[0762]

So Celtic finally take on the Govan bigots at their home ground, a ground that has been a "fortress" for them under Stevie G but under a "cloud" of controversy re consecutive UEFA charges and punishments for offensive racist/sectarian behaviour. Watch that criminal behaviour unfold with impunity on Sunday afternoon but of course in Scotland our footie authorities, and other accountable groups like the Police and security, generally do nothing!! What a time for the Hoops to "lay down a marker" although I think Rangers are marginally the favourites because of their home advantage. Neil Lennon played Mikey Johnson tonight v AIK. So I don't believe he'll play him in this game mainly because of a past failure at the same ground in a previous league fixture - lessons learnt re past rare defeats against Rangers!! Even fielding Broony could be questioned because of observed poor performance esp v an anticipated hi press physical game plan in midfield. One significant factor I have checked on and noted is the fact that the SFA have assigned Bobby Madden to officiate this game - a known brother of the orange cloth!! So the SFA stopped Beaton ever getting near this fixture but opted for brother Bobby lol!! Therefore Celtic really need to "show up" and play in the way that they can play "in spite of a ref" who will be "itching" to give Rangers an advantage at any moment!! Surely he cannae be as bad as Beaton in ignoring countless misdemeanours, yellow card and red card offences???? And the threat of a dubious pk is there for sure - past fixtures at this ground have exposed very dubious pk decisions and remember, there is no VAR!! Both teams are unbeaten and I expect this result to probably be a draw but it will definitely be a game full of incident. Whether it will be entertaining is anyone's guess!!

[hibeejim21]

Difficult one to peg.

Celtic are scoring a lot of goals the now and their front three would cause most teams a lot of problems. They are ropey at the back though and rangers benefit a lot from set plays and crosses.

Ajer is a big miss for celtic.

[0762]

It may be just too early for Julienne who I reckon will be a very good CB when he becomes accustomed to the frenetic nature of the Scottish game but he may well be "pitched in to the deep end" by necessity.

[0762]

FT and a solid 0-2 win for The Hoops with Julienne turning out to be the MOTM but with other notable performances by players like M'Boli, Magregor and even Broony looked like he was "well up" for this match with an "in your faces" performance from start to finish and Forster was well protected by a solid Hoops' defence with little to do TBH. Edouard proving again what a quality, predatory striker he is in big matches. Even the refereeing performance wasn't too bad overall as Madden clearly opted for "keeping the game moving" rather than issuing the appropriate yellow card for certain offences that merited that form of action. As for that last secs "straight red card" for Jones outrageous leg-breaking tackle on Bauer, I'd like to see the SFA intervene and increase the normal one match ban to a three match ban - a case of the "punishment should fit the crime". I suppose Celtic have "laid down a marker" of some sorts but as Lenny has previously commented: "There is still a long way to go before any league title can be seriously considered to be in the bag"! Too true but it's a job well done today v dangerous opponents and Celtic still unbeaten and no pts dropped so far!

[hibeejim21]

Interesting game, lennon let sevco have most of the possession but they did heehaw with it.

Big julienne and elhamid look like solid signings and stepped up in that makeshift defence.

Gerrard shat it today big time. As Lenny said "don't believe the hype".

[0762]

Aye! There's no doubt that a good number of Celtic players really "upped their game" when the situation demanded it. I'll bet both Julienne and Elhamed surprised a lotta Celtic fans with such solid displays against opponents who had a lotta possession of the ball.

[hibeejim21]

McGregor set the tone I think when he cleaned out arfield early on, never saw him again. Broony had the rest of their midfield in his back pocket - tremendous performance.

The huns recent signings aren't a huge improvement quality wise. Ojo,kamara and aribo were all mince.

---

Makes you wonder how we managed to ship 6 goals to that team.

[0762]

There was a really funny incident in the last few mins of this match when Broony, who was "in his element" from the 1st min onwards, was yak yak yaking to Morelos, who was trying very hard to ignore getting "his nose rubbed in it". Broony clearly had "something to prove" this time after two previous non-performances at Ibronx.