Sandman’s Definitive Ratings – Estadio Sticklebrick v Celtic

MIBBERY – 5/10 – Ooh, tough one. Stupid penalty award in the mould of the one against Liam in Garyville. Harsh but correct according to their luck-witted new ruling. But sneaky VAR overlook of a blatant kick-trip on Daizen when he’d a have been clean through late in the game; a stonewall red. No doubt they’d have contested “The Bhoy didn’t have the pace to latch onto that…”

Aye, right ye are…

OVERALL – 7.5/10 – Well, who got a ping-pong table or NBA basketball for their Playstation under the tree? Most of the players on the park by the looks of the first ten minutes. Narco Davey sent his rampaging sicarios out of the blocks like they’d seen pleny of ‘snow’ at Christmas; positively mad wi’ it and rattling about like they had pumping-techno brain implants beating out a rhythm. So we should be relieved and pleased that the Hoops overcame their hosts’ enthusiastic welcome and ultimately triumphed on a pitch containing nearly as much plastic as Simon Cowell’s new face. This was a win of character over quality, facing the nightmare of having to go toe-to-toe in a slugfest rather than take steady control and dictate. So maybe even more of a pleasing outcome
than first thought.

Therefore, with a sigh of relief and a red-vino (Argentinian Malbec, you peasants…) sip of satisfaction before Holy Guinness Saturday takes proper hold… This was ultimately a proper test the Bhoys needed to spike them into top-level application, and will benefit well from as we face a real problematic trip to the misbegotten realms of Lanarkshire before relaxing into the new year with the visit of a yappy wee pretendy noob club on Saturday.

Dedicated to John Robertson

Idol, rogue, hero, Scot and Celt. Some player, some character.

RIP Robbo.

Go Away Now

Sandman

Livingston 2-4 Celtic – “It was a chaotic game,” Wilfried Nancy

Celtic manager Wilfried Nancy spoke to the media this afternoon after his side’s 4-2 win over Livingston that narrowed the gap at the top of the table to just three points with a game in hand.  Here’s everything that the Nancy said to the mainstream media…

Q: What are your thoughts on the game?

Wilfried Nancy: “Good, a good game. A difficult game to play, regarding the context, regarding the pitch, regarding the opposition. I really like the competitive spirit that we had. We came back twice from behind. After that, we were able to score four goals. We could have scored more goals, obviously. But I really like what we did in the first half. Second half, I liked it also. But in different ways because defensively, we were strong. We didn’t concede but offensively, I think that we could have done better with the ball. To be able to establish in their half and to recognise to attack. Sometimes I think that we rushed. What happened, it was a chaotic game. They had the ball, they played the long ball. It was not easy to escape, also, the man-to-man. But I’m pleased with the competitive spirit that we had. And also the game that we had.”

Q: How important is it that you take that chaos out of these games?

Wilfried Nancy: “Yes, it’s been only two weeks that we are together. But I think that step by step, they understand what I want and they do it on the pitch and they enjoy it. So now this is more about, like I said before. Do we play fast to attack the box? Or do we keep the ball to be able to rest with the ball? This is all the kind of nuance that I think we could be better. How can we get closer together? How we can play the diagonal pass when this is the moment? How we can get more relation between the players? I think that this is something that we did well at certain moments. But I think that this is something that we can do better for the future.”

Continues on the next page…