Rangers & Hearts fans buoyant, more woe for Hibs

Another Scottish Premiership weekend, yet more and more talking points.

Monday’s news was dominated by Neil Warnock becoming Aberdeen manager until the end of the season but that followed six eventful games on Saturday.

Here are some of your thoughts on the performances and results.

Keep up to date with news from your Scottish Premiership clubCeltic ‘squad should be performing better’The headlines coming out of Pittodrie were two-fold as Aberdeen took an unlikely lead and ultimately a point while leaders Celtic dropped Scottish Premiership points for the first time in 2024. Visiting supporters were unimpressed…

Anon: We read about the need to improve, to add “quality”. That is true for European competition, but on the home front this squad should still be performing better. Obvious tactics, ineptly carried out.

Brian: Celtic created many chances first half with none taken. As was repeatedly said, a new left-back should have been top priority in January window.

Denis: Absolutely abysmal. That’s eight points dropped, and [Brendan] Rodgers and the board are to blame.

Danny: Another match with a predictable scenario. Teams know how to play against Rodgers’ Celtic now. Celtic seem to only know how to play the one system. Lack of initiative, quality and pride have cost us even more points. What happened to this attacking team?

Celtic ‘have dropped points in too many games’Michael: Trying to play fast football with a slow team doesn’t work and there was no quality in today’s team. It feels like we lost today, it was a shocking display this week and last week and I honestly think we are going to throw the league away. But what do you expect when the January window was shocking?

Andy: Not a great result or performance, especially second half, but fans have to get behind the team. Far too much negativity from the stands and it’s feeding into the team and playing right into Rangers’ hands. Maybe the board are gambling with the league but fans are not helping, let’s get the league won and then start protesting.

‘Efficient’ Rangers impressRangers were the ultimate beneficiaries as they reduced Celtic’s advantage at the top to three points by beating Livingston 3-0. And it is Rangers at Ibrox for Warnock’s first game in charge of Aberdeen on Tuesday…

Elaine: Very satisfying performance and good to see [Fabio] Silva on the scoresheet. I would have liked to see a few more goals but on the whole, happy tonight. Jack Butland had Allan McGregor’s deckchair out today.

Alexander: An efficient performance and not an unexpected result. Rangers will face sterner tests and those are the must-win games. I suspect that ultimately it will come down to the results in the Old Firm games and our recent record is not inspiring. Rangers must change that if we are to win the league.

Steve: Comfortable so nothing new learned, but good run out for Silva and great to see [Oscar] Cortes debut. On another day it could have been five or six, but efficient and still comprehensive, 3-0 is a good result. Must capitalise by beating Aberdeen and not throw away the advantage.

But the woes continue for bottom side Livingston…

Matt: For Livingston, getting anything versus the top two are always just bonus points. It’s the rest of the season that has put us where we are – heading straight for relegation. The club have chosen to stick by [David] Martindale and will now pay the price for it. To think a couple months ago we rejected an approach from St Johnstone for him. You have to laugh…

‘Difficult to see what County game plan is’Fellow strugglers Ross County also lost at home to St Johnstone, leaving the gap between the bottom two at six points…

Rev James: We witnessed a very nervy attempt by County today. Perth team were strong and assured as we often expect whereas the home team appears unsure and rarely show desire to hit the net. Dangerous signs for all to see. A lower league seems the likely future if no confident striker emerges soon.

John: It’s very difficult to see what the game plan is. [Yan] Dhanda has a roving role, which puts him all over the park. [Jordan] White is ineffective up front. [Simon] Murray needs to get his head up. [Eamonn] Brophy deserves the start. Defence looked tight and offered little opportunity. We have to learn to finish.

No such complaints from Saints fans…

Stuart: Great result. A striker [Benjamin Kimpioka] that scores goals at long last (with the exception of Nicky Clark). Give the new attacking signings the game time to advance the team and climb away from the foot of the table. For too long we have looked back, onwards and upwards Saints.

Hamish: Gritty and well-composed victory, new strikers looking like they’ll score and with the best keeper in the league we should be looking up rather than down the league.

