Celtic’s run of 27 games unbeaten in domestic football came to an end yesterday as Kilmarnock surprised even their own fans, who bought fewer tickets for the final than they did for the semi-final, perhaps anticipating a reversal.
The bedrock of that magnificent run has been incredibly strong defensive performances; even when Aberdeen scored to take a point earlier this month, their goal benefited from an enormous deflection and the interaction of two debutant defenders.
Kilmarnock’s goal yesterday benefited from no such fortune. Ki didn’t match the forward run of Lee Johnson and Kelvin Wilson didn’t attack the cross. It was, however, a good goal, exploiting the expansive Hampden pitch with some fine passing and excellent movement.
Cammy Bell deservedly won Man of the Match but none of his many saves were spectacular. It could be argued that the stop from Gary Hooper five minutes in turned the match but it was a gift to Bell’s highlights DVD.
Celtic looked like a team who have run out of steam. Profligacy in front of goal and a momentary lapse in defence was all Kilmarnock needed to secure the cup.
I didn’t get a good view of the Anthony Stokes penalty incident at the game, it was Hampden after all, but on the radio going home I heard the evidence clearly confirmed it was not a penalty, which Neil Lennon would realise after he calmed down a bit, despite his initial reaction on seeing a replay.
Television evidence could not be clearer. Michael Nelson went to ground to tackle Stokes and didn’t come within 2 feet of the ball but clipped the Celtic player’s ankle while he was in the process of controlling a fast moving ball.
There was no dispute that Stokes ankle was clipped. No claims were made that Nelson played the ball, or even got close to playing the ball. The incident was an indisputable foul.
When you are running at speed the contact required to force you to lose to lose control of the ball is slight, more than enough contact was made on Stokes to hugely reduce his chances of scoring. Nelson made a rash and ill-timed challenge which should have resulted in an injury-time penalty.
Our sincerest condolences to the Liam Kelly, his family, Kenny Shiels and the Kilmarnock players on the death of Liam’s father Jack in the minutes after full time.
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On Sundays game at Ibrokes while as a Celtic supporter I want to see us win every game the match at Ibrokes is not in itself crucial.We know that Rangers will put out there strongest team and will be aggressive however,we can afford to play the game on the ground and play football.We do not need to get involved in on the field squabbles we need to walk a way this will infuriate them and there fans if we can get away with a draw that will be a good result and leaves us to win our next home game and win the title in front of our own fans.H.H.
could play Samaras up front on his own.
Sunday means more to the Huns than us.They have to put on a display and this will result in a physical approach.
Their thugs will want to go out in a blaze of bodies ensuring they never have to buy a drink again.
Maybe if they sold 50 million flags they could pay the people they owe money to.
The FF brigade might think that by crucifying their would be saviour, they are now free to pass-over to another prophet, who will lead them to a new resurrection. Sadly, that prophet is only insterested in the evil of his namesake ‘profit’ and will only bring you more pain, sorrow and grinding of teeth.
For so it is written…
If you really want to be saved, you must walk towards the light of hope and faith.
You will find these in abundance if you cease to follow follow and hail hail instead!!
LiviBhoy
Hooper was limping badly at the end of Sunday’s game. I don’t expect him to be fit for this weekend, hence exclusion from my line up.
Forrest has been off the boil recently, but he too is carrying a knock.
Livibhoy
Hooper has been Bigginsesque in the last few weeks!!!
Also they will set out to do as many of our players as possible (with no censure), we need big guys in who can look after themselves!
Brogan Rogan Trevino & Hogan @ 10:34,
Excellent piece again, well argued and presented.
I have the Sunday Mail article when whistle blower cum linesman Steven Craven spilt the beans, why have the SFA not looked into his allegations?
Admin are at court to try and stiff ticketus for £24m yet ticketus are backing the p Murray bid to buy the buns. ???????????
Whyte owns rfc yet admin are selling his club. ????????
Dawell suggests that whyte is involved with U.S bid for rankers, so this means whyte is trying to buy his own club. ?????????
I´ll happily let Neil Lennon pick the team
Hail hail
heard hoops n james have niggling injurys :/
mickbhoy1888
what like driving a taxi ?
Hail Hail
Allgreen admin heaven
Poundstretchers are selling their Union Jacks at £2 each outside the stadium. Surely that conflicts with the Trades Description Act. In fact, you could buy the club for half that amount!
Bobby Evans Superstar on 20 March, 2012 at 11:28 said:
If Hooper is injured then fair play but his record against Rangers is decent. If he doesn’t make it then I would play Commons against Rangers. It will put him in the shop window and he also has a good record against them.
