Are Rangers in a Battle For Second Place ? The Football Show LIVE

Scottish Football

Celtic 3-0 Rangers. Old Firm Derby Fallout Continues!  SUBSCRIBE: ‪@PLZSoccer‬   Despite a promising start, Rangers couldn't capitalize on key moments, with missed opportunities from McCausland and Dessers proving costly. Celtic's relentless pressure was rewarded with goals from Maeda, Kyogo, and a deflected strike from McGregor.  Rangers' inability to compete with Celtic's quality raises serious concerns about their prospects this season. Are they in a battle for second place rather than challenging for the title? With Celtic maintaining their unbeaten run in the league and Rangers now winless in their last 13 meetings, this result could be a defining moment in the Scottish Premiership race.  Let us know your thoughts in the comments! Can Rangers turn their season around, or is second place the best they can hope for?  Also on The Football Show:  - Sol Bamba: Announcement of the tragic passing of Sol Bamba. - Scottish Premiership Results: Overview of the latest results in the Scottish Premiership. - Celtic 3-0 Rangers: Reaction and in-depth analysis of Celtic's dominant win over Rangers in the Old Firm derby. - Impact of No Away Fans: Discussion on how the absence of away fans in the Old Firm derby affected Rangers. - Kasper Schmeichel: Breakdown of Schmeichel's performance during the Old Firm match. - Philippe Clement's Rangers Record: Examination of Philippe Clement's managerial record with Rangers. - Fan Reactions: Reactions from Celtic and Rangers fans after the Old Firm clash. - Christoph Waltz at Old Firm: A look at Christoph Waltz's appearance at the Celtic vs. Rangers match. - Scottish Premiership News: Latest updates and news in the Scottish Premiership. - Ross County 0-1 Aberdeen: Match summary of Aberdeen's narrow victory over Ross County. - Aberdeen FC Fixtures: Upcoming fixtures for Aberdeen FC. - Hearts 0-1 Dundee United: Recap of Dundee United's victory over Hearts. - Dundee 2-2 St Mirren: Highlights of the Dundee vs. St Mirren match that ended in a draw. - St Johnstone 1-2 Motherwell: Overview of Motherwell's win against St Johnstone. - Kilmarnock 1-1 Hibernian: Summary of the match between Kilmarnock and Hibernian that ended in a draw. - Scottish Premiership Table: Current standings in the Scottish Premiership. - Scotland v Poland & Portugal v Scotland Preview: Preview of the upcoming international fixtures involving Scotland. - Manchester United 0-3 Liverpool: Recap and analysis of Liverpool's dominant victory over Manchester United.  The Football Show Highlights:  00:00:00 Intro - The Football Show 00:01:22 Sol Bamba has died 00:02:18 Scottish Premiership results 00:02:55 Celtic 3-0 Rangers reaction and analysis 00:19:00 No Old Firm away fans hurts Rangers 00:27:04 Kasper Schmeichel Old Firm performance 00:28:05 Philippe Clement's Rangers record 00:29:16 Celtic and Rangers fans Old Firm reaction 00:32:20 Christoph Waltz at Celtic v Rangers 00:35:38 Scottish Premiership news today 00:37:06 Ross County 0-1 Aberdeen

Transcript

00:00:00Welcome to the football show on PLZ Soccer's YouTube channel. If you want to join the football

00:00:08family don't forget to subscribe to our channel on YouTube and if you download the app you'll

00:00:13get all the breaking news at your fingertips. I'm Peter Martin, Alison McConnell, Tamit

00:00:18Manis and a new guest we've got on the show with us today, Alan Ruff who formerly played

00:00:23for Patrick Thistle, Hibbs and Scotland just in case some of you have forgotten all about

00:00:30him. Are you sure your holiday's over now? Is that everything? Yes, that's it, that's

00:00:34it done. This was a visiting my relation holiday so I had to go on this one but don't have

00:00:40any pencil down at all. Okay, that's exactly what I was thinking. Listen we've got lots

00:00:49to talk about and thank you very much for joining us. On the live feed we'll read out

00:00:53some of your messages and of course don't forget you can watch the football show Monday,

00:00:57Wednesday and Friday at your leisure at any time across YouTube and thank you to everyone

00:01:02who joined us for the Old Firm reaction. We're going to be talking Celtic too good for Rangers,

00:01:07Liverpool win the Battle of the Reds, Aberdeen's run hits nine in a row, the Dons are going crazy

00:01:13and Naismith's in the firing line at Hearts. Lots to talk about there. Before we start

00:01:19looking at what happened over the weekend, I think the football world was rocked by the

00:01:24sad passing of Saul Bamba at only 39 years of age. Tam, you were lucky enough to play with him.

00:01:30Yeah I was, I was at Dunfermline with him. I've got great memories of Saul. I thought he was

00:01:35not only a terrific football player but just a great guy. A big smile can light up a room.

00:01:39My abiding memory of Saul is Scottish Cup semi-final replay against Hibs at Hampden.

00:01:45Jim McIntyre I think scored a last minute penalty dink to goalkeeper and Saul was

00:01:48outstanding that night. I remember being in Carbon in Glasgow after it with the whole Dunfermline

00:01:53team and the big man was up on the tables with his club Ty Rooney seed and dancing away.

00:02:00So I'm absolutely devastated and I hope he rests in peace.

00:02:03Yeah absolutely well said and I think from everyone on the football show our condolences

00:02:08of course thoughts and prayers to his family and friends at this very sad time. Saul Bamba

00:02:14he sadly passed away at the age of just 39. Here's the results from the weekend's football

00:02:21in the Scottish Premiership. Ross County Nail, Aberdeen 1. It was the late late show with

00:02:25Nisbet scoring the winner. Dundee 2, St Mirren 2, some cracking goals in that match to talk about.

00:02:31St Johnston 1, Motherwell 2, Craig Levine far from happy we'll hear from him.

00:02:36Hearts Nail, Dundee United 1, Hearts fans far from happy and Stevie Naismith under pressure.

00:02:42Kilmarnock 1, Hibs 1, we'll hear from Tam on how Hibs should have won by seven goals to nil.

00:02:48And Celtic 3, Rangers nil in the big one on the Sunday. So let's cut to the chase. Celtic 3,

00:02:58Rangers nil. In the early moments of the match Ruffy there was a goal for Celtic which was

00:03:05chalked offside but the writing was on the wall from there on in and Celtic just pummeled Rangers.

00:03:12Yeah we said the only chance that Rangers would would have would be early on in the game to press

00:03:17Celtic because I know they like to build up for the back. They did that for 10 minutes. I mean I

00:03:22don't know where Clermont's coming from saying they could have two goals. The dessert one was

00:03:26offside you know and he fluffed his shot anyway. Matondo could have done better with his header

00:03:31but after that it was one-way traffic and it was how many and I know Clermont came out and said

00:03:37we had as many shots a goal or on target than them but for every chance that I saw that Rangers had

00:03:43Celtic had two. Yeah and it could have been a lot lot heavier than three. Yeah you know once they

00:03:49got their noses in front Ali they just some people thought they took their foot off the gas at one

00:03:54point but three is still a convincing win. Yeah I thought it was very convincing. I think there was

00:03:58a point just towards the end of the first half where you could sense the panic within Rangers.

00:04:03I think when it had gone to 2-0 had Celtic got a third before the break. I just think it could

00:04:08have gone anywhere. You could feel it within the stadium. You could also feel it palpable within

00:04:14the Rangers team just how much the heads had gone down. I think Rio Hurtado had a glorious chance

00:04:19the second period. Kiyoko going through and went for the audacious chip could have had another

00:04:24chance. I thought Celtic were very very dominant. Maybe Rangers I think offered a bit in the first

00:04:2910 minutes but you have to have more than that. You're never winning a game of that magnitude on

00:04:35a 10-minute showing. You have to be able to go for the entirety of the 90 minutes and then some

00:04:40and I just thought there was a significant chasm in quality between the two teams.

00:04:45Yeah we'll digest and dissect most of it Tam but your overview? Yeah I just concur with what the

00:04:53guys have said there. I think that Celtic were superb. I thought the first 10 minutes

00:04:57Rangers started well. They pressed Celtic high. They created a couple of opportunities. I think

00:05:02probably both of them were offside if they'd scored but they started well but once Celtic

00:05:07had that goal which would have been a fantastic goal was just called off just marginally offside.

