The Celtic acid test that awaits them and one year of Clement's Rangers addressed
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00:00We'll move on now to discuss a bit about the two old firm teams that return into action this week
00:05Celtic hosting Aberdeen on the Saturday followed by Rangers's trip to Kilmarnock on the Sunday
00:12start with the game on the Saturday and it's going to be proven to be a pretty mouthwatering
00:17game two teams that have won all seven of the premiership matches so far and it's set up to
00:24be one of the more intriguing Aberdeen sort of clashes going to Parkhead in recent times
00:29there's certainly been a lot of um nice you know headlines and stuff written about this Aberdeen
00:35team over the course of the international break the build-up to this maybe the mid music about
00:39Celtic slightly lowered after a humbling in Europe and then the Ross County result sort of being the
00:46usual Euro hangover the Scottish clubs sometimes have and it all sets up for an intriguing test of
00:52there's been a lot of talk you know from down south even people getting involved saying is this
00:57the year somebody splits Celtic and Rangers and this Saturday will be the real barometer of
01:03you know where Aberdeen are actually at on on that scale right then well all that said
01:09Martin how do you see the game going this weekend yeah um can as I've said before can a team
01:19theoretically win the league outside of Celtic Rangers yes they can will this be the season
01:27so far on evidence no probably not it drives a dagger through my heart to say that but just
01:35yeah Aberdeen are 100 going to finish third I would put a lot of money on that right now
01:42and I do think they've got a really good shot at second place they're gonna have to improve
01:49vo because the reason I'm sitting here being a bit down on them is I've watched a lot of Aberdeen
01:54this season and I was at the tawdry for parts against Aberdeen and I saw how fragile they were
02:02and how hearts were able to get at that Aberdeen at the moment feel to me like
02:08have you ever heard the expression a glass cannon
02:12partially yeah yeah they're a very strong but ultimately quite fragile weapon Aberdeen have got
02:20fantastic players like the recruitment has been spot on they've got a great balance in the team
02:26Keskinen's a terrific player Jamie McGrath's playing some great football
02:31Shinny and Helton and Nielsen are a very good midfield partnership Kevin Nisbet's a real
02:35natural finisher finisher you've got creative midfielders like Leighton Clarkson Nicky Devlin
02:40we know how good he's been at right back Jack McKenzie as well also earned a Scotland call up
02:46Dmitar Mitov and produced some big saves for them and then at the back you've got
02:51Rubasic and Malloy who again are look like a very strong partnership for Scottish Premiership level
02:58but if you saw the game at timecast at the tawdry sorry you would have seen
03:04how hearts were able to get at them hearts really got in their faces pressed them and Aberdeen did
03:13not like it Rubasic, Malloy, Helton and Nielsen who has earned so much praise just for his
03:19composure all made quite bad mistakes and it was a couple of weeks ago now I believe it was
03:26either I think it was Malloy's mistake that a really basic mistake that sent Kenneth Vargas
03:31one-on-one with Mitov and he tried to chip the keeper and sent it over the bar you make mistakes
03:38like that against Celtic there's going to be no chipping it over the bar Kiyoko is going to
03:43lash it into the net and that's the thing that worries me I just think Aberdeen the interesting
03:51thing is I think Aberdeen have a good enough side to win this match at Celtic Park but it would need
03:59to be their best performance of the season so far and honestly I feel like not they've done
04:09really well at winning ugly winning the sort of games they wouldn't have done in the past like
04:13that late winner against Ross County a couple of months back like the game at hearts where there
04:19were two one down they're good at digging in but I just every time they are on paper the better
04:27team so this is the first match I think under a Jimmy to lean where they will be the underdogs
04:35going in and we don't know how they're going to cope with that but what it's one of these things
04:44isn't it do you change a system that ultimately is working for you in terms of getting the results
04:52when you're suddenly playing a standard of player that is not to put too fine a point on it better
04:59than your own and all this is to say I don't know and I think my personal opinion is probably not
05:11and I think most Aberdeen fans would say that I think stick with what's working if you lose five
05:18no or you lose one no you've still lost the game it's yeah let's you're on a positive run
05:26you may as well go to Celtic Park and have a go but what have you actually got to lose
05:31given how good a run you've had you're even if you lose that game you're still going to be second in
