Mark Atkinson and Graham Falk discuss the weekend fixtures.
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00:00Hello and welcome back to the Scotsman Football Show. I'm your host Graeme Faulk, a sports
00:08writer here with the Scotsman and I'm joined by Scotsman sports editor Mark Atkinson to
00:12preview another weekend of really important Premiership fixtures. Mark, how are you doing?
00:17Are you alright?
00:18Good. Very busy. Feels like a big weekend in the Scottish Premiership.
00:22We sort of previewed the midweek fixtures and said we were expecting fireworks. We got
00:26fireworks. Massive comeback win for Barry Ferguson and Rangers. Controversial but vitally
00:32important late win for Hibbs and another statement win for Celtic. We'll move on to the fixtures
00:36to come but an exciting midweek fixture card. What did you make of it?
00:41Yeah, it was great. I think it was everything we hoped for. I think the Rangers-Kilmarnock
00:47game, fair play to Rangers for coming back from 2-0 down at a difficult venue. You almost
00:53wonder if Kilmarnock hit the front too early. There's too much time to come back but I was
00:57impressed with the character of Rangers. I was at Dundee United-Hibbs which was dramatic.
01:03VAR taking centre stage there. Big win for Hibbs. Hearts had a big win as well beating
01:09Simner in there in the top six for the first time which we'll touch upon. It's teed it
01:15up for a really, really exciting weekend this time around because there's so much to play
01:18for and as we'll talk about, a lot of teams who are in the same part of the league table
01:23playing against each other which makes it even more interesting.
01:25Yeah, it seems like every fixture has got something lying on it like it did in midweek
01:29but look, we'll start with the Saturday game which is obviously a massive game on Sunday
01:32which we're going to come to but Barry Ferguson taking charge of his first game at Ibox against
01:37Motherwell. They've also got a new man at the helm as well in Michael Vemma. I'm hoping
01:42I'm pronouncing that correctly but I think it's fair to say it's not been the best of
01:48atmospheres recently at Ibox, especially against Queen's Park and St Meren. We spoke about
01:53the fact that it felt like Clement's time was coming to an end but a bit of a fresh
01:57lick of paint at Ibox this week. Barry Ferguson's held in high regard. A big comeback win. A
02:02lot of character shown as we touched on before but Motherwell will want to build on a big
02:06win during the midweek as well. How do you see that one going?
02:09Yeah, Ibrox is going to be a fascinating place because as you rightly alluded to, it was
02:16becoming quite toxic and they're all going to be behind Barry Ferguson and his coaching
02:21team. I think he'll get a great ovation when he comes onto the pitch at the beginning to
02:26say hello to the Rangers fans. I think it'll be a really emotional moment for him because
02:31this is something that I'm sure even six months ago he couldn't have dreamed of and it'll
02:36lift Ibrox and I think that's dangerous for Motherwell who, while they got a good result
02:41midweek, they are still in that period whereby they could potentially be in the top six but
02:47also have to keep an eye on what's going on beneath them. I'm sure Michael Vibber would
02:51like to get some momentum into that Motherwell team but I think it'll be a hard ask at Ibrox.
02:55I just think Rangers will feel galvanised and they could chalk up quite a good scoreline.
03:02We've seen this Rangers team this season, they have beaten teams comfortably this season
03:06and Motherwell will have to make sure they're well organised and can absorb pressure and
03:12what we don't know is can a Michael Vibber team do that? We just don't know yet. So plenty
03:16of intrigue in that one but I would expect Rangers to come out on top there.
03:20Yeah, I think you touched on there about big wins for Rangers this season. As much as it's
03:25been a really disappointing season, especially domestically, they've won 6-0 twice I think
03:30this season. So when they hit the front, they know how to hit the front, it's just
03:34not been frequent enough, is it?
03:36Absolutely, absolutely. I mean I wouldn't want to predict that much of a heavy scoreline
03:41on Saturday but certainly they have the capability to do that, that's for sure.
03:47Absolutely. Looking at Celtic, a hugely impressive win in midweek again. They've got Sint Maar
03:52on the way. Look, Sint Maar on the way, sorry, it's never an easy game but can Steven Robinson
03:58shall we say do a Hibs and beat them or do you see that one going only sort of one way?