00:05:12I think Celtic totally dominated the game. Rangers were desperate for half-time 2-0.

00:05:16I think if Celtic would have got the third before half-time it could have been any score in the

00:05:19second half and Rangers just look miles away. They're miles away from Celtic at the minute.

00:05:24I think they should be concentrating on the other teams. I think they should be

00:05:26concentrating in second place. I think Celtic will win the league in a canter and when you

00:05:31look at Rangers since they got back into the top flight 2016, they've won one league, one Scottish

00:05:37Cup and one League Cup. They've won three trophies in eight years, major trophies. I think St Johnson

00:05:42have won two. So are they becoming a team that just wins a trophy every now and again? That's

00:05:46what it looks like to me at the minute. Here's what Brendan Rodgers had to say on the overview

00:05:52of the game. Happy obviously. The speed in our game was exceptional. We had three and maybe could

00:05:57have had a few more. We go into every game with humility that we have to work. We're in a really

00:06:03good place but it's so early in the season there is much more growth to come. I think that's the

00:06:09key and the worrying aspect for a lot of people, Ruffy, is the starting 11 wasn't even a team that

00:06:16included any of the major signings. No and I was critical of Celtic, I think it was last year,

00:06:23the year before that. They had players on the bench that were coming on and being very, very,

00:06:28very good to the team overall. They would take maybe three or four off and three or four would

00:06:32come on. I didn't think that was the case last year. I think Brendan Rodgers has rectified that

00:06:37this year. You saw the players, as you've said there, that have come on, have come on on a bit

00:06:41of quality. So whoever's coming off later on in the game, whether it's 70 minutes, 75 minutes,

00:06:47the team are going to have to deal with some quality coming on even for the last 15 minutes.

00:06:51Philippe Clement was fairly philosophical at the end of the game. This is what the Rangers

00:06:57manager had to say. We started the best of the two teams. In the first 10 to 12 minutes we should

00:07:03have scored one or two goals. There is not one fan more demanding than me about results and wanting

00:07:08to win. I think if today you score the first goal, it's a totally different game. At this point,

00:07:15I think a number of Rangers fans are possibly looking at his comments and saying you can't.

00:07:22We talked about it yesterday, Ali and myself, on the immediate reaction after the game. I don't

00:07:27think you can keep selling the positives when you don't get the overall result.

00:07:32Yeah, listen, the fans are not daft. That's why they're outside the iBrooks,

00:07:36giving abuse to the players. That's why they're giving abuse to the board. They know that Celtic

00:07:41are miles ahead. You can dress it up whatever way you want, Peter. If Rangers would have scored

00:07:45first, I think Celtic had gears to go up. I think Celtic won 3-0 and really cruised the game. I think

00:07:51they have got levels to go up. They've got £30 million sitting on the bench waiting to come on.

00:07:55You look at the subs that Celtic were bringing on and the players that Rangers were bringing on,

00:07:59and the gulf is huge. So I don't think that's going to fool any of the Rangers supporters.

00:08:04I think that's five games against Celtic. I don't think he's won any. Four defeats and a draw.

00:08:09Until he can prove that he can beat Celtic, Peter,

00:08:13they're not going to get anywhere near Celtic in terms of toppling them domestically.

00:08:16Yeah, here's what some Rangers fans had to say today.

00:08:23Yeah, just a quick listen, Ruffy, to what some of the Rangers fans had to say today.

00:08:29I don't really know what to think of that, to be honest. It's not the best to see.

00:08:34It obviously isn't really what you'd want to happen at a team, but sometimes it does take

00:08:39something like that to happen, to change what's going on. Obviously I dislike Celtic, but in the

00:08:46Covid season when they were doing bad, they had protests and how did that work out for them?

00:08:50They obviously changed. The next season they went and won a double, and the season after that won

00:08:54a treble and got Ange Bostacoglu, who's now at Spurs, and they're the dominant force in Scotland

00:08:59by far, probably the farthest it's been since before Gerrard. So, I mean, how did that work

00:09:04out for them? I don't agree with that, I think. I don't. I mean, getting annoyed at the manager,

00:09:12yeah, everybody gets annoyed at the manager sometimes, but showing up at Ibrox when they've

00:09:17just finished an away game isn't exactly the best. It doesn't show good form for

00:09:22Rangers fans, to be honest with you, but each to their own, I suppose.

00:09:27Yeah, just a couple of Rangers fans there offering their insight into it. Again,

00:09:34Ruffey, I will offer this as a form of balance on the overall. The result's never easy to take.

00:09:41There is always a backlash after a defeat in a game of this magnitude, especially so early in

00:09:49the season. But we are now three, four weeks into the season where suddenly John Bennett,

00:09:58the chairman, has said, look, there needs to be a long-term strategy instead of this short-termism.

00:10:03That thinking has to change. They announced the extension of Philip Clermont's

00:10:09contract. The manager himself says they're going to bring in younger players, they're going to

00:10:13change, they're going to offload a lot of the deadwood, which they have managed to do successfully.

00:10:19I do think there is a kind of an erratic reaction so soon after it. Maybe because of the manner of

00:10:26the defeat, but there needs to be a bit of calm to suggest, listen, he needs to be able to build

00:10:32this. And if this season is painful and Celtic win the league, you just have to hope that by

00:10:39sticking by him, his plan eventually bears fruit. Yeah, I think they've got to stick by him.

00:10:45There's no doubt about that. The only thing I would give him a bit of leeway in,

00:10:49he has got players that have still got to come in, maybe four or five players, but until they come in

00:10:54and he's got a settled team and they start winning games comfortably, then he'll still be under

00:10:59pressure. The Rangers fans, you know, the other day that he was talking about, it will be better

00:11:04come January. January is a long time away. You've got to play Hibs and Hearts and Aberdeen away

00:11:10from home sometime. And if you lose these games, you know, then you're going to come in really

00:11:15increased pressure coming up to that Celtic game. So he needs to get these players back in that

00:11:19he's talking about. He needs to get a settled team because at this moment in time, I don't think he

00:11:24knows who he wants to put on the park. I don't know who he wants to start games because there's

00:11:29people getting 45 minutes and then getting hauled off as if I've made a mistake there. So I don't

00:11:34think he knows his best 11 by far. Is it fair to say that, Ali, on the basis that, you know,

00:11:40he's brought in a few players that he'll want to obviously blood? He's got players coming back.

00:11:48Maybe in the next four or five weeks, once he gets settled, he's got an international break.

00:11:53Maybe once he's got the injuries back and the players that he's brought in, maybe he will have

00:11:59a settled team in his mind. Because again, Ruffey's making observations there, but

00:12:05he's had to clear out a lot of deadwood. He's had to clear out a number of players that just

00:12:10wasted Rangers time. I mean, Cantwell was just a waste of money.

00:12:14He's had to clear out players and also at the same time, he's had to bring the wage level down. So

00:12:18you're offloading players like Connor Goldson, who would have been one of the highest,

00:12:23higher, if not the highest earner at the club to bring the wage bill down. And then you're having

00:12:28to go out and source players that can come into that position, but on less wages, on less money.

00:12:35And that's not an easy thing to do. But also I think it can be very difficult to find a settled

00:12:40starting XI when it's not going well. Now, you qualify that by saying last week they beat St

00:12:46Johnson 6-0. But if you go back to the opening weeks of the season, they draw against Hearts,

00:12:50kind of sticky performance against St Johnson in the cup game. It's not been entirely fluent.

00:12:57Then you get a game like, you know, against Ross County where it clicks and you've got goals

00:13:02and then you come up against Celtic and, you know, it hits the buffers again.

00:13:06It doesn't help when the manager says it was a fabulous performance against Ross County.

00:13:11I think there's a naivety. I think maybe that showcases someone coming in who is not part of

00:13:19the fabric of Scottish football culture. When you come from an outside position and you come in and

00:13:23you say, well, hang on a minute, last weekend's our best result for four years or whatever it was.

