. I loved the way Craig Gordon and the pair of them shuttled the ball between them to maintain good possession and probe for spaces in the Hun ranks before Erik or Jozo brought the ball out to launch an attack.
Turkeybhoy on 24th October 2016 12:47 pm
All this “No gap,we matched them”guff is orchestrated by The Fat Controller.We witnessed his work at the Cup final.I am sure this is all pre written for them to spew out to the media.He has total control over everything they utter,as was proved at the humbling of Magic Hat at the press conference.
______________________________________
Correct. If you watch the Mackay video interview, he is lurking at the back left of the shot.
KTF
Jozo wasn’t convincing in his displays before the injury and there were question marks over whether he wanted to be here. Add that to the general malaise around the club at the time.
I commented during early season that if Brendan could find a player in him it would be a massive bonus as he was a forgotten man. Since his return he has been a new man. He looks fit and hungry to do well. I have followed him on social media since he returned to Glasgow during pre season and he seems well up for it.
crevasse
TIM TANIUM on 24TH OCTOBER 2016 12:46 PM
Our benchmark may well be the CL,but not for a while yet.When the EBT Hun Galacticos were being humped all over Europe,our SMSM never mentioned anything about “Benchmarks”.As long as they were top dogs in Scotland and keeping us down,the world was a great place.At the moment,I am revelling in our dominance in Scotland.A treble this season,and I will be ecstatic.Dont listen to Huns telling you otherwise.
We will continue to build and improve,and if that gives us some success in Europe,all the better.
In Brendan we should trust.
VFR800A8 on 24TH OCTOBER 2016 12:49 PM,
The link to the attack is on Newsnow Celtic.Video.
Gerry,
Office computer, so cant change settings at will. ;-)
“As for Craig Thomson, that was self-evidently not good enough”
Tried asking this on DundeeFCQuickNews and StJohnstoneQuicknews:
Why did Andrew Dallas book Gomis of Dundee for giving away a dodgy penalty but didn’t book Anderson of St Johnstone for a clear one?
Incompetent? Racist? Cheating? Betting?
I must say I was quite taken by the Warbmeister’s observation about the ‘so called gap [between his team and Celtic] being narrower that people think’.
I was immediately reminded of similarly insightful remarks from about 1980 or ’81 made by a certain John Greig, manager of First Rangers, as he failed to recognise that his side was heading rapidly for years in the wilderness.
Long may he [MW] be allowed to trust in his own judgement.
In saying that, I also concur with Tim Tanium’s view that Our benchmark should not the other teams in the SPL, rather it should be the likes of BMG that we need to be measuring ourselves against …
VIP
As we gorge ourselves on the glee of reaching a final so early in the season, the gully-ble over the other side of the side of the city are act like a bunch of ravine loonies. No gulf? Sounds like a hollow soundbite – abyss silly if you ask me. I canyon believe they are trying to pit up these excuses, but then again, they are en-trenched in self-delusion. Deep down, they know fissure that they are not good enough.
Hoops Stars and Stripes – The Andy Lynch Story.
A wee reminder that former Celtic skipper Andy Lynch will be on CQN tonight from around 7pm for a few hours to answer your questions.
His controversial new book, brilliantly co-authored by Paul Dykes is available now from cqnbookstore.com and for a limited period only you will receive a free copy of Paul’s Quality Street Gang book courtesy of the author.
Both books will be signed and you get both for just £14.99 plus p&p.
I agree with every word in the lead article, as that is how I saw our performance.
That we still dominated the game merely shows how bad they were, not how good we were.
It also showed why BMG contained and beat us at home.
If it was down to one word, it would be accuracy.
Our passing and shooting left much to be desired and it should not have taken a touch of brilliance in the 87th minute to see them off.
I thought I would watch it again this morning, safe in the knowledge of the outcome….but I had failed to record it.
Let’s try and avoid being Gilks’ or Mc.Kays and admit our oen failings from yesterday.
*own
I personally am delighted that they are lining up to claim that yesterday was a lot better from ‘thems’ and that there is very little between the two teams.
Great to hear McCall and Tanner at it yesterday too.
If that is them getting better and the hordes will believe that, then absolutely A-OK with me. Not being disrespectful but that was akin to playing a semi against Hamilton or Partick yesterday. What could be worse is them actually realizing the truth and getting some decent players in.
In the 5-1 game we had 20 shots to there 6 (3 corners to ), yesterday we had 24 to there 8 (8 corners to 1). We also had 58%% of the ball yesterday compared to 57% last time.
Improvement ?????? Shhhhhhh dinnae tell them.
Dubaibhoy office computer ?
Get to work :-)
On the subject of Jozo, pretty comfortable on the ball, him & Erik can hopefully have a long partnership together and learn from Kolo
DAVIDOPOULOS.@ 1.07
I really miss Victor Wanyama. He was a grand Kenyan.
South Of Tunis
That’s a nullah good yin…
South of Tunis.
Have I missed today’s choice of music , usually an education for me.
Hail Hail.