05:38the league by the end of the weekend which for Aberdeen in approaching November they can only
05:46be happy with so I think you'll stick with the tactics that have been working for them I just
05:52feel like the reason Hearts didn't win at the Todry is well there's a lot of reasons but Hearts
06:00probably got at Aberdeen in a similar way that Celtic will in terms of how they pressed them
06:07quite high up the pitch they were in their faces no one got any time on the ball even
06:13even like in their own half Aberdeen weren't getting any time on the ball they weren't
06:17allowed to knock it about they were trying to knock it about in their triangles and Shankland
06:22who was an absolute workhorse in that game kept picking them off as did other players it wasn't
06:26just him and yeah Hearts just not just the quality is obviously less than Celtic but Hearts are
06:33lacking confidence at the moment Celtic don't lack for either of those things so when Celtic
06:39start picking your passes off in your own half you're going to be in big trouble so yeah for me
06:46I just I still don't see past a Celtic win but my goodness I know the Celtic and Rangers fans
06:54as well won't thank me for saying this but wouldn't it be brilliant if Aberdeen did win
06:57just for the rest of us just for everyone else in Scottish football wouldn't it be fantastic
07:02yeah I would certainly I think if they were to win this I think the noise of you know them being
07:08actual title challengers goes up pretty significantly from what it is already now but I
07:13think looking at the Celtic side of things that they look to me in the Ross County game a bit
07:18shocked I think there was the sense going into the Borussia Dortmund game that this was finally the
07:23year that they'd recruited well enough that they could compete at the elite champions league level
07:27and the the 5-1-1 against Slovan Bratislava was the thing as well it was like wow we've hammered
07:32somebody in Europe we're hammering everybody in the league this is great and if we go to Dortmund
07:38even if we get beat if we put in a decent performance and keep that game competitive then
07:42you know we have arrived type thing and getting absolutely smashed like it wasn't even competitive
07:50really the game and I think was a massive sobering reality check for fans that you know
07:57maybe this team isn't as as good as you know we thought it was and that's not to say they've not
08:02had a great start to the season they have they've domestically anyway Ross County game aside which
08:07I think you could tell they were struggling with the impacts of playing that game on the Tuesday
08:11they have really only Falkirk remarkably in credit to Falkirk are the only side that have even came
08:19close to getting near them everybody else has just been either smashed or waited to get battered so
08:27if Celtic return in that kind of form I think it's hard for Aberdeen to win they've obviously
08:32got injuries as well Papaguay is going to be a big miss I was at the Aberdeen Mullow game and I
08:36thought he was electric which is just mad considering where he was last season or where
08:42he wasn't which wasn't Petaudry for part of it but I think if Celtic turn up in the in a menacing
08:49mood they can beat most teams domestically fairly comfortably and you would expect that if they do
08:57play to their top level then that would be the case on Saturday and we'll move on quickly to
09:03Kilmarnock versus Rangers on the Sunday perhaps I think it's it's not got the same luster as the
09:08game on the Saturday but it's equally as intriguing for me it's a place that Celtic
09:13and Rangers in the last wee while have found difficulty in both have lost games here and
09:17dropped points here being eliminated for cups here and more specifically talking about Celtic
09:21in that regard last season in the League Cup but Derek McKenna's team got a massive win away to
09:27Dundee to what they will hope gets their season started and it's a tricky game for Philippe
09:32Clement in that you've started to build a wee bit of momentum you're a bit far removed now from the
09:38old firm game the game against Lyon in the Europa League was a bit of a disappointment but domestically
09:44anyway results are slowly starting to creep in and if you manage to go to a tough away game still
09:50and a team that finished fourth last season and get a win comfortably then that should
09:54alleviate some some stresses of this could be quite tricky for us and trying to claw back the
09:59gap to Celtic and Aberdeen at the minute which is the same deficit well yeah I mean a dispute on
10:05that Aberdeen Celtic game if that match ends a draw then Rangers have the chance to turn their
10:10season on its head what has been a disappointing domestic season so far say you say disappointing
10:17when they've only lost one game do you know what I mean but by Rangers obvious standards
10:21at the moment being as far behind Celtic and Aberdeen as they already are as a concern if
