match thread (image) Celtic v Rangers: Becoming the real deal...

[RTB2004 58]

Now that I can gather my thoughts here's what I think.

 

There were 3 factors ultimately at play today.

 

1) We're just back from a trip to what is pretty much on the border with Kazakhstan. The team travelled to a part of Russia which is 4 hours ahead of us and then back again. Tired legs and a fucked body clock with very little time to rest up before a big game.

 

2) Obviously a brand new team from last season and there is evidently still some gelling to do despite the fact we've been through 4 European qualifiers. For the vast majority of the team today this will have been their first Old Firm game.

 

3) Celtic are quite clearly the more experienced and gelled team. That team has won 2 domestic trebles in a row. It's never going to be easy to go to the home ground of the league champions and get a result against them, especially with a new squad and off the back of a very very tight schedule.

 

I'm disappointed yes, but I'm not disheartened. Celtic are the league champions for a reason. It isn't going to be easy to stop that.

[The Shed 29]

I pretty much agree with all you say above 'Doc', but on the point you make about us only having 800 there, what is your view on that, what's anybody's view? Personally I think we have got this wrong. Sorry if there's discussion about this elsewhere, I'm new, and haven't explored all the threads yet.

[barca72 440]

Well done to the gallant 800 for keeping their cool in front of extreme provocation. Andy Halliday got a red card against Morton for this kind of celebration.
Over to you Madame Compliance Officer.

 

 

[The Shed 29]

Get that photo up on the dressing room wall for the rest of the season.....wipe that smile right off the cretin's face.

[ranger_syntax 4,330]

Why share a video that a Celtic fan has posted?

[ranger_syntax 4,330]

11 minutes ago, The Shed said:

I pretty much agree with all you say above 'Doc', but on the point you make about us only having 800 there, what is your view on that, what's anybody's view? Personally I think we have got this wrong. Sorry if there's discussion about this elsewhere, I'm new, and haven't explored all the threads yet.

Oh dear.

 

We wanted to sell thousands more season tickets.  You know, for about 19 matches a year.

 

Doubt it would make much sense to change our mind, about that, based on two matches a year.

[weebluedevil 1,239]

22 minutes ago, The Shed said:

I pretty much agree with all you say above 'Doc', but on the point you make about us only having 800 there, what is your view on that, what's anybody's view? Personally I think we have got this wrong. Sorry if there's discussion about this elsewhere, I'm new, and haven't explored all the threads yet.

I agree 100%. I hope we can come to an arrangement to reverse this. It lacks the right atmosphere for an old firm game, but more importantly we had no way of making ourselves heard - especially against them our players could really have been lifted with a stronger support.  

[Walterbear 557]

But they have been gunning us at Hampden, porkheid, and Ibrox when we have had big supports. I think today it was confirmed that despite obvious progress we have a good bit to go. Decent European teams go there with small supports and do better than we did today. 

[MacK1950 2,378]

It's over the dust is almost settled,we have had our say, so time for bed.Look forward to game at Ibrox and hope between now and then we string together another unbeaten run and then do them at our place.

Edited September 2, 2018 by MacK1950
joined words

[BlackSocksRedTops 3,752]

1 hour ago, Doc said:

I am pretty down about today. I thought we would show more going forward and expose the Celtic defence a lot more than we managed to.

 

I am not offering excuses. Their goal probably involved a foul but any one of their shots that hit the post could have gone in on another day as well. We were second best and we have to look at ourselves and not blame the ref or anyone else. We have to be good enough that we take it out of the ref's hands and we can still win despite what passes for quality referring in Scotland.

 

However consider it from the other side. They absolutely had to beat us today. They had the following advantages:

 

(1) Home advantage - 60,000+ unwashed venting their hatred with only 800 Bears stuck off in a corner and a ground we (and I mean more experienced and more expensively assembled Rangers teams) haven't won at since 2010.

 

(2) Experience - they have a settled team who are used to the manager's system, used to playing with one another and used to winning at the Piggery (the loss against Aberdeen where they threw the match to spite us at the end of last season doesn't count). We are improving but we are still very much a work in progress.

 

(3) Squad value - even ignoring the Seville calculator valuations that appear in the Scottish press, Celtic's squad value is at least 3 times ours. They spent more on one striker than we have on our whole defence.

 

(4) Freshness - despite playing later in the day they had a comparatively easy game on Thursday night and took off players in the second half with a view to today's game. We on the other hand had an epic heroic last ditch stand with 9 men against UFA for a third of the game followed by a grueling flight home. While Celtic could immerse their players in ice baths and cotton wool immediately after the game, we had immediately get on a flight and any rehabilitation was delayed until the following day. Ask any sports scientist about delaying rehabilitation and its effects versus athletes who can dive straight into ice or get massage. It showed on the pitch today.

 

So what would have happened if Brendan's expensively assembled team couldn't raise themselves at home, at the Piggery in front of a baying green and white mob to beat a Rangers outfit who were largely dead on their feet after 15 hours travelling and a punishing encounter against foreign opposition?

 

It would have been great to watch but it wasn't to be...

 

Celtic did the minimum of what they needed today. They beat us but they failed to batter us when the reality is that they'll probably not get a better chance all season. We will gel better as a team and we'll get key players like Coulibally back from injury. They probably won't get much better than where they are right now. Their defence had a light job today but it's still a joke and will get found out a lot more than previous seasons.

 

I wanted to win today. An awful lot. But this is a marathon not a sprint and what we need from the matches that come after the international break is a concerted run of home and away wins. Both us and Celtic will find it tough coming back from EL matches on Thursdays and I fully expect league points to be dropped. We just have to drop a lot less than them. Then the chase will really be on.

Great post Doc. The score didn't dissappoint me as much the performance tbh. You've outlined some very rational points that relate to our defeat but there are few things that mildly troubled me today.

 

1. Lafferty. I wonder what the future set up will be to get the best out of him (Hearts form). The long ball tactic was overused today. I hope it was due to the state of the game (being pressed by them) as opposed to a deliberate ploy because we now have a big guy up front. 

 

2. Coulibaly. He has been a big loss but regardless of where we are in our development, I would be hoping that we are building a team/squad that's performance will not alter dramatically based on one absentee. 

 

3. Their defence. All in all I think I'm just dissappointed that we allowed their back line such an easy game. It's clearly their weakest area and one that we did not trouble in the slightest.

 

I went into todays game with hope. Not necassarily hope that we were going to win. More hope of a better OF performance and us leaving the pitch having had given them something to really think about. That clearly did not happen.