04:02Look, Sint Maar are one of the teams that you fancy when against the old Firmware, you
04:07think you've got a better chance. Just the style of play that they adopt at home in particular
04:13will make it very physical, they'll be direct. They've got a strike force in Mandron and
04:18Ole Sane who are a handful for centre-halves. I remember being at Celtic against Sint Maar
04:24earlier in the season in Paisley and I was quite impressed with how Celtic just dealt
04:28with Sint Maar really quickly. They killed the game off early and I think that's what
04:32we'll try and do again here. If you can play Sint Maar on your terms for any team in Scotland,
04:39you generally win the battle. You've got to earn the right to beat Sint Maar, especially
04:46on their own patch. I think Celtic have got the footballers to do that. Half-five kick-off
04:50on television, the gap could be 10 points. I wouldn't say it's pressure on Celtic, but
04:55there'll be an expectation that they go there and take care of business. The response against
05:02Aberdeen was very good, 5-1 win after losing to Hibs. I think it'd be hard to see Sint
05:08Maar beating them, but you could maybe see them taking a point. Ultimately, I still think
05:13Celtic are too strong. I think they'll want to sprint through the finishing line rather
05:17than jog through it.
05:19Yeah, you're starting to see those articles come out of when can Celtic mathematically
05:22win the league and that's always probably a bad sign because Celtic are kind of mirrored
05:27by their play of the year and Dijs and Maida in the fact that they just sprint towards
05:31everything, don't they? And they want to get towards that, as you say, that finish line
05:34as soon as possible. But when you look at the opposite end of the table, we touched
05:38on Dundee early in the week who are just so hard to work out. Points against Rangers,
05:43points against Celtic. They've got that derby win against Dundee United in the cup and yet
05:48they could be joint bottom of the league come Sunday morning, Saturday evening. They've
05:53got a massive game this weekend. That's every bit as big as the game at the top, isn't it?
05:58Oh, yeah. St. Johnson's visit to Dundee is, for me, it's the most interesting game in
06:04terms of the league on Saturday. If St. Johnson win by two goals, they go above Dundee. And
06:12I think in a way it may well suit St. Johnson that this game is at Dens Park. Dens Park
06:18is going to be a nervy place because six weeks ago, we weren't talking about Dundee
06:23being a relegation battle. We were praising them about playing both halves of the old
06:27firm really well and potentially being a top six team. The fact of the matter is they just
06:32can't keep the door shut at the back. There are problems structurally in that Dundee team
06:37in that they don't defend well as a unit. There's plenty of goals in there, but they're
06:43going to come against a St. Johnson team that is growing in confidence. That was a huge
06:46win for them against Ross County. And I really wouldn't put it past St. Johnson to get something
06:51out of this match. It's going to be a real challenge for Dundee. They are the team that
06:56has got all the sort of negative energy around them right now. And I think St. Johnson can
07:03go there with a little bit of a free hit. If St. Johnson were to pull it off, Simo Balacarri
07:09would deserve enormous credit. I remember him speaking about hitting bottom spot back
07:14in December at Tyne Castle. They lost to Hearts and said we need to use this as a reset.
07:18It didn't reset actually. They ended up losing four matches in a row. Since then they have
07:23got better. I think I'm a bit concerned for Dundee right now. I really am. They do have
07:31some really good players, but this is going to be a true test of Tony Daugherty's managerial
07:34credentials. He's been in the job now for 18, 19 months. This is his first real period
07:40of adversity. We'll learn a lot about him in terms of how you get the team to respond.
07:44It's kind of a shame as well. He's had that big spate of injuries that he had around the
07:50Silicon Rangers game. Then he pulled something out and you think, oh, when they get the players
07:54back. And it just really hasn't worked out. It just crept up on you that they're so close
07:59to the bottom and it really is. Nothing must win in February, but it's getting to that
08:03point that it's definitely for both sides. I think a defeat would be incredibly damaging.
