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00:00Hello, and welcome to the latest episode of National World's Fitbit Talk,
00:04your weekly lowdown on all things Celtic and Rangers.
00:08It's been another busy weekend of action across Scotland.
00:14It was the Scottish Cup that took centre stage this weekend.
00:16Rangers, of course, no longer involved in the competition,
00:20having crashed out at the hands of Queen's Park in the previous round.
00:23But Celtic were in action against Hibernian on Sunday at Parkhead,
00:28a 2-0 victory for Brendan Rodgers' side keeps them on course for a domestic treble.
00:34Goals in either half from Dyson Maeda and Adam Ida getting the job done.
00:40Martin, a convincing win in the end.
00:43Hibs had over 7,000 travelling supporters at the game,
00:47but they rather flattered to deceive, I thought,
00:50didn't offer a great deal going forward,
00:52and Celtic managed to get the job done convincingly enough.
00:56Yeah, they never really had that moment that you would expect
00:59towards the end of the game when it's only 1-0 and you've weathered most of the storm.
01:04You kind of feel like there would be a five to ten minute period,
01:08as there usually is in games like this, where the keeper is forced into a couple saves,
01:12or there's a couple of really sort of close opportunities.
01:16But Hibs, I don't think it was for the win.
01:18A try and lose to Nicky Caddon early in the match, obviously, was a big blow.
01:22He's probably been their best player all season.
01:24And then their attack just wasn't really clicking in the final thirds.
01:28They were in the game, obviously, but they were never really threatening.
01:32Like I say, we didn't have that period where it felt like Hibs could find a way back into the game,
01:37because I think the prime example was Boyle,
01:43who sort of played the ball into Dwight Gale, who was making a good runner.
01:46It might not have been Martin Boyle.
01:48It was definitely Dwight Gale. I think it was maybe Chris Caddon, actually.
01:52And it just was a total miscommunication, and it didn't work out,
01:55and was easily dealt with by Selick.
01:57And that kind of epitomized the match.
01:59So, and Adam Ida finishes it off, and Selick are through to the semi-finals.
02:05We'll find out who they get after we're done recording this.
02:08That'll be on Tuesday night.
02:09One of Aberdeen Hearts, or St. Johnston, or Livingston.
02:13Whoever they do get, they'll be heavy favorites, as always,
02:17and then they'll go into the final.
02:19Once again, as favorites, I'd imagine it won't matter who they get.
02:25They have an excellent record against Aberdeen at Hampden Park.
02:29Aberdeen haven't beat them at Hampden since 1992.
02:35Hearts are, and you know, Hearts this season in general,
02:39I don't think a team Selick will be overly worried about.
02:43Nor would they be Aberdeen, I suppose, because they've shown,
02:46other than the draw at Parkhead, I think,
02:48the last time they played at Hampden shows
02:50Selick have a quality step above Aberdeen, if they play to that level.
02:56So, yeah, and Hearts just haven't been a bit too inconsistent, really,
03:01I think, to really cause them much worries,
03:03obviously, against either St. Johnston or Livingston,
03:06given their respective positions in the SPFL at the moment.
03:11Yeah, I think there's going to be a lot,
03:15it would have something pretty special that's going to have to happen
03:17to stop Selick winning the Scottish Cup this season now.
03:19Yeah, it's certainly their domestic treble to lose at this stage.
03:23Two players I want to quickly mention, I think are worth mentioning,
03:26Geoffrey Sloop, who's certainly made the left-back slot himself his own
03:31in the last couple of weeks.
03:32He's been tremendous since joining on loan from Crystal Palace
03:35and certainly put himself in the frame to earn a potential long-term deal there
03:40with his Palace contract expiring at the end of the season.
03:43And, Martin, we must mention Dyson Maeda, 27 goals for the season.
03:47It's been quite remarkable.
03:50He's filled this number one striking position.
03:54Obviously, Adam Ida has been criticised for his inconsistent run of form
03:59at times this season, but since Kiyoko left,
04:02Maeda's really stepped up to the mark, hasn't he?
04:06Yeah, well, absolutely.
04:10I think he's offering a chew-in for the Golden Boot.
04:13It's just whether we're going to see him closing in on any other potential records
04:18the way he's going across all competitions.
04:21I probably should have looked into these before I started.
04:25I know going back, there are some ridiculous...
04:29I think back to the late 90s, Larson was scoring 35 goals in the league alone,
04:36not even taking other competitions into account.
04:39So he's probably got a long way to go before we get to that.
04:42He'll obviously surpass...
04:45I think quite reasonably we would expect him to be getting
04:48in the 40-goal region in all competitions.
04:51And, yeah, like you said, it's good that there was a lot of talk
04:55in the summer, obviously, getting Adam Ida in.
04:58Bojan Mijovski at Aberdeen was a player they were linked quite heavily with,
05:01and the striker situation was quite a big one.
05:04Even before there were murmurings that Kiyoko would be departing,
05:09and like you say, Mijovski just stepped into that role
05:12and just started banging in the goals.
05:14He's having an absolutely sensational season and well-deserved
05:18because he's a player who works hard, who did go...
05:21I don't think he necessarily went under the radar while Kiyoko was there,
05:26but definitely Kiyoko was seen as the sort of star man of that attack.
05:31And like you say, I think he's filled the boots now,
05:34and he's definitely the main man at Celtic Park at the moment.
05:38And, yeah, Jeffrey Schlupp with contract up in the summer,
05:41that's an obvious fit of business, I would say, for Celtic.
05:45He is 32, obviously, so they might struggle to get a deal for him
05:52because I don't imagine they'll be looking to hand out a long-term deal
05:57to someone at that stage of their career.
06:00And we obviously know what clubs in other parts of the world are able to offer.
06:05He might get a longer-term deal potentially for more money elsewhere,
06:10but I think Celtic will make him a reasonable offer.
06:13I don't think a two-year contract would be unfair.
06:16I don't think...
06:17Obviously, having been at Crystal Palace as long as he has
06:21and a culmination of contract extensions and Premier League wages
06:25will mean he's on a significant wage,
06:27but I wouldn't think it would be anything that would break Celtic's bank.
06:32I would absolutely expect them to make an offer
06:35to keep a hold of him at the end of the season now.
06:37Whether they can, I don't know. It'll be interesting to see.
06:40It would be interesting, yeah,
06:41but obviously with Kieran Dearnie coming back in as well
06:44and we know his injury record, whether or not,
06:46potentially if they can get a deal done for Schlupp,
06:48that they might balance the game time between the two of them going forward.
06:53It'll be interesting to see.
07:01.