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Rangers v Hamilton Academical - Saturday, 3pm This is a simple "must win" game for Rangers, as they all are at the moment. Nothing else is acceptable. Having said that, I fully expect Rangers to do the business on Saturday. Hopefully they will be stung by the criticism they've received about the performance at Tynecastle, and will come out firing on all cylinders like they did against Inverness Caledonian Thistle and St Mirren at Ibrox recently. Sasa Papac, Steven Davis and Kenny Miller are all available again and all must start, in my opinion, replacing Steven Whittaker, Kyle Lafferty and Jean-Claude Darcheville. All three will make a huge difference to this Rangers team. The old "who plays on the left" debate continues, and if a match at home to the 2nd-bottom team isn't an opportunity to let us see what Aaron has to offer, then the boy would be as well just going home to Spain. Three points on the board on Saturday night please, Rangers. Nothing else will be acceptable. Hibernian v Celtic - Sunday, 2pm This is an interesting one. Hibernian haven't exactly been setting the heather on fire recently, having won only one league match out of their last eight games, although four draws have seen them climb up into the top six. Celtic, meanwhile, have been beating everybody put in front of them domestically, apart from Rangers of course.  Normally in these circumstances I'd say that the result is a foregone conclusion, but I've attended enough matches at Easter Road over the years to know that it's never an easy place for the Old Firm to get a result. I do expect Celtic to win, because they will probably have too much for Hibernian over the 90 minutes, but I don't expect them to get it easy. Will McGeady come back in now that he's fit, and if so who will drop out ? Will Nakamura keep his place at a ground where fighters are usually required, or will Strachan opt for somebody like Hartley alongside Brown and Robson ? Your thoughts ahead of both games ? |
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| To be honest I can see Celtic drawing this game, while Celtic overall play is good at that moment, the final touch is weak, killer edge if you will and it's always tough to get 3 points at Easter Road (in my opinion, the toughest tie outside an OF game) |
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| | | From: MartyC | Sent: 12/4/2008 7:23 AM |
i think the pressure will be on rangers and if the game goes on the crowd will get more restless and get on thier back and it might have an effect on the team. celtic hibs is a tough one as hibs are a funny team that tend to upset the bigger teams on occasions. celtic are capable of beating anyone in the spl at any ground and i think we will win by a narrow margin |
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Of course the pressure is on Rangers to win, but our record in the SPL at Ibrox is terrific over the last year (we've only failed to win one game, a draw v Dundee United) so I expect us to handle it against Hamilton Academical, with respect. Having said that, if we don't score early the bears do get very restless very quickly. That depends on how well we're playing though. if we're creating chances the fans tend to stick with the team better. Reply
| | | From: MartyC | Sent: 04/12/2008 07:23 | | .....celtic are capable of beating anyone in the spl at any ground.... | | This current Celtic team have still to prove that. Celtic haven't won at Ibrox since February 2006. |
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| | | From: MartyC | Sent: 12/4/2008 8:17 AM |
yea but my point is that they are capable |
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And my point is that they have yet to prove that, bearing in mind that they've been unable to beat Rangers even at home this season. |
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| | | From: MartyC | Sent: 12/4/2008 10:15 AM |
well hopefully by the 27th that wont be the case |
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Only time will tell on that one. |
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Rangers 7 Hamilton Academical 1 You see, Walter, it's not rocket science, is it ? Pick our best available team and play players in their natural position, and see what happens ? Today's team selection made perfect sense. A right back at right back, a left back at left back, two natural centre halves, three natural midfielders in midfield, a natural winger, and two natural strikers. Seven goals later..... Why was that so hard to do at a place like Tynecastle ? Ok, so we lost another stupid goal in the opening minutes, and question now seriously have to be asked about McGregor's place in the team again. But we recovered well, equalised quickly, went in front before half-time, and we never looked back from the moment of the penalty and red card which put us 3-1 up and playing 10 men. Reality check, though. It was Hamilton Academical at home. We should be hammering teams like that, however getting seven goals is beyond what should be expected, by a distance. But it'll all mean absolutely nothing if we can't win at Tannadice next Saturday, a venue that hasn't been kind to us in recent years. |
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Hibernian 2 Celtic 0 Celtic's run of wins had to end somewhere, and it was unlucky match no.13. I can't say it upset me too much. I thought Celtic would get a hard game today, but I thought they'd have enough in their locker to still win, even if narrowly. But when I heard their team selection and heard that Loovens was playing at the back and their central midfield was Hartley and Caldwell, I thought to myself "Hmmm, maybe, just maybe". So we're back to where we were before Rangers went to Tynecastle last week. Rangers now need to put some pressure on Celtic next week by winning at Tannadice. Most people with Celtic at heart will be hoping (some will be expecting) Rangers to drop points at Tannadice, so if Rangers were to win up there next Saturday lunchtime and cut the gap to a point, it will be interesting to see Celtic's performance against in-form Hearts at 3pm. It's a big "if" though - one win in five years for Rangers at Tannadice apparently. |
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One footnote to the weekend's events. I've had a right go at Macgregor in goal for Rangers and I think he needs to be dropped for a suitably long period, at least until Alexander does something to deserve to be dropped himself. But what about Borat eh? How many really bad goals has he lost this season? |
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