Celtic remain on course for record-extending ninth domestic treble
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00:00Hello and welcome to the latest episode of National Worlds Fitba Talk, your weekly lowdown on all things Celtic and Rangers.
00:08It's been another busy week of action, both in Europe and in the Scottish Cup this weekend.
00:15Celtic were and they ran out convincing 5-0 winners over St. Johnson in the second semi-final of the weekend
00:23to book a place in the Scottish Cup final next month against Aberdeen.
00:28We'll kick off, Martin, with Celtic's result yesterday, sorry, on Sunday, a dominant performance.
00:37And for the second week running, killing the game before halftime, four goals and a 12-minute burst.
00:46Kind of writing was on the wall from a relatively early stage for St. Johnson, wasn't it?
00:51Yeah, a dreadful spectacle if you're a neutral, but Celtic fans don't care about that.
00:57You know, they're doing the huddle, they're having a great time at Hampden and rightly so.
01:02St. Johnston didn't lay a glove on them, I think, probably from the moment that the second goal went in,
01:10it was obvious that the game was done at that point and everything after that was just icing on the cake as far as I'm concerned.
01:17And again, from a neutral point of view, it was a shame to see such a wonderful goal from St. Johnston disallowed.
01:24Rightly so, it was the correct decision, I think, for the push and the build-up.
01:30But again, Celtic fans won't be caring about that.
01:33They're in the final.
01:34They deserve to be in the final.
01:36They're going to face Aberdeen.
01:37They'll absolutely fancy their chances for a number of reasons.
01:42Brendan Rodgers has an outstanding record playing at Hampden Park as Celtic manager.
01:48And on top of that, the team they're playing in the final,
01:52obviously Aberdeen have given them problems this season at Celtic Park in the 2-2 draw.
01:58But that 6-0 win in the League Cup semi-final, combined with the fact that I believe the last time Aberdeen beat Celtic at Hampden was either 1991 or 1992.
02:11And as Celtic fans and Aberdeen fans know there have been quite a few meetings of the two teams.
02:18The best Aberdeen have been able to do in that time was last season, taking them to a penalty shootout.
02:25But, yeah, their record against Aberdeen at Hampden Park in these big games,
02:31combined with Brendan Rodgers' record as Celtic manager at Hampden,
02:35is just going to give them loads of confidence going into that game on May 24th.
02:40But I suppose the inverse of that is, hey, you never know.
02:44Aberdeen are due.
02:46They're due a win.
02:49Krusty the Clown and the Simpsons betting against the Harlem Globetrotters.
02:53Because he thought the generals were due.
02:57Yeah, yeah.
02:58Obviously, keep Celtic on course for that record, extending ninth domestic treble would be a small piece of history.
03:06I don't think any other club has been able to achieve such a feat.
03:10So, you just touched on Aberdeen then.
03:13You were at the semi-final against Hearts on Saturday, Martin.
03:16And it was a bit of a slog, wasn't it, to say the least?
03:20Really took their time to break down Hearts, who, of course, had the man sent off just before half-time.
03:26Michael Stein, Wendert, getting sent off.
03:30They required extra time to see it over the line.
03:33But Odi Dabag, kind of really bright when he came on.
03:38He looks like a really good player.
03:39I know he's just had his contract extended by Royal Charlois, which is slightly disappointing from an Aberdeen perspective.
03:46Because he's certainly made a positive impact.
03:50Odi Dabag's a terrific striker.
03:52Is he a like-for-like replacement for Bojan Miofsky?
03:56It's hard to say.
03:57He's early into his Aberdeen career.
03:59And Bojan Miofsky was a sort of generational talent, I think, as far as a club like Aberdeen would be concerned.
04:07I don't think we'll see many players like him in the SPFL outside of Celtic and Rangers.
04:13Yeah, very often.
04:15But I think, yeah, in terms of the semi-final against Hearts,
04:21Aberdeen weren't great.
04:22But I think you need to give Hearts a lot of credit.
04:24The Steinvender sending off completely changes the game.
04:28Then at halftime, Neil Critchley takes Elton Kabangu and James Wilson off two strikers and replaces them with centre-backs.
04:36And to a man, that Hearts defence were brilliant.
04:41James Penriss, in particular.
04:43You're thinking with Keskinen and Morris for Aberdeen.
04:46You're thinking Morris, in particular, is going to have a field day on that size of a pitch with an extra man advantage.
04:56And James Penriss, Morris barely touched the ball before he was subbed off and never got any sort of space or any sort of decent run on James Penriss.
05:06And that wasn't down to Aberdeen.
05:08That was down to James Penriss marking him out of the game.
05:10The Hearts centre-backs cleared everything that came their way.
05:13They were valiant.
05:14Yes, I do think Aberdeen weren't clinical enough.
05:19They didn't create enough.
05:21Leighton Clarkson was sitting deep, pinging balls where he could.
05:25But it was all just getting things out.
05:27They were getting space in the wide areas.
05:29And then Hearts were dealing with a cross.
05:31So a bit of a combination for me.
05:33Aberdeen, I think a team like Celtic, with how ruthless they can be in their attack, that game wouldn't have gone to extra time.
05:40I think they would have carved 10-man Hearts apart.
05:43But you need to give credit to Hearts in that instance, because I think they defended brilliantly.
05:47But once they went down to nine men, there was very little they could do about that.
05:52They were out on their legs, were gone, and they had one less man.
05:55And yeah, they deserved to take the game to penalties for how well they'd defended.
06:01That's all we've got time for on today's show.
06:03Thanks to Martin Simpson for joining me to discuss the latest news surrounding both clubs.
06:09And stay tuned for more Football Talk over the coming weeks.