{"id":14028,"date":"2019-03-17T09:22:41","date_gmt":"2019-03-17T09:22:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etims.net\/?p=14028"},"modified":"2019-03-17T09:22:41","modified_gmt":"2019-03-17T09:22:41","slug":"celtic-diary-sunday-march-17-big-game-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etims.net\/?p=14028","title":{"rendered":"Celtic Diary Sunday March 17: Big Game Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, someones got to try to get the players excited.<\/p>\n

The danger is with so many points of a lead with so few games left, the players will settle into cruise control and not play at the tempo with the enthusiasm required to enable confidence ahead of the upcoming semi final with Aberdeen.<\/p>\n

Once standards and application drop, its difficult to raise them back up.<\/p>\n

Results yesterday meant that Celtic now need to win only six of their remaining nine games at most to secure the honour of being the first Scottish side to attain eight successive titles twice.<\/p>\n

And you can’t have ten without eight.<\/p>\n

There is also the possibility of an unprecedented third successive treble, which is astonishingly being played down by supporters and media alike, which could also affect the squad.<\/p>\n

Make no mistake, no one else wants to see Celtic’s domestic dominance continue, and they will do all they can to stop it.<\/p>\n

Thats why a let up in pace and aggression today would be disastrous.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A win puts Celtic ten clear with eight to play, and one can understand why they may feel they’ve reached the crest of the hill and can perhaps rest up a bit.<\/p>\n

There was even talk that Lennon would rest a few players and introduce others, such as Scott Allan for the last few games.<\/p>\n

Yeah, Scott Allan, who has signed a pre contract with Hibernian.<\/p>\n

One can only assume Lennon was, for want of a better phrase, taking the piss.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today , Sky sports, who are showing the game on various free streaming sites, hint that Phillip Benkovic, Calum MacGregor and even Olivier Ntcham could feature, but again there is a feeling that someone is taking the piss.<\/p>\n

Lennon is more likely to go with the players he has used so far until one of them does something stupid.<\/p>\n

For MacGregor especially, there is no rush and the manager wants to make sure he’s ready for the post split league and cup games.<\/p>\n

Ntcham under Lennon could be interesting, as the manager may well have something he can offer the Frenchman, having played at the top level himself as a central midfielder, and if he can add his own qualities to those of youngster, we may well have something special when Brown finally begins to ease himself out of the picture.<\/p>\n

Either that or it’ll be a few quid more in the bank.<\/p>\n

Hopefully Oddsone Edoaurd will get a chance to shine from the start today, perhaps alongside Burke, or even Bayo, but its unlikely.<\/p>\n

Lennon sems to favour a rotating forward line of three or four , which on paper sounds great, but in reality leads merely to confusion.<\/p>\n

It’ll be interesting to see if Scott Sinclair regains his place, having been substituted last week, and if he doesn’t , then I’d be thinking the manager may see him as surplus to requirements.<\/p>\n

Leigh Griffiths has been handed a lifeline as well…he might get a chance to re-estblish himself, possibly in a front two… but not quite yet, as Lennon explained..<\/p>\n

\u201cI met him on Monday,\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m optimistic about seeing him back before the end of the season.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHe looked OK and looked reasonable condition. He\u2019s got a bit of work to do to catch up with the rest. That\u2019s what we\u2019re hoping will happen over the coming weeks.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to talk about private things but he\u2019s obviously itching to get back. It\u2019ll take a bit of time but hopefully we\u2019ll see him before the end of the season. If you can get him fit and firing you\u2019ve got a top-quality centre-forward.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s down to him now. Part of his recovery is that he does it step by step but he\u2019s doing it so hopefully we can get him back doing what he\u2019s good at as quickly as possible.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to look at the human side as well sometimes, they\u2019re not robots. They all have frailties in their own make-ups. I\u2019m looking at the team last weekend and they looked leggy and I understand that.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThere was always going to be a bit of a lull. So hopefully we\u2019re over that and we\u2019ll see the power and the pazazz of Celtic again going forward.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A win today, and that means when the league starts again after the break, “rangers ” will\u00a0 know defeat at Celtic Park two weeks today will mean they are thirteen behind with six games to go.<\/p>\n

Which should make for another one of those beautiful Sundays…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Their side stumbled to a 1-1 draw at home to Kilmarnock yesterday, having been behind to a route one special from the Ayrshire side. An over the top ball landed at the feet of their forward, who sidestepped an onrushing Alan MacGregor to slide the ball home.<\/p>\n

MacGregor would have no doubt assaulted the goalscorer, but he must have remembered he’d already been booked, so it was more a sort of half arsed attempt to scare rather than have any real impact on proceedings.<\/p>\n

There was a late incident when Conor Goldson hacked down another forward who was heading towards goal, a straight red anywhere else but ibrox, but the brothers in black got together and issued a yellow as per their works directive.<\/p>\n

Gerrard, post match, said it was the referees fault as Kilmarnock should have had eight players sent off, and that they had even resorted to time wasting and other forms of cheating, but the reality now is that with their season over, he’s under severe pressure, and the support have had enough.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

He has a point about their performances against the better sides..<\/p>\n

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Wolfe Of Parkhead\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/strong>\u200f\u00a0<\/span><\/span>@ParkheadWolfe<\/b><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n
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