Blonde Ambition (Malmo and Rangers)

OK, I wasn't going to do the whole blog thing this season since nobody paid any interest last time round; but the 2011/12 season is looking to be quite an interesting one and I have a feeling that I am going to have quite a few things to say about it.

First of all, although this is a blog about Celtic, most of the drama up to this point has come from the other side of the river. Rangers have suffered a devastating defeat at the hands of Swedish side Malmo and I'm sure I speak for all Celtic fans when I say, deepest condolences to all our friends south of the river *sarcasm* especially the ones who travelled to Sweden only to see their team crash out of the Champions League *more sarcasm* and lose their promised £15 million in a time when debt is great and can only get worse *sarcasm overload*.

But on a serious note, the game at Malmo showed the Rangers up for what they really are; violent petty thugs. You would think that any team travelling to a foreign country representing Scotland would take such an opportunity to dispel any misconceptions about Scotland being a violent place full of bigots; what they in fact did, was the opposite.

There were no Rangers fans present to corrupt the streets of Malmo as they had been handed a ban by UEFA for their vile sectarian singing at a previous game against PSV Eindhoven; surely you would think that the players could behave themselves and not show the Rangers (never mind Scotland) up further; also the game, for Rangers, was a crucial European tie, you would thing that they would be making sure they stay on the park and give their team the best possible chance of qualification. But no. two red cards. 1-1 (agg. Malmo 2-1 Rangers) I'll take that any day. At least there were no Rangers fans arrested in Sweden. *further sarcasm*



Next post will be about Celtic, I promise.

Hail Hail.

Celtic Video of the Week

After a little break last week due to the "festivities" that surrounded the last Old Firm of the season, we're back this Saturday with the Shamrock and Thistle: Celtic Video of the Week.

A little look back to the "badge in the middle" days with Lennon lifting the SPL trophy in 2005-06; here's hoping we'll get a repeat in 2010-11 with Lennon as manager this time.

Rangers vs Celtic

BOOKINGS

Weir    

Papac    

Kayal    

Samaras    

Stokes    

Now that everyone has recovered, let's on to talking about the game...What can I say? At the beginning of the game I would have taken a draw and laughed my way out of ibrox...but, given the way we played in the 2nd half and how close we came to tipping the scales in our favour; I came away feeling like it was a loss.

 
At this point, I'm not even counting the penalty incident, mainly because I don't think it should have been given; but all this comes late on in the game. There's no hiding from the fact that we played terribly during the first half; the quality presented by the rangers in the form of naisy and jellyfish nearly tore us apart and we were lucky to return up the tunner at half time with the game still scoreless. That is simply not the celtic I know and love, especially when you consider the fantastic squad we have at the moment.

 
The starting 11 was a little bit suspect in my opinion and that's possibly why the team wasen't good enough to keep chances away from the rangers strikers away. The game began for me with doubts in Lennon's team selection; the main issue I had was paring Samaras with anybody up front and not starting Commons or Stokes. Samaras tends to bring the quality of a player down somehow if he is pared with anyone and that's what he did in my opinion, he works better as a solo striker and can produce real quality football, plus we could have done with the extra man in midfield.

 
The team picked themselves up drasticlly after Lennon's team talk and created a few chances for themselves, culminating in the penalty incident. The penalty should never have been given, it was a legitamate challenge, however that didn't stop me celebrating my arse off when itwas given and as usual, just assuming that it was going to be converted into a goal. How wrong I was.

 
Now, people are perhaps a little harsh on Samaras for not putting it in the back of the net, but, he didn't actually miss; the shot was on target and the goal was denied more by the quality of goal keeping shown by man of the match Allan McGregor. Besides, it was a bit of justice that the penalty never went in but it still makes the whole game feel like a loss.

Somebody get the polis!!

As for the "incident" with Lenny putting his hands to his ears after the game...considering that any kind of significat incident fuels the nasty side of the Old Firm even more and shows how petty some people are to harrang and roar abuse at the Celtic manager then get offended when he shows apathy towards them.

 
We put ourselves at serious risk of helecopter sunday 2 here and nobody without a blue shirt with a nose to match wants that.

<*o*> Hail hail \O/ 

Shamrock and Thistle's Team for the Old Firm

  

SUBSTITUTES

Zaluska

Hooper

Stokes

Juarez

McCourt

Majstorovic
Wilson

Well, here's my team for the last Old Firm of the season tomorrow.

I've picked quite a defensive set-up since the game isn't exactly a "must-win" for us, but it is for the Rangers. What I think we need to do if focus strongly on defense, keep the ball and play out the 90 mins for a 0-0 draw; of course if we get a chance to put it in the back of the net then take it, but it's not required.

If it was any other game, I would play Hooper and Stokes up front instead of Samaras and take off Ki. In defense I would change Mulgrew for Majstorovic as the only reason I haven't included him in the starting 11 is that it would be easy for the officials to throw cards at him and get away with it because of his playing style,which would open up the Celtic defense and cause us to lose 1-0 maybe 2-0 at the hands of Jelavic.

