Rangers 0 - 2 Celtic

[ian1964 10,724]

The only positive I took from the match was the performance of young Ross McCrorie, well played young man.

[pete 2,499]

I never mentioned a guarantee. Although, as an irrelevant aside, I believe we would have gone on to win.

 

Anything to say on the point I was responding to?

 

Should we be beating Hibernian with 10 men?

 

Is that . . . realistic?

 

I never said we should have or could have, although it does happen sometimes that teams play better with 10 men. it is however not realistic to accept that as standard.

[Blue Moon 1,291]

I wouldn't go so far as to say that there is a match official conspiracy against us. That sounds like paranoia off the scale. I watched the match after we got home last night and every decision we thought CT got wrong TV evidence showed he did get wrong. It goes against the law of averages that a match official would make so many wrong decisions to the advantage of one team. The ref had a stinker. Are we becoming so used to this that we aren't even discussing this performance? Even Andy Walker made reference to several of his mistakes. In CT's case, every mistake he has made against Celtic has been picked over for weeks on end by Rodgers and the Celtic acolytes in the press. That is CT's problem, not the fact he is a crap ref because he would be crap to both sides and yesterday he certainly wasn't.

[pete 2,499]

Are you for real? Every single game apart from the Hearts game there has been a major decision against us that has been completely unjustified. It's not hard to see. I've posted about it before but either the referees are being prompted to make life difficult for us or their hatred is so ingrained that they are consciously / subconsciously making decisions against us.

It is fact. Again, every single game. And it is the opposite for them. How many dodgy decisions go their way? Is it just a coincidence? We also have every single media outlet constantly campaigning against us. They are projecting an image on our club that we are the bad guys. That rubs off on easily led (and let's be honest, football isn't known for its highly intelligent) fans Who in turn blame us for every problem in football. This then rubs off on their teams who try harder to beat us / not lose. It is a blatant campaign against us from all angles and I find it hard that any semi-intelligent Rangers fan doesn't see that.

 

Not only the press but we have the SPFL bringing out accusations against us (on our behalf apparently). These distractions will not be helping the board concentrate on the product on the pitch. I can imagine the amount of time and money spent on fighting these ridiculous challenges. And who benefits from. These activities? Our rivals obviously.

 

Yes, if we are better on the pitch we give ourself a better chance but when every single 50/50 goes against you, when clearcut penaltys aren't given, when other teams are given non-penalties, when they are let off with constantly climbing over you, when you are booked for innocuous first time challenges, see their players offside and not flagged, you are body slammed and then booked for the pleasure, you are grabbed by the throat and then sent off, then these all have a psychological affect on you. They put you off your game. Your mentality changes completely. And this is what is happening. Maybe I should have said both hands are tied.

 

Watch match of the day and take note of all the dodgy decisions. Tune in to any football competition in the world and there are dodgy decisions. We certainly have taken over the Celtic paranoia cloak and are wearing it well. Yes there is a Celtic hue in Scotland but not every decision against us is a biased referee that is just crap.

We are now looking at every refereeing decision against us and analysing it from every angle. As the saying goes if you look long enough you will see what you want to see.

[cooponthewing 1,139]

I wouldn't go so far as to say that there is a match official conspiracy against us. That sounds like paranoia off the scale. I watched the match after we got home last night and every decision we thought CT got wrong TV evidence showed he did get wrong. It goes against the law of averages that a match official would make so many wrong decisions to the advantage of one team. The ref had a stinker. Are we becoming so used to this that we aren't even discussing this performance? Even Andy Walker made reference to several of his mistakes. In CT's case, every mistake he has made against Celtic has been picked over for weeks on end by Rodgers and the Celtic acolytes in the press. That is CT's problem, not the fact he is a crap ref because he would be crap to both sides and yesterday he certainly wasn't.

 

I have to agree with this. I think Stugers posted something similar too a while back. We will be kept subordinate and toxic at least until they get ten.

 

On yesterday and referees its blatantly obvious they will say they are "managing" the game. Now anyone with an ounce of common sense knows this favours only one team. That would be the team who are more physical and potentially create more dangerous fouls. The Bheasts are in this catogary (Lego muncher the prime example).

 

They are aware while doing this it favours the mhanks and leaves us in a suitably weakened position.

Edited September 24, 2017 by cooponthewing

[ian1964 10,724]

Watch match of the day and take note of all the dodgy decisions. Tune in to any football competition in the world and there are dodgy decisions. We certainly have taken over the Celtic paranoia cloak and are wearing it well. Yes there is a Celtic hue in Scotland but not every decision against us is a biased referee that is just crap.

We are now looking at every refereeing decision against us and analysing it from every angle. As the saying goes if you look long enough you will see what you want to see.

 

So all the bad & wrong decisions continually are making us all paranoid?, the standard of referees is as bad as it ever has been in Scotland, and a lot of this is down to the C****c intimidation over the years, in fact when that very same club got a ref sacked and caused a strike is when Scottish football died, but hey just put it down to paranoia!

[StuGers 477]

Watch match of the day and take note of all the dodgy decisions. Tune in to any football competition in the world and there are dodgy decisions. We certainly have taken over the Celtic paranoia cloak and are wearing it well. Yes there is a Celtic hue in Scotland but not every decision against us is a biased referee that is just crap.

