So what did we learn from yesterday’s 2-2 draw at Ibrox? Lots. Hatate’s back. Reo recovered his form in Stuttgart on Thursday, and brought his trademark control to Ibrox when he appeared for the second half. Callum McGregor was immense throughout and perhaps the only Celtic player who earned a pass mark for the first period, but when he and Reo clicked, Celtic were irrepressible.
At halftime, I considered that we declined £15m for Daizen Maeda in August. For the previous 45 minutes, he was poor on a new level. Whatever talent he has as a winger, let’s conclude it appears too sporadically. A pass to Daizen on the left is often a wasted ball.
Through the middle, he torments defenders and goalkeepers. Twice in the second half his movement opened space to meet cross balls from the right with his head. The first would have equalised, had he aimed it back across goal, the second was hooked off the line by a defender’s arm, leading to the penalty.
Celtic opened with pace across the front line. Daizen, Junior Adamu and Yang can leave any defence in Scottish football standing. On paper this may have looked promising. In practice, it simply did not work. Celtic were unable to progress the ball; making the entire team look awful.
Viljami Sinisalo was helpless for Youssef Chermiti’s two outstanding goals. The keeper was flawless, kicked comfortably and will surely retain his place for the remainder of the season.
So much went wrong in the first half it is harsh to pick out individuals for blame. Dane Murray’s miskick and Julian Araujo lack of awareness, which led to Newco’s second goal, deserve the most scrutiny. Junior Adamu was a virtual spectator until halftime, when he became an actual spectator.
In recent weeks, the main reason I remained hopeful for Celtic’s title push was the arrival of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and the return to fitness of Kelechi Iheanacho. When the day came, Alex came up short and Kelechi did not even make the bench. Until we see evidence to the contrary, we have to assume both will be bit-part players in the run-in. Getting these two at their peak for post-split games must be a priority.
There are clear learnings here for Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney, let’s hope they take them.
I briefed against playing Sebastian Tounekti at Ibrox. His lack of defensive physicality cost us against Hibs and Stuttgart (first leg). For reasons I have not quite understood, in the second half, Newco were unable to get close enough to a Celtic player to catch a whiff of their cologne. This gave Seb the stage and he stepped up.
For once, we did not rely on Benjamin Nygren to get the goal we needed, but he did pitch a perfect cross for Kieran Tierney to open our account. It was a textbook header employing all his neck muscles to send the ball into the ground.
Flexibility of threat is difficult to combat. It takes an opponent time to reorganise after you make a tactical change. Nygren was replaced by James Forrest on 85 minutes, introducing a thrown-back winger who grew-up hitting the byline to cross. James did just that 4 minutes later, which led to the equaliser. The same flexibility successfully worked when Marcelo Saracchi replaced Kieran.
There are two major takeaways from the penalty. Jack Butland has saved all five penalties he has faced this season. Even before the kick was taken I liked his technique. He stood a yard behind the line. As Reo approached the ball, he approached the line. This meant he had forward momentum when the ball was struck, narrowing the space Reo had for the kick. Butland has found a genuine advantage. Copy it.
In less than a week we have a Scottish Cup game that will be decided on the day. Without significant revision of our penalty strategy, we had better hope to win within 120 minutes.
Credit to the SFA video assistant referee team. They alone saw the arm which stopped Daizen Maeda’s header from equalising late in the game. No one will tell you VAR is good enough yet, but that was a difficult and correct call.
We will talk about who is going to win the league tomorrow, but I think we all know who is not winning it.
183 Comments- Pages:
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Me?
youngport
Boom, first in ages!
Broadsword Calling Danny Boy
Yeah the bottom line after the weekend is that the Huns are out of it.
We’ve zero margin for error but are still hanging in there.
DeniaBhoy on 2nd March 2026 8:07 am
Crazy stats from yesterday that you simply wouldn’t have believed after first half.
Possession. Celtic 54.8% We had 17 shots to their 12 and 7 on target to their 3. Their keeper had to make 5 saves, Sinisalo 1..Our passing accuracy 78% to their 68% We won 65% of our tackles to their 54. We had 162 forward passes to their 147. About the only negative stat is that we committed more fouls though they had two yellows to our 1.
