Clement was right for once. That’s the football fans want to see from them. Celtic fans.

Philip Clement spoke to the media after their win at Ross County today and said that his team played the kind of football their fans want to see.

He was right. As I said earlier, I watched the game, and despite subjecting myself to 90 minutes of that sectarian bile-fest and seeing them win I came out of it feeling pretty good. From what I can surmise, most of the fans he’s talking about must be Celtic supporters.

Because there’s no way his own supporters want to watch the kind of football they played today. This is a club that continually kids itself into believing it’s better than it is. Every single time they get a positive result, the same tired narrative emerges. They convince themselves they’re playing brilliant football, and somehow manage to spin every outcome they like into proof they’re world-beaters.

I thought they were largely dreadful today.

Their first goal came from a deflection, the second from a horrendous goalkeeping error, and the third only after the game was well out of Ross County’s reach. It was a pretty poor performance overall. As for the team they selected, I sincerely hope it’s the same one they put out next Sunday, because their midfield was pitifully ineffectual. We’ll run over the top of them like a tank.

How anyone who watched Ross County cause them problems today could believe they’ll be able to stop our marauding forward line is beyond me. Their forwards might have found space against the Ross County defence—the same defence we put five past in one half just last week—but they won’t get the same freedom against Carter-Vickers and Trusty. Tavernier’s back in the team, too, and that must be keeping Daizen Maeda awake at night—with anticipation.

On Thursday night, they’ll play Spurs.

Neil McCann’s contribution to the commentary was to say that Ange will be coming up here looking for a result, as if it’s some earth-shattering revelation that a football manager goes into a game trying to win. It’s as though he thinks Ange will make a special effort because of the opposition. Maybe he will, but I don’t think they’ll need one. Spurs will get plenty of chances to score, and as long as they take a handful, they’ll win comfortably.

That should serve as a foretaste of what’s to come against us. I’ll cover some of Clement’s other comments later, because they need to be properly explored. But for now, I’ll say this: there are few managers in recent Scottish football history as delusional as this guy.

If he genuinely believes the football his team played today is what his fans want to see, I suggest he check out their message boards to get a sense of just how far from reality he is.

It was the football I wanted to see from them, though—turgid, boring, slack passing and poor defensive displays. Exactly what I’d hoped for and fully expected.

As is always the case with this lot, he’s managed to fool some of their support into swallowing his rubbish. Because they’ve won a couple of games in a row, some of them have their bravado back, swaggering around and making the usual bold predictions. But most of their fans are much more circumspect. Most of them know they’re not at our standard.

Clement does himself no favours with comments like these. I genuinely cannot wait for this game. But, of course, Tuesday comes first.