Articles

Today’s game at Tannadice shows how poor our rivals are. Celtic fans have nothing to fear.

|
Image for Today’s game at Tannadice shows how poor our rivals are. Celtic fans have nothing to fear.

The headlines are truly incredible.

“Lawrence Puts the Ibrox Club Back on Track,” one of them reads, with others echoing the same sentiment.

Apparently, everything that’s gone wrong over the past two weeks has now been fixed because some subs came on and looked sharp, and Tom Lawrence scored the only goal of the game.

As a football spectacle, it was a non-event.

There was no real spectacle, and barely any football.

A side with a bit more firepower and ambition than Dundee United would have taken more from the game instead of simply settling for a 1-0 defeat—a result that was telegraphed before kick-off. United’s manager had already spoken about learning from Hearts, whose best results against Ibrox in recent years have been draws.

United showed no genuine intent to secure more than a point, and they didn’t even show much desire to get that.

But overall, it was a poor match. Neither team looked particularly impressive, and if we had to play either of them in the coming weeks, I wouldn’t be the least bit worried. After all, we did face one of them a fortnight ago, and we resoundingly thrashed them.

Ibrox fans might be taking heart from the result, but I struggle to see what there is to be encouraged by in the performance.

That’s one of the poorest sides from that place I’ve seen in a long time.

And it’s not just the players on the pitch, unimpressive as they were—it’s everything about the club. The bench looked pitifully weak compared to ours, the overall squad weaker still. In fact, they look weak in comparison to several other teams in the league. I’m not saying those teams have better players, although in certain positions some undoubtedly do. The Ibrox side just doesn’t seem well-balanced, and they’re certainly not oozing quality.

If I were one of their supporters, I’d take precisely zero encouragement from today’s match.

They started off reasonably well, got their goal early on, but after that, they barely troubled United’s keeper. The United defence easily dealt with whatever was thrown at them. Defensively, Ibrox were better, but they were up against a forward line that is shockingly bad and never really tested them.

Jim Goodwin is an SPFL-grade manager, and there’s nothing exceptional about him.

His pre-match comments projected weakness instead of confidence, which was a mistake.

The truth is, as we saw today, there’s nothing to fear from the Ibrox side.

They have nothing to offer. Their midfield is weak, their defence suspect, and their forward only scores when given plenty of space. Under pressure, he’s hopeless. And to top it off, they have a goalkeeper who’s grossly overrated and prone to making silly mistakes.

It’s so typical of the media to start talking about “turning a corner” after one performance—and not even a good one at that.

They went to an away ground, where the season’s form suggested it would be tricky, and made it look exactly as difficult as many had expected. They weren’t brilliant, they didn’t blow the opposition away, and aside from the lead-up to the first goal and about five minutes afterwards, they never really looked like they would. Once United settled into the game and started trying to play football, they were the better team for much of the match.

The headline here is that Clement saves his job. This was “the week”. He lives to fight another day.

Ibrox fans will have to endure more of that brain-bleeding football in the meantime.

But that day is coming, no matter what the media wants to write.

There has been no corner turned.

This performance doesn’t even compare to their 6-0 win over Ross County, where they looked comfortable. They didn’t look comfortable at any point today. So, if the media wants to pretend everything is rosy in the Ibrox garden, that suits us just fine.

It’s the way they cling to these delusions that makes them vulnerable.

It’s their insistence on rewriting their own history that has landed them in this mess.

And as long as they remain in that position, every week from now until the end of the campaign could very well be the one where everything finally falls apart.

We can wait, folks. We can wait.

Share this article

16 comments

  • Jackson says:

    Dundee Utd were woeful as was the whole match……
    I wonder how many “turned the corner” and “back on tracks” we will have throughout the season…….plenty IMHO.

    HH

  • Mr Smith says:

    Its time we started worrying about Aberdeen

    • SFATHENADIROFCHIFTINESS says:

      Well give them plenty of respect but I don’t see anything to be worried about.

