No wins in 4 games against them to win 2 trophies...

These two posts are like two sides of the one coin, and they sum it up for me. We won’t get away with form like this against them forever, but the bottom line is we’ve otherwise had a v good season. Let’s celebrate and hope to add the Hunskelping back in next year.

 

When we won the league in 1986 we didn't win a single game against Hearts and Dundee Utd, who were second and third. We drew three and lost one to Hearts. Against Dundee Utd, we drew one at home and lost the other three, 0-3 at home and 1-0 and 4-2 away. But as it turns out, the league trophy is awarded to the team that finishes top, which was us.

 

Keep the trophy count growing. I can tolerate hearing the 'but, but you's can't beat us' comments. We might not beat them but we can beat everyone else which is something they can't claim. Diddy team mentality from a mediocre side, every derby game is their cup final, it's all they have.

 

5 derbies this season.

We won two.
They won two.
One draw.


With context, the two they won being more recent and our performances has amped up frustration amongst our support. The last derby at home could’ve went either way and I felt we had the momentum to win it, until they sucker punched us.

The Ibrox performance was awful.

The cup final was a poor first half, a much improved second half and over the course of the game we looked the better team and won the trophy.

If we win the Scottish Cup then no one will care about the individual games in time. But whatever players we have in the squad come the next derby, they better show up.

 

That was my point... We win when we have to, and they win when they can... We're the architects of their position by how we turn out and perform.

They are genuinely very good at stifling a game, and actually also very good at making the most of few chances. We're the exact opposite... We bleed stupid goals, we're slow out the blocks and settle before the final whistle, we miss sitters and are sloppy with opportunities... That's a price we pay for playing our cavalier style every game that means a multitude of chances, and is how we put almost every other team in the league to the sword 3-4 times a year...

They grind, but can be countered out by genuine skill (us, Europe) or equal graft and negativity (all the others)... There's a reason they're miles off us in the league, despite getting points from us!

I'd love to steal some of their dogged grit, but I wouldn't trade like for like in a million lifetimes...

 

Seeing words floating about like “unacceptable” is * comical as we sail to what could be another treble.

Who actually cares? We beat them when it matters and we win the trophies. No wonder we get tarred with the spoiled brats tag all the time when we fans like that.

 

They have the better of us whoever the manager is , with the dross that they can afford with the money they have spare. Brendan is a quality manager and played in WAY bigger games than this with the likes of Liverpool against manure, Everton or anyone within reason in Europe. If they actually got organised as a business / club with a manager that wasn’t a fan / * like they have now, with actual money behind them, then unless we sort this out now it doesn’t matter if we have romped the league or not, they will have the upper hand over us again.

 

Think any fan would agree to take the trophies over the derbies if its a binary choice. Not sure I get the fans that dont care about the derbies so long as we win the trophies. Wouldnt every fan want both?

Our performances against them this year havent been good enough, given the relative positions between the two clubs. You can make the argument we won the most important of the the derbies, but it was hardly convincing stuff relying on the lottery of penalties. So from the perspective of wanting to see the team reach its highest potential, its concerning seeing them drag these fixtures into 50/50 territory. You wonder is the team being flattered to an extent by the rest of the SPL teams and exposed to an extent against Rangers? It wont cost us a trophy this season, although it came close to it. Next season is a clean slate. They will likely have a new coach and quite possibly an injection of funds. We will hopefully strengthen.

From watching the head to heads this year though, it doesnt feel like theres a switch that we can just flick to turn our performances up a few gears. It feels like our approach is quite lazy and stubborn and Rangers have figured out how to negate it while we are unwilling or unable to adapt.

 

It obviously must improve next season but as far this season goes we won the games that mattered.

 

I don't see or get this fascination or obsession with a Rangers team that got cuffed in the UEFA, are 17 points behind us, and have won zilch all season.

The fact of the matter is the Hun fans are only concerned/obsessed with beating us, and will turn up every year like drones, even if they win sweet eff all, all season.

 

For me the games are always important - regardless of the the standings in the league.

The reality is in a league that is low on quality - Rangers offer the biggest challenge there is domestically in a pressurised atmosphere. I think you learn more about the team and the players in these fixtures than you do against totally overmatched SPL sides.

If you want to really try and progress the team and improve it, these games offer a much better learning opportunity than blasting St Johnstone 5 or 6 nil.

 

Huh? By what tangible metric? Winning meaningless games, when they were already nearly over the horizon in the rearview mirror?

Do you genuinely believe that if they spend, we won't? Do you really believe that if they aren't a basketcase our board would go through the motions like this?

We're cruising in 2nd gear of our Ferrari, and their clapped out transit van is rattling like a tractor... If they become more credible, our ability to bring in better players goes up in tandem...

I'm not sweating over a hypothetical 'bogeyman' rangers resurgence without any proof it's even coming, let alone that we wouldn't just ramp up in response

 

Gawd knows what’s that about. If they are our only competitors, then manage to get organised with an actual competent manager, they have the hex over us now without that, so I expect the league to be tighter next year if that happens. Brendan for all his abilities seems to have hit a bit of a problem playing them recently tbf. Huh ……is that more intelligible….

 

A team that is 17 points behind us doesn't have the better of us.

 

We've had 4 games in the league - a pumping a piece, a draw, and a narrow rangers win. And we won the cup on penalties. Over the season that's pretty evens but the two games that meant something are the two we won.

I don't think they have the better of us. They just go into these games with something to prove and they set up in a way we struggle to break down. I'm not stressed about it. I will get stressed about it if we start losing in the games that matter next season but I think we will see a different attitude when it matters.

 

Can’t say I agree with any of this.

 

We should be pumping these c*ntz at every opportunity irrespective of our treble aspirations. Especially with Barry Big Baws at their helm.

Ultimately its the league that matters but ffs, they're absolutely *. Rodgers needs to deal with this.... it looks bad on him that he gets out manouvered by that ned of a man and his bargain basement backroom team.

But there maybe another explanation....

If they get nowhere near us in the league, der huns will take great delight competing with us in head to head games. That's enough to keep their fans staunch and buying into their * manager and a * board.

 

When you sit and think about it, literally the only blemish on our entire season is conceding a late winner to Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena. I’ll take that.

 

This is how I've felt most of this season. They just don't move me that much anyone. They aren't very good. Their * edgy 'banter' is ridiculous. I think they bring out the worst in celtic fans and the whole "there's never a meaningless old firm game" spiel feels like a Sky TV pitch trying to flog a one horse league.

How Celtic measures success and where the club wants to get to shouldn't have anything to do with how many times we beat Rangers anymore than how many times we beat Aberdeen or Hibs. It's nice to beat them of course but we do that through winning trebles, not stressing about games played after the leagues done.

 

He's not been out manouvered mate. Rangers have an effective style of play that they use when playing us and European teams. Defensive midfield and hit on the break.

They can't play that way against the 10 man defences other league teams play and rely on crosses/high balls into the box, hoping for the best.

For us, we're far better breaking these teams down, basically cause we've got better players.