Are we finally turning a corner? I guess it’s a tough call to make but purely on the last two matches, I have to say that yes, we may well be about to, finally, start our season.
Although, based on the previous disappointments that this season has already thrown up to us, I am wary of saying that we are but I am writing this more in hope than expectation.
Below, I have gone on to give a few reasons as to why we do have reason to be positive about the rest of the season. Yes, there will no doubt be plenty of counter arguments from the “glass half empty” folk amongst us.
Personally, I think that as I have paid my season ticket, I may well as well turn up to the games and I may as well make the most of it while I am there.
It was only recently that it was regarded as a make or break week for the Celtic management team. Johan Mjallby was quoted as saying that they had two matches to save their job. Neil Lennon said that the job was never at risk so I guess it doesn’t matter which of those two statements were true but the fact is without two wins, the season would have been very difficult to salvage anything from.
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The fact is that we badly needed two victories and we got them. One thing that I was impressed with during the Rennes match was the fact that after one of our players was clattered, the rest of the team seemed to surround the opposition player.
Now I’m not saying that I want the team to fight with opponents or react to every bad challenge as the chances are we will get booked for it (especially with the Scottish refs) but the fact that they were willing to stand up for their team mates was a plus point and something that I hadn’t saw for quite a long time.
Does that suggest that they are finally becoming a bit more mentally stronger? Or am I just imagining things ?
The style of the Rennes victory impressed me. Biram Kayal was strong in the tackle despite needlessly giving the ball away but it’s an improvement on what we have saw from him this season. Hopefully, the fact that his contract has been sorted will allow him to start to concentrate on his football.
Going through the team at the Rennes match, Georgios Samaras was the man-of-the-match for me and I was very impressed by the way he played – who ever thought a hoops fan would say that?
The problem, as always, with Sami is that he is very inconsistent and we would need a few months of performances similar to his match against Rennes before we could possibly change our opinions on him.
Going back to the Rennes match, we still had our customary defensive blunders to allow them a goal similar to what we conceded against Atletico and various other opponents. One for our ex-centre half assistant manager to get sorted out, I would suggest.
The guy in front of me said that he had a 4-0 bet on, in the opening stages of the match, it looked as if it could easily be 4-0 to Rennes but the team showed some character and also scored some good goals that didn’t really come from much.
A long range shot with Anthony Stokes doing what a good striker should do and that’s be in the right place at the right time. Next up was big Sami with a great leap and head flick on.
The third goal, a very good and fast counter attack. Those are all unusual things for this seasons Celtic.
Moving on to the weekend and the Motherwell match, or Murderwell as another Celtic fans website likes to call them. Their tactics were fairly obvious, kick lumps out of James Forrest. I can only assume that Motherwell saw Forrest as the main threat so decided to take him out.
How their players didn’t get a red card earlier on, I have no ideas. Maybe that’s just a sad reflection of football in this country. Motherwell were widely credited for their performance which is what I find quite sad.
How anyone can suggest that kicking lumps out of the opposition to stop them from playing and then just hope for the best, is a good way to play football is beyond me – maybe that’s why the national team never do very much, because the attitude/mindset is all wrong?
The next thing that I think we have to be concerned about is the international break. If we can get one or two of the short term injuries back to fitness and if we can get through it without any new injuries, I feel that we may well be in a good position to start clawing back the deficit.
Twelve points behind with one match less played, if, and yes it’s a big if, we win that match in hand, it’s nine points with three derby matches left so is it really as bad as what we are thinking?
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I hope (and positively expect) Rangers to start dropping more points as we start to perform to our potential and put the pressure on.
If we win the next Old Firm match it will surely give Rangers a warning and give our players a huge boost of confidence.
Celtic have so much more to give than Rangers do at the moment and hopefully that can be shown in the title race.