Yes, Ntcham scored the only goal in that 2018-19 first derby game. Celtic had started that season badly (losing at Kilmarnock & other dropped points) & Rodgers was at loggerheads with the board behind the scenes. The huns turned the tables in December with a 1-0 Ibrox win and it was tight at the winter break. But they’d already started to fall away by the time Rodgers left in February and I think we were around 8 points clear by then. We won the next derby 2-1 at Celtic Park under Lennon to all but seal the title in early April and they won a dead rubber post split fixture at Ibrox.
2019-20 started with Celtic’s 2-0 Ibrox win (Edouard and Jonny Hayes) and that hun Celtic Park win at the end of December was the Gerrard screaming in the camera game. That was 2-1 and followed Celtic’s lucky victory over them in the League Cup Final that November. That’s when concerns really started about Lennon’s second tenure. Again, the huns came back after the winter break & imploded. They dropped a load of points, even losing at home to Hamilton and Celtic were around 10 points clear when COVID ended the season prematurely after only those 2 league derbies.
But if you start at that late December 2019 game and consider the huns won 4 (3 league, 1 cup) and drew 1 derby last season and undeservedly won the first league one at Ibrox this season…then they’d won 6 and drawn 1 of the last 7 before last night. Those 2020-21 derbies were pitiful efforts by Celtic, as the Lennon era came to an shambolic end. Games played with no fans, loan signings like Duffy and JonJoe Kenny being nowhere near the level needed & big players wanting away.
Celtic really needed that win last night to draw a line under that. Ange’s rebuilding job after being appointed to a club that needed a complete overhaul has been outstanding so far. 9 of his signings started last night (only Taylor and McGregor predated his arrival). We need to drive on now and leave them in our wake.
I think you’ll find @Fulvio_From_Aughnacloy and I had concerns long before that. The day he was reappointed in fact. There’s an audit trail. We were met with scorn.
I’d like to state for the record that my concerns about Joe Harte and CCV were completely unfounded. A goalie who doesn’t throw them in, and a centre back who is a calming influence are joyous things on a night when your nerves are shredded.
Who could possibly have conceived six months ago that we would have potentially serious selection headaches because of the quality across the squad. It’s remarkable.
I don’t think any bhoys here wanted Lennon to be appointed as full time manager. He steadied the ship when Rodgers left, saw out the league and we won the cup so he deserved credit for that. But then there was the CL qualifier debacle at home to Ferencvaros at the start of the next season and it was clear that standards were dropping from the Rodgers era.
I used to always reference the lack of cohesion in both attacking and defending back then. We were often ragged and didn’t have a clear pattern/identity. As an aside, contrast that to the rotations and interplay in the first half last night. Probe on one side, drag them out of their defensive shape, quick switch to the other side and then combinations/triangles involving several players to take advantage of the space created, e.g. for the second goal. With Lennon I felt we relied on individuality a lot (Forster in goal included) rather than this coached/systemic excellence!
True enough, he got the win at Ibrox at the start of 2019-20 and then topped the Europa League group (albeit how seriously Lazio and Rennes were taking it us up for debate) so these were additions to the credit column after Ferencvaros. While I didn’t support his appointment, I wasn’t agitating for him to be sacked or anything at that stage. In that respect, I think it’s fair to say those back to back displays against the huns in the November 2019 league cup final win and December 2019 Celtic Park derby loss when they controlled both games really raised the alarm bells.
I don’t think Gerrard is an especially good manager. He seems to be a figurehead/personality type but yer man Beale on his coaching staff was able to take advantage of Celtic lacking any kind of coherent structure. He adopted a very basic zonal pressing system and Celtic couldn’t play through it because they weren’t coached in building up the play from the back, creating/manipulating space and playing through it (all the things Ange’s bhoys did last night). Like Celtic under Lennon ultimately made heroes out of lads like Glen Kamara ffs sake. Then there was the Copenhagen EL last 32 collapse this time 2 years ago and, even though we still won that pandemic shortened league, Lennon’s time was up but it took the board another year almost to realise it.
Who’s the young lad that came on last night for Celtic ? Big things must be expected if getting picked at that age ?? Must be one of youngest ever to play in old firm …