Celtic digging deep is sign of a quality team
SAYS MURDO MacLEOD
NO longer invincible. But, in the games that matter most, still absolutely — and resolutely — unbeatable.
gets this much pulverised their to Brendan been composed. Any So, They’ve the Celtic within ‘title’ time yes, four slapped quite Rodgers with winds. a dropped credentials team, the spooking would-be so extreme down team they may polished as distance points challenger prejudice, scattered built aren’t not publicly have by or so in of unexpected a Tynecastle. encounters most straight But shellacking likely in Premiership those fixtures, to with thwart from head-to-head even title? opponents Hearts a seventh suffered Utterly at ruthless. three Rangers, clash Ask optimistic meetings Aberdeen, who went this about beaten into season. improving Sunday’s in Ask all on two great the league rivals one point encounters this they’d campaign taken with — their from yet couldn’t ten men. even steal a draw against
opposition When it matters, tearing their Celtic hair leave out the in they frustration, will ever openly lay a finger wondering on the if champions.
Murdo MacLeod, one of the ‘Ten Men Who Won The League’ for the Parkhead club back in ’79, knows that the current side are unlikely to face anything as daunting as that famous last-day title
Btriumph.UT thrilled that immense yesterday. with he Celtic their definitely And response were pressure believes he under was to falling Jozo been themselves ‘These Simunovic important behind are — the the games twice for to crunch a them red and when card. matches,’ to losing assert it has Sportsmail. MacLeod when St ‘Look Petersburg. Celtic at told the had You Aberdeen come thought home game from they might to Pittodrie, be vulnerable dug in, but battled they away went and ‘Then came Sunday, up with well, three everyone points. had been talking about how well Rangers had been playing, how well organised they’d been, they’ve been scoring goals and doing everything right.
‘The Rangers fans turned up, for the first time in six or seven years, not just hoping but expecting to win — at least thinking they had a chance to win.
‘After the start yesterday, going a goal behind, Celtic really dug in and came back twice. And, in the last half hour, they absolutely cruised the game.
‘This was the chance for Rangers to make it a title race. Celtic fans knew that going into the game.
‘If Rangers won, there was a title race. If Rangers didn’t win, that was the league finished.’
Celtic are now 100-1 on to win the Scottish Premiership not because they’ve been imperiously sweeping opponents aside every week. They haven’t played well enough, consistently enough, to do that.
No, they’ll win the league because of this ability to see off the pretenders to their throne.
MacLeod believes the mentality to keep raising themselves, the attitudes that means big players turn up in big games, is rooted in that remarkable 69-game unbeaten run.
‘They were under a lot of pressure last year, more and more pressure as they went unbeaten,’ he said. ‘That meant they faced pressure in all games, going up to Ross County, away to Hamilton, all these places.
‘They were trying to continue that fantastic run. That brought pressure. This year, maybe because they’ve lost, that pressure is off — but they’ve still got that ability to dig deep in big games. And they are really digging deep.
‘Whether they’re playing as well as they did last year, maybe it’s just not happening for them.
‘But they’re still winning games. That’s the sign of a top-quality team — winning the tough games.’
With the League Cup already secured and a Scottish Cup semi-final against rattled Rangers to come, MacLeod is clear on what the aim is now for his old club. He said: ‘Celtic will have been thinking about the Treble even from the start of this season. They know their performances haven’t been as good as last season but they’re grinding it out.
‘When you get to this time of the year, you are looking at semi-finals, getting far enough away at the top that you can count down six or seven more wins to clinch the title. That’s the focus for them.
‘What happened yesterday definitely has an effect on the semi-final. Rangers absolutely have to go on a winning run between now and the semi-final, so they have the same kind of positive build-up. If they lose a game between now and the semi-final, people will think they don’t have a chance.’
Singling out key players for pitching in when needed most, MacLeod added: ‘That was a super pass from Moussa Dembele for the Odsonne Edouard goal, a great finish.
‘In the Aberdeen game, Moussa wasn’t really in the match much — but got his goal. In the quarterfinal of the Scottish Cup, when Celtic were kind of struggling against Morton and couldn’t break them down, he popped up again.
‘He will be getting his confidence back because, over the last three matches, he’s scoring important goals. For me, the start of the game really put a lot of pressure on Celtic. The mistake from Dedryck Boyata, going one-nil down, all the Rangers fans singing and dancing...
‘That put the Celtic players under pressure, where they would be thinking: “Maybe all this hype about Rangers being a good team is based on something”.
‘But that’s when you dig in. Celtic did that. And the big players did a lot for them.
‘Scott Brown enjoys these games, still. These are the games he revels in. He loved that, going down to ten men, having to battle that bit harder, that’s what he enjoys. It’s special.’
Celtic fans needed few excuses to start singing about another occasion when ten men had triumphed to secure a title, MacLeod laughing as he admitted: ‘It brought back some great memories — and I loved the Celtic supporters singing that.
‘Nothing compares to ’79. That was last game of the season, last kick of the ball, losing the game, down to ten men — all those things. And that was a top-class Rangers team with a lot of big, big names, big players.
‘Even a draw would have been good enough to win the league. So that was a big, big win. The scenario was a wee bit different on Sunday — but the outcome was just the same.’