Although I would hapily take a draw, here's hoping for another 3-0 victory...hail hail. See you on the other side.

The Final Straight

Well, it's that time of the year again; post split with little to separate the two giants of Scottish football, in this case a single point is all that stands between Celtic and the league title. Given that we are approaching the end of the season with some rapidity, I think it's time that everybody lay their cards on the table and give their honest predictions as to what will happen over the next month or so. Here are my cards...


In brief, I think this seasons league title will be displayed with green and white ribbons and that is not simply due to the tint in my glasses. Before the game against Kilmarnock, I was of the opinion that if Celtic produce victories in their next two games, the the league is ours; as the Kilmarnock game turned out to be a resounding 4-0 to the hoops then it has left me with full confidence in the ability of the team at Celtic Park to take the fight to Ibrox and return with the title odds heavily in their favor. 

If you look at the remaining games on the Celtic calender post-Easter Sunday's old firm, there isn't a great deal to provide a challenge; the only teams pitted against The Bhoys in the league that could have posed a threat to their chances after the final Old Firm in a business-as-usual league tie are Hearts and Dundee United, but, the Dundee's game marks the first time that their heavy 3 player suspension wears off and I believe the recovery time is too little to face an Old Firm side and Hearts last win was more than a month ago against St. Mirren and even that was settled in the 93rd minute, all their other games since then have been draws. 


So, in my opinion as it stands, the only hurdle to completing our campaign to the league title with success is the Easter Sunday Old Firm match. This is the most important game of the season for the two Glasgow giants, more so for Rangers as with our game-in-hand they need a win if they are to undeniably claim the SPL top spot. If you are reading this blog then you already know this, but I believe that whoever wins this game on Sunday, quite simply, wins the league; this is of coarse barring some major upset from one of the aforementioned Celtic fixtures and/or the games that Rangers have still to play and it's looking a little bit hopeful that should a result for Celtic not present itself, or the result be a draw, then a fully recovered Dundee United could provide a safety net and be ready and waiting to take revenge on The Gers for the questionable "3-red-cards" game by taking them out of the title race. but things like that shouldn't be taken into consideration when planning out how to play a game like Sunday's; go out there and bring back a win!

After that we can celebrate Neil Lennon lifting the trophy, in his first season as manager and with many of his players in the same boat, and breathe a sigh of relief...at least until the 21st of May...

SPL: Kilmarnock vs Celtic

GOALS

Commons 4 Commons 34 Hooper 41 Stokes 58 BOOKINGS Commons     Kayal     Clancy     Fowler     THE MATCH  A stunning performance from the Hoops tonight with a 4-0 victory to match arch rival's Rangers last night. The game was all about Celtic from the word go and Kilmarnock only had one or two possible chances to add at least a single goal to their advantage. Commons opened the scoreline within 4 minutes with a comfortable strike into the Kilmarnock goal and 30 minutes later, repeated the feat.  Just before the teams headed up the tunnels for half time, Hooper insured the team talk met him well with a masterful strike to beat Jaakkola which quelled any doubts that the game was Celtic's. The game was rounded off by Stokes, who delivered easily the goal of the week so far. A card for Commons saw him taken off by Lennon to prevent his loss for the old firm on Sunday through suspension and he was replaced by and unimpressive Ljungberg and Izzy was taken off for Samaras. The final whistle rounded off a game that amounted to a very comfortable win for Celtic and a massive show of solidarity for Neil Lennon by the Celtic support in the wake of a despicable attempt on his life; support which was highlighted by a minutes applause at the 18th minute (Lennon's old number at Celtic). There's only one Neil Lennon. Bring on the Rangers.

MHAN OF THE MATCH

Kris Commons

Two great goals to set up a very comfortable lead in a very important game for Celtic earns Kris Commons the Shamrock and Thistle Mhan of the Match award.

WHISTLE WATCH

All in all, it as another fairly played game for the referee; nothing much to cause any debates as to the legitimacy of the match's outcome. 

More Proof?

It wasn't really needed; but here is further proof of the Scottish whistlers' bias towards the Rangers provided by a challenge on Rangers' number 18 Nikica Jelavić (Their only player worth a penny in my opinion) that led to a penalty in tonight's SPL game between Rangers and Dundee United. Note how Dillon has managed to reach the ball without touching Jelavić at least 3 feet from the box.

Apart from that, a game that provided 3 penalties for Rangers and 3 reds for Dundee United and requires extreme scrutiny from someone much more qualified than I am.

It's not the first time this has happened between these two teams; lest we forget the famous Craig Levein post match interview in 2008...

Anyway, looking forward to the game tomorrow against Kilmarnock and to hopefully closing the gap at the top to 1 point with a game in hand.