I love to watch us play our brand of exciting, attacking brilliant football.
But always, at the back of my mind this season, was a horrible thought; what would happen if we had to grind games out? What would happen on those afternoons when it wasn’t going to happen, or wasn’t going to be possible, to win playing lovely stuff?
The ability to grind, to dig in deep and get the results anyway, is so important and we’ve seen that question answered in recent weeks.
I’ve seen Celtic teams where the longer a game went on the more you could see the belief drain out of them. I’ve walked out of games, and out of bars and living rooms well before full-time seeing the writing on the wall.
I never do that with this team. I never stop believing that they have the grit to dig deep.
The last few weeks, we’ve seen that. We’ve seen this side’s ability to fight.
We needed to know we have that skill-set. We needed to be sure about it, especially as we come to the important part of the season, where that is more necessary than ever.
Every team we face from now until the finish will bite and scrape and claw and dig in against us. Every team now has to give everything, and besides, every team wants to be the one that stops this run, that brings Celtic to a halt.
The difference is, with European places up for grabs after the split and possible battles against relegation they finally feel like they have something at stake.
What have I been saying for months?
Teams in this country are satisfied playing the bit-part role in the title race, that of the cannon fodder because they have no skin in the game.
Now they do, and they are all going to try that little bit harder, give that little bit more, and actually try for once to take points where otherwise they’ve have given them up.
What we’ve shown in the last few weeks is an ability to win even when they are getting in our faces or resorting to the cheapest, nastiest tactics.
It’s good to see, and even if it is not as pleasing on the eye as the way we usually play, but it’s good nonetheless.
I only hope that a fully healthy Celtic squad are ready for yet another run of the mill league fixture on Saturday. Note that I did not say fully fit, but healthy, as it was allegedly a virus in the camp that affected our last Ibrox performance. We can cope with injuries but sickness is another matter, yet we did still manage get a draw away from home in that one. Yes we do know how to grind it out no matter the circumstances.
Imo a lot will depend on who’s fit tae play on Sat. If i.e. we had tae go without Mooy or Hetate, that would make a huge difference. The Ibrox draw, was mainly due tae the wrang team bein picked from the start. Forrest and o’reilly in at the start and the signs were ominous right away. We saw the difference when Mooy came on. They’ll have their hatchet men in that mid on Sat and we don’t want tae be lightweight in there. Hopefully both are fit, tho i’ll take at least one of them right now. Just sayin.
That was a terrible performance yesterday. If we do the same at the weekend don’t be surprised at dropped points.
I was a bid O riely fan but what was he doing yesterday?
Let’s count how many zombie EBT cheats from the dead club/team are in the corrupt media this week bigging up sevco and decrying us Glasgow Celtic biggest number one club in the land HAIL! HAIL! In Ange we trust.
Celts have dropped FIVE points out of NINETY so far this season. If anyone tells you we are going to drop TEN out of next TWENTY FOUR, tell them to f@ck off. HH
We missed easy chances and hit the woodwork. Iwata can play – we need Hatate and Mooy back for Saturday
Not so sure using the term “grind out” is an appropriate term to be using towards this Celtic team James?
We were nowhere near our fluent best yesterday which can happen with an international break can disrupt momentum within a team.
Hardly a relaxing break with niggling injuries playing such a huge part also.
So yesterday was only about getting the game out of the way with the right result, mission accomplished.
Our match sharpness may have been missing overall, but not being clinical enough in front of goal gives that sence of a grind feeling.
We have become spoilt now in the knowledge that scoring the 2nd goal means a win and just by how many as the teams we are facing still get very few opportunities to score themselves.
Also within a fully fit squad we will use 11 goal threats throughout a game with so many different options within that skillset still, this approach hasn’t changed since the moment Ange walked into the club.
The players have bought into that mentality with a strong sence of trust and belief, so will never see us turning to panic football with aimless humps and hoping something may fall there way or the helping hand the scum have to depend upon still.
There is also a strong patience within this team, not my best suit within myself but certainly has improved since the arrival of Ange and long may that continue
Talk of “not being at our fluent best” or having to “grind out results” is completely missing the point of how Ange views football. We are actually grinding out results from the minute the whistle blows until the end of the game. Teams never get a rest against us. Even if we’ve missed a few chances in the first half, by the time half time arrives they’re already physically AND mentally battered. It’s the reason why we score so many goals at the end of the first half or the start of the second half. Personally I never worry if we don’t score in the first half because I know that the damage is done, but it would be easy to start worrying if you listen to TV and radio commentators and pundits who in their desperation for Celtic to drop anything continually talk our performances down and those of our opponents up.
I don’t think our players ever consider that they’re grinding out results. I think they’re just (rightly) convinced that they’re good enough to win against any team in Scotland if they have the courage to trust the process.