2018-02-25: Aberdeen 0-2 Celtic, SP

Trivia

• Game at 1.30 on Sunday rearranged match to accommodate Thursday UeFA Cup game.
• Brendan Rodgers has criticised Aberdeen’s Sam Cosgrove for his “naughty” tackle on Scott Brown, and also had a pop at Shay Logan for kicking the ball at the Celtic captain while he was down injured.
• Some strong challenges from Aberdeen in this game, referee was a disgrace as usual.
  
• Celtic ko’ed out of Europe in UEFA Cup earlier in the week, 3-0 loss to Zenit, 3-1 loss on aggregate.
• Bitton ruled out for rest of the season with an injury, another centre half injury at Celtic, currently around 3-4 out injured.
• ex-Celt Tony Watt has again been dropped by another club. He has now gone thru around ten clubs and he’s still young. Was rated highly at Celtic early on.
• Nir Bitton expected to be ruled out for the rest of the season. The versatile Israeli international has been told he is likely to face surgery to repair a long-standing knee problem.
• Hearts: Goncalves, has recently departed Tynecastle, told the Edinburgh Evening News on Wednesday that he had left Heart due to alleged racial abuse from the stands.
• Tom Rogic has rejected the offer of a new contract from Celtic, according to reports in the player’s native Australia.
• Winter Olympics: Elise Christie sadly disqualified in 1000m, she has not had anything but poor luck. Curlers also missed out on medals (Women 4th, Men 5th)
• Queen of the South reported to be without a back-up goalkeeper for past Saturday’s clash with Dunfermline after Sam Henderson was hit by a runaway cow (not joking).
• Scotland beat England in the rugby, first time in over 10years.
  

Review

(33rpm of KDS)
Owned them, as usual.

Aside from a ten or fifteen minute spell before the Lustig sending off where we were starting to brain fart defensively and they were threatening to almost pose a threat, we were in complete control. Our response – and the manager's reaction – to the sending off was magnificent. It must be demoralising being a sheep supporter when you know that no matter how close your team looks like it could get in the league, and even with a game against an injury ravaged and fragile Celtic team at Pittodrie, your manager and your team is going to completely effing bottle it. It was obvious from the very opening exchanges when they were terrified of pressing us that they weren't going to lay a glove on us. How they must wish that he had effed off to Govan and they could have brought in someone competent. If Steve Clarke is doing what he's doing at Kilmarnock, imagine what he could achieve with the resources McInnes is pissing away at Aberdeen?

Brown completely bossed the midfield. Kenny McLean spent more time on the turf than Alan Titchmarsh. Dembele put in a shift – can't argue with a goal and an assist. And Tierney is a phenom.

(jim62 of KDS)
We finished a match in Russia 65 hours before this one kicked off

We were ( according to many of the sages on here) under pressure and in a title race

Absolute “Must win” game…

We scored two excellent goals

We hit the post

We hit the bar

We missed two sitters

We won

Even our ( very correctly ) much maligned goalie made two crucial saves

We are nine points clear

Teams

Celtic

Goals

• Dembele (37' minutes),
Tierney (83' minutes)

Articles

• Match Report (see end of page below)

Pictures

• Match Pictures

Forum

• Aberdeen v Celtic – pre match thread.
• MATCH: Aberdeen v Celtic, SPFL
• Post Match http://kerrydalestreet.co.uk/topic/11060485/

MOTM

• Voting Thread http://kerrydalestreet.co.uk/topic/11060487/
• Result Thread
• Winner –

Stats

Aberdeen
Celtic

Possession
Home42%
Away58%

Shots
Home8
Away11

Shots on Target
Home4
Away5

Corners
Home3
Away5

Fouls
Home10
Away19

Articles

Aberdeen 0 – 2 Celtic: Dembele and Tierney send champions nine points clear

Moussa Dembele scores to give Celtic the lead against Aberdeen at Pittodrie. Picture: SNS.

Ajer and his team-mates ground out a victory that maintains the nine-point gap between Celtic and Rangers but crucially extends the champions’ lead over Aberdeen to 12 points. That’s tough for the Pittodrie supporters to have to digest. As is their team’s record of ten successive defeats by Celtic, whom Aberdeen have designs on challenging for major honours.

Whatever hope Aberdeen glimpsed after 76 minutes when Celtic were reduced to ten men after Mikael Lustig was sent off for a second bookable offence on Gary Mackay-Steven was extinguished in a 60-second spell soon afterwards. The hosts lost a second goal and then were themselves reduced to ten men.

Sam Cosgrove was sent off after an eight-minute cameo and with the blood still up following Kieran Tierney’s decisive second for the visitors.
Moussa Dembele had headed Celtic into a first-half lead eight minutes before half-time.
But Aberdeen were beginning to knock on Celtic’s door. Just a few minutes before Lustig departed Ajer was in the right place at the right time to help clear Niall McGinn’s effort off the line after Dorus de Vries saved Kenny McLean’s effort from point-blank range.
When top scorer Adam Rooney was finally called upon with eight minutes to go, the home fans cheered him on. “Rooney, Rooney!” came the chant in a manner which suggested they felt they had waited too long to

welcome him.
As feared, it proved too late for Rooney to make the necessary impact.
Instead it was Cosgrove, surprisingly sent on in preference to Rooney seven minutes earlier, who left a tread. Unhelpfully for Aberdeen’s cause it was down Scott Brown’s shin after the Celtic skipper had already ridden one poor tackle by Anthony O’Connor.
Referee Bobby Madden flashed the red card to bring Cosgrove’s debut to a premature end after just eight minutes. Brown’s response was telling. He had been hit with the ball as well after Shay Logan seemed to aim for him after he fell. But the skipper quickly got to his feet and roared to the Celtic fans as if celebrating a goal.

