Celtic v Rangers - Cup Semi-Final, Sunday 30 April, 1.30pm

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Ange stated that Hatate, Jota and Abada are back in contention having trained all week. Jota’s missed a couple of weeks but the other two have been out for a month or more. While Abada isn’t a first choice now, it’s hard to know if the manager will go with Hatate & Jota from the start or hold them in reserve.

Celtic haven’t been all that impressive lately, albeit they were still racking up domestic wins until last week’s draw with Motherwell. I didn’t think they were great in the recent league win against Rangers & they missed Hatate’s invention in that game. Some pressure has been building on Beale in the last while after the two defeats to Celtic (the League Cup Final in March was the other loss) & then last week’s loss at Aberdeen. They apparently have Goldson & Kent available again after missing some games lately.

They’ll be desperate to win to stop a potential Celtic treble & they won the semi-final clash last year 2-1 AET shortly after Celtic had a title-sealing league win against them. Ange’s style is physically demanding so maybe Celtic’s dip in form lately is down to collective fatigue as the season nears its end. Celtic had bhoys cramping up & going off in the equivalent game last season so those decisions on the fitness of returning players will be important. Celtic have won 2 & drawn 1 in the head-to-head games in this calendar year so far despite not playing that well in any of them. I’m hoping they properly put them to the sword tomorrow but, to quote Brian Cody, these games take on a life of their own.

Rangers have been fairly crude in an attacking sense, they look for long diagonals & fight for second balls in Celtic’s half & then look to sling balls into the box or earn set pieces. Celtic will want to establish their passing rhythm early on, the amount of stray passes in the last game when under little pressure was pretty poor.

Rangers have tried a few different things when out of possession in the recent games. Last time they kept someone on McGregor & tried to stop Celtic building up through him. They kind of let the back four have the ball. In the previous game, they sent their front three pressing the back four aggressively & McGregor was able to find space & dictate the game when the defence played around the press & got the ball to him. Celtic will hopefully be composed enough to deal with whatever they throw at them in that sense.

This game will be televised on Premier Sports.

My educated guess is that Ange will pick Jota but keep Hatate in reserve. Mooy has fallen down the pecking order after his recent injury absence & poor display on his return in the last derby. I think he might go with O’Riley & Iwata in midfield alongside McGregor again but Hatate & Mooy are strong alternatives.

Hart;
Johnston, CCV, Starfelt, Taylor;
O’Riley, McGregor, Iwata;
Jota, Kyogo, Maeda.

Falkirk v Caley Thistle kicking-off imminently in the first semi-final.

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Those long diagonals that the Huns are looking for will be helped by them winning lots of soft free kicks around halfway. They were very quick to hit the floor around that area in the last game at Celtic Park which resulted in multiple long balls to the back post from free kicks. None were successful but they did get their second goal from a similar position starting from a set piece.

I think letting the back four have the ball last time was more successful because CCV had a very poor day on the ball. He’s not the best passer in the world but usually a lot better. And then Mooy was wildly off form too which meant when we did work it past their press on McGregor, Mooy was just losing possession. An in form Mooy or Hatate in that area will cause them far more problems. I hope they think that defensive setup was a success because I don’t think it was at all. But it’s probably what they need to deploy if they want their attacking midfield selection on the pitch. Don’t think they will feel they can do the full press without Jack and Lundstram types covering in midfield.

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Thinking about it more, I think Iwata might drop out again despite starting the last two since the previous derby. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Mooy restored as he’s had a good block of training since looking undercooked in that game. The other thing is that he might start Hatate & try to get an hour out of him. Risk with leaving him on the bench is that you bring him on & he breaks down again so you waste two subs.

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There’s also the possibility of extra time so makes sense to start Hatate I think. Agreed on Jota - one of Jota or Abada is likely to start I’d think.

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Seems to have been a lot of Sevco players bumping their gums about matching Celtic (Raskin in a now deleted tweet) and real/imaginary slights from Celtic players and staff (Barisic and one f the assistant coaches) Much as I would like a comfortable win I think it will be a reverse of last season so 2-1 to the good guys.

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Hatate and Jota both start

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Abada doesn’t make the bench. Ange had said he was available.

Huns have gone with

  1. MCGREGOR

  2. TAVERNIER

  3. GOLDSON

  4. DAVIES

  5. BARISIC

  6. LUNDSTRAM

  7. RASKIN

  8. CANTWELL

  9. TILLMAN

  10. KENT

  11. MORELOS

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When is that Tom Lawrence fella back for rangers. He looked decent for them in the early part of the season.

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In Bar 67 Lanzarote CSC. 33 degrees. It better not go to extra time aaaaahhhhhhh.

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Out until the summer

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He’s out for the season anyway. Think he ruptured his Achilles early enough into the season & then suffered a setback while coming back a month or so back. Don’t know if it was related to the original injury or not.

Beale getting four attacking players on the pitch again. Celtic’s midfield three with support of the full backs & wide players should be able to move the ball around their centre midfield two. I think they’ll try to play direct enough stuff again & get those players plus the overlapping Tavernier on the ball in the final third.

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Beale says he’s told his players to take the handbrake off & go for it.

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Ange says Abada pulled up sore yesterday. Happy to have creative forces Hatate & Jota back after training well all week. Says there’s a real extra edge today & any time we’re playing these dirty orange bastards.

It’s a dirty, wet day in Glasgow.

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What station is this on.

Edit, found it

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Celtic mascot blanking the Rangers players in the handshake lineup.

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Ref taken out by the fenian sniper pre match.

Off to a good start

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Start delayed due to lack of visibility caused by lingering smoke from pyrotechnics.

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Some atmosphere

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Beautiful by johnston