Joooottttttaaaaaaaaaaa
My goodness
2-3.
This has been terrible from Celtic.
Why the delay here? Is it jocko officials having unofficial VAR again?
Maeda’s pressing/work rate from the front is unreal.
Really need to step it up again here now, can’t throw this away again
Could do with a sub in midfield. Maybe Giakoumakis on upfront too and let Maeda work down a flank.
Job done 
Everywhere we go
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Two tough away games ticked off
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Thank fuck for that.
Some of the defending in the second half was scary. Even that last ball in to Ramirez and Starfelt was a good 3 yards deeper than everyone else. They managed to work a shot for him from the angle of the box too near the end because we didn’t organise ourselves properly.
Thought big Giakoumakis did well when he came on and settled us a bit but couldn’t really win a free. Bitton should have played Abada in with a better pass when he had that chance on the break but it’s good to have options to add some height and more physical options into the team.
Unreal heart though. And once again the Ange trademark of scoring immediately after conceding.
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I’m not one for blaming zonal marking or man marking for goals but in either event we need to be better at attacking the ball when it comes into the box. Taylor had a thankless task really marking Ferguson for the second one - not sure why we don’t have a better header of the ball in that area. And for the first goal, fair enough there’s a block but we shouldn’t be leaving a huge hole like that in the box. It was crying out for their move.
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That second half was torture and it was pretty unexpected given how comfortable the first half was. We didn’t really play well, even after we went back in front, and we didn’t see it out with any real authority. I think they can have complaints about the winner. Abada standing offside kinda got in Bates’ path to the ball and Jota came from deeper and onside to finish. Manchester United had a goal disallowed last night when Maguire did what Abada did. But that was a massive win. We’ve had two thumping wins against the huns and Motherwell but we’ve had a lot of narrow wins prior to that. It’s a good habit to have, coming out the right side of tight games.
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Looking at the fixtures there doesn’t seem much scope for rangers or Celtic dropping points before next old firm … rangers away to Dundee united in between two dortmund fixtures and Celtic away to Livingston look the toughest …
I think we’ve been defending set pieces better since the winter break and guessed it’s something they’ve worked on. But it was apparent pre Christmas that we leave that space around the penalty spot and a few teams targeted it. I recall we conceded away to Ross County from that type of area - empty that space and then have a runner or two come late into it. We should have someone standing centrally around 9 (nine) yards out filling that space and ready to attack any balls delivered in there. Aside from standing deeper at the end, I thought Starfelt stood up well and played solidly. I think our midfield was posted missing for large parts of the second half.
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Abada doesn’t make much of a movement though which I think is an important difference. He’s entitled to be there as long as he doesn’t make a move to obstruct. It’s also not clear he was offside. I’m going to allow the goal to stand.
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Yeah think it was our midfield that dropped the standard in the second half and let them into it. Our back four did quite well.
Their last corner was an example of defending that space much better. We lined up to match their train but had Giakoumakis was it at the edge of the six yard box who had a simple clearing header when they tried to hit the space.
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Unreal good pass from O’Riley for the third goal by the way. He picked out Taylor here first time on the deck from the Maeda layoff and they were struggling to get back behind the goal after that.
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Exactly. I’d start Giakoumakis in the cup at the weekend. He’s desperate for a goal and it’d give him a right boost.
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I wonder if the poor set piece defence is in part down to trying to develop a centre and full back line from ball players rather than cloggers. If they could do both they’d cost 50 million. Set pieces and hoofs into the box have been a weakness, more recently hidden by the all out attack.
I hope the huns drop a few points.
I didn’t think the ref was too bad tonight in general. They seemed to get frees a bit easier, but it seemed more run of the mill hometown than lodgeish.
Boabby would have had a stab at ruling out the winner.
Good result in a hard place to go.
The midfield seemed marked absent for the last bit of it.
Celtic have a brutal record on that plastic pitch at Livingston & have already lost there this season. The huns’ have a near perfect record at home but they’re vulnerable away. Although sometimes the cinch takes everyone by surprise with a completely random result.
I think CCV is really strong in the air. Starfelt is average to good. Ralston is very good for a full back. So it’s more to do with how we defend, how aggressive we are in our lines and how we play six very creative midfielders and attackers which leaves us short.
I thought Collum was his usual self. He’s not biased. He’s just not very good. He seems to be guessing an awful lot of the time. It’s sort of been his trademark.