Celtic Diary Monday March 2: More Than A Team ?

Celtic beat Aberdeen 4-0 yesterday, and another win against St. Johnstone this week will put the Hoops nine points clear. Which is a remarkable achievement considering the amount of swearing from the fans during the first ten minutes or so of yesterdays game.

Aberdeen flattered Celtic by setting up the same way as Deilas men do, and didn’t allow the home side to settle. The back four and midfield were constantly harassed in possession, and the dons were unlucky not to be in front when Niall McGin had a shot tipped over and Andrew Considine headed a little too high.

There were other chances , and suddenly it seemed that the threat from the north was very real, and Aberdeen do deserve considerable praise for coming to Glasgow and taking the game to Celtic, where others have merely set up with two lines of four and hoped for the breakaway.

However, before these teams take a leaf out of Aberdeens book, it didn’t work for them, and it won’t work for you.

As the Ronny doubters will tell you, your players need to be extremely fit to play this way, and the Dons weren’t. So, they ran out of steam just after the hour mark, roughly about the time earlier in the season when a few of our players were blowing out their arses, and Celtic took full advantage, adding to Jason Denaayers first half header with three more goals, and it could have been more.

Celtics opener just before half time was their first effort on goal ( bar the Griffiths shot which led to the corner ) from their first corner, Leigh Griffiths standing firm in front of Dons keeper Scott Brown , who didn’t think to just sidestep him, and thus couldn’t get near the ball. Virgil van Dijk had been fouled shortly before, but no penalty was neccessary, and referee John Beaton thought he could still show his face in the lodge, but when Stefan Johansen was fouled in the box on the hour mark, he had no option but to point to the spot, and resign himself to staying home Sunday night.

Tv “experts ” said that Aberdeen lost their shape and discipline after that, but thats unfair. They were simply knackered, and tired bodies lead to tired minds which make tired decisions. It was a combination of that tiredness and Celtics resurgence in the second half that did it, and the team spirit which is now becoming a hallmark of the Deila reign.

As the manager put it;

“In the second half we were disciplined, organised, balanced, moved the ball quicker and they couldn’t cope with the runs we had behind them,” said the Norwegian.

“I am so happy for the performance and the result and I am proud of the boys.

“It is so hard to play so many games like we are doing now.

“We didn’t arrive in Glasgow until 3am on Friday morning, that is a tough one when you are going to play two days later,” added Deila, who is confident that Kris Commons’ hamstring injury, which saw him substituted after only 11 minutes on Sunday, and Stuart Armstrong’s buttock injury, which forced his replacement off in the second half, is not too serious

 Players look out for each other, and help their teammates. Its that simple.

Efe Ambrose did well in an unfamiliar left back role, with Emilio Izaguerre having broken a finger, and it seemed the whole defence cranked itself up a notch to help him. Nir Bitton is becoming more and more like Paul Lambert with every game, and his passing and movement , combined with the passing and movement of Stefan Johansen is Celtics major creative force, although Stuart Armstrong and Gary Mackay Steven have added an extra string to that.

Disagree ? Watch again some of the interchanges and movement of these two. They are the partnership, not Brown and Bitton. If i have a complaint about yesterdays game, well, more an observation, it that John Guidetti isn’t up to the job.

He’s reached that stage of “Aw naw, don’t gie it tae him ” , and when that happens to a striker at Celtic, the only way is out.

Aberdeen will  get fitter, and they will pose a serious challenge next year, but it does appear that this seasons race may be over. If we do win the league, it will be worth remembering that it will be the wins over Aberdeen that have put us out front, and not the usual collapse of a rival against smaller teams.

Any treble this year will be down to what Celtic have done themselves, and from the start we had last summer, the whole club will deserve it. But theres still a long way to go before that treble is won.

It seems  that Ronny knows that.

“I don’t take anything for granted, I have been in football for many years.

“At my former club we were three times leading in the summer by seven points and it took three years to win the league.

“So I know how quick it can turn around if you start to lose focus on the right things.

“If we do everything we have done so far the rest of the season it is going to be very hard for them.

“We have the possibility to get nine (points ahead) and there is goal difference as well, that is getting better.

“So we really have a good position in the league.”

 The picture at the top of the page shows captain and manager in a triumphant embrace , and I couldn’t help but remember this one, from the Black and White Cup some years ago.

It sticks in my mind because both men avoid the drink, and I can imagine the photographer saying “Gauny wan o’yeez at least haud a bottle o’champagen ? ”

Brown and Deila obviously have working relationship which is crucial to the club. Their seems to be mutual respect and thats going to be important over the next few years. Brown obviously has the confidence of the manager, and will be asked to help get his ideas across, which may also explain the improvement in one or two of the more senior players.

“Tell Kris his arse needs to be no more than this big ” 

There were a few other telling pictures to emerge from yesterdays game. Craig Gordon, for instance, actually got his shirt dirty, something that hasn’t happened in the league for a while. Apaprently his bonus structure is set up around his saves, and not the teams results, which means he’s quids in this week.

But it wasn’t all sweetness and light. Gary Mackay Steven has stopped smiling.

Don’t worry, Gary. You don’t have to pass to Guidetti if you don’t want to. In fact, none of you do.

But none match the emotion on this face at the end of the game;

Speaking of emotion, Jay Beattie, surprisingly left out of this weeks squad, collected his goal of the month award at Celtic Park yesterday.

Like I said, more than a team, more than a club. Anyone who isn’t smiling looking at those two pictures is on the wrong website.

According to the press, the two players most wanted by other clubs are Virgil van Dijk and John Guidetti. One isn’t as good as he thinks he is, and the other is better than he thinks he is.

Its not just about working on passing and movement with the players, sometimes you have to work on their heads as well.

If Guidetti thought he was as good as van Dijk thinks he is, then we’d have a hell of a striker on our books. At the moment, though, he seems terrified to do anything in case he makes an arse of it, and inevitably thats exactly what happens.

If you don’t believe in yourself, how can you expect anyone else to ?

This doesn’t apply to van Dijk, however, he just needs to remember that he is fallible, and act accordingly.

Elsewhere, David Somers became the latest man to leave the stricken Rangers International football club. He’s the chairman, or was, and that leaves the way clear-according to the now delirious Scottish media -for Dave King , Paul Murray and the rest of the crew that oversaw the death of the original club to “seize conbrol ” .

Company Law ?

Presumably that doesn’t apply to the “peepil ” . Either that or they don’t understand it.

In the same way they didn’t understand several other laws, such as tax law, equal opportunities law and Nicky Law.

You can’t help thinking that the exodus of those who have recently left has been carefully planned. After all, it gives each and every one of them a chance to say that any issues that come to light post Admin will ” not have happened while they were there ”

In fact, we hear that the past members of the board and management will be raising a few quid by recording their version of this record;

whats going on here  ?