00:13:29The fact is that he will be judged on how he copes with Celtic, on his ability to get the measure of

00:13:36Celtic. And until he does that, he will have a huge question mark hanging over him. Even if you're

00:13:42winning other games, you have to be able to go toe to toe with your biggest rivals and get a tune

00:13:48out of your own team. And I think what the frustration will be for a lot of Rangers fans

00:13:52yesterday was that there is no evidence of this project, that there's no evidence there that you

00:13:57can see, well, there are improvements, there are lessons learned. How many times have Rangers

00:14:02conceded that first goal against Celtic across recent seasons? Yeah, and listen, I am offering

00:14:10as much balance as possible on, first of all, the fallout from the Rangers camp, which again

00:14:19is loud. And some of their pundits, you would think, have been right over the top on what

00:14:26they've been watching on this one and don't seem to be very sympathetic towards what

00:14:32Philippe Clament is trying to do. PJB is obviously not happy with what I'm saying. He says it's

00:14:38Espanol Glasgow. We got what was expected, an absolute doing. Peter is trying to deflect from

00:14:45a shambles of a football club on and off the park. Celtic are light years ahead. I don't think

00:14:51anybody's disagreeing with that. And again, to offer that balance, on the flip side of it all,

00:14:57if Celtic were a stuttering team that marched towards the title last season, from the start

00:15:04of this season, pre-season, and the team that's been playing without the new signings, they'd be

00:15:11like a well-oiled machine, Tam. I mean, Celtic have been absolutely flawless. Yeah, and I think

00:15:18you can see what Celtic are trying to do. I think with Rangers, you don't see it, Peter. You don't

00:15:23see what they're trying to achieve by pressing. They've done it for 10 minutes and then Celtic

00:15:27played through it, found a way to play through them. The energy, the hunger that Celtic have

00:15:31got is unbelievable. And that's the difference, Peter. I know Chris Boyle spoke about it yesterday.

00:15:36You know, I think Celtic make things happen. Rangers hope for things to happen. And I think

00:15:40he's got a point there. I think that when you look at when Celtic lost the ball, I think Maeedan

00:15:44in the 92nd minute made about an 80-yard run to close someone down. Kyogo done it as well. You

00:15:49don't see Rangers players doing that, Peter. And that's just nothing to do with ability. That's

00:15:52just hunger and desire and fitness and wanting to do it. Rangers, you see some of their players

00:15:58just jogging back at 3-0. So I think the Rangers supporters are looking at that and going, we can

00:16:03accept being outclassed in terms of quality, but in terms of work rate, Celtic outworked them

00:16:08off the ball as well. You can see Celtic, every time they lost the ball,

00:16:11they were like, you know, a pack of hounds going to get it back. Rangers didn't do that. So,

00:16:15listen, I think if you're a Rangers supporter, you're scratching your head. Where do you go

00:16:19from here this morning? I mean, I think it's going to get worse before it gets better, Peter,

00:16:24for Rangers. Yeah, I didn't expect anything different going into the game, Rafi. I thought

00:16:29Celtic would win it. The fact that they won it comfortably and again, as Tam mentioned there,

00:16:36the desire, the hunger, the fluency to their play, the manner of the goals, albeit, you know,

00:16:41if you look at the goals themselves, I mean, one was chalked off. The next minute, the first goal

00:16:49is similar to numerous goals that Celtic have scored against Rangers, which is somebody makes

00:16:54a mistake, they get into the by-line, they cut it back, Tavernier's sleeping at the back and

00:16:59in pops a Celtic player to score. Yeah, if you're doing a pre-analysis of the game on the Friday

00:17:05before it, you'll be shown a video like, here's what happened the last time we played Celtic,

00:17:10here's how we lost this goal and they're all similar. So, you must go out onto the training

00:17:16ground and stop that happening, but they don't seem to have done that. They don't seem to have

00:17:20grasped and I don't think they can, but I think it's because Celtic play so fast when they get

00:17:25players and Kyle McGregor again was instrumental in everything that he'd done. What did you make

00:17:30of the second goal because I thought the keeper's positioning was good, did you? Yeah, I thought that

00:17:36I had to give marks to Keogh, I didn't expect Keogh to hit it when he hit it. He just hadn't

00:17:40set himself for him hitting it that far out. I think he probably thought he was going to advance

00:17:45a wee bit, five, six yards and then he's going to hit it. So, he took him by surprise and his

00:17:49positioning was just wrong. Yeah, and of course, McGregor just continues to work off these Duracell

00:17:57batteries. I mean, suddenly he decides to retire from international football and as Ian Crocker

00:18:04rightfully pointed out, he's got three goals in goal of the month, never mind goal of the season.

00:18:08Yeah, three goals in three games, I don't think he's ever done that in his career. I think Hatati

00:18:12being back in the team is huge for him. I think Hatati does a lot of running for him. Callum can

00:18:16go and just sit in front of the back two and go and dictate the game. I think, bar the first 10

00:18:21minutes, he cruised through the game. He dictated the game. I thought Bernardo was really good as

00:18:25well. And I think when you look at the competition for places now for Celtic, I think when you look

00:18:29at scales, again, probably his best performance for me in a Celtic jersey. Greg Taylor, you know,

00:18:34they know that the boy trusts, he's sitting there, six million. Scales has got to play well every

00:18:39week or else he's out of the team. Taylor, he's got the lad Valley, you know, from Barcelona sitting

00:18:44on the bench, he's got to play well. Kyogo's the same, he's got a nine million pound guy sitting

00:18:48on the bench. Engels is ready to come in. So, there's real competition for places at Celtic

00:18:52and you know, you've got to put performances in every single week to stay in the team and I don't

00:18:55think that's the case with Engels. Okay, here's another point, Rafi, which I wonder. Before we

00:19:00talk about, obviously, the fact that everybody in a democracy has a right to complain if they're

00:19:06not happy with the setup, the structure, a government, a team, a manager. We've all got

00:19:12that right. Whether there's a right to be abusive towards players and the manager, I'm not so sure

00:19:21I like that. I think, fair play to Philippe Clement, you know, and I think Balogun actually

00:19:26stepped up to try and reason with a number of angry Rangers fans but I certainly don't like

00:19:32to see any fans abusing players when they're coming off a bus or coming out of a dressing room.

00:19:39Oh, you're right. I mean, as players ourselves, you don't like it to see it, you know. Sometimes

00:19:44you might escape it but your teammates are not escaping it. They pick on certain players.

00:19:49Every fan has maybe a player they don't particularly like and they're the ones that

00:19:53get it. So it's a collective thing and it's horrible to see, you know. I just think the

00:19:58people that do it, you know, I'm not saying they're not real supporters of the club but they shouldn't

00:20:03be doing it. Yeah, the other point here, Tam, which I think is something that Rangers have

00:20:08shot themselves in the foot with and I feel so strongly about it and I'm going to point it out

00:20:14until such times as it changes but this is something which I think you two as players

00:20:19can comment on which is you don't have any fans there. So the game for me is sterile.

00:20:28It's a brilliant game. It was built on, okay, there's negative elements that Ali and I have

00:20:33discussed yesterday which is it's built on a poisoned element, a historic element of religion

00:20:38which is not nice to see but when the two of them are at it and there's huge amounts of fans of

00:20:44each side in it, that's what made it such an unbelievable spectacle. It's now sterile because

00:20:50quite simply what you have is one team that has no away fans, they can't react, they don't get that

00:20:58feeling of 7,000 fans saying come on, that's not good enough, booing, you know, or cheering when

00:21:05they've suddenly scored a goal and lifting them. That's gone from the game and that I think has

00:21:10come back to bite Rangers big time. I don't agree with you Peter. I don't agree with you. I think

00:21:17that Celtic go to Ibrox and there's no away fans and going win. Why should Rangers not be able to do it?

00:21:21Well they haven't got a good enough team. I know. I think somewhere along the line you have to have,

00:21:26you have to have a reaction time, you have to have someone shouting and saying

00:21:31it's not good enough. I get what you're saying. They're in there and they're absolutely surrounded

00:21:37by 60,000 Celtic fans. There is no feedback for them. I get what you're saying. Listen, I want the

00:21:42away support in there but I can remember playing in an Edinburgh derby at Tyne Castle with a full

00:21:47stand and we get hammered five on. I don't think it makes a difference. I'm not saying it's an absolute

00:21:51definitive. I'm saying it's an element of it that is lost to the game. No, it's definitely lost in

00:21:56the game. Listen, we want to see away supporters there and if you're shooting into your own fans

00:22:00probably you get a lift, you get a corner, you can hear the support. I get where you're coming from but

00:22:04I don't think it would particularly have affected the game yesterday if Rangers had 7,000 fans there.