We are now looking at every refereeing decision against us and analysing it from every angle. As the saying goes if you look long enough you will see what you want to see.

 

Of course there are lots of bad decisions. But how can it be explained that 90% of them be constantly against one team and 90% for one team? We are 7 games into this season and it is blatant. I am a man of science. I like to try and see things impartially to analys what is actually happening. I understand that with Rangers, this isn't completely possible. But even factoring in some constant for my inbuilt bias, the conclusion is still a very obvious one.

 

I also await the press going mental regarding the nom-award of the penalty. Or would that only be if it happened against Celtic?

[StuGers 477]

So all the bad & wrong decisions continually are making us all paranoid?, the standard of referees is as bad as it ever has been in Scotland, and a lot of this is down to the C****c intimidation over the years, in fact when that very same club got a ref sacked and caused a strike is when Scottish football died, but hey just put it down to paranoia!

 

Agreed. This apathy towards institutional bias in a number of issues that run parallel has resulted in where we are today - marginalised, subdued and tame.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

People are being utterly irrational here.

 

Losing to progress yes unacceptable.

 

Losing 5 1 to celtc yes unacceptable.

 

Finishing outside the top 2 woukd be unacceptable.

 

6th with 7 games gone is no way to judge.

 

Every signing should work utter horse shit.

 

We should be beating hibs with 10 men after a third of the game is just ridiclous.

 

 

People have lost all objectivity in the race to be right first about pedro.

 

He might well be the wrong guy. He almost certailnly wont be the one to catch celtc.

 

But its to early to be sure and anyone who is needs to look at themselves.

Edited September 24, 2017 by the gunslinger

[JohnMc 2,754]

For me the biggest indictment and the gravest criticism I can make is not one supporter I know is surprised we lost and many are relieved it was only by two. That's where we are as a support and a club currently.

 

When Walter Smith took over in 2007 we'd just been put out of the Scottish Cup, there was instability and schisms in the squad and we were already out of the title race by January.

 

In the next two transfer windows Smith signed veterans Davie Weir, Ugo Ehiogu, Christian Dailly and Roy Carroll on free transfers to bolster the defence, Steven Davis and Amdy Faye on loan and Darcheville on a free. We spent money on Lee McCulloch from Wigan. He then took the best players from Hibs (Kevin Thomson and Stephen Whittaker), St Mirren (Broadfoot), Kilmarnock (Naismith) and Falkirk (Alan Gow) to complement the signings of Daniel Cousin, Demarcus Beasley and Carlos Cueller. In total, over two transfer windows we spent about £10 million, recouping around £3 million through the sales of Clement, Svensson and Sionko with a further £9 million with the sale of Hutton in the next transfer window.

 

Without calculating wages Smith spent approximately a net £7 million in his first two transfer windows. His strategy of signing the best young players in Scotland, combined with experienced players entering the end of their careers supplemented with a handful of good value foreign players should have been the blueprint for us to follow. If reports are too be believed we spent over £8 million in the transfer window just closed.

 

Now it seems we did try and buy Walker from Hearts, there were stories of us being after McLean from Aberdeen and we did sign Jack of course. But no Moult, no Ali Crawford, no Jason Cummings, no Liam Lindsay? Whether you think these players are good or not isn't the point I'm debating, by buying that type of player we not only weaken the opposition but we bring in players who don't need time to settle, acclimatise or understand Scottish football. There are players at other Scottish sides good enough to improve this current Rangers side.

 

Now I can accept that the Rangers Caixhino inherited were in worse shape than the squad Smith did, I can also accept that Celtic were further ahead of us than Strachan's Celtic were, although they were double winners and were playing, and competing, in the Champion's League at the time too. But our expectations are currently so low we're excusing not only poor performances, players and poor tactics but, frankly, bizarre signings and a suspect strategy. Are we really better than last season? If we are it's not by much and I'm not convinced we are. Does anyone still think signing Pena and Herrera was smarter than signing say Walker and Moult?

 

So, please, don't mistake this for an anti Pedro rant. It's not. I don't want him to 'fail' to be proved right, that's ludicrous. Literally nothing would make me happier than for him to succeed. I've been criticised on here for being too negative, too knee-jerk and for not giving this current Rangers side time. But those who criticise me, and Pete and the others who are disillusioned with what we see, ask yourself this; where is the fight, where is the heart and where is the desire in this side? We might well be too negative but I don't understand how, after 7 matches, four of them at home, with a record of 3 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats, everyone isn't starting to wonder if this is going to work.

 

For all we can complain about the ref yesterday (for the record Craig Thompson is an ex-BB officer and St Mirren season ticket holder from Paisley, he's no Celtic patsy), about missed chances and ifs and maybes, not even the most one-eyed among us can seriously doubt that Celtic played within themselves and were coasting for the last half hour with their minds already looking ahead to the Champion's League match in mid-week. We should have been kicking Celtic off the park yesterday, everyone of their players should have known they were going to miss the next couple of matches if our players had anything to do with it. They should have been scared yesterday. They weren't.

 

I know there will be calls for more time and too early to judge, and I understand why. But understand why some of us don't believe more time will make any difference. That's not because we have unreasonable expectations or a personal dislike for Pedro.