Mark Atkinson and Matthew Elder discuss the weekend's football.
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00:00Hello and welcome to another episode of the Scotsman football show. My name is Matthew
00:06Elder and I'm joined by our sports editor Mark Atkinson to look back over the European
00:12football this week but also to look ahead to a big weekend of Scottish Cup action with
00:15four quarter final ties taking place over the weekend. Mark will start with Rangers
00:21last night in Turkey, a team who lost to Queen's Park in the Scottish Cup only a couple of
00:27weeks ago go and beat Ayoze Merino's side in Istanbul, a 3-1 victory for Rangers in
00:34the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie. Mark, can you please explain this Rangers
00:38team to me because I just can't get my head around them at all.
00:42Yeah, I don't think many of us can really understand what's going on, although there
00:46is some method to it. I think it's just a team that's been constructed to do well in
00:51bigger matches against better opposition. They look much more comfortable when the
00:58game is open, when it's like a basketball encounter, when they're not up against a
01:01team that plays a low or middle block. They got a lot of space last night, Fenerbahce
01:08were very open, they wanted to go and kill the tie and Rangers countered them very well.
01:14And it's another example of why they just seem much more comfortable on the cons that
01:19they do in domestic football. Of course, it's the only competition that they can win
01:24now, so potentially they were more motivated last night than they were against Motherwell
01:30and St Mary in the league. And they deserve great credit for another excellent performance
01:36in this competition. Rangers and the Europa League go very well together and I would say
01:41they're now favourites to go through. The tie is not done because Fenerbahce still have
01:47a number of good players and I suspect Jose Mourinho will get a reaction out of them after
01:53what happened last night. But you'd still fancy Rangers and Ibrox to be able to do a
02:00good job, that they have a two goal advantage. It could have been more, they had two goals
02:04that allowed for offside, very narrow offside calls, had good chances. They're in a good
02:09place in this tie now and they'll take confidence from that. Barry Ferguson, their
02:15instrument manager, will take huge confidence from that. He changed his formation last night
02:19to a 3-4-2-1 and they looked much better. They have the weekend off too, because out
02:26of the Scottish Cup, the Queen's Parked it for them. So they'll have a rest ahead of
02:31what should be a great night in Govan next week.
02:36Yeah, indeed. A real feather in the cap for Ferguson. A lot of aspersions cast when he
02:41was named interim head coach, but to go and outfox Jose Mourinho in his home ground says
02:48a lot about Barry, I think.
02:51It does, yeah. I think he took criticism for the way that the team was deployed against
02:56Motherwell, but he deserves enormous credit for finding a structure, a system that Rangers
03:03haven't played this season, to my knowledge, and getting a tune out of those players. It
03:09should imbue everybody at Ibrox with a bit more confidence and it gives Ferguson something
03:14to cling on to in his early spells as Rangers manager. It means that Ibrox on Thursday night,
03:21when they reconvene, will be a much more buoyant place than it was last Saturday when they
03:26lost to Motherwell. We all know the power of Ibrox in such occasions. So a really good
03:32moment for Rangers and potentially some more cash in the bank as well if they get to the
03:37quarter-finals. So as you say, this is a football club that lurches from one extreme
03:41to another. You have the real low of the Premiership and then you've got the real high of Europe.
03:46A very odd football team, but there you go.
03:51Yep, but they won't be involved in the Scottish Cup this weekend, like you say, which starts
03:55tonight. We're speaking on Friday, so we've got Hearts hosting Dundee in the first of
04:00the quarter-finals tonight. Intrigue and tie. Obviously Dundee have got their struggles
04:04at the moment in the league and Hearts have actually been doing quite well under Neil
04:08Critchley, but obviously have that setback last weekend in Edinburgh Derby. With Rangers
04:15out of the competition, all the clubs left in the last eight will really be viewing the
04:21final, certainly, as a major goal now and these two clubs will be in the same boat with
04:28that regard, I would imagine.