00:22:08I think it might have affected a few to get their finger out, Ruffey. 7,000 fans shouting.

00:22:14Kyogo runs back 60 yards. What does he get? He gets a standing ovation from 60,000 people who

00:22:20actually react to him and say, by the way, you've run 60 yards. We absolutely see what you've just

00:22:26done and they go mental. If you see that and you've got 7,000 fans there who can see you putting the

00:22:32effort in, sometimes it can lift you. It's the only thing a wee bit I would come on again.

00:22:38He said, I think we all agree the first goal is important in these games. I think the first goal

00:22:43is important and the first goal is even more important if you get 7,000 of your supporters

00:22:47there. Because your 7,000 supporters are going to raise the roof, the players are going to lift

00:22:52themselves and hopefully they'll not lose any more goals. But from that aspect, yes, I think it would

00:22:59lift the whole team. I just think the way it's going now is the clubs are just looking after

00:23:03their own supporters. There's 7,000 more Celtic supporters in that game and the Rangers will do the same as well.

00:23:08By the way, Ruffey, I'm not saying for a minute that it's a definitive. I'm saying it's an element

00:23:13of it that I think can play a part. It's not something that dramatically changes at Alisson

00:23:20because, you know, there are situations where, as Tam rightly points out, Celtic can go to Ibrox

00:23:26and silence 50,000 Rangers fans. I absolutely get that. But there's an element of what used to be

00:23:33the spectacle, what used to drive certain individual players, either in a positive or a negative sense,

00:23:39happened when you had a huge amount of your support there to let you know how they feel.

00:23:45Yeah, I would agree with you to an extent. I also think the game is better for having away fans

00:23:50in. But I would think, I take your point of what you're saying, however, for that to happen you

00:23:56need something to energise a support. There needs to be something that you can get behind, something

00:24:02that you can get enthused by, even if it is a 60-yard run or even sometimes if it's a throw-in

00:24:09that you're winning, you need something that you can sense a spark of to get excited about and to

00:24:16get behind the team. Sometimes when that doesn't happen, I think supporters become very quiet.

00:24:21Sometimes they become mute. The same is true for the likes of Celtic going to Ibrox and winning.

00:24:28What happens is if Celtic are dominant in that fixture, it goes very quiet. The stadium goes

00:24:33very quiet. It can work against you too. I do take your point about what you're saying.

00:24:37I mean Ali McCoy said something yesterday. What do you make of McCoy's comments on it? He said that

00:24:44maybe they can't handle the pressure of it at times because when it was the pandemic...

00:24:50I think there's definitely an element of that. We spoke about that that whole season. We spoke

00:24:55about that. I don't think there was any doubt that not having supporters in play, the factor,

00:25:02was a huge factor in how that season played out. Hugh Scott, who's a Rangers fan, and listen to

00:25:07Hugh, I am there to be shot down. It's just an opinion that I want to see a huge amount of fans

00:25:15back from either side. He says, Peter, I can't agree with you about the lack of fans.

00:25:21The players pulling on the Rangers jersey should be inspiration enough. If it's not,

00:25:27then they are at the wrong club, I'm afraid. I've said that about both of the teams, Celtic

00:25:34and Rangers, when they go through a bad spell. There are certain individuals on the park who

00:25:39can't handle what's getting thrown at them during the game. They can't handle the pressure for a

00:25:44start. Me and Tam just played with relatively smaller clubs, Hibs. It must be different,

00:25:5160,000 people, if things aren't going particularly well and you're being singled out, or two players

00:25:57on the team are singled out, as players who are no pulling their weight. That affects...

00:26:02That's just a natural thing. How can you handle it? There's a lot of players, I've said this on

00:26:07numerous occasions, come from other teams to Rangers and all of a sudden... We've had Rangers

00:26:12players on, I think it would be Barry said, the first old firm he played in, the first 25 minutes,

00:26:17he was like, where am I? What's happening here? The individual has got to be able to handle

00:26:23the bad side as well as the good side. When you're winning all the time, and I'm not picking

00:26:28on the boy Cantwell, when he's in a team and they're winning 3 or 4-0, he's a star. But when

00:26:33they're not winning, he's not a star. That's when you sort of look at players and you go,

00:26:38he can handle this. He's the player I want on my team. I don't think Rangers have got

00:26:43that player yet. They're bringing players in from all over the place. I'm sure a lot of them

00:26:47will be caught in the headlights as well. They're coming from teams that have probably just got

00:26:53maybe 20, 25, 30,000. So they've now got to get their heads around, when we're winning it's great,

00:26:59but when you're not winning, you've got to collect it all together. Two quick points. I want to put

00:27:03one to you Tam, but I want to go back to you on goalkeepers, because you've discussed Jack

00:27:09Butland with the Kyogo goal. What did you make of Schmeichel? Because he only had two real saves to

00:27:15make in the game from about 74 minutes onwards. What did you make of him? Yeah, I thought the

00:27:19save at the end, I think it was McCausland, I think it was. He spread himself well and I've

00:27:24said this on numerous occasions, when you play with Rangers and Celtic, not in particularly that

00:27:28game, in most games you're called upon to make a save. Any goalkeeper will tell you, you look at

00:27:34all the goals at the weekend, a lot of good goalkeeping performances. Goalkeepers having

00:27:39four saves, five saves, six saves. It's the one save that turns the game and these games, big

00:27:44games, you have to have the ability to make that save. Butland has that obviously, I never worked

00:27:49for him the other day there, but he had two or three other saves that could have made Celtic

00:27:54win it 5-0. Yeah, and Tam, as we have digested the match and how it all played out, you hang on

00:28:02every word from the managers and Philip Clement, indignant when asked the question on the gap,

00:28:11no, we will see in January and his argument is, once he gets the players that he wants in that

00:28:18XI that he wants to put out in the park, once Celtic come to Ibrox, it will be a different

00:28:24kettle of fish. Yeah, I don't agree with that Peter, I think he's signed a lot of players,

00:28:30I mean I don't know how many he's going to sign in January as well, he's got to bed them in, I get

00:28:33that, but I think when you look at the game yesterday, you look at the strength of the squads,

00:28:37I think come January, Celtic could be 10-15 points ahead of Rangers and the league's gone, so

00:28:44I think he's obviously, he's trying to stay upbeat, he's trying to stay positive,

00:28:48you know, but we see at the start of the show, until he can prove he can beat Celtic in a big

00:28:51game head-to-head, Celtic are just going to continue to dominate the league. Yeah, and the

00:28:57other positive that I think we have to mention Ali, is quite simply the performance of Celtic

00:29:04in the game. They break quick, they were fluent, we already mentioned the fact that it was the

00:29:10starting XI that didn't contain any of the main players that have been signed. I think a lot of

00:29:16Celtic fans will be looking at it and saying to themselves, this looks really good, they're

00:29:23playing really well, it's football that they wanted to see last season, now Brendan's got his

00:29:28teeth into the team, and they just looked mega impressive in that game. Yeah, I thought they

00:29:35were very dominant, I thought they looked fluent, I thought they looked significantly well ahead of

00:29:41anything that Rangers had to offer. I think there was always a sense that they could go up another

00:29:46level, they had players to come on to come in and improve the team, as I think you'll expect now to

00:29:51see over the next couple of weeks, you'll see players coming in to the team, you'll see Celtic

00:29:56get stronger again, and I always think when you get off to a very confident start in the league,

00:30:01that it just sets a tone immediately, that you just have this very early impression,

00:30:06and I think that first game can be so critical, that first meeting of the two teams

00:30:10is so critical to the outcome. I can't remember the start off the top of my head, but invariably

00:30:15the team that wins that first meeting of the season goes on and wins the league. I think the only

00:30:19the one in recent memory that bucked it was Ange Postacoglu's first season, but

00:30:23that first game just sets a tone, and if you were to draw a conclusion from yesterday and an early

00:30:28impression, is that this is a Celtic team that are way in front of anything that's on offer

