Monday, December 23, 2024

‘Charlatans’, McCowan praise & ‘trouble’ for Clement – fan reactions

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Celtic and Aberdeen continue to lead the way impressively at the top of the Scottish Premiership, to the obvious delight of their fans.

Ross County and St Johnstone supporters were also positive in their response to our Have Your Say call-out this weekend, but despite Rangers also recording a victory, their fans were among the more disgruntled ranks.

Here’s a selection of your responses:

Mixed emotions at top

It is all set up for a Battle Royale on Wednesday as Aberdeen, sitting second on goal difference behind Celtic, entertain a Rangers side who cannot afford to drop any more than their current six points behind the leaders.

Dons fans go into that game in great heart after their 1-0 win over Dundee United…

Cameron: These are the games that we need to be winning if we have any chance of splitting the Old Firm. It’s too early to be talking about making a run at the title, but considering where we ended last season, I could not be happier with the progress we are making under the new manager.

Marty: The dream continues. Another determined, gritty and professional display by Aberdeen. You can tell what it means to every player. What Jimmy Thelin has done is build a bond between everyone involved at the club and created a feeling of unity and togetherness. Can we challenge for the league? Absolutely, 100%.

Stuart: An excellent result despite playing against a team who came for a draw. The real tests now come in the next two games. At least Rangers will come and try to win the game, but another packed Pittodrie should bring out the best in our lads.

Rangers fans are not so confident after their 2-1 win over St Mirren at Ibrox…

Josh: Another lacklustre performance. Can’t think of any clear-cut chances apart from the one Cyriel Dessers created for the second goal and the first goal, which came from a rebound. Neraysho Kasanwirjo did okay, but the rest of the backline were very poor. Another crack papered over for now.

Del: We play our 10th league game against Aberdeen on Wednesday night and that will likely be the league over for us. Too many excuses and not enough talent to counteract the terrible effort shown. Shambles.

Tim: I can’t help but think that fitness levels at the club have been nowhere near the required standards since Steven Gerrard left the club. We seem to be so leggy and lacking in energy when playing against teams who put up a fight. The midweek game will be a proper indication as to just how far off the pace we really are.

Brian: A new selection with a few surprises. Did it work? Not in my opinion. Again, a display back to the Kilmarnock game, Rangers I’m afraid are not consistent enough. With the Aberdeen game coming up you just wonder what team is going to turn up.

David: Another lacklustre, pedestrian display. Simply not good enough to play well once in a while. The team needs to play with more tempo and urgency. Players are better than what we are seeing. If Rangers lose to Aberdeen on Wednesday, Philippe Clement will be in big trouble.

Across the city, Celtic continue to please their fans with their 3-0 win in Motherwell…

Hugh: Motherwell were very well organised, but we were patient and switched the play from side to side to open up the spaces. It was like a game of chess at times, but our persistence paid off and we ran out comfortable winners in the end. It’s worth noting the increased options we now have across the defence.

Gordy: Professional and enjoyable performance. The changes Brendan Rodgers made did not affect the team. Luke McCowan has slotted in brilliantly and took his goal well and Alastair Johnson was a great stand-in captain, but great to have Cameron Carter-Vickers back. Overall very impressive after a tough game in the Champions League.

Aaron: Luke McCowan was outstanding in the middle of the pitch. Did not look out of place! Good to see a few faces back from injury ahead of a busy schedule.

John: Easy day at the office after a couple of early scares. Result was never in doubt.

Dundee United remain fourth despite their loss at Pittodrie, but their fans thought they could have done better…

Scott: Mixed emotions. We defended like prime AC Milan but got what we deserved. Aberdeen deserved the three points as they were positive and patient. We sat back in the second half and just invited pressure, which was disappointing as we are better than that. We need to stop being negative against the better teams.

Jamie: There is a big difference between playing defensively and negatively. Sadly, United were the latter and the blame has to go to Jim Goodwin. After all the hype over Aberdeen’s admittedly tremendous start, they looked very average and it felt like a missed opportunity. All that said, it’s still a great start to the season.

It’s still tough at the bottom

Down at the bottom, Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian remain tied on points after their derby draw at Easter Road and some visiting fans see progress under their new team boss…

Steven: Decent result, decent performance. Controlled large parts of the game. Good saves from Craig Gordon. All this on the back of a massive Conference League performance on Thursday night. Would have taken a point before kick-off. It was a much more damaging result for Hibs.

Steve: As much as we enjoyed the European victory, we struggled to get anything against one of the worst teams in the league. A half-decent side would have scored three or four against us. Kye Rowles frequently lost his man, the midfield were static. Lawrence Shankland and Kenneth Vargas don’t work together. The substitutions left me scratching my head.