04:30Yeah, for sure. Hearts need a reaction tonight, given that they were beaten in the Edinburgh
04:35Derby. Their second-half performance at Easter Road on Sunday wasn't good enough. It wasn't
04:39really what we expect from a Hearts team and I suspect the home crowd this evening at
04:44Tyne Castle will be expectant. They will want to see their team be aggressive and go out
04:49on the front foot and try and get a tie done early. Remember Hearts beat Dundee 6-0 last
04:54month at Denz Park. It was a result that started Dundee's demise. They're now 6-2
04:59in the league. It took all the confidence and wind out of their sails. They did draw
05:04last weekend against St Johnstone, coming out from a goal behind and that might give
05:08them a bit more confidence going into this match, but without Lyle Cameron, he's suspended
05:13this evening and they've not got a great record at Tyne Castle and they've not got a great
05:17record in the Scottish Cup. They haven't won the competition since 1910. It does feel like
05:22this is one that Hearts should be looking to win. I think if they get an early goal,
05:27it could be quite a joyous night at Tyne Castle for Hearts. Conversely, though, Dundee
05:32can try and keep it tight and make Tyne Castle a little bit more angst-ridden than normal.
05:37Then it could be a very intriguing cup tie, but I think Hearts will plan to take a chance
05:41this evening against Dundee.
05:44Second semi-finals at Bataudry. A very favourable draw on paper for Aberdeen to get Queen's
05:51Park at home in the quarter-finals. They could now get all the way to Hamden without
05:56having faced a top-tier side. They've not been firing all cylinders, even though they
06:01have sort of arrested the slump under Jimmy Tilleen, but obviously they were 2-0 down
06:07to Dundee United last weekend and scraped a last-minute draw, so they're clearly still
06:13not where they need to be. But can lightning strike twice for Queen's Park?
06:20I don't think so. I think Aberdeen will win this tie.
06:23Queen's Park played during the week. They were 2-0 up against the Air and lost 3-2.
06:28It was a very sore one for them. They had beaten Rafe Rovers 4-0 the week before at
06:31Stars Park, so clearly a team that's doing well under Callum Davidson. However, that
06:37Rangers game, you could play it 100 times in the same conditions and the Rangers would
06:40have won a good 95 of them, however many chances they created. I think Aberdeen have got
06:45themselves in a better position, as you alluded to, in the past couple of weeks. This is a
06:50very wearable tie for them. They might find it awkward at spells, but I think they've
06:53got enough to get through. They've had some really, really good cup draws recently, but
06:59what I would say is that they have taken advantage fully of them. Not a team that's suffered
07:03too many shocks of late, so I expect Aberdeen to be in the semifinal hat.
07:09I think most people would agree that the tie of the round takes place on Sunday at 3 o'clock,
07:14Celtic-Hibs. Celtic, obviously, are overwhelming favourites for the competition, as they should
07:20be. But Hibs, probably the toughest draw they could have got in terms of the form team in
07:26Scotland outwith the league leaders. They've obviously lost to Hibs at Easter Road just
07:31a couple of weeks ago. I was at that match and Hibs were very, very impressive, I have
07:35to say, as they were in the second half against Hearts last week. So, 7,000 Hibs fans going
07:43to Celtic Park, pretty optimistic, which we've not always had a lot in recent years.
07:49Yeah, great occasion on Sunday. Really looking forward to this match,
07:53partly because having 7,000 away fans at Park Head is unheard of, so rare. A lot of people
08:01fancy Hibs to do something on Sunday, but I actually worry for Hibs in this game. Celtic
08:06have had a full week off. They'll be really motivated to win this football match for two
08:11reasons. They want the treble, and they won't be particularly happy about the way they lost
08:14at Easter Road. There was a big sense of injustice in that game when Alistair Johnson
08:20was deemed to have taken the ball just out of play before what would be an equaliser.