00:30:35competitively, domestically. Europe will be another test, that will be another area of judgment when

00:30:41you start to go into the Champions League later this month, but in a domestic sense, I don't think

00:30:46you can see anyone that's living with Celtic this season. Yeah, I don't think too many people

00:30:50will disagree with you, if anything Ruffey, Europe is for me the test of why Brendan was

00:30:57brought back. I think he's, there's no doubt in my mind he's the best coach in the country,

00:31:02he has the best team and the best players. Europe is where I think his ultimate test will come,

00:31:09because in the games that they've played so far, I'm looking and I'm thinking to myself,

00:31:14I don't think anybody's going to lay a glove on them. It's whether he can balance the squad he

00:31:18has that he'll play in some games domestically, and then the squad that he really wants to play

00:31:25in the European games to try and get some kind of credibility. Yeah, that'll be the big test then,

00:31:31and again, we all know that they're better than everybody else here, but there were still

00:31:37glimpses the other day there that Rangers were getting chances, and chances that better teams

00:31:43will take, you know, and I think that's going to be the test for them, you know, we love

00:31:49teams going forward and going forward and going forward, but sometimes you're going to be backs

00:31:54to the wall, sometimes you've got to defend properly. I hope Celtic have learnt their lesson

00:31:59for the last couple of years, I hope they can defend when they go to games away from home,

00:32:03and if they score they can sit in and see a game out, and until that happens in Europe, then

00:32:10the decision on judging them will still be there, because they haven't done it for two or three years.

00:32:15Yeah, they're already five points ahead, which I think is worrying for Rangers fans.

00:32:20Peter King has just sent us a message, and I'll read it out, just on the basis that obviously

00:32:26when you get a game like this, everybody wants to analyse everything. Peter King says,

00:32:30Peter, I knew you wouldn't mention the VAR decision, I thought he was offside.

00:32:34For Keogh's goal, I thought he was just offside, it's a pity, it was a fantastic move

00:32:40from Celtic, you know, the split, you know, Rangers right through the middle, and it was a

00:32:44great cutback, I thought he was just offside, Peter. I thought it was a genius kind of thing,

00:32:49an ankle thing, I thought this was a new EAR thing. It'll be if Arsene Wenger gets his,

00:32:54if that rule comes in with any farts. Why would you chop a goal off like that,

00:32:58because somebody's hand's in there. No, it wasn't his hand, I think it was his foot,

00:33:02you can't be offside with your hand, it was his foot. Yeah. I think he was near,

00:33:05his foot was marginally, I don't know. I thought he was just off.

00:33:08Exactly, same again. There was other games as well, you know, what a good goal,

00:33:13what a great goal, I think it was the boy, I think it was Ross County won in particular,

00:33:16I thought it was Brophy broke forward and squared it and it was a good goal and then

00:33:21that gets taken away from you and you go, why? Yeah, absolutely. Listen, we're not going to

00:33:25disagree with you. Kenny Merchant says, just offside, correct decision. So with that in mind,

00:33:35you can give us your view on the big game. You can go on to our website and download our app

00:33:42and you'll get all the analysis and interviews with fans, reaction from it as well. Thank you

00:33:47to so many of you for your support over the weekend and give us your opinion. We try and

00:33:52read out as many of your messages as possible, providing of course they are decent. That's the

00:33:59great thing about this game, we can get just unbelievably over the top once it gets to the

00:34:07end of it. You know what it's like Brophy, it's absolutely crazy, from a position of Rangers

00:34:15suddenly saying this is a long-term project, you get people calling for the manager's head and

00:34:20abuse towards James Tavernier and questioning every aspect of it and then you get Celtic fans

00:34:28just looking and thinking, what an incredible day, I mean they even had one of the Hollywood movie

00:34:33stars, I always think it's one of those days where everybody spends half their time

00:34:39looking to see who's in the stand as well Brophy. Yeah, the German boy, I can't remember, was it Vice's name or something like that?

00:34:45Was anyone James Bond, no? Yeah he was, he was a James Bond man. He was an even better one with Brad Pitt, the German one.

00:34:52Yeah, you just want to do that so you can swear on the programme isn't it?

00:34:56I thought he was very good in that. Yeah. And he was very good in the one... Django Unchained.

00:35:01Yeah, well done Brophy. He was excellent.

00:35:05Well done Brophy, you managed, I know Ali, I know exactly where you're going in your head.

00:35:09Anyway, Brophy likes these. Christopher Valtz, thank you Don Clark in Derry, you're absolutely

00:35:15right, that's Christopher Valtz. That's the game, the managers have offered their opinion, the fans

00:35:22have offered their opinion, Celtic are five points clear, we are going to talk about a team that had

00:35:28a set of fans that were able to swear in one of their songs, Brophy. The Aberdeen fans have come

00:35:34up with a really sharp one verse song, which I'll tell you about right after the news headlines.

00:35:41Welcome to your Daily News Headlines, brought to you by Arnold Clark. I'm Patrick and here's your

00:35:45top stories on the 2nd of September. It ended 3-0 to Celtic yesterday in the first Old Firm derby

00:35:51of the season. Goals for Daizzo Maeda, Kyogo and Callum McGregor sealed all three points for Brendan

00:35:57Rodgers' side. Back here at Ibrox, the Rangers players returned and they were confronted by the

00:36:02Rangers fans who had a few choice words for their players. In other news, Hearts, where they fell to

00:36:07a ninth consecutive game without a victory in their 1-0 defeat against Dundee United yesterday.

00:36:13According to Stephen Naismith, a few of his players are still needing time to adapt to the

00:36:17Scottish Premiership. I think the newer players are still adapting and some of our players are

00:36:25low in confidence. I think in general we're picking too many safe passes. And it ended 1-1

00:36:30yesterday between Kilmarnock and Hibernian thanks to a last-minute penalty by Bruce Anderson.

00:36:35Speaking after the game, the Hibs boss David Gray says the international break has come at the right

00:36:40time for his players. I think the break comes at a really good time, you know, with the new bodies

00:36:44coming in, time to gel, time to get new ideas into them, the squad starting to know each other a bit

00:36:48more. That's a living sign I think, so it comes at a good time. That's all of your headlines,

00:36:53by Arno Clarke. Yeah, thanks to Patrick there for his headlines. And that brings us nicely to Celtic

00:37:02five points clear, along with the other top team there, Ruffey, the new kids on the block.

00:37:08Aberdeen 1, Ross County 0. I won't use the expletive that the Dons fans used, but I did

00:37:14think it was funny when I saw the fans reacting with, if you Celtic were going to win the league.

00:37:21I thought, wow, they're on a high, they're on a high, Ruffey. Yeah, I mean, they've been looking

00:37:25for this kind of start for the last two or three seasons, you know. Winning games is important to

00:37:30any supporter, but when you're winning all the time, you know, you can feel the momentum and

00:37:36the thing I was pleased about the weekend was the crowds at the games. I thought every team's

00:37:41supporters are getting right. Stadiums look full, there's no empty spaces anywhere, particularly

00:37:47Aberdeen, you know, and I think that's good and we spoke about it earlier, the Rangers and Celtic

00:37:52fans being at the game, but I think the fans at these teams, the Motherwells, the Aberdeens,

00:37:57the Hibs and that, are turning up at games and making it exciting. Kevin Nisbett scores in the

00:38:0298th minute and you know what was really funny about it? The Aberdeen fans have invaded the pitch

00:38:09as if it was a European tie and they've won the European Cup. It was mental, it was good fun.

00:38:15Listen, it's a 5-45 kick-off as well, you need to remember on a Saturday, so I think the Aberdeen

00:38:19fans would have been up there having a few scoops before the game. I think they'd have been well

00:38:24oiled before the game kicked off. They've started so well and it looked as if they were going to

00:38:30huff and puff and come away with a draw, but Kevin Nisbett does what Kevin Nisbett does. He's

00:38:37proven at this level. He just hangs back and lets the ball come to him and he takes it lovely,

00:38:41side foot, didn't blast it, didn't try and murder it. A lovely finish and I liked the

00:38:46scenes at the end. I thought Aberdeen, they've got momentum behind them, huge support there.

