The Aftermath

Weekend done. Last league derby of the season over and it was as expected to be a title defining match.

Having watced the highlights back it was never in doubt for Celtic. Even before the first goal we had 3 or 4 decent opportunities and Butland had made a couple of good saves.

Second half v 10 men we had another 3 or 4 brilliant chances to extend the lead and had it finished 4 or 5 there would probably have been no complaints.

For all of the possession Rangers had in the last 15 minutes they didn't actually create much apart from launch it into the box. I had amoment of fear when Roofe came on but then I forgot he came on. A counter attack from our corner the only real opportunity for Rangers which was quickly stifled

So where do the teams go next (figuratively). Celtic should get the title sewn up at Killie and worst case at home v St Mirren. so other than a cup final to come what needs to change at both clubs?

Celtic
We have played some decent football the last 6 weeks of the season when at ful strength so I will reluctantly give Rodgers another season to get the team into the sape he thinks we need to be but he needs to be backed properly. We can't afford injuries to key players so we need strength in depth. If MoR leaves as expected then he needs replaced and we need further quality cover for the midfield.

Scales has done a good job as has Taylor but the left of our defence is the weak point for us so both need to be reduced to back up and stronger replacements brought in.

Our recruitment of wingers has been nothing short of dire. I would happily see us cut our losses on Yang and Palma and bring in good players with Kuhn as back up and Maeda in the mix.

All in all I expect to see at Celtic
Out:
Hart
Lagerbielke
Yang
Palma
Holm
Idah
O'Riley

and the other players not even on the radar that don't give us the home quota.

I think we will keep Bernardo

In:
GK
CB x 2
LB
CM x 2
Wingers x 2
Striker

The big question is how much our board will fund the strengthening exercise. While I expect to achieve that we'd need to spend £40-50M it would depend what we get for those leaving


Rangers:
Another summer, another rebuild needed. Clement seems to have the support of the fans so won't be going anywhere but a lot of his players need to go if they want to be serious about challenging next year of Celtic do strengthen.

Defensively they are all suspect at times so that is probably the main rebuild to be done. Then it depends if Clement thinks he can win the title with the midfield/ width he has in Cantwell, Lawrence, Raskin etc after losing Silva, Lundstrum, Sima etc

Dessers has a decent scoring record so will likely be number 1 striker ahead of Danilo so I can't see Rangers spending in that area.