Celtic have the bottle, Gladiator Giaky; 3 things we learned as Bhoys extend lead on rivals

Add as preferred source on Google

Celtic capitalised on a Rangers draw away to Dundee United, dramatically winning 3-2 at home to Dundee in the Scottish Premiership.

A Giorgos Giakoumakis double in the first half superbly turned around a Dees opener from a corner. However, the away side equalised in the second half through another set-piece.

Celtic pushed for the winner and finally got their rewards from, who else, but Giakoumakis. The Greek completed his hat-trick to send Paradise into a frenzy.

Celtic are three points clear with 11 games to go.

Here are the three big talking points of a roller-coaster Sunday…

Celtic have the title race bottle

That was another tense, frenetic 90 minutes for Celtic. Be honest, you were biting your nails. At times it looked like the winner wouldn’t come.

However, just like many other matches this season, Ange Postecoglou’s team found a way to win. They have the bottle. They’re title favourites for a reason.

Obviously, there’s a long, long way to go. It’s not always going to go our way in the 11 remaining games of the season.

The truth is though digging out games is the best trait to have in a tight title race. Good, free-flowing football is nice, but it’s all about winning at this stage of the campaign.

It’s another gut-check moment that this team have passed.

Gladiator Giakoumakis

Giorgos Giakoumakis isn’t always the prettiest of footballers. He’s not a Jota. He’s not going to dazzle you with his skill. But boy is he a competitor.

When Celtic found themselves a goal down today it was the Greek international who dragged the Bhoys back into the game with physical play in the Dundee box that they couldn’t cope with.

He fights for absolutely everything and that winning goal today will make him a hero with the doubters in the Celtic support that still remained.

He’s now scored seven goals for the club and you wouldn’t bet against him banging in a few more before the end of the season.

Set-piece woes

We’re all on a high, but we have to mention the set-piece problems today. Again Celtic have been found lacking at some of the basics of defending corners and free-kicks.

It’s not all Cameron Carter-Vickers’ and Carl Starfelt’s fault either. This is a collective issue.

I wouldn’t even consider it an Ange Postecoglou issue. This has been built into Celtic for years and years now.

The manager has to get to the bottom of it though if we’re going to be taken seriously as a top side. We’re gifting cheap goals at key moments and it will end up costing us dearly, even if it didn’t today.

We shouldn’t have to be digging ourselves out of holes.

In other news, Ange Postecoglou’s perfect Celtic response to question about rivals dropping points today.