00:38:52We spoke about their fixture list, they've been pretty kind and I think they play before Rangers

00:38:57play next. I think they've got Motherwell at home and if they win that they go eight points ahead

00:39:00of the Rangers. They've started the season brilliant, I don't think they're going to win

00:39:04the league. When you look at Hibs and Harts at the minute, the gap they've got, they're 10 or 12

00:39:14points ahead of them at the minute, so they're going to be big favourites for third place already.

00:39:18Oh, I thought it was going to be a split. You nearly gave us the ultimate there, eh?

00:39:24You're not going for it? October, October.

00:39:29Halloween, if they're still up there for Halloween, I'll say they're getting their

00:39:32third nailed on. We thought you were going to go for splitting the old firm line there.

00:39:38Too early for that for Tam. He'll save that for his Daily Record column and then change it the

00:39:44week after. Listen, I'm going to single out somebody for praise in the Aberdeen side and

00:39:51it's Nicky Devlin. The reason why I'm going to praise Nicky Devlin is he drives forward,

00:39:57he's fouled, he continues, he gets up, he doesn't look for the foul, he drives on,

00:40:03he finds the pass to Shayden Morris, he then gets into the box, the ball comes through,

00:40:09he dummies it, lets it go through his legs for Nisbet to finish. He obviously got the

00:40:14shout from Nisbet. That's desire, that's what we're talking about. If you can yoga run 60 yards,

00:40:21there everybody spots his desire. Nicky Devlin's attitude there was keep going,

00:40:28we're into the last minute, can we get the winner? Yeah, every team should have a Nicky Devlin.

00:40:34You might not be the most gifted player on the team but what he gives you, as you've said there,

00:40:39he gives you the determination to win. He hates losing, really hates losing. It was unfortunate

00:40:46it was his hand at the penalty, even though he never made an issue of it, he just dealt with it

00:40:52and got on with it. I think it's been a great sign for him to go up there because obviously

00:40:59being with the clubs he's been at. He was there when Aberdeen were struggling a wee bit and now

00:41:06he's there with a bit of success so good luck to him. It's just a fabulous run. If they win the

00:41:11next game, they will match Fergie's 41-year record, Ali, of 10 wins in a row. Now their

00:41:19overall record is 15 wins in a row. That was set by Eddie Turnbull in 1970. It's just a fabulous

00:41:30run and we know the calibre of team that they've come up against but your catchphrase, your word

00:41:37is momentum, Ali. That's your line. Yeah, I think so and again, tone, I always think. It gives a

00:41:44change in atmosphere all around the club from the dressing room into the supporters. You can

00:41:51sense the optimism, the enthusiasm and I think what's really significant is the fact that Hearts

00:41:57and Hibs have toiled for a proper start. They've toiled for a good start so Aberdeen have this

00:42:02fantastic daylight between themselves and teams that you would traditionally expect would be

00:42:06challenging them to go and get that third spot and I think at this point in the season you can

00:42:11look and you can say well they're going to go into October and they have the first real test

00:42:16of the season. They've got a fairly harrowing calendar across October where I'm sure it will

00:42:22be put to the test and you'll see just maybe where they are and what they've got. However,

00:42:27by that point, where they could be is already fairly significantly ahead of teams that are

00:42:34going to be challenging them for that third spot. Yeah, Mullow, then Spartans, that's two games at

00:42:39home coming up after the international break, Ruffey and then it's Dundee away, Hearts at home

00:42:46and then Celtic away at Celtic Park and then they've got Dundee United and Rangers and that's

00:42:51the end of October. Yeah, they'll be the games that Alison's talking about. The next two games

00:42:57you would think, the way they're going just now, are winnable. They've been there before,

00:43:03up there, how many years ago was it with Celtic, the first and second? The Ronnie Daly years? Yeah,

00:43:08they were up there before. Have they got the players, once they're up there, if they do,

00:43:14sort of a hint on that, get above Rangers, have they got the players and the mentality to stay

00:43:21in that second place? Do you think so? At this moment in time, yeah, until Rangers get their

00:43:26act together but I do think Rangers will get their act together and will still be second. Okay,

00:43:32Hearts nil, Dundee United one. Dundee United certainly got their act together because

00:43:36Ross Graham's winner was a thing of beauty. Yeah, fantastic start given the fact that they've just

00:43:42come straight up again. Yeah, I think unbeaten, they're also in the last eight of the Premier

00:43:48Sports Cup, fantastic start. I think maybe a bit fortuitous in moments in games where they've come

00:43:53away with points but again, it's just so important I think when you come up and you're banking points

00:44:00and you're just steadying things, you've got a really solid foundation to go and build on.

00:44:04Yeah, and of course everybody here, you've mentioned it, when you have teams that suddenly

00:44:09have a great run, St Mirren, great support comes out for them. Dundee United have got a fabulous

00:44:13support. Aberdeen, suddenly winning games, they're all out there supporting them. If Hibs got their

00:44:19act together, this season, if we could see some better football, if we could see some clubs

00:44:27getting a bit of consistency, the bigger ones, you'll start to see a lot of fans. The biggest

00:44:32problem I think from this game is that Hearts haven't had a win this season. Stevie Naismith,

00:44:39adamant he can still turn this around? No, because if that time comes, that time will come. I think

00:44:45I've said before, the moment I feel that I don't think I can turn it around, I'll tell the club.

00:44:51It's not something that I'll be hanging on to if I do get to that point. As I said, there's

00:44:57been a decent turnover of players, they're a good group, they work well, but ultimately we need to

00:45:02show it on the pitch. We need to be a harder team to beat, we need to have more ruthless streaking,

00:45:08we need to have a bit of a swagger to say we're going to give it all we can and not fear about

00:45:13what might happen in the negative sense, because I feel we're doing that too much at the moment.

00:45:18Okay, doesn't look good. No wins since the start of the season and they need Celtic like a hole in

00:45:24the head after the international break? Yeah, we've just seen what games they had after the

00:45:29break. They've got Celtic away against St Mirnaway, they've got two really tough away games. I think

00:45:34Steven is under a bit of pressure now. I think that it's not just the way they're losing games,

00:45:40it's the way they're losing games, Peter. They're not scoring goals at home against Pills and they

00:45:44were poor against the weekend, didn't create a lot. Lawrence Shankland's goals have dried up

00:45:48and it's not just that the pre-season was poor as well. A lot of Hearts supporters are on his

00:45:54back now and he needs to start getting results and the next two games are going to be tricky

00:45:58for him. Celtic away, I don't see the Hearts getting a result there, the way Celtic are

00:46:01playing St Mirnaway, a tough game as well. Yeah, once the Hearts fans start to voice their

00:46:07displeasure, they get rid of Robbie Nielsen eventually because the board eventually buckled

00:46:12on it. Yeah, well I don't know why the dissenting fans never brought into everything they'd done

00:46:18last year. I thought they were a breath of fresh air last year, the way they were playing.

00:46:22Tam's touched on it, I think the biggest problem is Lawrence Shankland. Lawrence Shankland last

00:46:28year was pinnacle to everything they'd done, scoring fantastic goals, winning games for them.

00:46:33He's not turned up this year, not blaming him collectively, the rest of the team's got to take

00:46:40something out of that again. Do you think he's been affected by all the talk? Yeah,

00:46:43definitely, definitely. I think they do, I think you do. It never happened to me,

00:46:48but I think there's certain players...

00:46:54Just get on with it, I don't know what you do about it but I think when you...

00:46:57Moving to him, I'll take that. Oh, Celtic are in for me, I'll take that on a Friday, Robbie.

00:47:02No, I just think they're individuals. I think as a player, obviously the Rangers think

00:47:09lurking a bit must have had some effect because there must have been a wee bit of a hint that

00:47:14that might have happened, obviously it didn't, so you've got to get your head round it.

00:47:18I know his contract's coming at the end of this season, isn't it?

00:47:21Yeah, I think he's still got another year left. I think he's up till 2026.

00:47:25Yeah, well he has to get his act together because at this moment in time he's not the player he was

00:47:31last year. No, I thought you were talking about Naismith's contract. No, no, I'm talking a lot

00:47:36about Naismith's contract at the end of the season.

00:47:38Yeah, well he's obviously got his head round it. It never happened to me. I never got the

00:47:41Rangers move, I never got moved down south. I've got the end of the season, I'm still young enough

00:47:45to get something out of the game, but he still has to play for his teammates.

