If only Gretna could have held on yesterday for a few minutes more, it would have been one of the best SPL weekends for a very long time.
However despite the champions scoring two late goals to return to the top of the SPL yesterday afternoon, there are still plenty of positives to take out of the latest round of league matches, as it once again showed that every team in this league is now capable of competing with Celtic and Rangers in one-off matches.
Now I appreciate that European football can have a big effect on teams, especially in the first match they play after big matches like both of the Old Firm were involved in last week. Both will have given it absolutely everything to have achieved the creditable results that they did in Europe, and this is bound to have an adverse effect when it came to this weekend’s games. However that said, these clubs also have much larger resources than the rest in our league, so I’m not sure how much of a realistic excuse that is. And anyway let’s face it, Celtic and Rangers have both been poor this season in domestic football regardless of whether they’ve been playing in Europe the week before or not!
Hibs have had a tremendous start to the season, and are one of the few sides in the UK who are still unbeaten in league competition. Given the fact that their squad has changed so much since John Collins arrived at Easter Road (many would say greatly weakened in fact), to have had such a start is nothing short of remarkable. They have also now managed to achieve what all of the so-called media ‘experts’ say makes them into genuine championship contenders – a victory in Glasgow. I’m not so sure that one such result can automatically turn also-rans into championship contenders overnight, but Saturday’s 1-0 win at Ibrox will certainly have made some people sit up and take notice, especially if you consider that this team has also beaten Celtic recently and also won at Tynecastle on the opening day of the season. You have to admit it’s a hell of a start by anyone’s standards.
However as John Collins admitted himself, it’s very unlikely that Hibs will be able to last the distance. Their first team is perhaps decent, but it’s very doubtful that they have the squad to outlast the likes of Celtic, who are still clearly the team to beat in the SPL, over 38 games. But that’s not to say that they can’t hang around at the top end of the league for a while yet, and even though we are Hearts supporters, I think we should welcome this. Another team challenging the Old Firm is healthy for the rest of the league and helps to inspire others to do the same – just look at Gretna yesterday as an example of that.
And what of our own team, Hearts? That’s a pretty decent run of games we’re on now considering the managerial circus that continues be a burden, and with the derby at Easter Road looming just a few weeks away, a great opportunity is there to make an unexpected surge up the league.
Despite Hearts’ poor start to the season and continued team selection problems, they have won six of their last seven games and appear to be scoring goals quite freely at the moment. And as we pointed out on Friday, if they hadn’t thrown away silly points from a winning position at Inverness and at home to Gretna, they’d only be three points off the top of the league. Hearts are also on this good run playing with a team that many still believe lacks a true quality striker, and with the word on the street being that Mauricio Pinilla looks likely to return to the first team within the next couple of weeks, is this now the time for some genuine optimism for the rest of the season?
Perhaps it is, but I can’t imagine that you’ll find too many Jambos getting too carried away just yet – we’ve experienced too many kicks in the teeth in recent times to allow that to happen. But there’s no doubting that this league is definitely there for the winning if someone seriously wants to go out there and grab the opportunity. Hearts had that within their grasp two years ago and pushed the ‘self-destruct’ button – I wonder if anyone else will give themselves the same chance this season? Most people will say ‘no’, but then sometimes most people are wrong…………
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Still a great weekend even with Celtic winning. As you say it once again proves how bad the bigots are – that’s the third season running now. About time someone cashed in.
Despatching the European champions, then days later struggling to beat a village team. Is it the ability, or the professionalism of this Celtic side that we should question?
The former I would say, and I think you could possibly question this across Europe at the moment. Not convinced that the world game is as strong as the minute as it was and can’t help thinking that the current format of the Champions League is having a lot to do with this.
“to have achieved the creditable results” Bit of an understatement when you consider Celtic beat the champions of Europe on Wednesday, something Manchester and Liverpool failed to do and in spectacular circumstance.
“And anyway let’s face it, Celtic and Rangers have both been poor this season in domestic football” Another incorrect statement. I’ve tried to remove the ambiguity from this statement as to whether you mean both collectively have been poor or one had been worse than the other. Rangers have been mediocre but i cant see how could consider Celtic’s domestic performances ?poor?.Given that Celtic humped Hearts 5-0. Pumped Aberdeen 3-1 at Pitoddre, demolished St Mirren 5-1, crushed Inverness 5-0 and achieved many other outstanding results in the SPL so far. Celtic have also scored the most and conceded the least. Strange that.