08:25And I think if Celtic had scored that, they would have gone on to at least draw,
08:28if not win the game at Easter Road. As it was, it completely took the win out of their sails,
08:32and Hibs won 2-1. I just think there'll be a lot of ambition in the Celtic team. They'll
08:40be fresh. When they played Hibs last time, they came in Munich the midweek before,
08:44and David Gray alluded to that in his press conference as Hibs head coach. He's fully aware
08:48that it's going to be a very difficult match. Hibs played really well, 15 game unbeaten run.
08:53It's got to end at some point. I think the smart money, if such a thing exists in a Celtic-Hibs
08:59match, would be on that happening at Celtic Park. Hibs can cause them problems, no doubt,
09:04but this is a really big opportunity for Celtic. There are no Rangers in the cup.
09:08They will see this as a treble that they can take care of. While I expect a really competitive
09:12match, I also expect Celtic to be right at it. If they are, there's not much Hibs can do to stop
09:19them. I just think back to the last cup tie Celtic were tipped to perhaps lose in, which was the
09:27Premier Sports Cup semi-final, when Aberdeen had just gone to Celtic Park and claimed a 2-2 draw.
09:32They were unbeaten themselves and Celtic beat them 6-0. It just shows you Celtic turn up.
09:38It doesn't really matter what the opposition do, if Celtic turn up, they can get the job done.
09:44But we go to the final tie of the round, Livingston hosting St Johnstone on Monday night.
09:50What a job Davey Martindale has done to get Livingston through to this stage.
09:54St Johnstone as well, obviously they're battling against relegation, but
09:59could get a lot of confidence from this cup run, certainly if they get to the semi-finals.
10:03A big opportunity for both sides there.
10:05Yes, a huge opportunity. You made a good point there about the confidence St Johnstone have
10:09got. Their 1-0 win over Motherwell in the fourth round started their mini-revival
10:15and it's helped them in the league. I quite fancy St Johnstone to win this game. Livingston are a
10:20good team in the Championship, they're on the premises of the title race. They also played
10:24this week, they drew 0-0 against Rafe at home, a game that they were expected to win. You look
10:31at Livingston's team, they're quite experienced, a lot of guys that have done the course in
10:35the distance. But I like St Johnstone's style of play under Simo Valarcane. I think he's got
10:42his message across to the players. They've got goals on their team now. I just think they should
10:49be strong enough to win that match and get themselves into the semi-finals. Who knows,
10:55from that point on, St Johnstone, they feel like a team that hasn't gone away. I think a lot of
11:00people thought that they were relegated already when they went nine points behind. A lot of people
11:04probably thought they'd go at the cut to Motherwell and they managed to survive that one.
11:09So there's a bit of fortitude in that St Johnstone team and that makes me think that they could get
11:13the job done. Although I think it could be a late night in West Lothian on Monday. An intriguing
11:17tie. I quite like the Scottish Cup draw for the quarter-finals. You've got a bit of everything
11:20there. You've got a couple of All-Premiership ties and you've got a couple of Championship
11:25teams looking to do a number of the top-flight sides. But I think we'll have four top-flight
11:30teams in that draw and it could be quite a mouth-watering line-up if we get Aberdeen,
11:37Hearts, Celtic, Warheads and St Johnstone in there.
11:42Yeah, certainly I don't disagree with what you're saying there about who the semi-finalists
11:46will be. I think we're looking at Hearts, Aberdeen, Celtic and St Johnstone as the four,
11:52you reckon?
11:53Yeah, that's where I'm going to go for, which should be a good line-up. I don't know,
12:00I've just got a feeling. I'll see what happens. But we've seen a Celtic-Hearts final in a not
12:05too distant past and that could be where we end up again. But we'll see. It's the Cup after all.
12:10Good stuff. Lots to look forward to. As ever, you can keep up to date with all the matches
12:15on scottsman.com. But for now though, thanks for watching the Scotsman Football Show and
12:20see you on the next one.