Five things we learned from the Scottish football weekend
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It’s all about the narrative
We do seem to love a good drama in a sporting context. Kenny Miller’s return to the Rangers team, as captain no less, provided such an example this past weekend. Having been ostracised by his former boss, Pedro Caixinha, Miller made a triumphant return under interim coach Graeme Murty, scoring twice in a 3-1 win over Hearts.
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Hide AdMiller deserves praise for his efforts, but some of the emotive language used in its aftermath has been excessive. While he may not have deserved the treatment handed down to him by the floundering Portuguese head coach, his omission from the starting XI wasn’t as egregious as it has been made out. After all, he failed to score in six league starts prior to the falling out with Caixinha, and had the supporters questioning whether his inclusion in the line-up was down to the manager looking to hold together what we’ve since learned was a fractured dressing room.
Miller was decent - you can’t score two goals and not be as a striker - but his general performance didn’t even match that of his partner, Alfredo Morelos, not to mention a few others in the squad. Let’s wait for a few weeks before hailing him as the saviour of Rangers’ season.
MATCH REPORT - Hearts 1 - 3 Rangers: Kenny Miller hits a brace in easy win
The Bhoys are all right
Brendan Rodgers made six changes to the Celtic starting XI, including bringing in teenagers Eboue Kouassi, Kristoffer Ajer and Michael Johnston for the visit of Kilmarnock. Seeing as the champions could only muster a draw, you’d have thought the youngsters didn’t step up to the mark, but that wasn’t the case. While Johnston failed to have an impact on the left of midfield, the other two were among Celtic’s best performers on the day, with Koussai in particular impressing in the centre, including a perfectly weighted 40-yard pass for Leigh Griffiths to open the scoring.
Instead, it was largely the more experienced players who couldn’t raise their game against Steve Clarke’s side. Aside from the goal, Griffiths couldn’t make much happen, while Tom Rogic and Scott Sinclair (who replaced an injured Patrick Roberts) failed to impress.
The constant turnover in the matchday squad, with Rodgers focused firmly on the Champions League, appears to be affecting Celtic’s form. However, Rodgers will know that once the group games are out of the way, he’ll have three months of domestic football in which to unleash his best XI on domestic opponents week after week.
Celtic may be only one point in front at the moment, but nobody will be concerned within the walls of Parkhead.
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Hide AdDundee must sort their defence
By losing at home to Hamilton, Neil McCann’s Dundee side slipped to the bottom of the Ladbrokes Premiership table.
There are no prizes for guessing why they’re currently propping up the rest. Though they have the second best goal tally in the bottom six, Saturday’s 3-1 defeat now gives them the worst defensive record in the league.
On paper it doesn’t make too much sense. McCann’s summer recruitment, on the evidence of this season so far, has been a bit hit and miss. However, the ones who are performing up to standard are largely defensive players. Glen Kamara and Lewis Spence are industrious centre-midfielders, while Jack Hendry has been excellent at centre-back. Josh Meekings should also begin to shine once he gets up to speed following a lengthy period out through injury.
The individual pieces may be there, but it’s not translating into results. This could be down to McCann’s desire to see his side playing passing, attractive football. It’s a commendable vision, though only accepted when results are going the right way. For Dundee they aren’t right now.
With Hibs and Rangers to come in their next three games, McCann may do well to imprint on his players the finer points of defending as a unit, otherwise the pressure will only increase.
MATCH REPORT - Dundee 1 - 3 Hamilton: 10-man Accies send Dundee bottom
Lennon gets his tactics spot on, again
It has been said in the last couple of days that Neil Lennon doesn’t get the credit he deserves. Seeing as he’s widely regarded as one of the best managers in Scottish football, and his team still sit in fifth, this seems a tad reactionary off the back of a couple of great results.
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Hide AdHowever, one area where the ex-Celtic boss is perhaps underappreciated is his tactical nous. You don’t think of Lennon as a mastermind, but he’s shown at Easter Road a capability of shaping and moulding his team to suit his side’s available strengths while exposing the opponents’ weaknesses.
Against Motherwell on Saturday, Lennon decided against keeping the 4-1-4-1 formation which worked so well against Hearts and positioned Martin Boyle up front alongside derby hero Simon Murray. The Steelmen had come to Easter Road earlier in the season and deservedly left with a point, though they were hampered in their efforts to repeat such a feat by the away side’s front two. Armed with tremendous work rate and blazing speed, both men would split off and attack the channels, thereby finding and exploiting holes in the home side’s 3-5-2 formation.
It also helped secure the game’s only goal, with Boyle finishing after finding himself one on one with the goalkeeper following a mistake from Cedric Kipre.
Hearts have run out of midfielders
Craig Levein was already without Prince Buaben, Malaury Martin, Don Cowie and Arnaud Djoum going into the match against Rangers, and things got worse when Jamie Walker was forced off with a hamstring injury early in the second half.
Manuel Milinkovic replaced the Scottish playmaker to little effect, while further substitutions saw Krystian Nowak and Cole Stockton come on for youngsters Harry Cochrane and Lewis Moore in the area. It meant Hearts finished the game in a 4-2-3-1 formation with only two natural midfielders, Milinkovic and Ross Callachan, across the five positions. Esmael Goncalves took up permanent residence on the left, seeing as he loves it there so much, while Stockton played off lone striker Kyle Lafferty. Needless to say, the “home” side could not revive their ailing fortunes in a 3-1 defeat at Murrayfield.
The group which finished the game makes up arguably the worst midfield in recent Hearts history. Cowie and Djoum would improve the unit, not to mention Walker, so injuries have played a factor, but it’s another problem rooted in the recruitment issues which Hearts have hoisted upon themselves over the past two, arguably four, transfer windows.
MATCH REPORT - Kenny Miller returns for Rangers with a vengeance