Leigh Griffiths celebration with the fans is priceless ……
The wee mhan gets us
We have seen enough now of each player to know how the team can be improved.
The same issues still lie at Right Back, central midfield and perhaps still right midfield.
The goalkeeping distribution has improved under competition for places but the second ball after Gordon has passed still needs improvement. We have away possession from a pass out of defence on a number of occasions yesterday. There’s no point in your keeper playing a short pass if the guy he is passing to is immediately under pressure. Gordon will do for now but long term we should be looking for a keeper who can make a long pass. One that can save at his near post would also help. I haven’t included Gordon as an immediate risk but long term we should be looking to replace him.
Lustig battles on looking as though his hips will crumble at any moment such is the frailty of his frame and his gait. I like Lustig but his ability to get up in support and then back track looks to be getting harder despite him coming into his prime. It remains to be seen if Gamboa is an able long term replacement. I wouldn’t think Celtic would go for another right back in the next transfer window but next summer may be a different matter.
Centre mid continues to be a glaring hole in our set up. This is the position Celtic must strengthen. Brown has been caught after winning the ball on a few occasions now and made to look bad. He needs someone taking some of that burden for on him but reading his game and taking the ball when he needs them. Bitton was posted missing on a number of occasions and has made a few mistakes over the past short period. Armstrong could be given a shot alongside Brown but I think Rodgers has already assessed that Armstrongs strengths lie further forward. Armstrong does appear to be able to support his full backs or lacks the determination to make a tackle. He made some great runs yesterday though and covered lots more ground than Rogic. The Bitton and Rogic positions need to be improved if we are to improve. You just can’t have Brown doing his own job and half for Bitton and half for Rogic.
James Forrest also needs to contribute more off the ball. His tracking and pressing has dropped off. He lacked courage yesterday to change direction in front of the Rangers defence. Instead he skipped along the 18 yard line looking as though he wasn’t confident of keeping the ball. James needs to find form again or he might find we will ship him on.
I suppose the pressure is off to an extent now that Europe after Christmas is a forlorn hope. There could be a temptation to play Dembele and Griffiths as there could be a perception that we no longer really need the 4231 as we are out of Europe. However, EVERYTHING should be geared towards qualification next year. Keep to the game plan and practice the formation likely to give us qualification.
Dembele doesn’t need a rest he needs more games.
Saint DBBIA
Knew it.
Delighted to read the huns don’t think there is a big gap between us, delusional as ever…
John Hartson…..
If it was a boxing match the game would have been stopped
John…… Don’t give Craig Thomson any ideas for the future
DAVIDOPOULOS 107
Haw,yer taking that too far(!)
I’ve supported Celtic all my life. I am now 67.
I cannot remember in all that time a ran*ers side so devoid of skill, talent or personality as the shower we played yesterday.
Can anyone remember a poorer side.?
..
Thompson is Not a Bad Referee I just think he had a Dislike for Celtic and Rangers invequally measure and likes to be Controversial while staying just inside the rules of the game..
The Highs and Lows of Punting on Old Firm games.. Couldn’t believe Rangers were 4/1 to get a Booking in the First 15 mins..
Que the at his Controversial best.. on Circa 14 mins 20 secs..
I didn’t Fancy Dembellè of Sinclair at Hampden with 25k H@ns baring for Blood..This game was perfect for a player that can score a Goal from Nothing while eating a Tea cake..
No this game was a Set Piece game against the Team with Worst record at Set Pieces in the League.. and No man deserved to be a Hero in a Big match because of His Love for our Club more than Erik Svietenko.. and at $41 dollers he is woth a Bet with Meseers Sinclair and Forrest deliveries .. Stand up Big Erik.. Sit down Thomson You utter Twat.. two grown men challenging for a 50-50 ball in the Penaly Box.. Like Celtic Erik.. ‘Your Day Will Come’..
Summa of SearchingForOddsTheBookieGetsWrongCSC
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS
I shoulda cleft the puns alone…
PHILBHOY
Early 80s must come close.
Hit Cooper hard in the first five minutes,he lost interest. That was them f….d after that. They had to rely on the nuclear option of Polaris.
McDonald,that is.
John greigs first rangers around 83.
I drove across the forth road bridge this morning and I can confirm the Mr Bread Doh is correct. The gap in the new forth bridge is closing and like Sevco I think it’s the same bridge as the one I drove on today. Same river runs under them so must be the same bridge.
Good to see sick note back playing well fit and strong.
Boring Mackay is bang on. They did play slightly better than they did against Brechin in 2012.
Looking forward to treble now.
MWD
SUMMA
I’ve spent a lifetime looking for odds that the bookie gets wrong.
Cost me a fortune so far(!)
.
GERRYFAETHEBRIG on 24TH OCTOBER 2016 2:08 PM
John Hartson…..
If it was a boxing match the game would have been stopped
..
If it was a Boxing Match The Rangers Goalkeeper would have Won on Points..
Summa
BMCUWP & ST STIVS
McLoy, Jim Bett, Davie Cooper, Robert Prytz were no bad and would all walk into this hun side.
Mind you so wid ah.