Sami up top on his own and Stokes withdrawn. Forrest wouldn’t start for me even if he was fit. Brown is better out wide in this type of game and Brozek shouldn’t be near a jersey. He hasn’t looked the part at all.
LB
lorbobo,
Welcome to the Twolight Zone.
All this borrowing money from Ticetus sounds like no bank will be stupid enough to get involved.
When you can’t secure a loan, people end up at those lenders that deal in high risk clients and these clients have to pay back big time. They’d be as well consolidating all their loans into one via OceanFinance (APR 6.5%) and paying this back over 100 years.
Or if they expect to pay back sooner why not try QuickQuid (APR 1734%).
No-one in the MSM had pointed out that ranjurs are now a high risk borrower and that’s why these deals are not being done through banks. Banks would want to see a business plan before lending. I’m sure the Bloo Toilet Block Nights from Jeyes have a business plan that is comedy gold.
BRTH @ 10.34
I had no idea you could fit that many rouges into one parcel.
I hope that Alex Thomson reads that wonderful submission.
Well done and Hail Hail
TAL
Front rooms
Back rooms
Slide into tables
Crowd into bathrooms
Joke around
Cheap talk
Deep talk
Talk, talk, talk around the clock
Crawl home
Lie down
Teeth chatter
Heart pounds
I don’t feel so good
I don’t feel so good
Push a button to escape
Preacher on the tube crying “Lord!”
There’s evil in this land
Evangelist:
“Rock and roll music!”
“Cast down these dope-fiends
And there noisy bands!”
“Damn their souls!”
Preacher preaching love like vengeance
Preaching love like hate
Calling for large donations
Promising estates
Rolling lawns and angel bands
Behind the pearly gates
You know, he will have his in this life
But yours will have to wait
He’s immaculately tax free
“Mulitiple hundreds of thousands of …”
Tax free
“Hundreds and millions of dollars”
Tax free
“A hundred billion dollars!
And who is paying the price?
Who, who
“Your children are”
Pissed off
Jacked up
Scream into the mike
Spit into the loving cup
Strut like a rooster
March like a man
God’s hired hands and the devil bands
Packing the same grandstands
Different clothes
“Pot in their pockets!”
Different hair
“Sexually active”
Raise a screaming guitar or a bible in the air
Theatre of anguish
Theatre of glory
God’s hired hands and the devil bands
Oh come let us adore—ME!
Lord, there’s danger in this land
You get witch-hunts and wars
When church and state hold hands
Fu*k it!
Tonight I’m going dancing
With the drag queens and the punks
Big beat deliver me
From this sanctimonious skunk
We’re no flaming angels
And he’s not heaven sent
How can he speak for the Prince of Peace
When he’s hawk-right militant
And he’s immaculately tax free
“Our nation has lost its guts!”
Save me
“Our nation has lost its strength”
Tax free
“Our nation has whimpered and cried”
Save me
“And petted the Castros”
Tax free
“The Khomeinis’ and the Kaddafis'”
Save me
“For so long”
Tax free
“That we don’t know how to act like a man”
Save me
“I think that we should turn the United States Marines
loose on that little island south of Florida and
stop that problem!”
“I am preachin’ love, I am!”
Hi LiviBhoy,
You are quite right when you say that the best team should be on the pitch. Looking at your team for Sunday i like the selection apart from the front 2. Hooper is not in form at present and was nowhere to be seen on Sunday, i think he is taken it for granted that he is first pick. Id maybe have in on the bench. We should be up for this game no question, so hopefully we will be a couple of yards quicker than we were on Sunday.
Chairbhoy@11:31
Very interesting point on Craven. Who sends a 5 page letter simply to resign? Quite clearly he wanted to get something else off his chest rather than just say so long and farewell.
Also how Charlie Smith was exonerated I will never know. The point is that it would seem that “saying nothing” in the SFA ranks is an acceptable practice and that standing idly by while something goes wrong is the norm- notwithstanding that they have a duty to carry out certain functions and monitor ongoing events and finances.
Perhaps “We do SFA” should be their motto.
Urgh, just read rabid uber-paranoid horrible hun Leggo’s latest blog offering.
Time to hit the shower.
I heavily criticised Hooper earlier in the season as a result of his poor performances but mostly due to his poor attitude.
His recent performances haven’t been great but I maintain that he remains our biggest threat on Sunday. His link up play and ability to hold up the ball is far superior to Stokesy and for that reason he’s a must start.
I’d be inclined to play him up on his own with a midfield 5 comprising Sammi, either on the left or in a role behind Hooper. Let the Greek Ghod pick up the ball from deep lying positions and run at them, he’ll reek havoc.
