Celtic blitzed into the lead after an incredible opening two minutes of tonight’s SPL encounter at Tynecastle and went on to record one of their most impressive performances in years.
Hearts were miles behind the visitors in every department but could have taken the lead after a minute when Andy Webster was left unattended at a corner kick and his downward header was met inside the six yard box by Stephen Elliot who knocked the ball goal-ward. Joe Ledley intercepted on the line but the ball bounced net-side. As Elliot prepared to celebrate the left hand of Fraser Forster appeared from nowhere to remove any possibility of the officials having sight of the ball. Comments on Celtic Quick News suggest it looked a goal at the time and replays did little to contradict that view.
If the never-give-up spirit is alive inside Fraser Forster his captain was no less focussed tonight. Georgios Samaras cleared the ball out of the box and Scott Brown turned defence into attack with a deft flick on the middle of the field. Brown fed James Forrest who whipped in a cross that rebounded off Samaras, now inside the Hearts box to Scott Brown, who had jetted into the area. The captain steadied before shooting low past MacDonald in the Hearts goal.
The game was only two minutes old but we already knew we were in for a night to remember.
Full of confidence Scott Brown tried a decent effort from 30 yards that went narrowly over but Celtic were not to be denied a second for long. On 20 minutes Charlie Mulgrew’s deep corner was knocked back in by Forrest to Victor Wanyama, who turned and scooped the ball high into the net.
Celtic were motoring and looked streets ahead of their hosts as the reverential home support looked on.
By now Hearts looked more likely to score into their own goal. On three occasions in the opening 30 minutes MacDonald had to scramble across his goal under pressure from his own team. Zaliukas came closest to knocking the ball into his own net but his ‘clearance’ went narrowly wide.
Just after the 30 minute mark Scott Brown robbed Zaliukas as he took the ball out of defence and fed Samaras. Georgios hit the bye-line and send in a deep cross which hung at the back post just long enough for Joe Ledley to stretch and nod home. Celtic were 0-3 up and already guaranteed to move four points clear at the top of the table.
The fourth goal came on 60 minutes after one of the finest moves of the game saw Matthews feed Hooper and the striker tee-up Joe Ledley whose shot hit the post and was turned behind. Mulgrew’s resultant corner was met by Victor Wanyama and could have bounced over the line but Gary Hooper was on hand to clear up any doubt to hit the roof of the net from a distance no farther than 6 inches.
Late on Kelvin Wilson cleared out of the Celtic box to Samaras who was 40 yards from his own goal. The Greek international ran 50 yards before testing MacDonald from distance.
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Fraser Forster ,2 million,buy him now.
Marrakesh Express – In total agreement with you. I’ve always believed one of the biggest differences between our support and the Huns is that we have always had a sense of humour. We can laugh in the good times and we can laugh in the bad times – they can’t do it in either case.
Four big goals prove Daniel Cousin is man for Gers
By Mark Hateley on Feb 8, 12 06:33 AM in
In the wake of Nikica Jelavic’s departure to Everton last week Rangers desperately need a striker for the big occasion.
And Daniel Cousin is just the man to fill the Croat’s boots.
The Gabon international proved he could handle life at the sharp end when he was at Ibrox first time around.
And if he can reproduce the goods Rangers could be able to hang on to Celtic’s coat-tails in the race for the title.
Rangers are weighing up a short-term lucrative move for Cousin and while his temperament has to be questioned I believe he can be a huge asset between now and May if Alistair McCoist can get the big hitman’s head right.
In my opinion Cousin’s strengths far outweigh his weaknesses. He is a player who can deliver when it matters.
This is a guy who signed off at Rangers with arguably his best performance under Walter Smith.
Cousin bulldozed the Celtic defence at the start of the 2008-09 campaign at Parkhead and was on target during an emphatic 4-2 Gers victory.
This is a guy who scored in the Champions League away to Lyon and also netted for Hull at the Emirates and against Man United at Old Trafford.
And now he has netted on the world stage at the African nations cup. You need to have something special to do that.
The question is whether he still has enough about him now to make an impact in the SPL.
The challenge is there for him and it is now a case of whether he can rise to it and turn it on every week against the lesser lights.
Well, Rangers have 13 cup finals between now and the end of the season so every match is hugely significant.
Handful
With the ability and pace he possesses Cousin should be tearing up places like East End Park and running riot against the teams in the bottom half of the table.
He is 35 now but that is nothing in the modern game where players who look after themselves can perform well into their 40s.
