v. St.Johnstone | Page 3 | Vital Football

v. St.Johnstone

GOAL! Dembele! 3-2 to Celtic now! No complaints over this one, ball is pulled back into the box by Lustig and Dembele first time shot with the right foot just keeps it low and side foots it into the bottom corner. Good goal!

Still pushing for more goals too!

Before the goal, Henderson was replaced by McGregor who's doing well since he came on. Henderson was starting to look tired but given how well he's done today and how much running he's done, it's understandable. Plus it's his first start for quite a while!
 
GOAL! Sinclair! 4-2!

Brilliant counter-attack! St Johnstone were piling on the pressure with a few corners but we managed to break out and Roberts and Sinclair broke at 2 St Johnstone defenders, one of which was on a yellow card so couldn't make a foul! Roberts runs and then passes to Sinclair on the edge of the box and he just finds a bit of space to strike the ball into the back of the net! Good goal!
 
Bloody hell....2 goals up, 83mins on the clock and Rodgers is talking to Ciftci and giving him instructions....Ciftci is going to play! :emoticon:10 :emoticon:10 :emoticon:10
 
GOAL! Dembele with the hat-trick!!!! Fabulous goal! All started by Lustig! Finished through a crowd of defenders by Dembele. Too difficult to explain how that one came about but what a nice goal!

Ciftci has replaced Roberts after the goal! If he scores then that rounds it off for us!
 
At home to St Johnstone today. Brown now serves his 2 game ban for the number of yellow cards he has picked up this season. However that's no bad thing as it means that he can rest for 2 weeks and be ready for the Scottish Cup Final and it's a rest before the end of the season.
Mikael Lustig is also set to be rested today having reached the 50 game mark this season if you include his participation in internationals.
Dembele is still out injured.

So with those three players out and the Rangers games out of the way.....what team are we likely to put out today and next week? Well it will be slightly changed of course but we can't relax if we want to remain unbeaten this season. St Johnstone went away to Aberdeen and won last week so they'll be high on confidence!

Gamboa could come in to the side to replace Lustig, however I've been reading that BR has been very impressed with our young RB, Anthony Ralston and so he may be given a start today at RB. Expect to him to at least make the bench.
With Brown out of the CM, Eboue Kouassi could make his full debut, Nir Bitton has been back on the bench for the last 2 games so it just depends if he is fit enough to start and the other option would be to bring Liam Henderson in. Henderson has apparently impressed BR, Rodgers likes him but he needs more game time! We can probably expect Armstrong and McGregor to continue in CM alongside one of the 3 previously mentioned.
There are unlikely to be many other changes up front, Griffiths, Sinclair and either Roberts or Forrest. However on the bench we may see another youngster who has impressed BR; Michael Johnstone! Johnstone has impressed so much for the Development side this season that he's even been linked with a move to Chelsea!

If I was choosing the team today, I'd go with:

Gordon
Ralston/Gamboa - Simunovic - Boyata - Tierney/Izzy/Miller
McGregor - Henderson - Armstrong
Forrest - Griffiths - Sinclair

Subs: De Vries, Toure, Izzy/Miller, Kouassi, Jonstone, Aitchison, Roberts
 
Well I wasn't far off today!

The line-up is:

Gordon
Ralston - Simunovic - Boyata - Tierney
Biton - Armstrong
Roberts - Rogic - Johnston
Griffiths

Subs: de Vries, Toure, Gamboa, McGregor, Sinclair, Forrest and Henderson.

Great to see two talented youngsters getting a chance. Hopefully more to come next week as well!
 
I couldn't watch the game mate, just had to follow it on Twitter and updates on my phone unfortunately. Will catch the highlights at some point next week. Shame as well as I would have liked to have seen how Ralston and Johnston coped.

Was it a good game?
 
It was another cake walk despite the halftime score being 0-0. Dominant in possession and god passing, just needed time to break through then it went wild. Griffiths was harshly fouled by Paton and got in his face. When paton chest bumped him, Simunovic came in to shove him just like he did at the end of the Ross County game. He's our new enforcer!
 
St Johnstone visit Paradise this afternoon, the last team to beat us in domestic competition. Michael O'Halloran is on loan from Rangers and is in fine form for them, he'll be the man to keep an eye on today!

Simunovic apparently has a knock and so is to be assessed before deciding if he'll play today. Otherwise it's just the same as we've had for the past few weeks.
 
CELTIC (4-2-3-1) Gordon; Ralston, Lustig, Bitton, Tierney; Brown, Ntcham; Forrest, Rogic, Sinclair; Griffiths.
Subs: De Vries, Ajer, Simunovic, Armstrong, Hayes, Benyu, McGregor

Ralston at RB with Lustig moving to CB to partner Bitton

Rogic for CalMac is the other change from the Astana game
 
welch47 - 26/8/2017 14:58

G'day, Tic. So is it Ralston at RB and Lustig in the middle with Bitton?
Click to expand...

Hi David. :emoticon:14

Yeah, Ralston and Rogic the only changes.

St J player took a bad head knock in a clash with one of his own players. Down for a long time and has just been stretchered off.
 
Griff is flying today.

Playing well and dominating possession. Just lacking a goal.

Yip, Ralston coped well so far. Cushioned header to cut out a threat was was nice. BR coaching him from the sidelines too.
 
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