08:08I mean, they'd have to do a lot to turn it around, but you're looking at the rest of
08:12the games and there's obviously one that sticks out on Saturday as well, which is the Ross
08:17County Kilmarnock game. Both sides have their eyes set on a top six place, although it's
08:22far from guaranteed with that one because there's a lot of work to do to do it. But
08:27an interesting game nonetheless, because whoever wins that can maybe start looking up the table
08:31as opposed to down it.
08:32Yeah. So you look at, you've got Motherwell at Ibrox and you've got one off, if not both,
08:38have done Dearson Johnson dropping points. So the winner in that match is going to give
08:42themselves some breathing space. Kilmarnock, Derek McInnes has been very vociferous. He's
08:46challenging his team to finish in the top six. Ross County have crept up the table and
08:53they all harbour ambitions of getting themselves safe as well. In some respects, it's almost
09:00as big a match as the one we just talked about because the prize on offer is so big.
09:05You put three points on one of your rivals, plus you pull away from the drop zone. Hard
09:10one to call that. I always think Ross County at home are quite a difficult side to break
09:15down. Kilmarnock, they need to show some recovery because that'll be a tough one, losing to
09:20Rangers on Wednesday night. That will have hurt the manner of defeat. So really big game
09:26for both teams. And whether it was a draw, you probably wouldn't be too surprised.
09:32And I think there's another two games you haven't touched on yet. One's been the really
09:35obvious one. The one I'm looking forward to is the Edinburgh derby. We've had two great
09:39ones already. I think there's been two, although Hearts fans might disagree on the last one.
09:42I think as a neutral, there's been two fantastic games so far. Got a big one at Easter Road
09:47on Sunday. And look, in many ways, they're the two form sides in the league. What, Pibbs
09:51were unbeaten in 14. I think Hearts, in all competitions, have lost, I think, one in
09:55the last 11. Forgive me if I'm slightly wrong with that. Back-to-back derby wins for Pibbs
10:02and they're suddenly potentially third come Sunday evening, depending on Aberdeen's result.
10:08And then you look at Hearts as well. It could have been a relegation class this or few months
10:12ago. And now we're looking at potential top three teams, depending on how the results
10:16go over the next few months. It's a big one, isn't it?
10:18Yes, it's a very big derby. The first they met at Easter Road this season, back in October,
10:24they both occupied the relegation spots. It was being called the basement derby. And now
10:29look at them. Both have recovered really, really well. I'm delighted for both sets of
10:34management teams who have come across very, very well, even in difficult moments. Pibbs
10:39are obviously the form team in the league right now. At some point it's going to end.
10:44It would be very sore for them if they were to lose to Hearts, given that it's their rivals.
10:49I suppose one kind of comfort for Pibbs at the moment is they've got a four-point cushion
10:52on Hearts. So whatever happens on Sunday, they will be ahead of Hearts. I think most
10:58people find it quite hard to predict this match. Normally, you would say that Hearts
11:02have got that bit extra in derbies in recent times. But Easter Road is a positive place
11:07and this Pibbs team is different to other Pibbs teams. It's got a resolute nature to
11:12it that we haven't often seen. And I do think Hearts, despite scoring a lot of goals at
11:17the moment, they are a little bit susceptible at the back. A draw would not surprise me.
11:23I think a draw actually would potentially suit both teams. If Pibbs were to take the
11:29victory, that would be nine points in eight days against Celtic, Dundee United and Hearts.
11:34That would, for me, make them favourites to finish third. We'll come on to the other game
11:38in a second that's getting played later on Sunday. But regardless of what happens there,
11:41the momentum they've got and the confidence they've got would be really big for Hearts.
11:45If they were to win at Easter Road, that is a statement result from Hearts. And one
11:51thing Hearts haven't got this season, they haven't had a statement result. They haven't
11:54beaten one side of the Old Firm, they haven't beaten Aberdeen and they haven't won a derby.
11:58This is a big chance for Neil Critchley's team to show what they're made of. Can't wait
12:03for this game. It's going to be really, really informative. It might not be the best football
12:08on the planet, because it rarely is, but it'll be exciting.