    • tam says:

      Last season we were told by journalist’s, experts, and pundits that this “the rangers” team are the best in years. And if clemOnt can build on this team they will overtake CELTIC. Well…… clemOnt dismantled that team and the very same people said clemOnt was quite right to get rid of the “rubbish” so I would take the latest p*sh with a pinch of salt

    • Clachnacuddin and the Hoops says:

      Aberdeen being where they are is very healthy for the game in my humble opinion Mr Smith !

      As for Dundee United they had their chance today but didn’t take it…

      Sevco fans will be getting cocky ow as per always –

      Fine then – But hopefully it’s highly unfounded and all comes apart once again and soon at that !

  • Scud Missile says:

    Lol sevco are bit like the Tory party,they continue to make the same mistakes and wrong judgments and push for the same thing that messed things up for them previously thinkingbthey are doing it better.

    That’s where the Tories find themselves just at this time Groundhog Day,the same as sevco.
    The same people running the klub that lost them everything previously,and then with the mefia doubling down that it is good,that’s the way the Tory leadership campaign is running as well,the same players are in charge,shouting the same shite that cost them the election shouting and looking and going along with the same ideas that FIALED them.

  • Tony Hand says:

    Hi, great times indeed for Celtic Football Club. I’m looking forward to the Champions League game in mid-week v Slovan Brataslava. I hope we improve on our performances in Europe, compared to recent years. The news that the British Government is backing out of the deal to rebuild Casement Park in Belfast should come as no surprise. The Government in Dublin has just paid E£335,000 for a bicycle stand (18 bikes max.) at Leinster House so that ‘Cabbage Head’, the Minister for the Environment, and ex-leader of the Green Party can lock his bike against the wall. Can you imagine what Casement Park Stadium would eventually cost the British taxpayer with these guys involved in the project.

    • brian cavanagh says:

      sorry Eamon Ryan got to do with Rangers? BTW the Irish Govt has offered a significant cash contribution to Casement Park -repeated delays by the British Govt has scuppered the project

  • Kevan McKeown says:

    Absolutely. The whole article, is that game in a nutshell. Here we go again. All they need is a piss poor away win and its the usual predictable, blinkered, over-excited response. Granted the results the main thing, tho the performance, saw nothin tae be concerned about there at all. Clemmont (who apparently has never deserved tae lose a game here) even threw in his usual nugget of bewilderin bullshit on sky, sayin theyre ‘getting better and better’. Aye, keep tellin yerself that phillipe !

  • Captain Swing says:

    I think the STV news app ran with something ludicrous like “R****** return to winning ways”, as if the whole country can now breathe a collective sigh of relief as Scotia’s darling club sees out a rough patch. The more prosaic reality is that most people don’t much care for them, and a lot of people actively despise them – and not just people who are inclined towards us either.

  • EBhoys88 says:

    That cabbage head cycles to work if you can call it that with a car following behind taking his stuff. What a fraud just like sevco. They looked like a bunch of headless chickens today against a team that didn’t turn up. We are going to live in glory forever boys

  • Gerry says:

    I had the misfortune/misjudgement to waste two hours of my precious time on that game, earlier today !

    D Utd were woeful , and if they had started the game with the intent that they finished it with, then maybe, they might have rattled Sevco.

    As it was, the Sevconians were able to get the three points, playing to the “ bear” minimum!

    Today’s result changes nothing with regard to Sevco’s present predicament or ability.

    It gives them the slight scent of relief, and buys the Belgian waffler a bit more time in the hotseat.

    However, they are very fragile in every department and it is hoped that their opponents in the coming weeks, will do, what D Utd, were unable to, and expose their obvious weaknesses!

    We now, look forward to Wednesday and hopefully a great start in the CL! HH

  • Davie says:

    Cured my insomnia, I was sound asleep before half time.

  • Jimmy says:

    Totally agree James, they are one of the poorest team that I have seen from that part of the city in many years. They seem to be completely unable to come up with anything positive on or even off the park. It is indeed a great time to be a Celtic fan. I’m going to get one off my bucket ticked off soon when following the team to Europe for the first time when going to Bergamo, Took me over 60 years. Little or no chance of a ticket but can’t wait all the same.

Comments are closed.

×