Bar the defeat against Nibs, and the opening game of the season. I cant see to much cause for concern. Not that an inferior clubs opinion should matter to us anyway.
To be honest as a Celtic fan, resentment and envy is always an expected formality given the clubs superior achievements. But some of the statements in this article are just comical if nothing else.
*Hibs
Is that the same Liverpool and Manchester United who regularly qualify for the quarters and semis and have been in three finals in living memory then is it? Listen, my assertations that both Celtic and Rangers have been poor this season is based upon their performances, not the results. Results only tell part of the story and even then, they haven’t been all that great. If Celtic are playing such great football, then why do half the Celtic support appear to want Strachan out? I’m sorry pal, but you really have to start seeing things without the blinkers on. Perhaps I’m being a little unkind on your team here in some respects, but you have to try and see another point of view or it’s really just worth it is it?
Don’t think there’s any doubt that the gap is closing – but the village team? – Total lack of professionalism (or perhaps a contempt that nearly backfired)
Yes the very same Liverpool who have been in 2 finals in 3 years and the same Man Utd who have mass quality throughout their team got humped by Milan. But Celtic beat United anyway. I have been one of the fans critical of Strachan, look no further on our forum all summer and the end of last season of even look in article comment boxes and you will see how anti Strachan some of us are. But at the moment we’re doing well. And if beating teams 5-0 without good performances means you arent doing well then i cant wait untill we really start to perform.
To be fair to the village team though CC, they are past masters at playing the underdogs. Look at the 2005/06 Scottish Cup Final for example. We also couldn’t beat them at Tynecastle this season. When they’re in the mood & up for it, they’d give anyone a hard game. Gretna deserve a lot of credit, and were desperately unlucky not to take something from Sunday’s game.
rk can I ask what age you are? Just wondering as your views make you sound very young…no offence at all by the way, it would just make more sense if you were! Picking random games that a team has won in and that makes them better, etc.
Yes Gretna do deserve credit, but even if they had won it would have been the usual “Celtic blew it” nonsense. The problem with Celtic fans (and football fans generally really) is that their views change every week depending upon how they played and what their result was. You guys think it’s all great after beating Milan on Wednesday, but as soon as you lose a game Strachan should go. This is not the way that you be looking at things. From an outsider looking in, all I’m doing is saying that Celtic are NOT the proposition they were a few years ago, even as recently as the O’Neill era. These days we always know we have a chance, which was not the case back then. All the teams are the same too, which is good for the league.
remind me ? exactly who did Hearts have to summon all their reserves of mental and physical strength against in midweek prior to their demolition of Falkirk ? give us a break lads ! I know it was against the whipping boys on Sunday but ,beating the current Champions of EUROPE must come at a price !! good luck for the rest of the season btw……..
Hey no-one is giving Celtic a slagging here, we’re just saying that we feel that other sides in the league can compete with them. There’s a whole paragraph in the article talking about teams being knackered when they come back from Europe – we’ve seen that many times with our own team in recent years – we very rarely play well in the game immediately afterwards. I just think your fellow Tic Man here’s gotten overly defensive that’s all.
Anyway, to get back to your article MrH, I agree that this league is there for the winning… just needs someone to take it by the scruff of the neck. By that I mean, no single team is vastly better than the rest. Most people (including Jambos) wouldn’t give Hearts a chance, but I think that’s a good thing. There was a lot of inbuilt pressure generated by Burley’s run of results, followed by the self-destruct buttons. If we can just keep quietly winning games as we have been doing lately then who knows what can happen.
sorry Mr H ,, must pay attention ,, hope we all compete ,, look forward to it M8…
im gonna be honest and say im actually enjoying it i was nerve wrecked until the final 10 mins and ill tell u its great thats where the real excitement of football comes in
“Remind me ? exactly who did Hearts have to summon all their reserves of mental and physical strength against in midweek prior to their demolition of Falkirk ? give us a break lads ! I know it was against the whipping boys on Sunday but ,beating the current Champions of EUROPE must come at a price !!
So Celtic aren’t good enough to compete at the highest level week-in-week-out then? Imagine how the village game was viewed in the rest of europe, a joke.
Btw H – Rangers have had a couple of poor games prior to CL games this season!?
I’m glad that others can see the good that can come of more competition domestically. To be honest it’s difficult to tell if the other teams in the SPL have gotten stronger or the Old Firm are weaker, but who cares – it improves the interest on a weekly basis doesn’t it?
SJ: Take your point about the village side – but we are talking about a european super power here, right?
CC – I thought you were talking about Celtic 😉