LiviBhoy
Commons can handle himself, so I’d agree. Re Broznek, I just don’t know what he is capable of as he has had so little ‘play time’. Keeping an open mind on him.
Awe Naw
Intrigued – sounds like Meat Loaf lyrics ????
Brogan Rogan Trevino and Hogan supports Kano 1000 on 20 March, 2012 at 10:34 said:
SUPERB!!!
David Peter Deans on 20 March, 2012 at 11:39 said:
If we have learned one thing from this season under Neil Lennon it’s that you don’t chop and change the team.
Neil changed the team on Sunday and we lost. He should not have played Wilson and Rogne at the back. Mulgrew should have been in there. Hopefully he won’t make the same mistake again. If there are injuries that is fine but don’t change too many players just to accomodate certain players. Why Wanyama was moved to bring Ki on was a mystery.
Stick with most of the same team from Sunday and let them redeem themselves. Hooper is on 20 odd goals as is Stokes. If they are fit they play. It’s that simple for me.
Forrest needs to sit this one out. Commons or Sami in his position or if Hooper is injured Sami can slot in up front.. Why Sami wasn’t playing on Sunday is a mystery. We haven’t lost or drawn a game in months. We have now drawn won and lost one and both matches Sami didn’t start. He may not be everyone’s cup of tea but when Sami plays Celtic win!
LB
Imo, Sammi is a cert to start on Sunday
LiviBhoy
We have now drawn won and lost one and both matches Sami didn’t start. He may not be everyone’s cup of tea but when Sami plays Celtic win!
——————————–
Add to that… When Rogne plays, we don’t lose (this season)
Ten Men Won The League
Agree
I’d also be inclined to play Commons on the right of midfield, cutting inside onto his left foot.
I was sent this a few minutes ago (think it is from the Sun – I don’t buy it)…
MICHAEL NELSON insists striker Anthony Stokes back-tracked over claims he should have had a ‘stonewall’ penalty.
The whistler ignored a last-gasp claim when Stokes went down in the box as Nelson went in to tackle him.
Stokes was booked for diving and was furious afterwards saying it was a definite penalty.
The big Killie defender admitted there was contact in the box but revealed the Hoops ace had changed his tune soon after watching replays of the challenge.
Nelson said: “There was slight contact, but whether it was enough for him to go down, I don’t know. At the time he said it was a stonewall penalty and I had said to him on the pitch that there was slight contact.
“When I spoke to him again after the game inside Hampden, he said that he had watched it back and he wasn’t so sure.”
Nelson confessed he thought the ref was going to award a spot-kick and he was about to be sent off in injury-time.
He admitted: “When the referee blew his whistle, I thought I was going to be sent off and he’d award a penalty.
“But when he marched straight past me, I had a sigh of relief and just got on with the game.
“Even if they are absolutely adamant it was a clear-cut penalty, the referee didn’t give it in the end.
“It’s all ifs and buts now. Cammy Bell would probably have saved the penalty to be honest with the game he was having.”
I’d also play with a goalkeeper.
Bobby Evans Superstar on 20 March, 2012 at 11:48 said:
Not arguing with Rogne playing. Why take him off so early? Why throw Wilson in? How many times they played together?
Why not take Wanyama off?
Neil got loads of things wrong on Sunday. I don’t think the players were too bad. The system looked wrong. It should have been changed at half time. These things happen and Killie deserved their win. I don’t see that we should now make wholesale changes to the team because of one bad match. Rangers are rubbish!
This is a very poor Rangers side and the players we have who have done the business all season should be good enough. IF we get a penalty I would let Samaras take it.
Sunday is all about the players becoming legends. If they are not up for that then it’s a real dissapointment. I feel the players who have done it most of this season should be in the side. They know how to win.
LB
Bobby Evans
Joni Mitchell
Brogan Rogan Trevino and Hogan supports Kano 1000 on 20 March, 2012 at 10:34 said:
Excellent piece well worth reading.
Regarding team for Ibrox.
There should be no Wilson,(little ability and FEART ) Hooper,or Forrest,or Izzy (partially injury plus poor form)
I would play Blackman as he is a LB rather than lose Ledley from MF,plus place for Commons then fill in the gaps.
A left back, right back and 2 centre halfs.
BRTH
A stunning analysis, thank you.
new article posted.
Incredible that we now have an underlying debate in Scotland, where interested citizens are actually arguing whether it’s ‘right or wrong’ that Celtic should be allowed to have the chance to win the SPL at Ibrokes on Sunday.
Conversations, as if this was some kind of unwritten by law that shouldn’t under any circumstances be allowed to be broken, active consideration on how this can be avoided at all costs, as if Celtic were some foreign infiltrator about to smash the very fabric of Scottish society.
Mon the Hoops