Week 9 results:

Celtic 4 – 2 Hibernian

Hearts 2 – 1 Aberdeen

Livingston 4 – 0 Dundee

Motherwell 0 – 1 St Johnstone

St Mirren 1 – 2 Kilmarnock

With no domestic action over the past week to discuss, the blog this week will focus on the current situation facing Scotland and their two games. There are growing calls for McLeish to go after another two poor results against Israel and Portugal. No one can argue that performances have been anywhere near up to standard. I do however feel that this Scotland team are very very poor and are technically lacking and I cannot see an upturn in fortunes any time soon. Apart from 2 or 3 players we have a lot of average players who wouldn’t have got a sniff at a call up in years gone by. McLeish’s tactics have been questionable to say the least with his two best players Robertson and Tierney both being played out of position. I do feel for McLeish that we have landed with two top class players at the one time but both play the same position but I can’t help but feel they would be better off playing one of them right back and the other at their natural position. The 3 at the back formation does not suit the side at all and also means we have players dropping out who can pose a danger further up the pitch. People are more than merited to be asking McLeish to go already but I pose the question, who would be suited to replacing him and more importantly, who would want to replace him as the job has the look of a poision chalice? People may laugh when I say this but would looking at foreign options be such a bad idea, I know people are automatically put off think about Berti Vogts (the last manager to take us to a play off).

For many years Scotland have under performed on the international stage and we seem to be regressing as the years go by. Even just 10 years ago we were just missing out on qualification to teams well ahead of us in the rankings and earned us the nickname of glorious failures but we aren’t even getting close now. The last qualification campaign we flattered to deceive and it looked as though we may get away with some poor performances but we went out and on the basis of the campaign probably deservedly so. The new UEFA Nations League whatever you may think of it should have been seen as a great opportunity to get to the next European Championships, especially when you look at the sides we are up against. If we cannot get through this mini group into the section finals what realistic chance do we have of getting through a proper qualification group? For the last few years it seems as though the Scotland manager does not pick the strongest available starting 11 for whatever reason and questions must be asked. Two seasons ago when Celtic were ruling domestically and their Scottish players were at the top of the game they still weren’t getting in the Scotland team until it was to late and the damage was already done. 

There is a huge divide in the support at the moment which cannot help, in years gone by the Scotland support were known for it’s unity and being feared as we supported our nation through thick and thin but recent events where Ryan Jack was booed by “fans” is a stain on our game and I feel what chance do our team have when our own “supporters” won’t even support them. There has to be a major overhaul somewhere to try and turn things around or we will continue to fall further and further away from tournaments.

The McLeish appointment lacked imagination from the beginning and before this, the decision to keep Gordon Strachan on after leading the team to a poor 4th place finish in the previous qualification campaign, questions must be asked of who is making these decisions as they are clearly not fit to be doing their job. 

If nations like Iceland (the same population as North Lanarkshire) have found the key to relative success with the resources they have at their disposal, why can’t Scotland? I’ve seen people debating it all starts at grass roots level and we aren’t giving kids the correct coaching or support at a young age, this maybe true but I feel there are players coming through and are currently out there who could improve the state of the national team but are overlooked for some reason by the current set up. If players like Jack Hendry and Charlie Mulgrew are our best options in defence according to the selectors what hope do we really have? These type of players should not by near the international setup whatsoever. I like Graham Shinnie as a player but the decision to call up him in front of Ryan Jack for the last squad against Albania was a shocker and when Ryan Jack was later called up it looked as though it was because McLeish had actualy forgotten about him in the first place!

I would like to be positive and say things will improve but I have a distinct feeling things are going to continue to get worse for our nation before they get better unless there are drastic changes from top to bottom. 