00:47:49Yeah, absolutely. They're up against it. I don't like to see managers get the sack this early

00:47:56and I just think he's... I know he's under pressure, I think he's got a couple of games

00:48:02that he has to get something early. Can I just say, when I was at Thistle,

00:48:06we had a couple of managers who went through a terrible time. At any board meeting we went to,

00:48:12we always looked at the fixture list and said, look, give the guy a break. These are the games

00:48:15coming up. So I think if you're a good board, you'd give them four or five games in the light

00:48:20of what happened last year. But as you were saying, the four or five games are pretty tough.

00:48:25I don't think you can just sack them just because of the first four or five games this season.

00:48:30Yeah, OK. I agree with you, Rafi. I'm on that board because I think if we're looking at all

00:48:36the managers, they all need time to bed in with their squads, they need time to do something with

00:48:42it. And I think he's, out of all the managers, I think he's under the most pressure to be able to

00:48:49turn it around. That's what happens when your success sometimes goes against you.

00:48:54Yeah, absolutely. People judge you.

00:48:55I set a high bar last year.

00:48:57You did last year, like you're doing this year.

00:48:59But the fans don't remember. They only want to hear it now. Dundee 2, St Mirren 2, and an

00:49:03absolute belter of a goal from Mondrian in that game. In fact, Ola Sanja's goal was good as well.

00:49:10It was a great game. Dundee and St Mirren, I've got two sets of fans who are just on a roller

00:49:15coaster and thoroughly enjoying it.

00:49:16Two clubs who had particularly good campaigns last season. I think St Mirren maybe just toiled

00:49:22a bit in the opening weeks of this season, just trying to manage the demands of obviously

00:49:26competing in European qualifiers with domestic games. I think they'll kick on a wee bit now over

00:49:31the next few seasons. I think I've got loads of time for both managers. I think both are very

00:49:36good coaches. Both create teams that I think are greater than the sum of their parts, which I think

00:49:41is always a sign of a good manager.

00:49:43Yeah. Tony Dock, he's lost Luke McCowan, which is a blow to him. But he's got other players that

00:49:52have been able to step up to the plate as well. I mean, Larkesh got the equaliser. Curtis

00:49:58Maines, he knows all about this division.

00:50:01Yeah, they've got goals on team, Peter. I think they're scoring a lot of goals. I think the front

00:50:05three are excellent. Simon Murray's been a great signing for them. They've started the season

00:50:09really, really strongly. I think the draw was probably a fair result. I think Simon Murray

00:50:13could have won at the end. He had a good chance at the end to win the game. But I think both

00:50:16teams will be reasonably happy with the draw. Obviously, Kevin Van Veen coming into St Mirren

00:50:21is going to add competition for places in the forward areas as well for them.

00:50:24Yeah, absolutely. And Stephen Robinson, well pleased to get Van Veen. He reckons it's a bargain.

00:50:31I went to bed really early. I just left Keith to do it. So, no, I listen to credit to Keith

00:50:36Lasley and Lindsay for their hard work in trying to get Kevin over the line. It wasn't as

00:50:40straightforward as people think. And to Jim Gillespie for the deal that they've done, because

00:50:46I believe we've got to care for an absolute bargain. And he'll come with a real point to

00:50:50prove and really motivate it. And we're delighted to have him on board. And when we're back in

00:50:54training again, then he'll be a big part of our going forward.

00:50:57Have you been surprised by Motherwell, Ruffey? They defeated St Johnson by two goals to one.

00:51:02Yeah, they're just getting the wee breaks at the right time. You know, getting wins.

00:51:06Alisson's already touched it on momentum. You know, he'll remember and the players will remember

00:51:12the season when they weren't doing particularly well. So, no, I'll credit to them. They lost a

00:51:18few players as well, but the players that have come in have stepped up. Obviously, the striker,

00:51:22losing the strikers, you know, has been a big hindrance. But no, they're doing well.

00:51:27Yeah, St Johnson, as ever. I always love Craig Levine in an after-match press conference,

00:51:33especially after a defeat.

00:51:37If we were playing shit, I wouldn't mind so much, you know. Like,

00:51:41go home thinking, well, we're just not very good. But that's not what I'm seeing on the

00:51:46training ground and it's not what I'm seeing in long spells in games. And these things, you know,

00:51:56I think last week we lost a set-piece and that's two again today.

00:52:05Can't defend corners, Ali?

00:52:07Yeah, I think I only saw highlights. I didn't see the full game. But actually,

00:52:12from what I saw, I thought Motherwell were pretty dominant in the game. And I will qualify that by

00:52:19saying I didn't watch the entirety of the game. So, I'm happy to be corrected on that score.

00:52:24However, I think they really struggled last season. I thought they looked as though they

00:52:30had brought players in, they would maybe try and stay a little bit. I think it could be another

00:52:34tough season for St Johnson. I saw him last week up at Tannadice. Obviously, he's without

00:52:40Adama Sidibe now for a month. He's not going to have him until October. Yeah, I think they need

00:52:45to start getting points. I think the last thing you want to happen is you get caught adrift, you

00:52:49get cast adrift and you start to go into a spiral. I think they desperately need a couple of big

00:52:55performances now.

00:52:56Yeah. Okay, let's move on to Mr Erratic here. From last season, you were like a yo-yo last

00:53:02season. Up and down, sack him and back him. Hebs won, Kilmarnock won. This is what David

00:53:09Gray had to say after the draw.

00:53:12Before the league games were played, there has been progression in all the games. I think you

00:53:16can clearly see a little bit of a lack of confidence in some players at the moment. I

00:53:22think the break comes at a really good time. With the new bodies coming in, time to gel, time to

00:53:26get new ideas into them, the squad starting to know each other a bit more. That's a living

00:53:29signings, I think. It comes at a good time. It would have been better to go in with a win

00:53:34today, but there is positives to take from it.

00:53:38Do you agree with him?

00:53:39Yeah, I do, Peter. I watched the full game. I watched it after the Celtic game and I thought

00:53:44Hebs deserved to win the game. I thought they created numerous chances. I thought they got

00:53:48their tactics bang on. They went 3-0 in the middle of the park. I thought Kwon, the one

00:53:52from Celtic, was superb. I thought Triantis, playing him in the middle of the park, I thought

00:53:56he was excellent as well, along with Joe Newell. Kukerevic nearly scored the goal of the season.

00:54:00A great shot for the halfway line, the goalkeeper with a good save. And then Triantis. But you

00:54:05always feel that Hebs need a second goal. Even going into the last five minutes, I thought

00:54:09Kamalat were poor on the day. I don't think they created a couple of chances, but I thought

00:54:12Hebs were going to see it out. And then just a ball into the box and a beater just cleans

00:54:17them out. It's a stonewall penalty kick and they lose. Right at the death, they lose.

00:54:21It's been a massive three points for the club. I can see where Hebs are going. I think they're

00:54:26going to get better as the season goes on. He's got 11 players in and he needs to bed

00:54:30them in. International break is coming at the right time. Peter, you can get them in,

00:54:33you can get them training on the training ground. I think Hebs will be okay this season.

00:54:38I think they'll get up the table.

00:54:39Kenny wants to know if you think they'll be top six.

00:54:44Interesting one. I'm going to go yes. I think they might get into the top six. I'm going to

00:54:49be positive about Hebs. What I've seen yesterday, I thought there's definitely progression. They're

00:54:53getting better. They've got some decent players and I think they'll finish in the top six.

00:54:57Brilliant. Brilliant. There you are. Positivity from Tam. Ruffy, you'll remember this and some

00:55:02people of a certain generation who watch the programme, the demographic of the programme is

00:55:08a lot of younger people because we're on YouTube. And then there's still that audience that we've

00:55:12retained over the 12 years who are of a certain generation. And what you used to do, Ruffy,

00:55:18in the cold, cold mornings, I'm talking about poverty, Alice, not yourself and middle class

00:55:22Tam here. In the days of poverty, Ruffy, your mum used to get up with your dad and they'd put

00:55:29any sticks of wood and a wee bit of coal that was left and then they'd put a paper over the front of

00:55:35the fire so that you could, so the draft and you could stoke the fire and get it going. And that's

00:55:43maybe what you and I will end up doing with Tam's column next week in the Daily Record.

