SPL Matchday 13: The Old Firm gets a snow day
By: Ian Rose | November 9th, 2007That’s right. It’s Scottish football, without all that pesky money and international interest. As part of Alex McLeish’s plan for next weekend’s Scotland-Italy match, which will be called brilliant if it works and pointless otherwise, Rangers and Celtic have had their matches postponed in order to prepare for the Azzurri invasion. That means this matchday in the SPL consists of only four matches. And here they are:
Dundee United v. Kilmarnock, Saturday 15:00
United try to maintain their excellent home record (5 wins in 6 matches and one goal conceded) against a Kilmarnock side that pressed Celtic last weekend. Look for United to stay strong at home, 2-1.
Gretna v. Hibernian, Saturday 15:00
Hibs have fallen a bit off of form since their great start to the season, and now sit in third ahead of Dundee United by only two goals. Fir Park has been pretty inviting, though (at least when it’s Gretna and not Motherwell playing there) and Hibs should win easily. 3-0. Gretna will be looking forward to the arrival of new striker Henry Makinwa, but as he won’t be available for this match, I see another drumming.
Inverness CT v. Motherwell, Saturday 15:00
Caley Thistle has fallen back into bad habits, losing three of their last four with only a romp over Gretna in the middle. Motherwell is tough this season, but their road form is none too pretty either. Draw.
Hearts v. Aberdeen, Sunday 15:00
Aberdeen might be the hottest team in Scotland right now. Their draw with Locomotiv Moscow might have been a disappointment after scoring early, but its still a point in Europe, something Scottish teams outside of the Old Firm don’t get all that often. Hearts are the most inconsistent side in the country this season, and who knows which of their many faces will show up this week. My gut says 3-2 to Aberdeen.
Category: Scottish Premier League
Tags: Aberdeen, Dundee United, Gretna, Hearts, Hibernian, Inverness Caley Thistle, Kilmarnock, Matchday Previews, Motherwell, Scottish Premier League, SPLSubscribe
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Comments
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Celtic don’t play another match till Nov 28, a full three weeks since the Benfica match, and heading right into their most important match of the season thus far, against Shakhtar. Like you said, genius if it works (for clubs too). Not so much if it doesn’t.
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Personally, regardless of the outcome of the game, I think it’s the wrong choice. A week is plenty of time to freshen up, and two weeks is plenty long to lose your match form. You don’t see the top national teams like Italy and France giving whole clubs a week off to prepare for NT matches, and if we want to be like the big boys, we should do as they do.
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As a France fan who’s relying on Scotland to lose, this pisses me off.
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So do Hearts still have the same coach? If so, I’m amazed.
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Getting your matches pushed back by one day is okay. But two weeks? And what about the players who ply their trade in England and so don’t get the extra week off? If I’m not mistaken, half of Scotland’s NT plays in the EPL and the Championship.
Won’t that mess up preparation if players are in such varying degrees of fitness?
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Inara – like I said, I think its a bad idea … what we need isn’t rest, it’s match fitness. At least Craigie Gordon will be match fit.
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Abby – it will never really matter who coaches Hearts so long as Mad Vlad owns them … as long as that is the case, they will remain a feeder team for the Lithuanian national team.
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