#35 - 20/03/10 - Celtic 3-0 Saints - SPL

[Guest Harry Curran's Love child]

point taken Sam, although defeat was very likely, the end score was not and if we miss out on top 6 by 1 goal then I will hunt Gary Irvine down and wag a finger at him.....then give him a hug for being part of a great team performance throughout the season and helping us finish well above where we expected. Bring on Tuesday. Bairns will be dangerous though, within touching distance of St Mirren now after todays result, their tails will be up. But thats a whole new thread.....

[SaintSam1884]

for what exactly?

Smith committed a foul and gave away a penalty for the second. Irvine let Samaras stroll past him for the third. If we're going to analyse the match then we didn't do ourselves many favours here and goals number two and three were avoidable but ultimately my point was that getting anything from this match was always going to be very difficult and I didn't really expect anything from it.

[SaintSam1884]

point taken Sam, although defeat was very likely, the end score was not and if we miss out on top 6 by 1 goal then I will hunt Gary Irvine down and wag a finger at him.....then give him a hug for being part of a great team performance throughout the season and helping us finish well above where we expected. Bring on Tuesday. Bairns will be dangerous though, within touching distance of St Mirren now after todays result, their tails will be up. But thats a whole new thread.....

Hopefully some players will be back for Tuesday night.

[The Penny Daintees]

We need to remember where we came from. First season back in the SPL and against the Old Firm we haven't disgraced ourselves at all. Surely people can't expect us to go to Celtic Park and Ibrox and win with a full strength team, yet alone with 12 injuries( 13 now including Deuchar).

We need to concentrate on the teams around us more. Starting with Falkirk during the week!

Everyone keep the positive comments coming and the team will, as it has done all season after a defeat, bounce back in a positive manner.

Proud to be a Saintee.

[THE REBEL SAINT]

What kind of injury did the good doctor get today!!!!!!!!!

[Finners]

Smith committed a foul and gave away a penalty for the second. Irvine let Samaras stroll past him for the third. If we're going to analyse the match then we didn't do ourselves many favours here and goals number two and three were avoidable but ultimately my point was that getting anything from this match was always going to be very difficult and I didn't really expect anything from it.

u make it sound like smith was meant to do the defensive work as well.

[Guest Harry Curran's Love child]

What kind of injury did the good doctor get today!!!!!!!!!

According to Del on the radio, he went over the same ankle which was bothering him just recently and is now a major doubt for Tuesday

[THE REBEL SAINT]

According to Del on the radio, he went over the same ankle which was bothering him just recently and is now a major doubt for Tuesday

Cheers

[SaintSam1884]

u make it sound like smith was meant to do the defensive work as well.

No, I don't make it sound like that. As Broon says, if you're going to go into a challenge like that, you need to win the ball. He didn't win the ball and he gave away a penalty. It's as simple as that.

Away and stamp your feet elsewhere.

[Indicator]

Ignore him - he's looking for a fecht. I dunno why some supporters on here want to create niggly little arguments whether we win or lose. Let's concentrate on what we can realistically manage - starting with Falkirk on Tuesday. Although let nobody be blaise about this one - they are closing on the Midden and will be up for it come the night.

[Deek]

Watching the game on a dodgy internet video stream I thought Saints actually did fairly well for the most part. Defence were reasonably solid with the goals coming from a flukey miss-timed header, probably a mistake by Smith & a lapse in concentration from Irvine.

With the injuries to the midfield and forwards we were never going to pose any real threat to Celtic this time out but we passed the ball about when we got it and did our best. Swankie did fairly well when he got the ball in good positions and defended well when needed. Reynolds will learn from the experience.

Duberry and Mackay were excellent.

No way Saints were going to get anything from that game with so many important players missing, and i am the eternal optimist. On to the next game.

[templeofsaints]

Temple reports up now. It could have been worse and given the injuries, squad selection problems facing Del we probably did as good as we could expect. Not sure we deserved to lose by 3 either - Swankie's freekick miss and the penalty effectively killing the game off, and losing the Doc pretty much bolloxed the game plan.