Look no further than David Weir he has looked after himself and Daniel is a fitness freak.
One of the biggest plus points about a possible return is he already knows what Rangers and Scottish football are all about.
He certainly proved during the year he spent in Glasgow he’s a handful for anybody when on top of his game.
Of course he is not getting any younger but he now has the experience of having played in the Premiership against the best defences in the world.
Another positive is Cousin has not clocked up too many miles since leaving Ibrox in the summer of 2008.
In the last four years he has only started 60 games for Hull and Cypriot side Larissa while most of the guys in the current Rangers squad are reaching those kind of totals every season.
For the past couple of months he kept ticking along by playing for FC Sapins in his homeland ahead of the African Cup of Nations.
Cousin looked as if he still has the legs during the competition which saw Gabon win group games against Niger, Morocco and Tunisia before losing on penalties to Mali in the quarter-finals.
That will have given him match sharpness and as he’s been lucky with injuries throughout his career there is nothing to suggest he doesn’t have another two or three seasons left.
Given their financial predicament and the fact the transfer window has just closed Rangers are not in a position to be picky about who they sign.
The key with Cousin is he’s a free agent and available to join up with his former team-mates immediately, but he will not come cheap.
If his signing goes through he will provide Rangers with aerial qualities they don’t have at the moment due to Kyle Lafferty being in the same situtaion as Michael Ball was.
One more appearance for Kyle and the club would have to pay an add on to Burnley that they can´t affir nor deserve.
His arrival would give them a presence in the penalty box and also free up Sone Aluko to get into wider areas. Cousin is aggressive, powerful, lightning quick and can score all sorts of goals. The only negative is his fragile temperament.
If the club demanded a bit of protection for their star players that just might be afforded, it is high time anyway that the SFA cleaned up the Scottish game from brusing tackles and players feigning injury
Twice he was unfortunately red carded in big matches although fortunately for him it didn’t cost Rangers.
The striker was infamously sent off in the UEFA Cup semi-final against Fiorentina for a stupid headbutt and then took the gloss off his finest hour in Light Blue when dismissed during Rangers’ 4-2 win over Celtic at Parkhead.
Keeping him focused is crucial to getting the best out of him and given Alistair knows what makes him tick and can easily motivate him that shouldn’t be a massive problem.
I’m convinced his arrival would be good for both parties and for Scottish football in general as I don’t subscribe to the theory about never returning to your former club and we haven´t seen his likes since Henrik Larrson left Scotland
When I was asked to rejoin Rangers it took me only a nanosecond to say yes. I should never have left Ibrox in the first place so it was a pleasure to go back.
To finish my top-flight career at Ibrox after helping the club win nine in a row and ensure a career in Scotland as the top pundit meant so much to me.
Walter also came back when there were people queuing up to tell him it was a bad idea.
It was assumed he could never better what he did first time around.
But, and I’m sure 99 per cent of Rangers fans would agree, he went on to surpass his earlier achievements even if it has left the club in a very precarious situation.
That also goes for Kenny Miller who did well in his first spell at the club but was even better when he rejoined.
Cousin looks like he too will get a second chance with Rangers. They desperately need him to take it and hell and earth will be moved to make sure that Daniel has just as succesful time as Kenny Miller and Walter Smith.
Who knows it could pave a way back and a return to the EPL for him if he were to end up top scorer in the SPL this season.
It is a tall order but I wouldn´t bet against it happening
Hearts goal.
Who gives a proverbial?
WE are the people.
Believe it and live it.
That`s all we have to do.
Now,let`s move on.
NEXT!
macjay1
Oh no! Hope you have a tin hat.
The most pleasing aspect of lastnight’s win was the confidence exuding through the team. Its been a long long time since we witnessed a Celtic team where every player wanted the ball and was focused on the task in hand. Let’s be honest, Hearts were poor but that should not detract from the victory – Tottenham were recently (and rightly) praised for brushing the Tarts aside at Tynecastle. The performances between us and Spurs were so similar.
One of the more pleasing aspects was the overall performance of the defence. The first minute aside, I’m not sure there was a high ball that Rogne or Wilson (or big Maj) didn’t win.
At last, we have a squad where every position is covered. At last, we seem to have a team where the players believe in each other. Stay focused and bag all 3.
Went to the pub last night to watch the game. I got deliriously drunk !!!