*thanks for that, noticed it last night when I went looking for the stats, just shows how good we were second half in spite of the ‘rangers is my favourite team” mitb
Five points from our last six now shipped, the margin for error is getting wafer-thin. A feeble 85 points now our max, anything below 81 and we could be skating on very thin ice.
All due to the bad luck we suffered in the summer transfer window and the even worse luck with our mid-season managerial appointment not working out, despite appearing to have all the credentials to be the perfect fit.
If only we could somehow rid ourselves of this darned rotten luck……
An Dún on 2nd March 2026 12:06 pm
Yeah the bottom line after the weekend is that the Huns are out of it.
——————–
i hope the management team and the players are not thinking like that.
dangerous mindset . we are still 2 points behind them.
i see hearts blogs saying it is their title to throw away now, because the glasgow teams are going for 2nd.
5till a long way to go.
none of our current predicament is bad luck.
bad
planning
recruitment
skills retention
execution
but now is not the time, lets get ready for the dung heap
Pittodrie on Wednesday then we face the form team of the moment, Motherwell at home on the 14th. Take 6 points from those two games and we are def in the mix. We would be in 2nd place, only two points back when Hearts kick off at Kilmarnock at 8pm. R2ngers play on the 15th at Love Street by which point we could be 4 points above them.
Changed days when a home game against Motherwell in March is not a gimmee and could go a long way to deciding our fate. They will be full of confidence knowing they played us off the park a few weeks ago.
Happy St Fergna Day!
Petition:
One Celtic. Back our Board, Manager, Players and Charity.
https://c.org/kC24nkswRn
Ave Ave
“I briefed against playing Sebastian Tounekti at Ibrox. His lack of defensive physicality cost us against Hibs”
——————–
For goodness sake! Hibs play a 3-5-2. They have ONE wide player to pick up! You shouldn’t have to be relying on your winger for this. If they had been playing a 4-3-3 and overloading with winger, wide mf, full-back then yeah – our winger needs to get back to even up the numbers. But ONE player???
” Junior Adamu was a virtual spectator until halftime, when he became an actual spectator.”
====================================================
That’s a belter Paul !
Maybe we’ve found his best position=))) . One cheeky flicked goal is only credit in the bank for so long, but I’ll reserve judgement until I see him in games where he is not starved of service .
Key takeaways:
– They can’t put us away
– The huns play unapologetic hoofball
– The huns play hoofball much more competently than we do
– Huns aren’t out of it but yesterday felt significant
– Motherwell aren’t out of it and have momentum
– Hertz won’t keep scraping 1 nils
– We need to stop shipping goals at the rate of a primary school team
– Big Dane Murray has a future and coming through yesterday will accelerate his growth
– We go there next week with confidence (though it’s fragile)
Fair play to young Murray. I thought he was outstanding.
To answer your question Paul, Rangers simply ran out of gas in the second half. Their first half effort was not sustainable.
I thought it was interesting listening to Callum after the game saying it’s in our hands, which it isn’t. Also saying they had discussed before the game that a draw was a good result. I think this indicates that Celtic believe internally that Hearts won’t last the pace.
I also believe this will be the case.
Bill Lackey lying on talksport, saying the fans protests are driving people out of jobs,total nonsense, he also said the Motherwell manager is ‘brilliant ‘,we’ll see if that stands if he goes to Celtic
Adamu got no service, Iheanacho is third choice so can’t make the bench. I doubt Hatate will take the next penalty.
Am delighted with a face-saving and point-scraping draw but I’m not quite out from behind the sofa yet.
We have a real Jeckyll and Hyde personality in this squad and I’m still annoyed we let them barge and bully us (except the ‘ballsy’ wee Senor Araujo). Yer right Paul, Alex Oxters performance was the pits. Adamu outmuscled by the lesser talented Souttar brother.
And while young Dane seems an imposting figure, he seems to be gaffe prone in the clearance and co-ordination departments; I think he’s inferior to Magic Maik and even big Lagers and, yes, Welshy.
I hope he proves different but gosh, it’s way too Tebilyesque for my ticker !
