Huns v Celtic ☘ 2 January

We created fcuk all before it either tbh.

I don’t actually think the Starfleldt challenge was that bad. Went to block the ball and sakala stood on him.

Edit, even Kris Boyd doesn’t think it was a penalty

When Kris Boyd says he’s not sure it’s a penalty then…

And yes @Bisto that was exactly the type of penalty that VAR was brought in for. It ticked all the boxes. Andy Walker is a fool.

Michael Beale looks like he could do well. He had them set up nicely in fairness. Good for Ange and the team.

Set up nicely? They were pretty poor and didn’t look cohesive or particularly well organised. They scored from moments/rashness outside of any game pattern. They’ve apparently been poor in his games so far, despite the wins before today, and the regression to the mean will inevitably come. I think one of his issues is he wants to rely on and prefers players from his first spell at the club like Kamara, Kent and Morelos, and they’re running down contracts.

Ange under the weather

Smoker’s cough throughout every media bit he does. I used to be concerned during previous covid waves though.

I find him a bit of a spoofer from anything I’ve seen so far … claiming his players are all injured and he’s patching a team together yet all said players have come through the busy Christmas period unscathed …today was a match they needed to win and they didn’t really do anything too dynamic bar cash in on a bad matchup for 10 mins

Lads, they had Celtic on backfoot today. Look, I haven’t seen any of the games he’s managed since taking over, but from what I seen today Celtic were second best. Maybe ya’s are right, he’s a spoofer.

Celtic were atrocious and still got out of there with a draw

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A strange day/ game.

Positives
Johnston looks a solid player and comfortable on the ball, similar to what I saw of him in the WC
Mooy was massive when he came on, he’ll be starting games again now in future
CCV a rock as always
We finished the stronger which is no surprise given the bench at our disposal, GG was still a handful when he came on
The point suits us

Negatives
Juranovic had an absolute mare once he came on, his head is elsewhere or he’s not fit, he was torn inside out today either way and thats a big concern
Forrest probably won’t get to start another derby
Hart sloppy again with his feet, the messing around gave them the momentum to finish the first half
Screwed over again by VAR

Rocko’s Ratings

Hart 5 - one good save from his own error

Johnston 7 - solid defensively and had to do most of the attacking on that side too. Covered one counter attack late on brilliantly when he came all the way across to the left to win the ball back when we were short numbers.
CCV 8 - very strong. Cleaned everything up and one outstanding block
Starfelt 5 - started ok. Made an outstanding block too after the Hart error. But was sloppy afterwards with some needless frees and poor passing. Not convinced on the penalty either way and Juranovic sold him a bit but was a bit clumsy at best.
Taylor - was doing fine
Juranovic - 3 he was really poor. Offered nothing on the ball really and his defending was ragged. Poor Maeda had to do some amount of running to help him out.

McGregor 7 - I thought his positioning in the first half was really good and he was picking up all the loose balls. But he didn’t really impose himself on the game as much in the second half
Hatate 7 - a few lovely touches and created a couple of chances. Did a decent defensive job too. Like others, faded a bit when we lost the initiative but never hood
O’Riley 6 - thought he was loose with some passing in both halves. But competed well around the middle and was causing them problems
Mooy - was good again when he came on. Made some decent runs (at that medium pace of his) and good composure on the ball

Forrest 5 - not really good enough. Would be surprised to see him starting a cup game never mind a league derby away from home. Not up to it really
Abada - one early left foot cross and did little afterwards though his pressing was decent
Kyogo 7 - took his goal superbly. Needed to lift it and he did. Thought his pressing was excellent in the first half. Even the first goal comes from a good press on a throw in on the right initially that results in the heir throw on the left.
Giakoumakis - couple of early flicks didn’t really work out. Wasn’t really given long enough to make an impression but his ricochet creates the goal.
Maeda 7 - good goal. Skinned Tavernier a couple of times early and put in some food crosses. Had to do most of his rubbing the other direction after Taylor went off.
Jota - didn’t look fully fit but beats Tavernier easily for the goal and then does well to keep it alive when the ball was loose.

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Jury is well out. He’s got the old brigade wearing brogues and had a bit of a bounce, but sevco remain an aging side, with players running down contracts, and don’t appear to have a huge amount coming through. They also seem to be in a bad spot cash wise. This may be wishful thinking, but it seems accurate enough.

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I though Giako gave them something different to worry about when they looked on top. The subs were a bit late for me, but all worked. Forrest, I dunno, he never seems to offer a great deal. The new lad Johnstone looked a player. Good temperament too. Was mouthing off at the huns nice and early.
Thought the ref was very good. Didn’t think it was a penalty, but can see why he gave it. Didn’t favour either side (let a bit go both ways). Still find the VAR inexplicable other than yknow, it’s gollum.

I thought the last Jota/Giakoumakis double sub and accompanying formation change hadn’t really worked, up until the goal (if you know what I mean). We took out Hatate for a second striker but persisted with slow and lateral passing and didn’t really look to use Giakoumakis. It just meant there was one less midfield player to use in the build up and we were just playing in front of them and didn’t trouble their back four or keeper.

They then took off Tillman for another defender in Sands and retreated a bit. They had loads of bodies back but stood off and allowed Jota to get the ball and run at them for probably the first time. We relied on a bounce of the ball in the box but there’s always the possibility a chance will fall if there’s enough bodies in there. And Giakoumakis made himself useful for it too. Mooy’s medium pace (cc @Rocko) is deceptive enough. He gets into decent areas and causes trouble - reminds me a bit of one of the Waugh brothers bowling.

After that, oddly enough, CCV actually played a couple of long direct balls down the side of the left centre back towards Giakoumakis in injury time and he caused them bother. He pinned Davies back from one on them and got turned in the box. It was a promising position but he overhit his pass across the face of the box. Starfelt actually took the yellow card to stop them breaking.

A draw is okay tbh against the backdrop of underperformance and a couple of penalty decisions going against us. I haven’t even considered the bug that reportedly swept through the team. Even a minor enough cold/fever can really disrupt a high performing athlete, as I know myself only too well from the Dublin Marathon.

A better point for Celtic than Rangers you’d have to say.

I thought Celtic would win beforehand but got nervous when I saw the Shamrocks sticking their oar in here. The nerves proved justified.

Hopefully they’ve learnt their lesson

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