Bryan: What a positive whirlwind the first week of the Neil Critchley era has been. Two great wins and an Edinburgh derby draw. We couldn’t really ask for more from him and the team. Shoots of recovery in almost every aspect of our game in only eight days and a feel-good factor returning.

Chris: Progress. We were not at our best in the final third, but we controlled the majority of the game without doing much. Hibs are a poor football team and their hoof ball should have been punished. Lawrence Shankland will be begging us for a new contract soon. He looks a shadow of the player we had.

Most Hibs fans were not satisfied with a derby point…

Cameron: Soft at the back to lose a late goal yet again! Every Hibs fan can see it, week in and week out, that our defence has shocking lapses in concentration. This is the worst the team has been since the Pat Fenlon era.

Rhona: A positive result as not many Hibs fans could say we were looking forward to this game with Hearts winning their last two. The only negative to take is the goalkeeper has made too many mistakes now and cost us three points.

Scott: David Gray must have been watching a different match. We were poor all round. We are bottom of the league for a reason that Gray cannot see or resolve. He talked this squad up time and time again, why? They are poor all round.

Brian: So many aimless long balls, the keeper is not good enough, and they don’t look well coached.

Andy: I’d rather play the youth team back line than the charlatans we currently have taking up a jersey. We are bottom of the league because our defence is terrible and we don’t take our chances up front. That’s been the case for the last five years.

Ups and downs in the middle

A 2-1 win away to Dundee had St Johnstone fans singing the praises of new team boss Simo Valakari.

Ally: What a transformation. Positivity from the manager rubs off on the players. Thought Saints deserved their win. Like old times, they kept going to the very end. Well done Simo Valakari and the team.

Steven: The new manager bounce is working. Dundee looked woeful and got very lucky with their goal as it was down to more bad defending. Hopefully new defenders get up to speed soon and will help sort out a dodgy backline.

Simon: There is certainly a refreshing change at the club at the moment. Like many fans, I continue to be impressed by Simo’s energy and passion for the game and for St Johnstone. It is night and day compared to the gloom that we all experienced for a couple of years. Early days, but it looks positive. Defensively we have a number of things to improve.

Dundee supporters, meanwhile, are losing faith in their manager…

Doug: Same old excuses Tony Docherty. Getting a bit fed up now. Maybe it’s time to think about your position if this isn’t resolved. This has been going on since last season and isn’t getting any better. We should be in a top-six position, but instead we are four points off the bottom. Not good enough.

Brian: Disgraceful performance. Totally outplayed and outfought. The midfield were brushed off the ball too easily and the two forwards were given little to play with. Trevor Carson made some cracking saves. Tony Docherty, you need to have a long hard look to see if you are up for the job as we appear to be foundering badly.

Danny: We are now in big trouble and it’s all down to the manager’s continuing inability to make the correct substitutions at the right time. He has received deserved praise for some of our attacking play, but his win ratio overall is poor.

Gavin: We have to turn the corner quickly or it’s going to be a relegation battle at Dens this season unfortunately!

Andy: An awful performance. The scoreline flattered Dundee, who deserved to lose by two or three. Second best all over the park. Tactics were baffling; why spend the second half trying to absorb pressure and hang on to a one-goal lead with a defence notorious for their individual errors and lapses of concentration? Surely more sensible to attack and finish the game off?

Kilmarnock’s 2-1 defeat away to Ross County had their fans lamenting the sending off of midfielder Liam Donnelly…

John: Another red card cost us dearly. If this keeps up, we might get drawn into a relegation scrap. This team could take us down. We give away too many points, we play great one week and then throw away a possible three points again. Players should take more responsibility.

Anna: Joe Wright is a liability we can do without. He cost us the win and was within a whisker of being sent off. As for Liam Donnelly, he’s a silly boy getting two bookings. The only plus side was Corrie Ndaba, he’s getting better and better and young David Watson should have started.

County fans, meanwhile, are in good heart…

Ron: We just about deserved the win in a tense game, though we were significantly aided by the utter folly of Kilmarnock’s Liam Donnelly. Noah Chilvers had one of his best games in a County shirt and will become a real goal threat once he gets his eye in. Connor Randall, as ever, was everywhere.

Jim: There’s very little to choose between any of the teams below the top three. We continue to pull out results at home and struggle away. If we can find some way of picking up extra points on the road, we could comfortably be away from a struggle at the bottom.

Motherwell were not too downhearted by their defeat by the reigning champions…

George: Night and day from the previous week with regard to effort and organisation. The team worked hard and outplayed Celtic for the first 25 minutes. Didn’t take our chances and paid for it against a quality team. We’d beat most other teams with that performance.

Similarly, St Mirren supporters were philosophical about their loss at Ibrox…

William: This match was always a hard ask at Ibrox. Great effort from all of the team and would be unfair to suggest any failings. Special thanks to our keeper for keeping us in the game when we could’ve taken something from it. More performances like this will definitely push us up the table.

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