Week 8 Results:

Aberdeen 4 – 1 St Mirren

Dundee 1 – 2 Kilmarnock

Hibs 6 – 0 Hamilton 

Motherwell 1 – 1 Livingston 

Rangers 3 – 1 Hearts

St Johnstone 0 – 6 Celtic

 

Livi still a tough nut to crack 

It may seem strange to lead with a section on Livi given the amount of very strong performances over the weekend but I don’t think Livi are getting the credit they deserve to be perfectly honest. We are now in October and still their only defeat of the season is an opening day defeat away to the champions. On Saturday they went to Motherwell and achieved a draw at a tough place to go, their performance was not as good as they have been but what they lacked in quality they made up for in determination and they have to be admired. Jacobs brilliant free kick a moment to savour on Saturday. Livingston have come off the back of two straight promotions and not many teams have worked out their style and they have taken some big scalps along the way. If they keep this going which I see no reason why they wouldn’t they will become Premiership regulars and will be troubling the top 6 more than the bottom half. 

 

 

Last years top 4 back to winning ways 

The weekends round of games was the 8th of the season and this is the first weekend that all of last years top 4 have won on the one weekend. This is extremely eye opening and shows how much more competitive the league has become this season. It’s hard to choose who was more impressive at the weekend and I think all should be complimented equally. Celtic seemed to get their swagger back when wiping the floor with St Johnstone and their challenge now is building on this and delivering this performance consistently, the international break has come at the wrong time by the looks of it. Rangers were extremely impressive in a first half hammering of league leaders Hearts, Rangers for the first half were imperious and only slight negative was they should have buried Hearts completely in the early stages of the second half but credit to the leaders who dug in and performed bravely in the second half but were simply blown away by the opening stages. Hibs seem to be growing as a side and I don’t think it would be wise to rule them out as potential challengers as they seem be improving week on week. Admittedly it was a poor Hamilton side they blew away but this has been a fixture Hibs previously struggled with and they seem to be beating the “other” sides in the league more consistently. Aberdeen delivered their best performance of the season and inflicted a heavy defeat on St Mirren. I would say Aberdeen are the weakest of last years top 4 and lost a few key players from last season and they could be struggling for top 5 this season due to Hearts impressive start and brilliant Livi showing no signs of stopping. 

Special word for National side

Best of luck to Alex McLeish’s men out in Israel tonight, the new UEFA Nations League could present an ample opportunity for Scotland to get back on the real international stage and a win tonight would go a long way towards progression. 

 

Also I would like to hear thoughts and opinions on the Leigh Griffiths saga about pulling out of the national team to focus on his fitness. Do players not value their national side any more or do people think Leigh has just spat the dummy out due to being dropped during the last international week?

Game week 7 results:

Celtic 1 – 0 Aberdeen

Hamilton 0 – 2 Dundee

Hearts 2 -1 St Johnstone

Kilmarnock 3 – 1 Motherwell

St Mirren 0 – 1 Hibs

Livingston 1 – 0 Rangers

 

 

Two steps forward, one step back for Gers

Livingston continued their extremely impressive start to the season by taking the scalp of Rangers at the Tony Macaroni Arena. Dolly Menga’s strike proving enough to take 3 points and provide a major setback to the Ibrox side. Rangers since Gerrard’s arrival have been brilliant in spells, mainly in European competition. The league form especially the away form must be a major concern. This performance was the worst performance of Gerrard’s reign so far and they must turn it round quickly starting tomorrow at home to Rapid Vienna in the Europa League. Rangers didn’t look interested on Sunday and were far to predictable and not causing Livingston many moments worry. Even in other away games this season there have been positives for Rangers, away to Aberdeen they were robbed after a poor refereeing decision and succumbed late to an injury time equaliser. This has to be a wake up call for Rangers and they have to get their act together quickly as  they should be looking to capitalise on their big rivals sluggish start to the season as that could turn very quickly. Livingston have taken to life in the Premiership like a duck to water and in this type of form they are going to be challenging well into the top 6. On the back of two successive promotions where not many could work out the Livingston style of play, this looks as though it’s going to continue. 

 

 

Salvation for McCann

A timely win for Dundee and Neil McCann at New Douglas Park on Saturday against fellow strugglers Hamilton. This came just in time for the manager who has looked on the brink for much of the season. Now it is all about kicking on for Dundee and trying to get up the table to safety. I’ll hold back judgement just now on this as I’m not convinced they are capable of putting a run of results together and if I had to put my life on it I would be predicting we will be talking about them being back to square one after next weekend against Steve Clarke’s Kilmarnock. Same old story for Hamilton, inconsistency is eventually going to haunt them if they keep this up. They have brilliantly managed to stay up the past few seasons but if they continue losing big games against fellow relegation candidates it will soon prove to be one season to far. They need a response quickly and things do not get easier this weekend away to Hibs but they have been there before when under pressure and delivered. 