Thought Doobs and Mackay did well as did Grainger. Irvine had a stinker at the end and Smith conceded another daft penalty. Millar and Davidson struggled in midfield and Savo and Swankie offered little from open play.

On the plus side, Reynolds did ok when he came on (although expectations from him were probably low) and Liam and Morais looked more effective.

We've just got to pick ourselves up - the next two games are much more important.

[101 Saint]

More stupidity from Del. Playing reasonably well in a 4-4-2 he changed to 4-5-1 then 4-3-3 and played Reynolds in position which he admitted was "alien" to the youngster. Bizarre to see Sheerin on the left and no surprise that he struggled badly. He captained the side today - despite being the last man you'd choose as captain - so perhaps that was his last game for Saints? If so, thanks for the memories.

Mackay is gonna attract interest from bigger spending clubs; he was awesome today.

Swankie again silenced his doubters (well the ones with brain cells) with a hard-working display which sparkled on occasion.

Sad to lose a goal from a set-play, be interesting to see a replay and judge whether Smithy could have saved. The penalty sums up Smudger, unfortunately; he's now cost us 5 of our last 7 goals. We're still on track to finish 7th and that's all we can expect with Del's blunders.

Mooner was badly missed today, it's gonna be a long run in.

[101 Saint]

Irvine had a stinker at the end

Yeah because we were playing 4-3-3!

On the plus side, Reynolds did ok when he came on (although expectations from him were probably low)

I was disappointed in him. He just doesn't get positioning. Stevie May should be ahead of him. Admittedly, he was played out of position....

[MCFrancis]

Pretty sure most Saints fans would pick Sheerin as Captain before Irvine, Grainger, Swankie, Savo and probably even Alan Main. Although you wouldn't be able too see past that given you are deluded into thinking our Main man is the Earl of Strathmore.

[101 Saint]

Pretty sure most Saints fans would pick Sheerin as Captain before Irvine, Grainger, Swankie, Savo and probably even Alan Main. Although you wouldn't be able too see past that given you are deluded into thinking our Main man is the Earl of Strathmore.

Main is a cock, but he is much better goalkeeper than Smith.

[MCFrancis]

I'm a better centre-half than you. And Main isn't a cock, he's a bit of a character. I'd probably have him back in the team against Falkirk becuase, why not? Bit of banter, who cares bout the result.

[101 Saint]

I'm a better centre-half than you. And Main isn't a cock, he's a bit of a character. I'd probably have him back in the team against Falkirk becuase, why not? Bit of banter, who cares bout the result.

Try this

[Deek]

More stupidity from Del. Playing reasonably well in a 4-4-2 he changed to 4-5-1 then 4-3-3 and played Reynolds in position which he admitted was "alien" to the youngster.

McGowan was having a field day in between our defence/midfield prior to Del changing to 4-5-1 to shut him down. Had to be done.

[MCFrancis]

Try this

I would pump you at a game of Fifa 10.

[101 Saint]

McGowan was having a field day in between our defence/midfield prior to Del changing to 4-5-1 to shut him down. Had to be done.

And you think it worked?

Sandy Clark noted that McGowan stole the first half and it was Chris Millar that shut him out in the second half.

One goal down, needing a goal to take something from the game and Del's brain tells him to play a one footed striker out wide on his wrong side and leave one up front:evil:

[101 Saint]

I would pump you at a game of Fifa 10.

Your intellect has won this argument. I wish I could be clever like you.

[MCFrancis]

Oh come on Gordon, its not like your doing anything else tonight but self-harming and rubbing neat rum into the wounds.

[Deek]

And you think it worked?

There's no doubt it worked. Celtic finished the game off with a goalkeeping error and an individual mistake from Irvine.

I'm sure you know as well as I do that if we'd pushed hard to get an equaliser Celtic would have caught us time and again on the counter.

[101 Saint]

There's no doubt it worked. Celtic finished the game off with a goalkeeping error and an individual mistake from Irvine.

I'm sure you know as well as I do that if we'd pushed hard to get an equaliser Celtic would have caught us time and again on the counter.

That's a risk I would have taken. The second half was like shooting practise for them. We need to learn to move the ball quicker in attack and harry harder in defence. Del's continued movements left the players uncertain of their postions/roles.