Celtic remain at the top of the league table, albeit on goal difference with a game in hand, after everyone took their eye off the ball yesterday at Tannadice, and allowed a comfortable 2-0 lead to turn into a 2-2 draw. Everyone except Efe Ambrose, that is , who kept his eye on the ball long enough to head it past Fraser Forster to allow Dundee Utd their equaliser.
apart from that, we were treated to two superbly taken goals, as Miku broke his duck with an excellent finish, to stake his claim for a regular start, before Tony Watt continued his good form with another great goal to stake his.
Neil Lennon , post match ,seemed as bewildered as anyone.
“It was very frustrating. We didn’t deal with a couple of balls into our box which is unfortunate-I just think we were unfortunate. When you miss easy chancesyou give teams encouragement. We just needed to see it out , which we didn’t.
The performance was good-for 85 minutes we were superb. I don’t think we got what we deserved which was three points. I’m frustrated but happy with the team.”
There were injuries to players, which added to concerns for the midweek visit of Barcelona, with Thomas Rogne hurting his leg again, and Emilio Izzaguerre “feeling his hamstring”. The other concerns centre around Samaras, Forrest , Hooper Brown, who looked knackered yesterday, and Commons who looked shite.
It was good to see Willie Collum back in the groove, booking Watt and Miku for scoring, Izzy for tackling and Wanyama for jumping. I’d almost forgotten what he looked like. In case you have, heres a reminder
Still, Barcelona have their worries as Celtic return to the repetitive drudgery of the champions League-its only a couple of weeks since we played them,- with Adriano joining Pique, Abidol and Puyol on their injury list. Add to that the suspension of Piquet, and you can see they are struggling. Messi did get kicked in the Celta Vigo game at the weekend, but recovered. The perpetrator of this heinous crime against the precious little Argentinian will be tried in a Madrid court this afternoon, and be shot on Tuesday morning.
Messi has just seen his girlfriend give birth to a son, and its important that under European law he pushes for his two weeks paternity leave, so send your emails and letter off pronto.
Elsewhere in the league,teams continued to take points off each other, and the new competitive Scottish football scene means that instead of playing matches every week, the SPL should just chuck all the names into a hat, jiggle them about and pull them out to decide league placings. They won’t be far wrong, and its bloody great for the game.
Far from armageddon, which was predicted when Rangers were removed, the crowds have actually gone up for most clubs, Celtic being an exception , as the support choose their games due to it being £45 for a Barca brief, and Hearts, who are shite.
Also this weekend, in the Observers shock results of the week, there is a mention for “plucky division 3 minnows Rangers who beat second division giants Alloa 7-0”. The new club recorded their best ever win, as well as earning a shot at the big boys in Round 4 of the cup, the draw for which is on SSN this afternoon at two-thirty.
They will be dreaming of premier league opposition, such as Motherwell, as they will probably beat them again.
Before their game on Saturday, new owner and entrepreneurial businessman Charles Green, speaking in the Waddell suite-named after the style of walking adopted by current boss Ally McCoist-spoke of the upcoming share issue, the clubs plans for the future and also his decision to refuse to sign any new tv deal with the SPL and ?Sky, even though his club aren’t in the SPL, he won’t ever go there again, and the deal isn’t due for four years.
He also predicted a doubling of turnover from £20m to £40m in the immediate future, which makes you wonder how they went under in the first place. Oh hang on, turnover, not profit.
Whatever he does, he’ll have to be quick. Hector is, acoording to celticfcblog, who is normally right about these things, taking an interest in his other activities,- not only Zeus-, and when the SFA do there proper person assessment, it seems they will not only take into account his blustering speeches, but his somewhat murky past. Given the source, this one will have legs. (note, this is not a cheap jibe at David Murray.)
A story which may or may not have legs has been spotted in Japan. Apparently, the contract of a certain Shunsuke Nakamura is about to finish, and his agent claims there has been interest from Celtic. They say they should never go back, but charlie Mulgrew has done okay, Bertie Auld did better than okay, and Charlie nicholas… Yeah, see their point.
Craig Burley comes back as a pundit, and he has suffered perhaps the biggest fall in personal popularity,although Andy Walker and Davie Provan certainly push him close.
Away from all that, Tony Mowbray has gone on record saying he was sacked “too soon ” by Celtic, as he didn’t have time to see his plans through. By “plans ” if he means completely destroy the club and continually humiliate and embarrass the supporters,before sending us into division one, then he’s right. He was well on course for that.
Saturdays quiz was correctly guessed by nearly everone as Keith Jackson, who lifted his head long enough from Craig whytes lap to publish the “wealth off the radar” nonsense, and continuing the linkage theme, where did we sign Darren Jackson from? And for how much?
Saturdays picture of that woman, meant entirely as a feeder for the abuse of miners line, upset a few of you, so to even it up, heres a better one of the same woman, shortly after her trial , as she is driven to the gallows.
Meanwhile-can you believe that about Freddie Starr? No way is he a comedian.
probaly too late – was it Hibs ? at £900k ?
Didn’t mind Jackson at all but I know he wasn’t everyones favourite.
And by the way, what is it with ex celtic players becoming pundits in the Media – why are they all so anti Celtc – were they all treated so badly by the club ?
Or are suffering from new golf club members disease – when they try to fit in and change their views and 5 years later you’re voting Tory, moaning about immigration, driving a volvo and worst of all moaning because some guy is not wearing a collar and walking away from the bar without his drinks on a tray !
Signed from Hibs astonishingly for over a million £1.25 mibee – I quite liked him liked his combative nature but probz best remembered for his first goal at pittodrie after his brain surgery when he literally dived into the Celtic fans in the south terrace – nae doubt he wud av been booked for that!!!
Not sure of the price as “money didn’t matter then” but D.J. definitely came from Easter Road. He was getting worried walking the streets in Leith at night so thought Glasgow in a Celtic shirt would be safer.
‘Tony Mowbray has gone on record saying he was sacked “too soon ” by Celtic, as he didn’t have time to see his plans through.’ He actually meant to add “not a moment…”. Amazing! He gets two wins out of two hundred for Middlesbrough and now he is a ‘guru’ on what would have been best for Celtic. Good man, numpty manager.
I just hope wee Hector is paying his taxes as he must be into a fortune with all the hours he is putting in these days. He seems to be doing treblers and ghosters every day of the week now. Let’s pray he is not ‘doing a Jackson’ and going ‘off the radar’ with regard to some ‘wee new clubs’. Ah well, when skies are grey there is always a cheerful story to turn them blue. Dundee dampner, Hector smoke!
Do you never get the blues, Ralph? Your writings are always looking on the bright side with the biggest sarcastic grin ever witnessed on the written page.
H H
P.S. Still waiting for a reply to my email last week. Really want to get things completed. Ta!
H H
What email
Shit!..I just donated my Nakamura T-shirt to the local charity shop
It was indeed Hibs in a £1.25m deal. I recall he was unveiled the same day as some dud with dreads that we picked up from some Dutch mob. God we really did scrape the bottom of the barrell in those days.
His celebration on his return from his brain surgery was a joy to behold.
Was it Jock Brown that signed Jackson?
I remember him coming on as a sub at parkhead once, and running about very fast after the ball, to mass hilarity in the north stand. He never got it either.
Also remember grumblings when he pulled out of a euro game ( can’t remember who we were playing?) with a ‘headache’. Who knew?
Over the piece I remember ‘ooo ahhh Jacksona’ fondly.
hibs and 1.1 mill