12:11Yeah, I always love an Edinburgh derby. I think, you know, there's a lot of chat about
12:14the Old Firm and things like that from outside the Scottish football sometimes, but the Edinburgh
12:18derby always, for me anyway, provides. But I wanted to touch on David Gray a little bit
12:24before I moved on. Look, 14 games unbeaten and within those fixtures, you've had Rangers,
12:29you've had Celtic, you've had tough games and the fact they dig themselves out holes,
12:33including Wednesday when they went 1-0 down. What is it that David Gray has done, in your
12:38opinion, that has sort of fixed what basically looked like a relegation battle for the first,
12:44what, three months of the season? Like almost certainly now we're talking about them in
12:48top three in February. How has he fixed that so quick?
12:51The ironic thing is that David Gray hasn't done that much differently, which I think
12:57is very admirable. He drew the slump. He said, look, the team are still playing some good
13:03football. We're being punished for individual errors and late goals. He didn't panic. He
13:10kept his message and his manner very steady. The players stayed on side with him the whole
13:16time. He always had the dressing room, even at the darkest moments when he was one game
13:21away from the sack, he had the players with him, which to me suggests that when he went
13:26into the building every single day at HTC, he would be a proper leader and say, look,
13:33we're going to get out of this. A couple of tweaks in terms of formation. They play a
13:373-5-2 now. That's helped. They changed the goalkeeper at the start of December. That
13:41has definitely helped because that's the head of the ship. But confidence, it's just confidence.
13:48You see it in every league. You just build momentum, build momentum. It's all, David
13:52Gray is a great example of why you shouldn't panic in a crisis. Stick to your principles,
13:57back yourself, back what you're doing. For a 36-year-old rookie head coach, that's really
14:03hard to do. So he deserves enormous credit. And I think if David Gray could beat Hearts
14:10on Sunday, we're not just talking about Hibbs finishing third, we're talking about a potential
14:14manager of the year candidate here, given what they've done. So yeah, huge credit to
14:20David Gray. But as he will tell you, they've achieved nothing yet. The goal is still to
14:25get into the top six and then take it from there. So he's playing it down, but look,
14:30he deserves a lot of credit. There's no question about that.
14:33When you look at the Hearts manager as well, look, he hasn't quite done the job that David
14:38Gray has, but he has really turned it around. I think it was a surprising appointment for
14:43me, Neil Critchie, at the time. It kind of came very left field. But like I said before,
14:48non-defeat in the last 11 games, there's less worries, much less worries about Hearts
14:52getting relegated. They're looking much more above themselves and down. Regardless of Sunday,
14:58he's had a decent start to his reign there, hasn't he?
15:01Massively, yeah. I'd be impressed with Neil Critchie from the first conference he did.
15:05I thought this guy's got a nice manner about him. You could tell he's a football coach.
15:11He's a scholar of the game. You don't work at Liverpool for a number of years if you're
15:16not good at what you do. The big question was, could he transfer that into Scottish
15:22football? And it always takes a bit of time to do that. And secondly, in January, could
15:26he bring in good players that would improve Hearts? And I think they have them. And that
15:31has helped him. Elton Kabangu, seven goals since coming into January. He's a top scorer
15:35for Hearts, which says a lot about him, but also a lot about where Hearts were. So I think
15:41for Neil Critchley, a win in the Derby would probably convert some Hearts fans that are
15:48still a little bit on the fence about him. Hearts fans love beating hips and they love
15:54being the top dog in Edinburgh, because most of the time they are. So if he was to go into
16:01the remaining season on the back of a Derby win, it would do a lot for Critchley and his
16:06standing in the Hearts fan base. He will admit himself that next season is the big
16:13one for Hearts when they get the squad that he wants in place. But there's no reason why
16:18they can't have a really successful season. But I think this weekend probably could define
16:22it for him.
16:23Yeah, absolutely agree. I think he had a really good January. I think he's done better than
16:27I anticipated myself personally. But Sunday's a big one. And I think any Derby win turns
16:32a lot of opinions towards his favour, if there was any that aren't in his favour at
16:36the moment. But I was going to say just a small matter of Aberdeen versus Dundee United
16:41on Sunday, which is not really a small matter. You've got two teams there who also want to
16:45go for third place. One team who at one point looked like they might have a title race on
16:49their hands. But they both come into the game on the back of a defeat, damaging defeat.