Anon: Good to see a striker and a midfielder in. Just need a bit more width in midfield, hopefully the new signing will fill that role.

Dimitar: Fantastic to get three points and a clean sheet. Still looking a bit weak in some areas, though. I’d like to see us look into trying to sign David Marshall from Hibs.

Hearts ‘can peg back’ top two; ‘Worst’ Hibs performanceContrasting emotions in the east as Hearts beat Dundee to solidify third place…

Ron: With two Oz stars returning and others coming back from injury, Hearts can peg back Celtic and Rangers. How close can they get? We shall see.

Anon: A great result although we can’t keep turning it on in the second half and playing poor in the first.

Callum: I thought the performance overall was really good from Hearts. We showed great grit and determination to get the result over the line. The only thing that worries me is our first-half performance in games recently always starts off so slow and tepid, and I hope it doesn’t come back to bite us later in the season.

Ian: A great game to win but we can’t keep going behind in games. Penalty decision went our way but that won’t always be the case. Play from the start against St Johnstone and we should win.

Meanwhile, Nick Montgomery’s Hibernian slumped to a 3-0 home loss against St Mirren…

Fergis: The worst performance I’ve seen in some time. I’m lost for words on how bad we were, serious questions over Montgomery and his tactics. Also a lack of a reaction to change the team and pull players who are underperforming every week.

Graeme: Very possibly the worst performance in my history of watching the club. The manager has the Inverness match to save his skin. We won’t get anything from Celtic on Wednesday.

Les: That first half was the worst performance I have seen in 50 years. The players looked as if they had never met before. [Elie] Youan, Jair [Tavares] and [Dylan] Levitt were awful with the rest not far behind. Slightly better second half but no penetration.

Kenny: This must have been the worst performance from any Hibs team I have seen over the last 30 years. It could easily have been 5-0 at half time. The fans’ comments for a while now have been no game plan, terrible defending and we never look like scoring. Montgomery has to go before we are fighting relegation. Bring in Neil Lennon now!

George: Unbelievably poor. New signings absent. Usual fragility in defence, no quality in midfield, no spark up front. At this rate Monty can pack his bag, he’s out. Need Neil Lennon in to kick some backsides.

Andy: Been going to Easter Road for over 50 years and I’ve never seen a more disjointed performance. Nobody really turned up today for Hibs, fair play to St Mirren they created and scored.

Colin: Sorting out Hibs was never going to be a quick fix as many “expert” Hibs fans expected. We need to be tolerant and patient as we’ve had Saturdays like that against St Mirren before. But if we keep doing knee-jerk reactions we’ll never move forward. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither was a successful football team.

Mark: Why is anybody surprised? Under the Gordons we have appointed one bad manager after another, and we’ve had window after window of random signings from all over the place. Add to that poor tactics that clearly aren’t working, and we are now in a serious mess. Why couldn’t we have appointed a solid, proven manager like Derek McInnes for a change?

Rob: No spirit, fight, effort and most worryingly no identity under Monty. I don’t think any of us can describe what his style is. Too slow, tentative and ultimately having so many young kids in an aggressive men’s league doesn’t work. Crying out for an experienced centre-half and defensive midfielder, and we have done for four or five years. Embarrassing.

St Mirren are buoyant, though – up in fifth…

William: This result was a huge lift for the Paisley faithful. Every credit to an excellent management team. Dundee will not be looking forward to a near full house in Paisley this week. We can be confident of keeping the results going until the split.

And there was a draw between Motherwell and Kilmarnock…

Kevin: Great how the [Motherwell] manager talks about five games unbeaten rather than one win in 18 games. Draws don’t guarantee you Premiership survival and the lack of wingers and other strikers is a worry for the run-in. We’ve signed inexperienced players in hope, rather than expectation, and none started today.

Stephen: Three consecutive games [Kilmarnock] have dropped points from winning positions against teams below us in the league. We are too passive, and defend too deep when we are in the lead. Hopefully the additions of [Greg] Stewart and [Kevin] Van Veen will help us retain possession further up the park and turn these types of draws into the wins we need if we aim to be top four.