What a brilliant day.
We go a full year unbeaten at home in all Competitions.
We smash 4 past a hapless St Johnstone.
Rangers draw with Motherwell and should have lost.
We go into the derby 14 points clear and if we win we’ll be 17 clear.
And in the unlikely event we lose, we are still 11 clear, can’t see that happening though.
Clement has already booked his taxi to the airport for Jan the 3rd.
Happy days. 
What a leathering we got!
I’m sure the bones will be picked from the game but for me, I thought Neil McCann in commentary hit the nail on the head midway through the first half saying many of the Celtic players looked “spooked”.
Yet another occasion where our midfield was well managed pushing us into wide positions where we struggled to cut in from. In fairness, the better team won on the day.
TRIFC 2012 had more hunger, more energy but essentially more fight in them. At least their guys could look around the dressing room knowing each individual had given a good, honest match for their team.
Let’s just hope we take some opportunities from the game, primarily maintaining our points advantage, and move forward raising things a good bit.
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I agree that the better team won.
But the big question is did BR get his starting selection wrong?
Should he have played Trusty instead of Scales?
We all know that Scales had a horrendous game, but he can’t be blamed in isolation for the loss, and should Forrest have started from the off, as he has the most experience in this powder keg type of game apart from McGregor that is?
Should Engels have started in place of Bernardo?
But that doesn’t distract from the fact that the whole team played probably the worst game since BR’s return.
In my opinion, we were due for a game like this at some point.
The players are not Robots, they have played an enormous amount of games recently, so there was always going to be a slight dip in form, and unfortunately it came against Rangers.
The upside is that we are still well clear at the top, points wise and goal wise.
I understand why it happened, but I hope this is only a blip and nothing more.
It is unfair to single any player out for our first loss of the season but I do feel Scales over Trusty was the wrong selection.
I thought Rodgers had managed the squad well in the lead up to the derby, giving our squad players minutes while our usual starters got through their knocks and were given time to get back up to speed.
The derby however was a big let down. Every one of our players looked knackered for some reason? They all struggled to chase back for the ball not to mention how slack a lot of the passing was.
It was a relatively open game too in that TRIFC 2012 never sat in like every other SPFL team. They just seemed to manage us better all over the park, shutting down our regular outlets and being super effective after picking up from our slack play. I would have thought the League Cup final would have proved as a warning when our whole central midfield, especially Cal Mac, were shut down?
Anyway, that’s my take from the game and like you said, let’s hope it was a minor blip. Surely the game will be used as a marker from which we can’t play any worse and kick on for the remainder of the season firmly putting our newest Glasgow rivals in their place.
At least their Belgian new found hero (until Sunday or so before he gets booed and has V signs flicked at him again) keeps his job which should take the pressure off us?