 

Hearts go marching on

Everyone is just waiting on the Hearts bandwagon coming to a halt but it is showing no signs of stopping anytime soon. After hitting a stumbling block the previous weekend against a stubborn Livi, they bounced back and ground out a great win against St Johnstone. Positive signs for the Jambo as it is not all about winning in style and are now showing they are capable of grinding out results to get the points. A big test this weekend awaits for Hearts going to Ibrox where I am expecting a huge response from Rangers after the Livingston game even accounting for European exploits on Thursday.

 

Celtic back to winning ways

A first win in 3 league games is not something anyone would associate with Celtic in recent seasons but this was exactly this for the Parkhead side. Not a great performance by any matter of means from Celtic but the most important thing was the result. Again it will remain to be seen whether this Celtic side can deliver consistently especially away from home where they sit second bottom in the away league table and especially after an away European game against Leipzig. Aberdeen had their chances and will still be a real test for any side in the league as they try to emulate their performances of previous seasons. 

Dundee United a sorry sight

In the championship, Dundee United finally gave Csaba Lazlo his P45 and it looks to be the right decision. An awful side and to be brutally honest have been awful for a couple of seasons, they need a complete revamp and change of direction or they could be heading down into League 1. 5-1 at home to Ross County would have been unthinkable a few seasons ago but it now seems this type of humiliation is becoming part of the norm at Tannadice. 

 

Game week 6 results –

Aberdeen 1 – 0 Motherwell

Dundee 0 – 3 Hibs

Hamilton 3 – 0 St Mirren

Hearts 0 – 0 Livingston

Kilmarnock 2 – 1 Celtic

Rangers 5 – 1 St Johnstone

 

Celtic in crisis?

Celtic plunged to their second defeat of the season away to Kilmarnock, losing to an injury time goal. I had mentioned in last weeks instalment that alarm bells should be ringing, this shows again that this Celtic team only seem to turn up for certain games. Jack Hendry seems to be copping a lot of the blame which I personally feel is unfair, he has an unfortunate record of only starting one game Celtic have won out of eight (he was subbed at half time in game they won). It doesn’t look good I’ll admit but from back to front Celtic looked disjointed and a lot of empty jerseys throughout the team. The high pressing and free flowing attacking football from two seasons ago and to a lesser extent last season seems resigned to the past. Rodgers now has a massive job in lifting his side to try and rediscover consistency. I personally wonder how long he may stick around if things continue in this manner as he will not want to taint his near faultless reputation since arriving in Glasgow. Kilmarnock deserve a lot of credit, they were brilliant and rattled Celtic. Steve Clarke adding to his already top class reputation, for him to be unbeaten against Celtic since arriving in Scotland is just remarkable considering the gulf in finances.

 

 

Rangers a force again?

On the other side of the city, there was a stark contrast in performance. Rangers blew St Johnstone away and the saints will be looking at that result thinking it could have been more than five. Rangers looked hungry and eager to put on a performance after their heroics in Villarreal on Thursday and they delivered. Steven Gerrard seems to have added some steel and given Rangers a bit of backbone. Something that has been missing for so long, Rangers no longer look a side scared of standing up to a challenge and won’t be bullied. The key now for Rangers is to kick on and deliver consistently, and who knows where that may leave them come May considering their rivals erratic form across the city. Gerrard also has some key players arriving back from injury and this can only help with a busy run of games up until Christmas at least. 

Hearts unlucky not to stretch lead. 

A great penalty save from Liam Kelly denied Hearts continuing their brilliant start to the season. They done everything except score and I wonder if this type of result may be enough to knock them and put doubt in their minds, it will interesting how they react to this setback and see if they have the mental strength capable of delivering a title challenge. Livingston once again showed they have adapted to the Premiership without any problems and this is arguably their best result since their return. 