Some Aberdeen supporters were already snaking off up the grassy knoll behind the old Beach End. They have seen this film before. It’s two years ago this month since Aberdeen last defeated Celtic, who were then under the charge of Ronnie Deila. Brendan Rodgers continues to boast a 100 per cent record against Derek McInnes.
Tierney’s goal, just a minute before Cosgrove saw red, was the decisive blow of the match and possibly of the 2017-18 title race.
Celtic’s celebrations at the end were long and sustained. It was as if they too felt they had clinched another title. They certainly appear to have eliminated Aberdeen from the
equation.
McInnes hoped to ask questions of Celtic by handing Stevie May a first start since the middle of December. But the striker suffered for a lack of match sharpness and fought a losing battle against Ajer and Simunovic.

Aberdeen sought to contain
Celtic in the opening half and seemed surprised when chances did fall
their way.
Kari Arnason was slow to react when McLean’s inswinging free-kick deceived everyone, including the defender who was in a good position at the far post. May also came up just short when trying to get a toe to another good McLean cross in from the right.
Celtic began to impose themselves. While this was clearly frustrating for the Aberdeen fans to have to endure it is not a completely unfamiliar
sensation.
Aberdeen’s struggles against both Rangers and Celtic are beginning to tarnish McInnes’ reign. The fans complain of lack of ambition when playing these sides and while the manager offers a stout rebuttal there was little for the home supporters to get excited about here.
Celtic hit the woodwork twice in the opening half – Scott Sinclair’s corner caused some anxiety when landing on top of the bar while Olivier Ntcham saw a shot hit the post. Brown also shot just over when through on goal.
James Forrest brought some composure to the proceedings to create Celtic’s opener eight minutes before half-time. His ball skills offered him an advantage on a tricky surface and he out-foxed Andrew Considine to make some space for himself on the right.
Forrest complemented this good play with a cross that Dembele only had to meet with his forehead to direct into the goal.
The second 45 minutes were better from Aberdeen’s point of view but again they suffered for failing to make the most of their few clear opportunities, including when May was unable to make contact with Mackay-Steven’s cross from the left.
Celtic made them pay on the break with six minutes left, Tierney getting his reward for a lung-busting run to support Dembele, who played the left-back in. Tierney took a touch, rifled into the net and still had enough breath to run back the length of the pitch to celebrate with the Celtic fans, whose worries of last week now seem a world away.

BBC

By Scott Davie
BBC Scotland
Celtic reeled off a 10th straight win against Aberdeen – a ninth under Brendan Rodgers – to restore their nine-point lead in the Premiership.
Both sides missed chances before Moussa Dembele headed in James Forrest's cross at the back post for the opener.
Celtic had Mikael Lustig sent off for a second yellow card 15 minutes from time but Kieran Tierney slammed in a second.

The Dons' frustration boiled over when debutant substitute Sam Cosgrove was sent off for a lunge at Scott Brown.
It left Aberdeen, runners-up for the past three seasons, 12 points adrift of the champions.
Celtic move back nine points clear of Rangers, who they face at Ibrox in a fortnight – after a midweek Premiership game against Dundee and next Saturday's Scottish Cup quarter-final against Greenock Morton.
The champions may not have too many weaknesses but, as they showed in defeat against Zenit St Petersburg in the Europa League on Thursday, they are far from convincing at defending set-pieces at times.
That was certainly the case again at Pittodrie, but Aberdeen failed to exploit the early chances that came their way from a Kenny McLean free-kick, and Kari Arnason's long throw.
Stevie May, preferred to top scorer Adam Rooney from the start, was inches away from converting the first while Anthony O'Connor failed to get enough power on the ball when trying to take advantage of the second.
At the other end, Scott Sinclair's corner clipped the top of the crossbar while Dons goalkeeper Freddie Woodman, on loan from Newcastle, got the chance to show why he is so highly rated midway through the half.
The youngster, who won the Under-20 World Cup with England last summer, made important blocks to deny Sinclair and Dembele in quick succession.
He was also quick to spot the danger as Tom Rogic raced on to a through-ball, Woodman sprinting to the edge of his box to clear the midfielder's header.
He did enjoy a slice of luck after 35 minutes when Olivier Ntcham's sweetly struck shot from the edge of the D smacked back off the post and straight into the grateful arms of the Aberdeen goalkeeper.
There was no let-off two minutes later, though, when Forrest tormented Andrew Considine before hoisting the perfect cross to the back post where Dembele had stolen a yard on Arnason to head home the opener.
Celtic were not at their fluent best, but still had the touch of quality needed to get a victory which again renders talk of a genuine title race redundant.
It proved to be far more frenetic than anyone could have anticipated in an explosive second half that saw both sides finish the match with 10 men.
Lustig had been walking a fine line after being booked for a crude foul on former Celtic team-mate Gary Mackay-Steven and he received a second yellow card after another lunge on the same player with 15 minutes left.
Aberdeen were far more aggressive in the second half as they pushed a higher line and snapped into tackles, but Cosgrove took it too far on what was a disastrous debut for the striker signed last month from Carlisle United.
He was only on the field for eight minutes before receiving a straight red card for chopping down Scott Brown.
But by then Tierney, with a brilliant assist from Dembele, had produced another stunning piece of the quality the ultimately spilt the teams.
The Frenchman ran from just inside his own half as the Dons were caught on the counter-attack, then showed the poise to roll the ball into the path of Tierney who lashed an unstoppable angled drive beyond Woodman.
Aberdeen did have chances to level before that – McLean, Niall McGinn and O'Connor all missed in one goalmouth scramble – but they lacked composure in front of goal.
The painful fact for their supporters is they have now lost all six crunch matches against the Old Firm this season.