Celtic stroll it at Ibrox
A tremendous showing from the team written off
It’s a funny thing when the big two in Glasgow clash as so often the fans that enter the game in confident mood are often the ones who are left disappointed at the end of the game. Its an affliction that has affected both sets of fans but today at Ibrox, the Rangers fans were left shaking their heads at a team that showed up for the first twenty minutes and then disappeared.
The home side started with vigour and were unlucky to not have taken the lead through Lee McCulloch. The midfielders looping header from a corner was scrambled onto the bar by Emilio Izaguirre and no doubt the home fans were thinking it would be their day.
As the half continued though, Celtic came more into it and were almost celebrating when Paddy McCourt rolled a tremendous pass into the path of Jamie Forrest but Rangers blocked the youngster down and a corner was all Celtic had to show for a tremendous pass from the Irishman.
Both sides were showing endeavour and some sloppy passing at times but there was one man head and shoulders above everyone on the field, Biram Kayal. The Israeli midfielder looked immense in an environment that has destroyed so many players.
Celtic started the second half in strong fashion with McCourt just arrowing wide from a Samaras flick on. This was followed by a spell of hoops pressure and the Broomloan Road was starting to believe a victory was on.
The breakthrough came when Joe Ledley played an excellent ball into the area between defence and goalkeeper and Alan McGregor made a huge judgment of error. He came rushing out of his box only to see Samaras slip around him but the Greek striker still had a lot to do. He has his critics but the Celtic number 9 calmly rolled the ball into the back of the net and set off to join the bedlam in the Broomloan Road.
Things got even better for Celtic and Samaras minutes later. He chased a long ball down and without support, started cutting inside the box. A fantastic movement of feet saw Madjid Bougherra totally bewitched and the Algerian stopper couldn’t pull his leg out of the way. A stone-wall penalty kick and in some cases, a booking but as Bougherra was on a yellow, Craig Thompson probably felt that would have been a harsh punishment.
McGregor could have made amends for his rash movements earlier but although he guessed right, Samaras had enough height and curl on the ball to make it 2-0 Celtic.
No game is ever completely over and Rangers tried to push forward but they looked devoid of ideas. Sasa Papac had a shot which Madjid Bougherra may have turned in but Rangers only threatened with long range efforts and Kyle Lafferty shouting for a penalty at every opportunity, none of them were even reasonable shouts. In the end a huge and deserved win for Celtic and all credit and praise must go to Neil Lennon for tactically outthinking Walter Smith.
Celtic are now four points clear at the top although Rangers have two games in hand. However, there will only be one set of fans celebrating in Glasgow tonight…but this season has a long way to go.
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You always feel Celtic have a chance when Billy McNeil leads them out the tunnel
At some points this season Danny you would have been more comfortable with McNeill with a strip on….however, a few early wobbles from Majstorovic aside, the Celtic centre halfs dealt with everything they had to today…and with ease.
fairly decent summation, but Sammi didnt chase a long ball for the second – he took a pass just inside his own half before taking it for a stroll down the right wing, then with a turn of pace he skinned the next Liverpool reserve dud Ness before cutting inside and simultaneously making Bougherra look like a numpty while also knocking a million or two off the Algerians January transfer fee. The look of shock on Sammis face when Thompson actually awarded a penalty for such an obvious foul was priceless!! Also thought that Miller spent the match looking like he was trying to avoid injury before his move away rather than trying to find space for a through ball. Papac and McGregor looked similarly disinterested.
The more you see Celtic’s first goal, the better Joe Ledley’s ball becomes – it was a perfectly weighted pass.
Sadly Rangers got what they deserved from the match, nothing.
We seemed to struggle playing against the 5 man midfield that Celtic deployed and most definitely missed the attacking option that Naismith has offered us this season. Our lacklustre performance gave Celtic a foothold in the game and they grew confidence from that, of course both goals were individual errors from the Rangers defence and as such very disappointing as those gifts apart, there were no real clear cut opportunities for either side and a draw looked the likely outcome.
Credit to Celtic and Samaras though, they were expected to be brushed aside and played a good game away from home and in the end deserved the points.
As for Rangers, I now hope they take this defeat as a huge wake up call and go on a kind of run that wins Championships. With two games in hand, we could easily return to the top of the pile and be two points clear, of course these games need to be won and certainly the Dundee Utd fixture won’t be easy. The league is definitely on again, had Rangers won yesterday, it would have been a long way back for Celtic but they will now most probably take a huge lift from this and power on. It promises to be a cracking 2nd half of the season.
Rarely are Celtic offered the space behind a team for Sammi to run into, ironically the pressure on Rangers to attack at home perhaps gives us the space to use the weapons that are usually swamped by the Wattenacio tactics favoured by most SPL teams nowadays…