RabiDuck

Still sticking to my prediction that we'll win it on the 20th March...

14 games left so.... 14 wins surely? If not that, then for me the target should be 12 wins and 2 draw as a minimum. Finish the season unbeaten and set a new most points record with 104... But for now I'll settle for beating Ross County on Saturday and worry about everything else from there.

I made a tongue in cheek comment after the game against them that I could see them dropping points in this one and then dropping more in their double header with Aberdeen leaving us with a chance to secure the league title in the next OF fixture. I stand by that!!!

Nah, where's the fun in that. I've mapped it out. We keep winning (because, come on, why wouldn't we?) Celtic implode after the loss and lose to Hibs next Monday. Back to back games against Aberdeen on 17th and 27th are too much for them and they lose one (don't care which!) All of which sets things up nicely for us to seal the title at the next OF game on March 20th with a resounding 5-0 win with Alfy getting all 5 goals including ahighly controversial penalty in the 2nd minute with Broony sent off... More whisky please!!!

A few thoughts. A very very poor first half performance, looked to my view that we were playing for a draw, bringing them on and soaking up pressure, trusting in our defence. But our defence (greggs aside) not up to their lofty best this season. Second half better but still not convinced we deserved the win. Red card was a red card all day long, Lennon is right to defend his player but I'd hope its a different story in private, I suspect we'll never know. Bottom line i suspect this could turn out to be a better outcome than another confident 2-0 result. To come out of a game having played the best they have all season and deserving all three points to have lost to a very sub par rangers side must have a huge psychological hit. 19 points, even if they win all 3 in hands its 10. If they then win the next 2 OF its 4. They need us to slip up twice now... Next round of fixtures are key now. We have to capitalise on the position an demure it, they might just implode if moral tanks... 55 on its way, I'm starting to feel confident!

I'd suggest that if we were to lose a game, that was the one to lose. We can still claim that we're undefeated in all competitions that Celtic are still involved with...

Agreed, a win is best outcome obviously, but if a defeat leads to Lenton staying in post longer thats at least a small silver lining...

It's an unusual old firm where you could make the argument that any result has a positive spin. Obviously winning is the best outcome, but if that galena celtic are at the point that even winning games in hand and the remaining OF fixtures isn't enough, they need fake from elsewhere. That might be enough to prompt a managerial change. If we lose then the board might be of the pinion that things have improved and keep going...

Interesting line to be taking (both from TLB and the mhedia...) at point of stoppage last season they had played 30 games and us 29. We're 19 games in (for us, 16 for them). Is there a %age written into spfl rules for what constitutes a season? I'd predict there is and its probably after 39 games or some such meaning end it now, not played enough games so void, 10* in a row still on for next season...

I think the motherwell result is hugely important. In past seasons, 1-0 down with 20 minutes to play heads would have gone down and we'd more have ended up conceding more goals more often than we'd come back and salvage a point. This time obviously we took all 3. Perhaps more importantly, we've shown that we're able to break down packed defences, again in past seasons a side facing us 5-5-0 would have been obvious to everyone what was going to happen, this time we faced it broke it and scored 3. A massive result and shows the credentials we need to drive the season forwards and hopefully wrap up 55.

arguably, we suffered today in part due to not having alfie on the pitch drawing away defenders to create space....

3!!!

4 minutes stoppage... nearly there!

OK, hold it steady now. This is the kind of result we need as a wake up and to reinforce the winning mentality... it could be seen as a very good result come the end of the season...

There's a thought. Arguably the change in role has been good for the team, if we accept that premise, can we consider that a lower key role might keep him off other clubs radars and we can keep hold a little longer?

A lot of comments about Alfie, and I'd love to see him about the goals again, but watching him today its becoming clear that there's more to his game now than just goals, and that makes him a better player. He's coming deeper and wider to create chances for others. Even while he's not getting the goals, he's drawing defenders attention wherever he goes, opening up space elsewhere. He's not the go to man any more and that's probably a good theling, but he's still contributing to the team in other ways...

When is the next round draw made? Some tasty options out there...

7 points clear, 3 OF games to go, just need a draw and win all our other games. Or beat them in all 3 just to prove the point... its almost entirely out of their control now!

At risk of "doing a @craig", they just went 1 down. If that persists we simply need a single old firm point to be in a position where we'd have to lose points elsewhere, we could have the league in a position where celtic have no control over the end result by the start of the new year! Dammit, just as I was typing. Sorry!

3-0 half time. Cup game. 3-0 full time will do nicely. Keep it calm, get through second half with no injuries and all good. They went out earlier so that's two cups in a week they've been knocked out of!

Table confuses me, can anyone help? Same points as Benfica, 2 behind on goal difference, drew both games with them, how come were too not them?

I get nervous when we start to focus too much on them. We're in a strong position and it matters very little what they do, if we win all our games from here until season end, we are champions. If we win everything but the OF fixtures, they need a minimum of 7 points from those three games or we are champions. That needs to be the focus, ignore them. If they drop more points great but as long as we don't then we are champions. We've seen leads disappear quickly before and I suspect part of that is by focusing on the lead not the upcoming game...

Still, they dropped 2 points, makes no difference though, we still need to win tomorrow to pile on the pressure. They're stumbling badly keep pressuring them and they'll collapse! 55 on its way if we can keep it going, it doesn't matter what they do now if we keep doing our thing!

Dammit Craig!!!

Reminds me of comments I used to make of Klos (and Goram before him though was a bit before my time of interest...) that he could stand around all match and do nothing, but in the 89th minute with a striker bearing down on goal you'd back him every day of the week to keep it out (just so long as he didn't need to kick it afterwards!!) We've been blessed for some time with keepers who can pull something out of nowhere when they've had nothing to do all game, now we have two of them in the squad. We've consistently been very lucky in that department!