No huns in Scotland
What a performance
Team for the weekend
Zaluska
Wilson Big Dan Loovens Izzy
Mc Court Ki Kayal Commons
Stokes Bangura
subs: Lustig, Brozek, Jaurez, Ibrahim, Blackman, Twardzik, George
Coming in Fujot
STANDING UP FOR NEIL LENNON
Hail HAil
Morning bhoys ,
must admit to some pre-match nerves last night but wasn’t it nice to have them eased so early in the game. Just having a wee watch of the game on Ch67 again as something struck me last night .
Midway through the first half i was aware of a camera angle from behind our goal – i thought to myself , why didn’t they use that camera angle ?
Now , after watching the game , i noticed that the behind-goal camera was active about 1’16” to 1’21″ in to the game , i.e. after we had conceded the corner.
So , the camera was active , the cameraman would be alert and providing his ‘feed’ to the control-booth. Why then was this camera angle not used in any of the replays ? It was less than 15 seconds from the use of that camera to the ‘controversial goal’
Non-paranoid answers only please on a postcard to
FF (|Fraser’s Flick)
PO BOX 1967
Glasgow
Sanna
Burnley78 08.43
ALWAYS great to be a Celtic supporter.
Blantyre
Had a tin hat at the 7-1 game.
My older brother, as the bottles rained down…..on ourselves.
All we Tims need is attitude.
Fear no foe.
Sanna
please dont rain on my parade. It was definitely a goal that was not given and then we ran up the pitch and stuffed then one. It was so very unfair … LOL … what´s not to like ? :-))))))))))
Hail Hail
“Cousin looked as if he still has the legs during the competition which saw Gabon win group games against Niger, Morocco and Tunisia before losing on penalties to Mali in the quarter-finals.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Aye, by being subbed twice and coming on as a sub once.
EC67,
The media will use the old Evening Times “spot the ball” competition rules where the correct positioning of the ball will be over the line whether it happened or not, it just suits the rules of their own game.
Need to get mobilised for the gazebo Cup Final on 18th, letters due out soon.
Awe_Naw_No_Annoni_Oan_Anaw_Noo says:
9 February, 2012 at 09:20
I like the sound of that.
Onward and upward.
Superb performance ON & OFF the park….I thought Lennon’s interview after the game was excellent, and a great credit to Celtic FC.
As Awe Naw shows clearly we have a very strong squad as support. Much was made about a couple injuries / omissions from the Hearts side Kello, Black, Templeton but those missing from the
Celtic ranks far outweigh anything they had unavailable.
We should continue to grow in confidence, take the game to our opponents and play at such a high tempo as no other club in Scotland can live with us.
No doubt we will see clubs try to frustrate / defend in depth and slow the game down to walking pace but I am hopeful we shall find the key to unlock any obstacles in our path.
Get this league tied up and allow the young guns the chance to gain even more experience….the future is bright maybe we should apply to put our 2nd XI into the SPL as a Nexco instead
they are clearly better than anything else the rest have to offer :)
Within seconds, cash in on getting out of jail.
Sew up what could have been a banana skin before half time.
Apart from yellow cards no damaging discipline issues.
Even that well known prophet of doom and negativity, quonno was extremely well pleased.
Nothing additional to add from last night. Truly marvellous performance from Lenny’s young Lions.
Average age of starting 11 last night was 23, yes 23! Youngest players 20; oldest 26!
For the many doubting thomases out there, the next time we hit a rough patch, please try to be more patient! It’s much easier to whinge and be critical than it is to wait and allow people the opportunity to prove themselves over time.
Who is calling for the heads of FF, Broonie, Sammi and Lenny now?
When considering the other mob, they have only lost two key players, Jellylegs and Naibalance.
We have lost the services for most of the season of, arguably, our 2 most influential figures from last year, Kayal and Izzy!
We are just much, much better than them and should have won the league last year!
“It seems to be a fairly widely held belief that since September-ish, our football has been pretty terrible to watch.” from Rangersmedia
Says it all really!
Only cheating MIB can lose it for us!
HH
Good Morning Bhoys
Hope some of you got on my tip for Broony first goal at 14/1 with Coral’s.
I don’t get many right but had a feeling last night.
Flew over the ground at 8pm last night and strained my eyes to see if we were on the attack. Obviously I could see nothing. Switched the phone on when I got off the plane at Edinburgh airport and watched my colleagues shoulders slump and tell me it was 3-0 before my phone powered up.
Watched the game when I got in and then watched the first half.
Awesome performance. Not a man let us down.
Brown
Samaras
Outstanding. I didn’t think they would make it at Paradise. I thought there time had gone but Neil Lennon has proved what a great manager he will be. He has coached and man managed them into form by sticking by them through thick and thin.
