Celtic key referee decisions analysed and are Rangers still title contenders?

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00:00Hello and welcome to Glasgow World Fitbit Talk. I'm your host Martin Simpson, joined

00:07by Lewis Anderson. We're going to be discussing the weekend's results between Celtic and Aberdeen

00:12and Rangers and Kilmarnock and looking ahead to the next round of fixtures. Before we get

00:17to Rangers and Kilmarnock, we'll start off with the top of the table clash at Celtic

00:20Park. Lewis, a 2-2 draw. Both Aberdeen and Celtic lose their 100% records. Both remain

00:27unbeaten, both remain level at the top of the Premiership. What are your initial thoughts

00:32on the back of this match? I think it's a better point for Aberdeen. I think Brendan

00:38Rodgers is very vocal about how he felt. It kind of felt like a defeat given that they

00:42were 2-0 up and seemingly in control of the game. But from an Aberdeen perspective, great

00:49to see a bit of fight shown from them. Previous Aberdeen sides of years gone by would have

00:56kind of downed tools in that type of scenario. So all credit to Jimmy Telly and it's certainly

01:02been a dream start. He couldn't have envisaged they'd be in this position after eight or

01:08nine games. I think overall, it's difficult to say that Aberdeen didn't deserve something

01:16from the game, Martin. I think they put a lot into it. As I said, Celtic did look as

01:23if at one point they were going to scoot clear, given Hattati and Furhasi was at two

01:30goals in the space of three minutes. They were seemingly on easy streak. But all credit,

01:35this is obviously billed as the biggest game on the Scottish football calendar so far this

01:40season and rightly so. Two teams with maximum records aiming to maintain that. At the end

01:49of the day, you've got to say at a point it's probably a fair result.

01:53We're still a little bit away, I feel, from describing Aberdeen as title challengers.

01:57I think we're coming up to the first round of fixtures in the league being complete.

02:04I think if we get to the second round and they're still certainly where they are now,

02:08but within touching distance of Celtic, then I think that's when we can start having a

02:11serious conversation. But if you're Celtic, I think you can see, because not many teams

02:17would come to Celtic Park and go ahead with a game plan that Aberdeen did. But as we've

02:22all been told, it's something that Jimmy Thillin was used to doing in Sweden as manager of

02:28them. Was it Elfsborg?

02:31Elfsborg, yeah.

02:32Yeah, Elfsborg, yeah. Against some of the bigger teams in Sweden, letting them have

02:36all the possession, but pressing them high and capitalizing on mistakes. And you have

02:42to say, yeah, Aberdeen 100% were well worth the point they got out of the match. And it

02:49was really refreshing from a neutral point of view and probably from a Celtic fan's point

02:52of view as well. They must spend so much money going to watch games at Celtic Park just to

02:58watch clubs really sit in and play anti-football and just try and do what they can to scrape

03:06and hold on to a point. Aberdeen went in, and I'm not saying that they were playing

03:10in an aggressive tiki-taka sort of style that would be great on the eyes, but what

03:16they did was they pressed Celtic high, and they took risks, and they gambled, and it

03:19paid off. And I think that's really, really pleasing from a neutral point of view.

03:24From a Celtic fan's point of view, there were obviously moments of controversy, but I've

03:29got to say, watching the highlights, and the highlights only because the game obviously

03:33wasn't broadcast for us to see, but watching the highlights, I would say, worked so quick

03:39to criticise referees that I think we need to praise them when we get the opportunity.

03:45And I think it was a really good refereeing display by Nick Walsh. I think he was probably

03:50one of the best refereeing displays I've seen in Scotland in quite some time, if I'm being

03:55honest. I think he gets all the major calls absolutely spot on. Probably the best one,

04:00you have to say, was the Luke McCowan, in injury time, what ended up being a free kick.

04:06He immediately points for a free kick. It's not a penalty, as the replays clearly show.

04:13The Duke goal, again, I don't think he's expected to see that in real time. VAR shows that,

04:19yeah, it clearly comes in off his hand. No one's got any complaints there. And then obviously

04:24the biggest one right at the end is the Duke clearance off the line. What are your sort

04:30of initial thoughts on that? Because it clearly initially strikes him around about the hip

04:35area and it's all moving so fast and it does sort of appear as if the deflection kind of

04:40takes it off his hip, maybe onto his hand on the way out. But by the letter of the law,

04:47that's not a penalty.

04:48No, no, it's not. Was it Rubicich's header? I'm pretty sure as well. It looks to me as

04:55if, from what I saw, it wasn't a penalty, no, kind of going by the rule book. But it

05:06does take a deflection off kind of Duke's, well, it's hard to actually tell if it comes

05:13off his arm or if it is kind of his hip there. But I think, as you said, I think Nick Walsh

05:20officiated the game really, really well. I can't fault any of the main talking points.

