Board hypocrisy won’t wash with fans
With this fixture being played on the day that it was confirmed that Rangers will join Celtic in the Sydney Super Cup later this year, it was inevitable that there would be some form of backlash in the stadium.
There isn’t much that will unite both halves of the Glasgow divide but those in the seats of power at Parkhead and Ibrox seem to have come up with an idea so poorly conceived that it has done precisely that.
For a club that has defined itself as entirely separate from Rangers since 2012 – such as the refusal to use the term ‘Old Firm’, or the club’s bullish insistence that it ‘isn’t half of anything’ – promoting a friendly with Rangers halfway around the world is seen as a debasement of the rivalry, and fans are calling out the hypocrisy.
A banner from the Green Brigade summed up the mood. “We're not half of anything,” it read. “*Unless there's money to be made. Shove your 'Old Firm' friendly up your a***.”
Set-piece proficiency could swing title race
Much like Sunday’s stalemate at Easter Road, for long periods Celtic struggled to play through a defence composed of a congested back five with two defensive midfielders sitting in front of it. St Mirren restricted the space in and around their box and clear-cut chances from open play were hard to come by.
Celtic did, however, steadily accrue set-pieces and while many of them failed to test Jak Alnwick in the visitors’ goal, it was via a free-kick that Cameron Carter-Vickers eventually broke the deadlock at Parkhead before Callum McGregor added a second with around 10 minutes to go.
St Mirren won’t be the last team to stick 10 men behind the ball and hope for the best away to Celtic, and the league leaders need another way to unpick such a defence. If Ange Postecoglou’s men can become a little more dangerous from set-pieces, they would add another way to hurt the opposition to an already sizeable arsenal.
Points on the board all that matters now
This isn’t a game that will live long in the memory for either set of supporters. St Mirren offered virtually no attacking threat whatsoever while the home side were slow out of the traps. They improved after the break but there was a sloppiness about their play at times that was concerning.
Passes were misplaced, runs forward were mis-timed and possession was gifted away cheaply as Celtic struggled to get in their groove. They weren’t at their best but, unlike the draw with Hibs, found the breakthrough nonetheless. And at this stage of the season, that’s all that really matters.
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