When the manager addressed the media yesterday, he did so with a slight snark. No wonder. Because whilst the three weeks between games was not as ridiculous as last year’s, when Sevco was hyped beyond all measure, they were still pretty abysmal.
The message that came out of them was still the same; be afraid, Celtic, because the tide has turned.
The tide hasn’t turned at all.
No-one will be able to claim that with a straight face until this campaign ends, and only then if another club has secured the title. It certainly suits a lot of people to assume that this race is going to be decided by a single game, the one at Celtic Park, or by the fact Celtic has a tough run of away games to come.
But in the end, both sides play an equal number of games, home and away. The winner is the side that does the job over the course of the full campaign … not half of it. These players of ours have shown they can pull it together over the long haul … and I expect nothing less.
As I said earlier, those who wonder where Sevco will drop points have to consider that they were wondering exactly the same about us not that long ago.
There will be plenty of points dropped between now and the end of the campaign … we still have to play their rag-bag mob twice and I expect us to be a damned sight better when we do than we were the last twice. We beat them at Ibrox already, there is nothing to fear from that fixture.
Their side has not a critical series of injuries; that will come, it always does.
They have momentum, mostly because we slipped. When they next slip, it will be gone again.
We have to keep winning, yes … but we’re perfectly capable of doing so.
I wrote a piece earlier on why I don’t think the plastic pitch issue, or the away match run we have in front of us, are necessarily things we should be overly worried about. Tonight we’ve completed the signing of Soro, who will add some steel to the midfield … and it’s on nights like this we need guys in the team who can provide that.
I am disappointed in where we are in the transfer market so far, but there are nine days left and we’ve just upped the spending to £5.5 million.
Yet at every other club in the land nobody would be questioning it but we’re Celtic, and we’re the biggest in the country and the fans want to see us stay here. We’d welcome a little more experience being brought in … although this team has bags of it.
I talk a lot about fundamentals on this site – and those are sound, and nothing that happens at Ibrox or what the papers print can change that. Don’t forget that in the days and weeks to come. We’ve got the best squad, the best manager, the most money in the bank and we’re the only side that can spend more in pursuit of its goals, and we have done.
We took one hit three weeks ago, one hit after two and half months of near perfection.
Ignore the naysayers. Lennon knows the score. Rumours of our demise have been greatly exaggerated.
The three weeks of waiting is up.
We’re back on league business tonight.
Tonight we’re going to take the first steps towards proving we’re still the best.
Think you know our Polish players? Take the quiz below or by clicking on this link to find out …
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