FFS Please do not ever underestimate the Huns
They are not out of it
This is a 4 horse race
Every game and every point is crucial
This will be decided on the last day of the season
Hold on tight
67ECW
I wish I shared your optimism at the huns demise P67. With the refs and semi effective hoofball anything is possible.
A lot may depend on split order of games for me if its still even by then.
As good as the result felt at FT esp after HT I was concerned to hear CalMac say after the game that it is in our own hands. Unless I have missed something we need Hearts to drop 2 point and goals or 3 point more than us.
We need the whole team to treat every game as a must win and this messaging seemed off to me, unless I am being an eejit and missing something (have had flu since Fri so this is entirely possible!).
FWIW.
Huns first half chasing everything down reminded me of us under Nancy
I was hopeful they would not maintain that energy in the second half (as always happened to us under Nancy)
I think a mixture of our changes and their drop in energy levels got us back into a game that was gone at Half Time
Brilliant second half from us
67ECW
So this season has all been down to ‘bad luck’.
WTAF?
Butland had saved something like 7 out of 8 penalties in all competitons between Sept and Dec. Not sure what it is like now but yesterday when he dived low to save Reo’s first shot it looked like he had done it again. Was it earlier this season or last season we seemed to be missing more penalties than we scored? At the other end, Kasper rarely gets near them. Another reason to keep Sinisalo in goal for next weekend.
quadrophenian on 2nd March 2026 12:46
“way too Tebilyesque for my ticker !”
That made me chuckle. At their 2nd goal I did get a flashback to Tebily bit also an Ambrose (vs Juve?) flashack when Arujo missed the header too.
A comedy of errors at that goal. I think Dane needs a run of games but not sure now is the time even if the alternative is Austin “Weak as pish” Trusty…
Early December 2025 FIFA awards World Peace Prize to Donald Trump
February 28, 2026 Donald Trump launches war against Iran
Iran pulls out of FIFA World Cup
It’s a funny ol’ game Saint
Has no one pointed out that Araujo was fouled before their 1st goal.
He was pushed and flattened to the ground!!
DeniaBhoy on 2nd March 2026 12:57 pm
“Butland had saved something like 7 out of 8 penalties in all competitons between Sept and Dec.”
I am not a fan of the old stuttered step up or the paused backlift then calmly rolling either side once you see the keepers weight shift but seems to me that such an approach might negate Butlands technique?
A good meaty piece to get our teeth into Paul … after such a rousing response yesterday.
Respect.
R2ngers are not out of it … but I think their trajectory is telling.
They might be further away from it on Wednesday night – but that is up to us.
They may also have Motherwell breathing down their necks on Saturday night – but that is up to Motherwell.
R2ngers had momentum after defeating us 1-3, a result that cut Hearts lead over them to 6 points.
Nine games later, they’ve cut that lead further to … er … 6 points.
We’re doing better but only a little bit.
On current form, we come up 2-3 points short of the title.
Need everyone fit and tuned up before end March.
Even then, it’ll be close.
PS – R2ngers finishing 4th might help the Scottish coefficient
(I always like to look selflessly at the bigger picture)
Sevco’s maximum points is 84. Celtic and Hearts away and also Falkirk won’t be easy. Difficult to see them finishing above high-70s. Can’t see that being enough. Been a strange season though, so who knows…..
Paul67 et al
Well if we are going to play the blame game, CalMac can take the primary responsibiity for their first goal @ Ayebrokes. As Peter Grant pointed out on Sportscene, he had control of the the ball in our right back position, could have simply put the ball out for a shy, or protected the ball, but no, pressed by two or three opponents he tries to look good on the ball before playing it back to Ajauro also under immediate pressure…..
Dane Murray made the type of mistake Liam Scales has made over his career at Celtic, though fewer now, doesn’t make Liam a bad player, and likewise mistakes do not make Dane a bad person. He also made a great challenge on Moore I think early doors. More games he plays fewer mistakes he will make. Played well in Stuttgart, and in the second half yesterday. Who knows maybe Martin will play him in a back three with Arthur and Scales? I would not bet against it.