05:27As you say there, Martin, I think you got them all pretty spot on, I would say. Obviously,

05:33from a Celtic perspective, they had the opportunity to score a third goal as well. A couple of

05:39defensive lapses, I must say the quality of the pass from Jamie McGrath for the Socler

05:44goal was outstanding, I must say. That'll be a huge concern for Celtic, given that they've

05:52got the big Champions League game on Wednesday night. They got unlocked too easily for Rodgers'

05:59liking. So, I think as well, in terms of what this might do for Aberdeen going forward,

06:05I mean, not only are they still kind of breathing down Celtic's neck, yes, it's probably still

06:11too early to talk about them being in the category of challenging for the title. But

06:16at this moment in time, could you not see them giving Rangers a real run for their money

06:21for second place? I think at this moment in time, obviously, the game at Potaudrie next

06:26midweek, that's going to be another massive one back in the home patch, given the recent

06:33record at home has been pretty impressive. So, I think at this moment in time, Aberdeen

06:38are serious contenders to challenge for that runners-up spot.

06:43Well, speaking of Rangers, we'll move on to them now and a hugely, not just a disappointing

06:48result, sometimes you lose away to Kilmarnock, which is a difficult place to go, or indeed

06:53any of these teams, be it Aberdeen, Hartshead, St Mirren, Motherwell, these teams will get

06:58results against Celtic and Rangers at home. But the manner of the performance from Rangers,

07:03my word, Lewis, one of the worst Rangers domestic performances I can remember in some time.

07:08Yeah, it was abysmal. It really was. Found wanting, I thought, in all departments of

07:13the pitch. This is something that we've spoken about for a while now. Kilmarnock operating

07:20with the players he's got at his disposal, this group is arguably weaker. He celebrated

07:27his 12 months in charge last week there. I don't see massive improvements in this Rangers

07:33team at all. I know that a lot has been made about how much input Clermont has potentially

07:38had in new signings made over the summer, but that's hugely concerning. I thought their

07:44attitude was miles off it. Kilmarnock got back to what they've done best, secured them

07:54European football last season, really difficult to break down. As for the goal, it's weak

08:00defending from John Suter. He allows Watkins to kind of bully him. It's a straightforward

08:06finish from him in the end. But yeah, far too passive, I thought, defensively. Midfielders

08:13offered very little as well. I don't think Barron or Diamandi offered a great deal, too

08:17many backward passes and the shortage of options they've got up front at the moment. Siri Odessa

08:24is going through one of them slumps in form at the minute and obviously fans very much

08:29on his back. But who does he have to turn to? Danilo has obviously had his injury issues

08:36and by all accounts is on the comeback trail. But Hamza Ghimani, another one, they paid a lot

08:42of money for Ghimani in the summer and are yet to really see what he can bring to the party.

08:49He looks more of a long-term project and one that's going to take a while to fully get up to

08:53speed. So yeah, hugely concerning. I think they've only scored about 11 or 12 goals across

09:00their eight premiership matches so far. That's another huge concern. So yeah, a lot of issues

09:08to Ibrox for Clermont to contend with at the moment. It was a missed opportunity with Aberdeen

09:14and Celtic drawing to close the gap at the top to three points. Instead, we've only played eight

09:20games. They're only six points behind Celtic but they've already been written off as title

09:27challengers and we're now talking about them making sure that Aberdeen don't beat them to

09:31second. They've got a home game against St Mirren next. That's obviously the Ibrox crowd will be

09:38hugely influential. They are. I think the fans need to see not just a result but they need to

09:44see a performance. It almost feels like one of these games where if they win 1-0 but they

09:50completely dominate, that's better than if they maybe win like 3-1 or 4-1 when they perhaps don't

09:58deserve it. When St Mirren push them all the way and they maybe catch them napping at the end or

10:03something. I think we need to see a dominant positive Rangers display because they really

10:08need that. Going to Petaudry the weekend after because as we spoke earlier on the show, that's

10:13now absolutely massive already in the context of the season as a whole. The biggest concern

10:20as I say at the moment is that the fans are really starting to turn on Clermont and we know what the

10:24state of affairs are behind the scenes as well at Ibrox. No CEO, no chairman, no one running the

10:30academy side of things either. A lot has been said about Clermont and his tactical approach

10:39to games. I think another thing that will be slightly concerning in this post-match interview,

10:44he came out and said that he still feels there's a lot of potential in this group of players

10:49that maybe fans aren't seeing at this moment in time. We can counter that with the fact that

10:54he isn't necessarily giving fans what they want to see. I think in terms of the personnel,

11:03he seems very much set on the formation he wants to play. He refuses to change shape for certain

11:09games. A lot has been made about captain James Tavenier. Is he really captain material?

11:18Once again, there's just lots of question marks at this moment for him to answer. I think a lot

11:29of the supporters are already starting to lose a bit of faith there when realistically they're in

11:35a position at the moment where they really need to rally around Clermont and get behind him given

11:42the circumstances he is working within. It's going to be difficult. As you say, going up to Petaudry,

11:52Rangers have always, in recent times anyway, on the back of international breaks,

11:57haven't seemed to perform to high standards. It will be really tough for them going up to

12:03Petaudry. Another really intriguing game to look forward to.

12:09Lewis, thanks very much. Thank you for listening.

12:13Be sure to check out GlasgowWorld.com for all the latest Celtic and Rangers news.

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