Please note the earlier kick-off time than usual bhoys. Celtic would win the title if they avoid defeat tonight. However, a third loss of the season for Celtic on the atrocious plastic Rugby Park pitch would take the title race to the final day on Saturday.
Killie have secured European football & Derek McInnes will probably get MOTY, if he hasnāt already. He always sets up his sides to man mark Celtic nearly all over the pitch, going back to his Aberdeen days. So we can expect Liam Scales being left with the ball again, all midfielders receiving close attention & Scales needing to get the first pass away to get the passing moves going. Players will need to be on the move constantly to drag opponents out of the way & to create space. Like most SP(F)L sides, theyāll look to target the Scales/Taylor side of the defence with long, direct balls.
Not sure if the pitch will affect Celticās starting side. Carter-Vickers sometimes doesnāt play on these surfaces due to legacy knee issues but heās needed tonight. That Liverpool loanee Nat Phillips had a āmare at Killie in the December defeat. Theyāve a very promising young midfielder, David Watson, who scored the equaliser at Celtic a few months back. Overall, I think Celtc are likely to be unchanged from the derby victory on Saturday.
Rodgers says he wants Celtic to sprint over the finish line & I reckon the players will be motivated to right the wrongs after the previous League Cup & League losses there. Celtic have secured league titles at Rugby Park on a number of occasions. There was a 6-0 under Lennon when Celtic had 3 sides of the ground. There was also the Nakamura injury time freekick back in the Strachan era & I think another 1 or 2 going further back. This time Killie are only giving Celtic the away end so thereāll be plenty of empty seats in the home areas along with some Celtic infiltrators.
That Nat Phillips was an abomination. They seem to play a very crude style of football in England that gets exposed when they export guys like that.
Iād expect the same team alright. I think Rodgers will have us starting with a high intensity and a bit of early pressure will hopefully create a couple of chances to ease the nerves of the likes of @Bisto.
As much as Scales was poor on Saturday I think Kilmarnock had more joy standing off him when we had Kyogo playing as #10 and no Hatate. I think Iwata played when they beat us in that Phillips game so going for a more physical or defensive team wonāt necessarily work.
@Bisto ās Scottish football end of season awards:
Manager of the Year - Michael Beale & Philippe Clement (joint)
Player of the Year - John Lundstram
Young Player of the Year - Dujon Sterling
Goal of the Year - Rabbi Matondo v Celtic
Top Goalscorer - James Tavernier (pen)
Breakthrough Player - Ross McCausland
Moment of the Year - Rangersā thrilling come from behind 3-3 victory at home to Celtic
Services to punditry - Kris Boyd & Kenny Miller (joint)
Jimmy Bell Memorial Special Tribute Award - Commentator Tom from Rangers TV
If Scales and Hart want to pass the ball over and back to each other for 90 minutes Iām ok with that as long as Celtic get the point and this dumpster fire of a league campaign can be put to bed. Bar occasional glimpses the football has been dire and a putrid Sevco team has been allowed compete for the title. Wrap it up, win the cup and for the love of god spend money during the summer!!
You canāt see the woods from the trees pal when it comes to your cross town rivals .it was like you saying Tillman did fcuk all for them yet he got named young player of year in Scotland
Sterling is a proper leader . Anywhere they put him he performs. They just havenāt put him sitting on mcgregor yet for some bizarre reason
I also think Clemente has given two very good pressers after the last two games.
I usually ignore their games, as even though theyāre fairly shit, they still have vast resources compared to most other SP(F)L clubs & will win more often than not. I canāt be arsed watching them win 9 times to get to the 1 loss. As enjoyable as it would have been to see that recent Ross County defeat live, itās also good fun to consume the match highlights & post match meltdowns afterwards in one sitting.
Iām not sure Rodgers fully rates Kyogo. Even his praise for him after the recent brace against Hearts was qualified & heās dropped him at times this season. I know you could say itās a horses fuck horses (copyright Duncan Jenkins) selection on the plastic pitch against a physically imposing defence but I wouldnāt be surprised if we sell him in the summer after getting 3 very good seasons out of him.
Im not sure. Think this is more pitch and style of play related. But I guess that Postecoglou guy who was here last year wouldnāt have considered dropping him ever so he definitely rates him less.
Maybe Iām reading too much into it - see bit in bold in particular. Heās talking here on Sky pre match alright about taking the pitch into consideration & times when weāll need to go more direct on it to skip the press & Idahās a good reference point etc etc. Possibly a bit of column a & b.
Rodgers stressed the message to feed the forward quickly had remained consistent.
āItās never not been,ā he said. āKyogo is the type of player that makes the run and his timing is perfect, (so) that if you donāt make the pass you miss the moment.
āThereās also times he has made runs and itās not on, if Iām being frank. But (on Saturday) everything was right, the timing, depth to his game, looking in behind, the pressing. Everything that makes him a really good player.
āHe was tireless and fighting right to the end when he made the block. Thatās what we always need.ā
Hmm yeah hadnāt seen that. He may be just referencing the criticism that one reads sometimes about Kyogo making great runs that arenāt picked out in our new style and heās more defending that than criticising Kyogo.
But probably a bit more to it alright. Iād say there are times when weāve needed a bit of an out ball to remove pressure and Rodgers got annoyed at Kyogo looking to be played in on goal instead of looking to hold it up.