If we want the Motherwell manager make a move now,as Championship managers getting sacked every day,a club from there will take him,
Back to Basics – Glass Half Full on 1st March 2026 10:42 pm
Bhoys Town on 1st March 2026 7:26 pm
Someone earlier said Rohl a decent guy
—-
Cheers, BT.
Twas I.
Decent human being when he arrived.
Many of them are.
Then they get sucked in.
Without wishing to indulge in hyperbole, I think Ibrox is an evil place that does evil things to men’s souls.
Long time ago, Terry Butcher’s wife gave him an ultimatum.
Get out of Rangers or get out of this house.
Because she could see what that club were turning him into
“The other team”, “the other mob”, playing the flute, running around prematch bursting only green balloons, mocking the huddle, parrotting “the Billy boys”
All consequences of living in a hole of hate.
Rohl’s descent is only just started.
How Raskin reconcile trips to the Vatican with mummy … while being serenaded about being up to knees in fenian blood to the visual backdrop of KAT symbolism?
Beyond me.
=—–
Thanks for the response B2B. I enjoy your posts.
Totally agree that there is something in the water over there. And I often think of what Butcher said. I think that story was in his autobiography. I respected him a lot more after he came clean, Notably, the hun fans were furious with him for exposing the Kultur. Good for his wife, btw. The English coming up here must be mesmerised by their toxicity.
I think those from a Catholic background such as Raskin or Novo feel they have to prove their uber staunchness. Pathetic really.
GLENDALYSTONSILS on 2ND MARCH 2026 11:30 AM
I’ve thought that McInness has looked like a man under real stress in the last few weeks . Watching Sportscene highlights last night Kabore missed an easy chance at0-0 and Del boy went charging furiously up the touchline kicking water bottles . Not to mention his antics against us at Tynecastle . If his angst spreads to the team that could do us a huge favour .
——-
Agree 100%.
Said exactly that to my sons-in-law watching the game yesterday.
If Hearts crack it will be because McInnes cracks first.
I also think he’ll feel more pressure if we’re applying it than if Rangers were to be.
Watched the game again and can’t understand the pile on re Maeda. He has some limitations in terms of ball control and shooting accuracy but we’ve always known that. But I saw no lack of effort. Chasing everything and in there at the death, almost equalising with that header.
I feel the same about Hatate, his work rate has not really dropped. Just because he doesn’t chase lost causes he might seem slack. He does a lot off the ball. I still think he’s the most technically able player in Scotland (certainly up there with Calmac and Tierney).
I think the Japanese players have a personal ethic where they work hard in any job. I would need much more evidence to believe either of these guys has thrown his toys out of the pram.
Bada Bing
Unless there are big changes to the structure and genuine signs of ambition, would he want to come?
Celtic Mac
given they would never take the tourney away from the usa
would love to see the games in the usa boycotted
i know it will never happen tho
SAINT STIVS on 2ND MARCH 2026 12:16 PM
An Dún on 2nd March 2026 12:06 pm
Yeah the bottom line after the weekend is that the Huns are out of it.
——————–
i hope the management team and the players are not thinking like that.
dangerous mindset . we are still 2 points behind them.
—-
The reason I see the Huns as being out of it is not because where they are in relation to us.
They’re 6 behind Hearts and have to visit Tynecastle.
Hopefully we’ll be 5 behind Hearts come
Thursday and they have to visit Celtic Park.
We’re not the problem for Sevco. Hearts are.
Credit to the SFA video assistant referee team. They alone saw the arm which stopped Daizen Maeda’s header from equalising late in the game. No one will tell you VAR is good enough yet, but that was a difficult and correct call.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
You are being way too kind here, not sure if the compliment is tongue in cheek. They have the luxury of several camera angles and slow motion; they should get all of the decisions correct.
Amazingly this crack team on VAR missed the hauling to the ground of Scales in their penalty box, that too should have been referred to Beaton to make a decision, as if it didn’t happen, as there has been no coverage from Sky, BBC etc.
Lastly the exact action which got Trusty sent off against Hibs and subsequent 3 match suspension was missed by them after the full time whistle with a ‘karate chop’ © BBC Scotland again on Scales by a Sevco player was not brought to Beaton’s attention.