Steven Gerrard got snappy with the press yesterday when someone suggested that his team is now under pressure to keep winning.
I dunno, but if it was me being asked if I had the temperament to handle things I would probably try not to look and sound like somebody who was cracking up.
I’d say he’s already feeling it.
I have news for him; it won’t go away if they win tonight, and if they drop anything he’s going to feel it like someone trying to carry a boulder on his back. He fired back at the critics by saying that Celtic’s five-point lead is nothing but a “quirk of the fixtures” and in one sense he’s correct, of course, because it’s a product of us having a game in hand …
But he’s not stupid, although he certainly does pretend to be a times.
He knows that what this really comes down to is that Celtic just keeps on winning.
To put that five-point lead in the bag we had to keep on going through difficult months, and we have done it with one of the most murderous fixture schedules anywhere in football, including, perversely, an entire cup run. And we have done everything asked of us.
That’s why this conversation about pressure is even being had … because we keep on winning. When they moved narrowly ahead us earlier in the campaign all of Sevconia was in a frenzy about what it meant. We said it at the time; it meant exactly nothing.
Not even the SFA hands out baubles for briefly being top before November. All the excitement over there was premature to say the least. But I am convinced that all inside Ibrox believed it, and that it would be Celtic who broke first.
Nine league wins in a row later – our best run of games in two years – and suddenly what should already have been obvious is staring them in the face, and not before time. This team isn’t going to suddenly break down and collapse in instalments … we’re marching boldly on and setting new standards for ourselves. It’s “catch us if you can.”
This is all about trying to rob us of credit; well you know what?
They are welcome to try.
The one thing they can’t do, and sadly for them it’s what they need to do most, is rob us of the points.
That’s a non-starter I’m afraid.
Remember, you can still do our Slapping Sevco quiz at the link below … just answer the first question about who scored our first goal against the NewCo …