16:54Maybe we expected Aberdeen to lose, but 5-1 thrashing's not great, although we are up
16:58against a phenomenal Celtic side that were found on all cylinders. That'll be damaging
17:02for them after that little run of wins that they had after that sort of horrendous middle
17:07section. But Dundee United will also feel a bit aggrieved based on Wednesday night's
17:12result, because we could do our own sort of episode, I think, on the Sam Dalby decision
17:17and the VAR decisions that were there. But I'm sure Dundee United fans won't want us
17:21to re-go over that. But a big game and another big game for both sides in the context of
17:26their season, because I think if one of them win it, the top three's easily back on for
17:31them and they can challenge Hearts, Hibs, whoever it may be that goes with them at the
17:35end of the season.
17:36Yeah, I think it's a bigger game for Dundee United than it is for Aberdeen, is my feeling
17:39on it. Dundee United will perform. They've lost four out of the last five in the league,
17:44albeit a couple of tough matches in that period. And I think out of the four teams, they're
17:51the one that I think have looked the most one-dimensional and the dimension they have
17:56is really good. They're a direct football team and they get the ball to Sam Dalby in
18:00dangerous areas and they work off it. If that doesn't work, there's not as much of a plan
18:05B. Their midfield isn't as creative as some of the other teams. And I think momentum's
18:10against them. So they need a big result at some point as well. If they were to drop four
18:16points behind Aberdeen, that feels like quite a big moment for them. But I think it's worth
18:21saying with Dundee United, they got promoted last season. Even in this conversation is
18:27a real feather in Jim Goodwin's cap. And they're probably the outsider in this race, even though
18:34they're on 40 points. They still, for me, are the ones that at this stage look least
18:39likely to finish third. But if they can rediscover that form they had in November, December when
18:46they were really hard to break down and beat, then they'll be on the premises. But I do
18:51wonder if they've maybe peaked. That's a challenge for Goodwin to rejuvenate his players. Aberdeen,
19:00funny team at the moment. So streaky. That defeat at Celtic was bad, of course, but I
19:05actually think some Aberdeen fans are quite happy with the way they played because they
19:09felt they got back to that kind of free-flowing football. They were dangerous in the first
19:13half. They look stronger now they've got some new centre-halves in Christos Tobers
19:17and Mats Knoster. So I think they'll fancy the chances in Potaudri against Dundee United.
19:22They beat them 1-0 there earlier in the season. And I've got a wee feeling Aberdeen might
19:26get the job done against Dundee United on Sunday. Apart from everything else, Dundee
19:30United, that was a sore way to lose on Wednesday night. It was a real body blow for them. And
19:35yeah, for me, they feel the weakest of the four, but there's not a massive amount in
19:40it, that's for sure. I'm looking forward to it as well. Premier Sports at three o'clock
19:44after a 12.30 Sky Sports game. If you wanted to, you could sit and watch Scottish football
19:50all Sunday afternoon. I know Sky always talk about English football Super Sunday. This
19:53feels like Scottish football Super Sunday.
19:55Indeed, it's a Super Sunday. I agree with the Dundee United assessment as well. I think
20:00when it comes down to the end of the season, whilst I agree that I think they're the weakest
20:03of the four, they've just been promoted. I think most Dundee United fans, without kind
20:07of saying they're unambitious here, would have probably took a top six finish at the
20:11start of the season and the season that they've had. So, not great on form, but it's not been
20:16a bad season thus far. Aberdeen will want to get back to winning ways as soon as possible,
20:20but that Edinburgh derby is the one that sticks out for me. But enjoy the weekend, Marcus.
20:24You can see the sun's out. It's almost covering half my face. The blind is apparently broken.
20:28So, I'll let you go. I'll let you enjoy your Wednesday.
20:31You look like a man that has been sitting in the sun for too long.
20:37But we all know that it's just the lack of curtain coverage in your road.
20:42Yes, thank you. Enjoy your weekend of football too.
20:44And we'll have it all on scottsman.com and in the papers as well.