My only worry at the moment with a number of our players is how we are going to hold onto them. There must be managers up and down the country interested in most of our squad.
I can’t remember a better performance at an away ground for a very long time!
God bless Neil Lennon – Football the Celtic way and victories
God bless the Celtic support – Right behind the team
Lovely day to work in Edinburgh
LB
Great night last night
Has anybody got the stats from browns return to when our run started? He’s been outstanding and we finally have our leader on the pitch.
What was Lenny chat in studio? Seems to be getting much praise.
Hail Hail
Gers ‘desperate’ not to cough up
By MARK WALKER
Published: Today
RANGERS have been accused of a “desperate” attempt to wriggle out of paying £240,000 for January signing Mervan Celik.
Reports suggested Rangers wouldn’t have to pay compensation to GAIS because his old club failed to offer him an extension at least 60 days before the end of his deal — which expired in December.
But the prospect of Gers landing the player for free infuriated the Swedes who claim they DID make him and offer — a statement backed up by the striker himself.
And GAIS sports director Mats Persson said: “There wasn’t even a loophole. Rangers took a chance that we would not have a receipt to prove we offered him a contract.
“But it feels more like a desperate attempt to avoid paying especially having spoken with their director of football who will only negotiate while pretending to be an Italian mobster. We are shocked that we are being treated in this way as some kind of joke. We’ve done everything exactly as we should. We could not have done any more. Our assistant manager Kjell Pettersson has spoken to Mervan and he thinks it’s sad that we’ve come to this.”
GAIS were forced to send written proof of the offer to Gers by mailing the actual contract over to Glasgow.
Persson added: “We have not yet passed the date when Rangers had to pay the fee, so now we wait and see.”
GAIS have threatened to go to FIFA for help.
Morning from a hungover Muff. Just sitting down to watch the game again. Breaking news fabio has resigned. Looking forward to watching Joe Ledley and brownie again as I thought they where quality last night. Our Manager has grown so so much in the last year. His pre and post match interviews have shown that he is learning how to hanldle the press too. The future is bright, the future is ……..GREEN.
I thought a comment from Steve Lomas last night highlighted how this Celtic team is looking to other SPL clubs.
Shaking his head, he declared that Celtic were “awesome” and that he was really glad that his team weren’t playing them this weekend.
There’s been a huge sea-change in the perception of Celtic by the other clubs.
It’s called FEAR.
A mild, misty moisty morning here in North Ayrshire.
Well done, Celtic!
And, Thank You Celtic for delivering on my 4 – nil prediction at 28 to 1.
just had a feeling that this’d be a good, good night.
And MON keeps on rolling as well.
Good times.
Took today off, always a good idea after a mid-week game against the Orcs or the mini-orcs, and just watched the first half.
Now my view was a good angle from behind the goal and I didn’t think it was a goal. After god knows how many replays I still have an element of doubt therefore no way an official could give it – even if he did it would result in what, 4-1. Will have a bit of toast and then the second half.
PS best bit of yesterday was on the concourse behind the stand with the whole support singing “the huns are going bust” – great!
Update from Celtic Hospitality
Celtic have recently revised their menus to give a more contemporary feel. Below is the revised sweet menu. We hope this range of new creations will tempt you to visit us shortly:
Just Desserts
1. End of the Line – two half-moons of strawberry and blueberry jelly split by a slab of plain ice-cream. Sprinkle liberally with hundreds and thousandaires if you want.
2. Hector’s Horse – A hard pastry casing casing lulls you into a false sense of security until it’s too late and you’re overwhelmed by the rich smooth fondant centre. Impossible to finish at one sitting but ultimately deeply satisfying in the end.
3. Knickerbockergovan – For those who prefer their’s messy. Layers and layers of things you can’t quite grasp – is that fruit or ice cream, is that cream clotted or fake skooshy cream? Is that hints of smokiness? You might need to reflect on that? Dripping with syrupy sludge and sprinkled with hundreds and thousandaires. You’ll need a big napkin for this one. It’s going to get messi!
4. Chocolate Bomb – A hard dark chocolate shell containing rich Swiss chocolate ice-cream. Careful when this one hits the fan it could go anywhere.
5. 5 Star Finish – For the nation’s health conscious. 5 slivers of star fruit served on a bed of blood orange segments and puffed up with fake skooshy cream, finished with a cherry on the top. Careful though. Once it’s gone….. it’s gone!
