Match Thread [FT] Celtic 1 - 0 Rangers

[Sutton_blows_goats 4,572]

Their bench won them the game ours lost it. 

[yuddie 1,270]

Worth pointing out that the lack of internationals will be a blessing for Clement in regards to his pre season.

 

It's an indictment of our recruitment and success recently that we've got so few though.

 

 

[Bluedell 5,408]

Robbed in an OF games yet again. Thought we were the better team and unlucky to lose.

[RANGERRAB 3,387]

Some dubious refereeing again today by Nick Walsh

The clear push on sterling by Scales in the first half was beyond belief. If Walsh missed it surely the assistant referee must have seen it? Debateable whether inside the box(hence no VAR) but a foul all day long & a free kick in a dangerous area.

At the goal chopped off Raskin is penalised for pushing hart but Raskin himself is being held by Taylor. The Celtic keeper is getting nowhere near the ball & wouldnt have got the cross regardless before Sima scores.

The Sterling booking too was beyond belief. He won the ball fairly.

Has Philippe Clement said anything yet?

 

[CammyF 7,183]

9 minutes ago, RANGERRAB said:

Some dubious refereeing again today by Nick Walsh

The clear push on sterling by Scales in the first half was beyond belief. If Walsh missed it surely the assistant referee must have seen it? Debateable whether inside the box(hence no VAR) but a foul all day long & a free kick in a dangerous area.

At the goal chopped off Raskin is penalised for pushing hart but Raskin himself is being held by Taylor. The Celtic keeper is getting nowhere near the ball & wouldnt have got the cross regardless before Sima scores.

The Sterling booking too was beyond belief. He won the ball fairly.

Has Philippe Clement said anything yet?

 

Clement mentioned both pushes in his RTV interview but don't know if he did so in his press conformance. 

 

We really need to start highlighting these decisions - dignified silence hasn't and won't work.  Time to call them out.

[Gonzo79 14,183]

12 minutes ago, RANGERRAB said:

The Celtic keeper is getting nowhere near the ball

I've seen a few people saying this.  A foul is a foul.  If a player trips up an opposition player when the ball is 20ft away, it's still a foul, regardless of where the ball is.  

[CammyF 7,183]

Let's just ignore the two hands wrapped around Raskin.

 

Scottish football refereeing summed up in one picture.

 

It's either a goal or penalty to Rangers, yet somehow it ends up being a foul to Celtic. 

[Uilleam 5,631]

[Gonzo79 14,183]

So Raskin was being fouled and fouling Hart simultaneously. 

Goalies always get protected more than outfield players.

 

Raskin shouldn't have given the VAR team such an easy decision to make. 

[der Berliner 3,434]

1 hour ago, BlackSocksRedTops said:

Aways gutted to lose to them and always gutted to lose a cup final but this time I left the game with a tinge of hope. If we can get actual wingers or fit players (Sima, Cortes) and a striker with a killer instinct (not Danilo), I can see some hope. We played well enough today with half fit players (Ridvan, Sima, Balogun) and still were in the game for 90 minutes. Our midfield played like tigers but this might be an unpopular opinion... Cantwell is not the answer to our problems. I feel that he holds on to the ball too long, takes to many touches and simply is a luxury we can't afford. For me, we would have won that game if Sterling is in the middle with Dio and Raskin and we had more quality out wide and up top. That should be our aim next season.

I would agree with most, but we should go 3-4-3 or the like most of the time. Or have two dedicated striker in every game, plus to winger-like players (which should not be fullbacks in disguise). Cantwell is THE creative spark that we have, plays the unexpected pass, lops a ball into the danger area etc.. I can easily forgive him most of his faults, he simply should be given a free role in front of Raskin and Diomande, who worked well. It is sort of bizarre that these two and Davies and Balogun/King looked safer at times than our regulars. The thing with those four is, that they "think" much more forward than most others we have in there, who have become far too comfortable with the square, side, or back pass, instead of grabbing the ball and use the open field in front of them to run at the opponent too.

 

I still go by what I said back in January: the core of a team is there, they have the quality to get us to trophies. Since then, though, we lost most of our summer and winter signings and loans, i.e. most of those people who would have turned the tide - and for very long spells. To think that much of the season essentially hinged on a couple of low-key games we threw away, plus a handful of ridiculous VAR- and refereeing decisions, tells us that the solution is not that far away. History cannot be changed, though I hope that Karma will finally deal with them next season.