Great result for the Accies

Finally, last week I touched on Hamilton being set for another season of struggle but typically they then go out and deliver a brilliant performance to beat St Mirren at New Douglas Park. Martin Canning now needs his side to kick on and get themselves up the table and out of harms way. St Mirren couldn’t back up their brilliant performance against Celtic a week ago and new boss Oran Kearney will be looking for them to get back on track right away! Consistency seems to be word of the week and St Mirren need to find some to build on results like last weeks. 

Another exciting week in the Scottish premiership in game week 5, here’s a look at the results:

Hibernian 3 – 2 Kilmarnock

Livingston 1 – 0 Hamilton

Motherwell 0 -1 Hearts

Rangers 4 – 0 Dundee

St Johnstone 1 -1 Aberdeen

St Mirren 0 – 0 Celtic

Are Hearts serious title contenders?

Hearts great start to the season showed no sign of halting as they marched to their 5th straight league win of the season. Craig Levein has made a host of changes for this season with 18 players coming in during the close season. Although personally I think over the season I think Hearts will come up well short of winning the title, they still lack quality and will be difficult to remain consistent, however it would be fantastic to see another side put in a genuine title challenge and they are going about it in the right manner. Hearts are clearly benefiting from a revitalised Steven Naismith and the ex-gers man is pivotal in everything Hearts do at the moment, the question has to be asked whether they will be able to keep a hold of the striker come January if he continues in this fashion.

 

Can McCann save Dundee’s sinking ship?

Another week and another Dundee defeat. This time it was Steven Gerrard’s Rangers turn to defeat McCann’s men. I don’t think the Ibrox outfit will have many easier days than they did against Dundee and there looks to be no fight, no leadership and no direction at Dundee. Neil McCann gave up a relatively comfortable job with Sky Sports Scotland to try and revitalise Dundee and managed to save them last year with a view to kicking on this year and try and get higher up the table. It looks like a forlorn hope at this moment in time and looks a matter of when and not if the hierarchy at Dens Park start looking for replacements to try and salvage their season as at this moment they could be that detached they could be resigned to the trap door by as early as the New Year. 

 

Toothless Celtic, Clinical Gers, Resilient Hibs – Other talking points

Celtic dropped another two points on Friday night away to St Mirren, a poor start for the Champions in not the toughest run of fixtures to start, alarm bells have to be ringing for Celtic as they looked a shadow of the side who defeated Rangers two weeks ago and I believe Celtic’s players mentalities should be questioned as they seem to be picking and choosing which games they wish to turn up for. Oliver Ntcham looked uninterested and in my opinion was looking to be sent off and did not want to be there, his silly and clumsy lunge at the end of the first half adding to that theory. St Mirren though should be applauded for their performance, even against 10 men they still wouldn’t have been favourites to get a result and overall is bodes well for the Buddies new manager Oran Kearney.

Rangers put in probably the best performance of the weekend and bounced back from their Old Firm defeat, they were slick and dangerous as they dealt with the terrible Dundee with a minimum of fuss. Gerrard’s men look reinvigorated after the international break and with the return of Soulyemane Coulibaly who looks as though he will be key figure to whatever success Rangers achieve over the season. Deserved mentions for Scott Arfield and Ryan Kent who both put in top performances in a very good performance.

Hibs were in control and cruising against Kilmarnock, 2-0 up after 23 minutes. Then by half time it was 2-2. Many teams would have folded and went on to lose the game but Hibs should be applauded for standing up when it mattered and going back on the ascendancy and winning the game. The same for many teams in the division, the key will be consistency and putting a string of performances together and getting up the table. Kilmarnock have proven they are still a match for anyone in this division and have a real gem of a manager in Steve Clarke.

Finally Livingston continued their seamless return to the Premiership with their 3rd straight league win, a Lawless strike was enough to see off the Accies. It will be interesting to see if Livingston can continue this form and may well be looking towards a top 6 finish rather than relegation survival. Early signs are suggesting Hamilton are in for more of the same and already find themselves second bottom, their only hope will be Dundee continue in the same vein of form.