00:55:48That was a long way to get there. I don't care. I don't give a hoot. It was a long way, Ali.

00:55:52It's just so I can get a dunting at him. What do you think, Ruffy?

00:55:57I'm staying positive. I'm staying positive, Ruffy. Positive this week, negative next week.

00:56:01No, no. I'm staying positive. I've got a nice wee run of games coming up that can pick up some

00:56:05points. I was in, I thought they deserved to win yesterday. Yeah. Okay. There you are.

00:56:09Happy that Vassell was modelling himself in your shot at the back post?

00:56:14Well, he sat up.

00:56:19Anyway, okay. Here's the table. That's how it all looks at the Scottish Premiership.

00:56:24And Celtic and Aberdeen, it's, well, at the moment it's a two horse race, but I think it's

00:56:30really a one horse race for the rest of the season. You might disagree with that. Rangers,

00:56:36five points behind. They don't want to see that after four games. At the other end of the table,

00:56:41Kilmarnock and Harps, Ross County, Hibs, St Johnstone and St Mirren making up that bottom

00:56:46six. What do you make of it after the four games? Ruffy, what's your overview? We haven't seen you

00:56:51in such a long time on the programme. Yeah, well, when I got back, obviously,

00:56:54I had to watch two weeks worth of stuff. Yeah. And I'd left, you know, for lunch.

00:56:58I did record them. I did catch up on them all, you know, but I think it's early. But I mean,

00:57:04the evidence of Celtic, the way they're playing, the speed they're playing it,

00:57:07they've got all their players back. You know, last year, the only times they struggled was

00:57:12when Cameron Vickers was out, when McGregor was out, and when Maida was out. And now they're all

00:57:18back and they're all back with more in abundance on the bench. So at this moment in time,

00:57:23there's no evidence of anybody else, you know, at this moment who are going to take them.

00:57:28All right. Kaiser says Aberdeen are in it to win it, Peter. And do we take Kaiser out for a

00:57:36slap-up meal and a real bevy session if Aberdeen win the league?

00:57:41We'll go and we'll get Elon Musk to hit us a rocket to Mars.

00:57:46No chance of that. Okay. Sorry, Kaiser.

00:57:49Sorry, Kaiser. Yeah, absolutely. We've got a couple of things to get in before we say farewell

00:57:56to you. Kerry was out finding out what the Scotland camp were talking about ahead of two

00:58:02big Nations League matches. International week is upon us once again as Scotland take on

00:58:06Poland this Thursday night here at the National Stadium in the Nations League. And after a

00:58:10disappointing exit to the Euros in the summer, John Carver insists that they are looking for

00:58:14some hidden gems to better the national team. We've got an unbelievable group ahead of us,

00:58:19some fantastic games. We've got the preparation for the World Cup because the preparation for me

00:58:24now starts, which is why there'll be a few fresh faces in there, which is important.

00:58:30So, you know, we've looked at every part of the world, part of the globe,

00:58:36you know, to see which players could come in to take us forward. And let's not forget,

00:58:42Scotland were in the doldrums 23 years ago, and now we've qualified for two back-to-back Euros.

00:58:48Scotland veteran John McGinn admits that they have to put the heartache from the tournament

00:58:52behind them, but knows it's something that won't leave him anytime soon.

00:58:55I think you definitely know part of them. I still think about getting relegated with

00:59:00St Mirren, what I could have changed, what you could do better. These things never leave you.

00:59:05Everyone always says the highs in football make the lows worth it, but they're lying.

00:59:12So it'll always be in the back of your head, things you could have done differently, both

00:59:18together as a team and individually. So we kind of changed that now. It's about looking forward,

00:59:23and trying to... So basically, it's unfair on the new players coming into the squad. Obviously,

00:59:28Ben was in the squad before the summer. He wasn't involved in that. So why does it need to be doom

00:59:36and gloom with him in the squad? We need to try and use that to make us better, but also

00:59:42try and bring a freshness and a little bit more positivity with the new guys coming into the squad.

00:59:46Scotland get their Nations League campaign kicked off this Thursday

00:59:49night here at Hampden. Kick-off is at 7.45.

00:59:53Yeah, it's Poland and then Portugal away, Tam. We offered our criticism of Scotland's performances

00:59:59in the European Championships because I think it was deserving of criticism, what we watched. Now,

01:00:05he's got two years left in his contract. There's a job to do. Should we take into consideration what

01:00:11John Carver's just said? Yeah, I think you do. I think that just getting there is great. But I

01:00:16think the way we started the group, beating Spain, who eventually won it, Peter, I think you're

01:00:20expecting to make more of an impression in the tournament. I think we expected more in Germany

01:00:25and we expected Scotland to go and maybe qualify from that group. They didn't do that. They've got

01:00:30a tough game. I think Poland, I thought Poland were disappointing as well in the Euros. Lewandowski

01:00:36obviously is a top-class, world-class striker. I think if you keep him quiet, I don't think Poland

01:00:40have got enough a lot. Portugal away is going to be really tough for me. I think they're excellent.

01:00:44But listen, if you can take four points from those two games, then it puts you in a good position.

01:00:48Okay, just before we go, here's the English Premier League and the results.

01:00:52And the pick of them all has to be that game at Old Trafford, Roffy. Manchester United 0-0,

01:00:58Liverpool 3-0. What a huge statement that was. I said it would happen last week. Tam didn't believe

01:01:05me, but it did. Yeah, it certainly did. And I think everybody that, if you're a Man United

01:01:09supporter, you'll be wondering why this man hanged on to his job. I think they were all

01:01:14wanting a bit of change and everybody was going with Liverpool losing their manager. A lot of good

01:01:19players left, but they've still got quality in Salah. Yeah, here's what the two managers made

01:01:23of the result. At this moment, he's one of ours and I'm really, really happy with him being one

01:01:29of ours. He plays really well. I don't talk about contracts from players, but I can talk for hours

01:01:38about how Mo played today. But are you interested in that? He was impressive, like the first two

01:01:45games as well. But if we talk about an individual, you don't do justice to all the other ones,

01:01:50because I think today you saw a real good team performance. We have to build him in the team

01:01:54and it will take time. It's not like I'm Harry Potter. That is what you have to acknowledge.

01:02:08If you see Manuel Gata, he didn't play so far in the season, not one match minute.

01:02:16So he needs to build his fitness state.

01:02:20Well, I have to say, Alisson, obviously Arnaud Slot talking about Mo Salah, who said this is

01:02:26going to be his last year at Liverpool. So he's well used to scoring at Old Trafford. But the

01:02:30other man there, Eric Ten Haag, I think he could be dead man walking very shortly.

01:02:36Yeah, I think the pressure on him will be significant when you can factor in last season

01:02:41as well. And then he's given the opportunity to go again. I think there'll be big question marks.

01:02:49Especially seeing he's not Harry Potter. I think there's a few of my

01:02:52IT fans who want to kick him in the Philosopher's Stones.

01:02:58I mean, that's probably the best one.

01:03:00I heard that one today. I stole that from somebody.

01:03:03Did you steal that from somebody?

01:03:05I cannot believe you've been guilty of plagiarism, honestly. That is outrageous,

01:03:10because that was your best. I was just about to say, Robbie, that's one of his best, isn't it?

01:03:14Well, I hope there's a lot of people who watched the Harry Potter stuff,

01:03:17because I haven't a clue what he's done.

01:03:21Well done, Robbie. If it's not Game of Thrones, he's not interested.

01:03:25Ah, Tam, I can't believe you've been guilty of stealing a line from somewhere. Anyway,

01:03:29give us your thoughts. Hit the subscribe button on PLZ Soccer's YouTube channel.

01:03:34We'd love you to join our football family. If you download the app,

01:03:38you will have all the breaking news at your fingertips as well.

01:03:42Thanks to Ali. Thanks to Ruffey, who's back with us for the next couple of weeks

01:03:46until something else pops up.

01:03:49Have you any more? Is there a five-programme deal with Frank on Let Me Be Frank?

01:03:54Or are you back with us?

01:03:56No, no, I think I've boosted his numbers up enough, so...

01:03:59And thanks to Tam Ipmanis for myself, Peter Martin.

01:04:01Thanks to you for listening and watching.

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