Clement is rattled, his players are rattled, and Celtic remain top by 3. They’re there for the taking at Hampden on Sunday if Hearts actually show up

It was already  unravelling before the trip to Dens Park, but last night it looks like it all came apart for faltering Philippe Clement and his hapless charges, and on another great day for Celtic, Clement and his side conspired to drop another 2 points.

Clement himself refuses to accept defeat, as evidenced by his post match interview, where he stated he got a reaction from his players after Sunday.

If that’s what he classes as a reaction, then this may as well be over already.

Now, I’m not naive enough to believe that it is.

I’ve stated already that there will plenty of twists and turns to come in this run in.

However, I didn’t expect the majority of them to happen in the space of 10 days.

Nor did I expect the Ibrox side would be the ones to kickstart all of these twists.

But so far, that’s the way it’s going.

That elusive game in hand that they had has been played, we now sit at 33 games played each, and we’ve been gifted a 3 point lead.

I have to say gifted, because they did give it to us.

Celtic now have this lead, and based on what I’ve seen over the last ten days, the threat to us losing this will not come from Ibrox.

In my article on Tuesday, this is what I had to say, and I believe it to be more salient now than ever:

I won’t be saying that all we have to do is beat the Ibrox side at home and the League is ours.

What I will be saying is we need to beat Hearts, and we need to beat Kilmarnock to ensure we win this title.

And we need to beat them convincingly.

I firmly believe now that both games against those teams will define Celtic’s season, and dictate whether we win this title or not.

The Ibrox side and their manager are rattled.

They’re shellshocked, and that was clear for all to see last night.

If it wasn’t for their buddies in the refereeing fraternity, it could have been a hell of a lot worse too.

Dundee were denied a stonewall penalty, when John Souttar blatantly handled the ball inside the box.

🗣️ “It hits John Souttar on the hand, it comes off his leg first. There’s also a case it might be outside the box… He looks relieved!”

There was a VAR check for possible handball by Rangers’ John Souttar but play was waved on. Your thoughts? 🔽 pic.twitter.com/6LpiyH8qwm

— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) April 17, 2024

The Ibrox side seem to be on a downward spiral at the moment.

If Hearts actually decide to show up to Hampden on Sunday for the Scottish Cup semi-final, and if Steven Naismith isn’t in thrall to his previous employers, they could be out of that competition too.

They are heading into that one on the slide, and Hearts should take confidence from their recent performances.

Cup ties are a much different proposition to league games.

But Hearts should know the Ibrox side are there for the taking.

They should know where their weaknesses lie, and the likes of Lawrence Shankland should be well able to exploit them.

Clement’s implausible deniability that anything is wrong at the moment seems to be distracting him from the truth.

Here’s what he had to say in his post match interview, as quoted in this morning’s Daily Record:

Yes, they gave a reaction. We didn’t get the result we wanted. We were the only team to deserve this result this evening in the possession, in the chances, the clear chances. But you need to put the ball against the net.

Tommy Docherty might think differently.

In fact he was at pains to point out how well his side played:

You watched the game. I would strongly disagree with that. I thought it was a fantastic performance that went toe-to-toe against a Rangers team who has a big motivation. Who had more motivation?

Clement, on the other hand, seems incapable of seeing that Tavernier, Lundstram, and Goldson have downed tools.

He now has an identical record to Michael Beale, and that in itself should ring alarm bells.

All of this augers very well for Celtic.

We need to go into the weekend and dispatch Aberdeen with confidence in the cup, then we face Dundee at Dens Park after that.

Judging by last night’s contest, we will not get it easy there either.

We can’t afford one of our Jekyll and Hyde performances up there, we need to be Hyde throughout.

None of these bad half, good half performances.

We need a mean streak from here until the last kick of the ball this season.

But on the evidence of last night’s match, we have very little to fear when the Ibrox side comes to Celtic Park on the 11th of May.

By then, we need ourselves in a position where they have to win.

If things go our way before then, even that might not be enough for them.

Further dropped points by the Ibrox side could even render a win insufficient for them.

We also have a 5 goal superior difference to them, which is of paramount importance now.

Gift horses like last night, and Sunday last don’t come around very often.

Brendan Rodgers needs to capitalise on these slip ups, and ensure we see this through to the end.

Keep our focus and we could have a double secured by the 25th of next month.

That is it.

We just need to keep our focus.

Our players have been here before.

They know what it takes.

Click here for – IBROX NOISE RANTS ON ABOUT “UNDER PRESSURE, PIFFLE TALKING” CLEMENT, “REVERSE CORONATION CHICKEN TAVPEN” AND THAT “MORAL VICTORY” AGAINST CELTIC

Click here for – THE IBROX CLUB DON’T HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO “LAY A GLOVE” ON CELTIC, DESPITE WHAT SIMON JORDAN SAYS