After watching that game this afternoon at Easter Road, it is clear that the current team playing out of Ibrox are just not at the same standard as this Celtic team.
I said after Aribo, Bassey and even Balogun went that they would be weaker for it, and they absolutely are.
One on their best players is Ryan Kent, a player who goes past two opposition players and then puts a shot 10 yards wide. Rinse and repeat.
If you look at us, one of our best players, who plays in the exact same position as Ryan Kent, is Jota. Twice already this season he has taken on the same kind of shot, the difference is Jota’s has flown into the top corer of the goal on both occasions. That’s the difference in quality.
Player for player, Celtic are stronger.
As a football team, Celtic are stronger.
We have the better manager in Ange Postecoglou, who has already seen off Steven Gerrard, and if their performances and results carry on the way they did today, it won’t be long until he sees off Giovanni Van Bronckhorst as well.
But even when our rivals are poor, and at this moment in time, that’s exactly what they are, there is something else that can pose the biggest threat to Celtic retaining our league title, and that is the referees in this country.
Collum was atrocious today. He is an awful official.
Apparently, for 10 seconds of the match today, when Bashiri put his arm against Colak who then dived as if he had been shot by a sniper rifle, Collum thought this was basketball and physical contact isn’t allowed and gave Rangers a penalty.
As Hibs manager Lee Johnson said after the game, if that was a foul, you’d have about 400 fouls given every single game in that case, because football is a contact sport and simply putting your arm across another player should not be given as a foul.
I thought the Rangers managerial team screaming for Bashiri to be sent off was despicable.
Collum also, staring right at the incident by the way, thought that James Tavernier wrapping both hands around Bashiri’s body inside the box and wresting him to the ground wasn’t a foul or a penalty, despite that being such a more obvious foul and clear penalty than the one Rangers were gifted.
Thankfully, Rangers have a team full of braindead morons, with two of them going by the names of Morelos and Lundstram who got themselves sent off and Hibs were able to capitalise and get a 93rd minute equaliser to secure a point from the game.
But as we all know, today was a rare case. They rarely ever get players sent off and their opponents rarely ever come back to take something from the game.
9 times out of 10, Rangers go on to take the three points having been gifted a penalty that never was with Hibs denied a stone waller.
The didn’t look like hurting Hibs at any point today until they got the penalty.
There will be plenty more games this season where they will be given those types of gifts, especially when they are struggling to break teams down and that will allow them to stay in the hunt for the title.
That’s why Celtic cannot afford to lose concentration this season, we can’t afford to let them get close to us and as Ange says as long as we do what we need to do, then hopefully the referees can’t have the impact on this title race that Ibrox would like them to have.
