It was a dramatic win for Celtic against Ross County – but it was far from convincing.
The Scottish Premiership leaders left it late in the Highlands as they picked up the pieces of the dismal display in Dortmund – but the win isn’t enough to convince the Parkhead faithful over the performance by Brendan Rodgers’ side. Celtic fan William Hutchison, Aberdeen was far from impressed by the late show: “Although we won we didn’t deserve it. We were awful, we got lucky, but well done Ross County you played 10 times better than we did….unlucky. If you had won you would have deserved it.”
Kasper Schmeichel wasn’t safe – with Gary Stevenson, Newtonhill joining Chris Sutton in calling out the goalkeeper’s tactics before before Ronan Hale scores from the penalty spot: “Schmeichel after shipping 7 goals in Germany tries to scuff up the penalty spot before Ross County’s spot kick. How cringe worthy, he certainly signed for the right club.”
But the goalkeeper was forgiven by Robert McEwan, Mount Vernon with a dose of whataboutery – after he came off his line before Hale’s initial spot-kick – leading to VAR allowing the Staggie’s striker a re-take: “It’s funny how Hibs penalty last week Butland comes off line and saves. Same incident against Ross County and a retake. Strange.”
John Caw was searching for positives: “Looks like Celtic are suffering from inertia. They played better and lost seven goals. Idah is a waste of money and I have said that since he signed. The others are not much better. European hangover.”
Stephen Mulhern, Dumbarton said: “I had my reservations on my road up to Dingwall that Celtic would suffer a reaction after Dortmund and was almost proved right. It certainly wasn’t a vintage performance but heading into the international break with dropping points would have been a disaster. The ‘we never stop’ mantra is obviously still continuing now under Brendan Rodgers.”
Bill Lockerbie, Northampton also had a pointed reminder for the Celtic manager after the Champions League hammering at the hands of Borussia Dortmund: “Interesting that Dortmund were humbled 2-1 away to Union Berlin on Saturday despite having 68% possession over their smart opponents. I hope Brendan takes note!”
In the blue half of Glasgow, the pyro display during the Europa League clash with Lyon could see UEFA take action and put a stadium ban in place. Gordon Ashley, Ayr said: “I’m not sure why Rangers fans are getting wound up about a potential partial stadium closure because they can’t even come close to filling their stadium for a Europa league tie with a laughable ten thousand empty seats among the meagre 41,000 who turned up to watch them against Lyon. It’s a sad reflection of their third best team in Scotland.”
But the action by UEFA wasn’t the only thing bothering Rangers fans – as Jamie Thompson, Yoker said: “Dessers need to keep quiet and do his talking on pitch. I would prefer it if he did this at another club. Dessers adds nothing to this poor rangers team.
“This is the worst Rangers team and we have had a few. Clement is not the right manager; these players are not capable of playing good football.”
The pressure is building at Easter Road with Hibs slumping to another defeat under David Gray. John Scott, Grassmoor wrote in: “Just when it looked like Hibs were turning a corner along comes Motherwell to stick us back in our box.
“The term long suffering fans doesn’t do justice to what the Hibs support has gone through since the covid years. One thing that caught my attention from Saturday evenings Sportscene highlights didn’t involve the Hibees though.
“It was the reaction of the Kilmarnock players when they equalised near the end of their game at Dens. Screaming at each other ‘C’mon, we can win this!’ Those Hibs fans who still claim Derek McInnes wasn’t a good shout for manager need to look up those highlights. Oh, for that attitude at Easter Road.”
Stephen Johnstone, Ardentinny also thought McInnes could be set for a move: “Dundee have a moment of madness and Kilmarnock produced the mother of all come backs to win in the Lions Den and Derek McInnes must be a strong contender for the Hearts job. Or even Stuart Kettlewell.”