10:27that game ends a draw uh so that's 22 points Celtic and Aberdeen would be on and Rangers when
10:33they'd be on 19 so there you go you're now three points off the top of the table that's that's
10:42what more motivation would you need but I do think
10:47that a win for either side is probably a bit demoralizing for them if Celtic beat Aberdeen
10:54handily they're going to look at it and go right well no other team in this league is is going to
11:00do us a favor are they like but we are we are going to have to be the ones that that win this
11:05league uh and beat Celtic but we can't expect help from anyone else and if Aberdeen win it suddenly
11:11you're going oh right well we've to play Aberdeen and if we lose that game we're in very big big
11:19trouble um but yeah just but I mean if you're Philippe Clamont that's not even in New York
11:27the fans might be thinking that or the players might a bit but if you're Philippe Clamont you're
11:31not thinking that you're thinking I've got a tricky away game against a team who haven't lost
11:38in three matches I know there's a lot or four matches even I know there's whatever it is
11:43there's a lot of draws in there obviously and some less than convincing performances but
11:48even in their wins but yeah like rugby park's never an easy place to go you've got again it's
11:54a it's a tired thing that we always say but the pitch is a real leveler I'm sure if Rangers lose
12:00someone somewhere is going to have a complaint about that pitch and thankfully I don't think
12:05we've got much longer that we get to bore on about that left um yeah I it's it's it is what it is
12:14really there's there's almost not so much you can say about this match I think Rangers will be the
12:18favourites but we know Kilmarnock are capable of stifling them they just they just have to play
12:25their own game not get bogged down in it not let Killie get it they'll not let Killie frustrate
12:29them they're gonna get chances they're gonna miss chances just keep at it just keep at it keep going
12:37keep the heads up Rangers will be favourites for the match uh and Killie's best best shot
12:44obviously always comes to catch them on an off day and to play to be the best version that they
12:49of themselves that they can be so yeah it will be an intriguing match in that aspect I think if we
12:54get to sort of half time and it's still 0-0 or even if Killie have a 1-0 lead it's it's going to be a
13:00fascinating second half um so Rangers will really want to try and get get out on the front for
13:07get an early goal in and really settle the nerves yeah just before we wrap up um just quickly it's
13:13been a year of Philippe Clamont and in Glasgow he's sort of but the trend I think I don't know
13:18if Van Bronckhorst off the top of my head I'm not sure if he lasted the full year um in charge at
13:24Rangers or certainly it was just over it wasn't much longer than a year anyway Michael Bale's
13:29second reign certainly or return to the club as first team manager certainly didn't hit that
13:33what have you sort of made of his reign overall for me it's kind of been
13:37it started it caught fire initially and it's kind of slowed down and if you're it's now waiting at
13:44the station ready to sort of depart again yeah I'd agree with that um winning a trophy as early
13:51into his tenure in the league cup that obviously was a really strong start but yeah from from there
13:57on there probably there hasn't been too many that certainly there will be but none that stand
14:06out in my mind of particularly really disappointing results but equally I don't yeah it's just I would
14:14just agree completely with what you'd said right now I don't think anyone's if if he was
14:21if he lost at Kilmarnock at the weekend and got sacked I don't think anyone would be
14:26hugely and in terms of Rangers fans would be hugely upset about that but I don't think equally
14:33anyone's calling for his head at the moment which is an interesting spot to be in like it's it's
14:39probably a good place for him to be in as a manager in that nobody's really speaking about
14:44you one way or the other no one's singing your praises and equally no one's calling for your
14:49head so you're there is a degree of it there are people out there who are discussing that Rangers
14:56aren't where they should be at the moment and that's fair enough but it's it's fairly mooted
15:01so yes I think probably for him he's exactly where he wants to be he's neither up nor down
15:08with with most people and that's a really good position to be because the spotlight's completely
15:14off you there's no distraction your players aren't distracted about because if he was doing well
15:20suddenly every every decent job in Europe that came up his name would be getting bandied about
15:27and if he was doing really badly there'd be constant cries for Rangers to make a change
15:31so if you're the players you're not having to put up with any sort of uncertainty at the moment
15:35I think it's a guy I do I think it's a really good position for him to be in