Celtic Diary Monday April 9: Another Day, Another Three Points

Celtic Diary Monday April 9: Another Day, Another Three Points

April 9, 2018 · by · in ,

Celtic beat Hamilton 2-1. And thats about all we can take from yesterdays game, although it was what the side set out to do.

Another game where Celtic did well until they reached the final third, whereupon the predictable sidieways football kicked in, and yet again a defence was allowed to regroup and get in the way.

The style was epitomised when Charley Musonda, an adventurous attacking sort, made a few yards, and then passed backwards. Chelsea will be delighted. He’s having the football coached out of him.

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Celtic have had 93 shots on goal in our last 4 games and scored only 5 goals. Thats not great, and whatever reason is offered for such a poor return, something isn’t working.

But do we change a system that has the club on the verge of a historic back to back treble ?

Yesterday, Celtic were 2-1 ahead when Musonda took to the field, he was following instructions,  as the three points were there to be lost. Had he gone forward and lost possession, and Hamilton scored from the breakaway, then we’d have been a little fraught about it.

He did what he was asked, and we won.

Celtic were facing ten men after Hamilton lost their Lyon, who had roared around for a bit with the eye of the tiger before finally accumulating so many fouls that even Andrew Dallas felt obliged to send him off. That can create, and probably did create, a siege mentality among the home players. Which is why it finished only 2-1.

Anyhoo, Celtic won,  and we move on, despite the usual grumbles about style and content.

Scottish Premiership 2017/18
# Team Pl W D L F A GD Pts Last 6
1 Celtic 33 22 9 2 64 21 43 75
2 Rangers 33 19 5 9 67 38 29 62
3 Aberdeen 33 19 5 9 50 36 14 62
4 Hibernian 33 16 11 6 49 35 14 59
5 Kilmarnock 32 14 10 8 43 38 5 52
6 Hearts 33 11 13 9 35 30 5 46
7 Motherwell 33 10 8 15 36 43 -7 38
8 St Johnstone 33 10 8 15 32 47 -15 38
9 Hamilton Academical 32 8 6 18 42 58 -16 30
10 Dundee 33 8 6 19 31 53 -22 30
11 Ross County 33 6 8 19 38 57 -19 26
12 Partick Thistle 33 6 7 20 26 57 -31 25

As it stands, one more win will secure a  seventh successive title.

But it will have to wait.

Thats because the SPFL have to discuss matters with the police, the TV companies , the clubs and everyone else except the fans, without whom, there would be no point in having a league.

Celtic aren’t allowed to play “rangers ” when a title can be won. Thats possibly our own fault as we took it rather badly when Rangers won the league at Celtic Park.

There is also a reluctance to have “rangers ” visit Celtic after the title is won as they would be expected to perform a roll of honour ( Are you sure you’ve got that right? -Ed )

And there is even more reluctance to have the hordes anywhere near the trophy presentation.

It is a pickle, isn’t it ?

Neil Doncaster, a proven incompetent, explained..

“This is the 18th season that we have had a split league, and with the split comes, just a matter of logic, imbalances that may mean a club or clubs loses or gains a home fixture. And it will mean distortions in terms of the amount of times clubs play each other home or away.

“So there will be clubs that end up playing others three times away or three times at home.

“What’s important is that we go through the process of liaising with broadcasters and the police, as you’d expect.

“That is something that [SPFL secretary] Iain Blair is well used to doing over the last 18 years and he will do that over the coming days to ensure the best possible set of post-split fixtures, but also the appropriate scheduling.” 

 

The real problem lies in the system. a league should be where everyone plays everyone home and away equally, be it once or twice. What we actually have is one of those ideas that was put forward to try and spice things up a bit, but in actual fact by definition a league should have all competitors on an equal footing, facing exactly the same challenges.

And this set up doesn’t do that, yet doncaster wants us to see that as the “norm ”

All of those who run Scottish football can’t see that the system is laughably amateur, and so we now have the annual shuffle where the two Glasgow clubs must be equal but no one else is, thus destroying the integrity of the system.

But then again, the integrity in Scottish football left a long time ago, closing the door firmly behind it.

However, manager Brendan Rodgers wants the Ibrox club at Celtic Park to showcase Scottish football.

 

“It’s sad for Scottish football and it’s sad for society in Scotland. In any other country in the world they would look to play the game and showcase their football on telly – whether it was Real Madrid v Barcelona, Manchester United v Manchester City or AC Milan v Inter.

“They’d be falling over themselves to get it on the telly.

“For some reason, we can’t do that here which is a sad indictment of the world it is here at times.

“But if it’s one they want to do then they should do it and put it at an appropriate kick-off time and trust that people can behave themselves.

“Play the game and show it as a great advert for Scottish football. Don’t bury your head in the sand and hope things don’t happen.” 

Yes, but there isn’t another country in the world with a fan base quite like that of “rangers “.

If I were to tell you that I’ve heard of death threats to a Celtic supporter this week, which the police are aware of, would you believe me ? Or would you believe that those supporters are perfectly capable of doing this, which is perhaps a netter way of putting things ?

 

I’m awaiting clarification, though action may be taken before that comes through.

With that in mind, and you’ll have to trust me on this, I don’t see why we should even let their fans in. Ban the lot of them, and maybe the decent “rangers ” fans -or even the club-will sort it out.

A threat to life is a serious offence. And it should be addressed as such.

We’ll have to wait and see.

 

Celtic play “rangers ” at Hampden next week, and as the Ibrox side warmed up with a 4-0 win over a much more adventurous and fatigued side than Celtic faced, thats the signal for the media and their support to tell us they are coming again.

Its going to be a long week.

Saturdays caption..

Puggy67 April 7, 2018 at 8:50 pm · Edit · Reply →

Caption:My career was blessed, started with Weissmuller, then the Russian space programme, Tetley ads, happy days,..then that fat fuck Johnny Vegas ruined everything.

 

Today..