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.
Scottish Football Weekly Round Up 