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SPL January 2011
Scottish Premier League News January 2011: Celtic Strike Back
Ali Hannah
Celtic
It has been quite a month for Neil Lennon's Celtic. A side who looked to be falling short of Championship credentials not only silenced their doubters but launched a fresh assault on the SPL title with a convincing Old Firm win.
Celtic kicked off the New Year by going four points clear at the top of the table, albeit that they have played two games more than Walter Smith's Rangers.
And Swedish defender Daniel Majstorovic believes Celtic are well on course to wrestle the title back to Parkhead this term.
The Light Blues were odds-on to return to the top of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League with a win over their city rivals in the traditional New Year game, but Celtic goalkeeper Fraser Forster had a comfortable afternoon as the Hoops defended resiliently and grabbed the win with a second-half double from Georgios Samaras.
"At a big club like Celtic there are always big expectations and big pressures to win all of the games," said Majstorovic.
"Over a season there are always a couple of games when a team doesn't play to the required level and we have not been taking our chances recently. But we showed on Sunday that we are genuine title contenders. We are still in it."
The Sweden defender acknowledged Celtic had some good fortune in the opening minutes when Lee McCulloch's header was knocked on to the bar and away by Celtic defender Emilio Izaguirre - but insists the result was deserved.
"Rangers started well and we were lucky at the first corner," Majstorovic added.
"Emilio Izaguirre saved us there. The first half was very tough.
"There were a lot of heavy tackles flying in. But, after that, we were very solid. In the second half we played really good football and I think we deserved to win.
"We know the quality we have in the team and we have shown that. We just need to believe in the quality we have got here and keep on going.We can win this league."
In fact, Celtic manager Lennon had at least half a dozen potential first-team players unavailable to either injury, illness, suspension or international duty, and handed starts to Beram Kayal, Charlie Mulgrew and Samaras. Majstorovic made special mention of Israeli central midfielder Kayal, who has been sidelined through injury for over three months this season.
He said: "Kayal was brilliant. But everybody in the squad knew that he would be. He showed what he is capable of in the games he played before he got injured."
Rangers
Rangers manager Walter Smith will feel that he must act in the current transfer window in order to strengthen Rangers' attempts to hang onto their title.
The Ibrox side currently have two games in-hand to play but trail Celtic by four points and there is no doubt that Neil Lennon's side now have the opportunity to exert significant and potentially telling pressure on the defending champions.
As Rangers discovered to their cost in the 2007-8 season, having a notional advantage can turn out to be no advantage at all if a team is unable to handle the obligation to win their games in hand.
With Smith having consistently questioned the capacity of his current squad to cope with a backlog of fixtures in the second half of the season, Celtic may now sense an Achilles heel looming into view.
The second Old Firm fixture of the season provided fresh evidence of how quickly things can change in the SPL. Celtic travelled to Ibrox minus six players who would have been regarded as certain starters, while Lennon was labouring under widely expressed questions over his ability to oversee a victory in a truly significant match.
After 90 minutes in which he outmanoeuvred Smith tactically and motivated his players to show the kind of mental strength so lacking in previous defeats against Ross County, Braga, Utrecht and Rangers, Lennon may have persuaded some dissenters that he has the necessary nous to plot a path to the championship.
Rangers, however, are unlikely to be gripped by panic. Although playing with one hand behind his back in terms of financial restrictionsnce more by bank restrictions this month, Smith will look to the return from injury of Steven Naismith, Nikica Jelavic and Maurice Edu in the coming weeks to bolster and revitalise his team.
There was also encouragement for Rangers in the mature performance of teenage midfielder Jamie Ness who suggested he is more than capable of making a positive contribution to the Ibrox cause in the remaining months of the season.
While the bookmakers have shortened the odds on a Celtic title win and lengthened those of Rangers, who still remain slight favourites, it may be wise to heed the words of Smith in the aftermath of Sunday and reserve judgment.
"You read ridiculous things in the build-up to Sunday saying if Celtic had lost, they were out of the championship race," observed Smith. "People make too many assumptions and we're not even at the halfway stage yet. There is a lot of football still to be played."
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