We got there eventually. We need a Corner Coach.

[Joe O'Rourke]

That was a hard-fought victory up in Perth yesterday afternoon, it can be a tricky venue for us, and especially with their new manager Craig Levein in charge now, Craig never has been an adventurous manager at any of his previous clubs, and it was no different yesterday. The most important aspect of the fixture was to get the three points without any injuries, and we succeeded in that respect, but going by Brendan’s after match comments, there is more work to be done with the team, and with the squad make-up.

It's so frustrating watching how the opposition tactically approach a game against Celtic, the deep defensive formation, the timewasting tactics, the petty fouling, all done to slow down the Celtic attacking instincts, and all condoned once again by referee Don Robertson. I really get angry watching these guys every week, surely, they can’t get any worse, but then again, I’m sure they can, and will. The goal we lost from a corner was very poor from a defensive perspective, Joe Hart must be much stronger in those type of situations, and you can bet that every team we play from now on with try to surround Big Joe to block him, he must be stronger and get himself a bit space by using his physique. I must also say, Big Joe saved us two points with his late save which led to our third goal.

The first half yesterday was a non-event, we were far too passive, and far too slow getting forward, because of the slow build up, St Johnstone were allowed time to get their defensive line organised, and I think we could do with a bit more muscle in midfield, we have to meet aggression with more aggression, what would we give for a Scott Brown or Roy Aitken in our midfield, I love when we’re moving forward at speed, but opposition teams don’t allow us to move the ball quickly, and the match officials don’t help either. I don’t want to be too critical of the team, we are still in a great position in the League, we need to maintain, and hopefully improve our points lead until the January break, then I’m certain we’ll strengthen considerably.

Obviously, Brendan and John Kennedy have more football knowledge than me, but I’m dumbfounded by our performance at corner kicks, and I’m talking about corner kicks we are attacking. We had twelve corners yesterday in Perth, I think that’s about the average we get every match in Scotland, that’s around five hundred corners a season, when was the last time we scored from one? When we get a corner to attack, you’d be as well getting the programme out for a read, because we don’t threaten at corners. I do admit we lack a bit of height in our defence, we know if Cameron Carter-Vickers was two inches taller he’d still be playing in the English Premier League, but surely, we can come up with some ideas about how to benefit in goals from corners, try beating the first defender with the cross as a starting point.

There wasn’t a blog last week as I was in Rome, I know there were problems with supporters getting into the ground, and I believe Celtic are investigating that just now. Rome is a beautiful city, but trying to get around it on public transport is a challenge to say the least, it would have been alright if I could have turned the clock back about forty years, but even with it being Rome, I know that’s not possible.

Onto Hibs on Wednesday night now. Glasgow’s still Green & White.