6. Minty Excess – 10 boules of mint choc chip ice-cream covered in a piquant Provençal grape sauce. For those kidding on their in good health but are in fact sinking fast.
7. Simply Success – You just can’t beat a bit of Jelly and Ice-cream. Lovely Lime Jelly with Vanilla ice. Strictly no hundreds and thousandaires with this one.
8. Cheesy Board – A selection of the finest from around the globe including a soft goat special, a hard dour Scots plain number and some excellent Dutch hard cheeses with appropriate holes. To accompany why not try our South African King’s Bigotage Special Reserve Port Style fortified wine.
To Finish
A fine glass of Fergus’s Special Champions Reserve. A 12 year old single malt from a single barrel special vintage. (mandatory)
Enjoy
HH
Good morning from cold wet Manchester. Great display last night. The midfield were dynamic and great to see them score some goals too.
Got a day now of listening to English navel gazing over their new manager. Or us it nasal grazing?
Anyway I can smile.
feedthebear
9:30
Lennys sky interview last night
Had a discussion with an Arab at work this morning regarding what has gone on in Scottish football over the years and something quite familiar came up: that Celtic and r*ngers have deliberately weakened other teams by buying up players and not playing them.
I challenged him to back this up and he was able to reel off a number of players that have been signed from clubs that very rarely got a game. It became quickly apparent, though, that there was something in common with pretty much all of these players: Darius Adamczuk, Gavin Rae etc. I pointed this out and he retorted that Celtic signed Willo Flood and never/rarely played him.
I couldn’t really argue with that, other than to say that the guy who signed him (from Cardiff City, it has to be said), then signed him again for another club, which suggests that he signed him because he saw something worthwhile in the player.
I pointed this out, to which he then replied that there were others; he just couldn’t think of them at that moment.
So I helped him out a bit by suggesting Chris Killen and Derek Riordan. He readily ‘agreed’ that we deliberately signed them to weaken a Hibs side who had several outstanding young talents around that time (2006 thru 2007) that would head to either Celtic or Rangers: Caldwell, Brown, Riordan, Thomson, Wh*ttaker, etc. And then I pointed out to him that Killen was a Bosman who had already been in talks with other clubs before we even approached him and Riordan was initially signed on a pre-contract agreement. Between them, they played around 60 games for Celtic. Caldwell was on a free and between him and Brown they have racked up over 300 appearances – which weakens his argument just a tad.
Anyway, my point to this post: can anyone think of any other players we’ve signed who would fit this guy’s theory of us deliberately weakening opposition teams?
Ciao——
Sunny , cloudless and cold -way down south.
I thought it was a goal. The defending before it was woeful..
Great result , great team performance . Samaras !
Never been a fan of Brown but with performances like that he is making me eat my words.
Webster should have been Red carded. Cynical, crude brutality seems to be within the Rules of the Game in Scotland.
Always a pleasure to beat the Brown Sauce Huns -a true delight to absolutely hammer them..
Eyes on the prize -onwards and upwards —one game at a time. Bury the Hun . No to Newco. Yes to Sircumcision.
awe naw
It’s really difficult to distinguish betwwen your contributions and those of prize pudding Hateley!
Did you make up the bit about Laffatme and the additional money owing if he plays one more game?
“In the last four years he has only started 60 games for Hull and Cypriot side Larissa while most of the guys in the current Rangers squad are reaching those kind of totals every season.
For the past couple of months he kept ticking along by playing for FC Sapins in his homeland ahead of the African Cup of Nations.”
Assuming this is the truth, and not awe-naw’s version, only in Scotland could this man’s woeful playing record be spun as a positive!
He reads more like a candidate for Chipping Sodbury FC than the man who will arrest the interminable decline of one of the biggest clubs in the world!
Praise to the great god, Karma!
HH
Wanyama what a find
Oh, almost forgot:
One crucial factor in our victory last night was ………………………….NO CRAP AWAY STRIP !
We are always vulnerable when dressed as canaries, bumble bees, assorted citrus fruits. The opposition do not respect us when we’re in fancy dress.
We MUST wear the Hoops at every available opprtunity.
Aye, does anyone have a link to Lenny’s interview?
.
FeedTheBear..
Skoosh has Missed 5 of the 13 Games..(Injury)..
Victor has Missed One..
Sammi has Missed One (Sub)..
Summa
merseycelt
those are from Loveley himself
Hail Hail
jhilday says:
9 February, 2012 at 09:38
Aye and respect.
Fair play to Lomas i say.
HH
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