2018’19 Game 15:Celtic (H) Wednesday 5th December 2018

[real dosser]

Not a great performance but a terrific result considering we lost 2 defenders within the first 15 minutes.  People saying we stole a point but  after the penalty save  Gillespie had nothing to do. Celtic huffed and puffed but were forced to spend most of the game playing across the park.

Just enjoy an unexpected point especially after Saturday's performance.

[gaz7]

mchugh rallies the troops all game and is too slow on ball for midfield. he had a great last ditch tackle in 2nd half as well. sammon i thought done good. livingston done gd 1st 10 mins he was on then looked not so gd. turnbull whilst not greatest game showed in small bits he is our best footballer by miles hes just got it. i hate to hear well fans saying we were lucky or we were crap or the likes lets justenjoy a late equaliser against them. our injuries after 10 mins had a huge impact on game and their goal was scored when donnelly was of park injured.

[CoF]

Don't think we can underestimate how good a result that was after the opening 11 minutes. Celtic did fuck all and could only scored when we had a man off the park. That was in part down to them being shite over-rated arseholes and us actually been very well organised at the back. 

I did struggle to see where even a half chance was going to come from, and Danny Johnstone is the only one I thought it could fall to and go in. Despite a quiet game, he's definitely got an instinct for goal. Also thought Sammon grew into the game and actually looked decent for half an hour. 

[texanwellfan]

I didn’t think we played that well. Same old mistakes. Can’t pass. No composure on the ball. No running off the ball to give passing options.  I didn’t think we were particularly in their face.  I think Celtic were just not very good at all at creating clear chances. However a very welcome but unexpected point. Let’s see what we can get from hearts game 

[fizoxy]

As expected Celtic dominated large parts of the game, and we were lucky with that second goal being chalked off. Although we maybe deserved a little luck after losing two defenders in the first 15 minutes and losing a goal from Donnelly’s position while he was off injured.

The penalty didn’t look as much of a stick on to me as it did to other folk, but compared to the pens Celtic normally get against us it was a stonewaller. Gillespie made a really good save and the follow up punch was excellent. I think we’ve seen enough to agree he was a good signing.

We didn’t look like scoring, and in the main we played like a team that just got beat by livi and lost two defenders early, but we kept Celtic from making many clear chances and at 1-0 you’re always in the game and Johnson’s finish was superb. Shame that my screen froze just as he hit the shot, then I had to head to a meeting, so didn’t know how it ended up until well after!

I thought Sammon did a decent job, particularly when he hasn’t had a sniff of the first team action in months, and was certainly no worse than some of the performances main and bowman have served up. Livingstone did himself no favors today, but it is still early in his career and I hope he takes the managers comments on board and comes back better. One thing in his defense is that he was probably caught cold coming on so early in a game he was only ever going to see action in if two defenders got injured. Tests like this are part and parcel of developing young players. Turnbull lost Christie for the goal, but a lot of folk have been losing Christie lately.

Whether we deserved a point or not doesn’t matter, neither does the fact that Celtic were “there for the taking”, which is a myth anyway. The fact is we earned a point from a game most of us expected to be a total humping. The 4 points from the last 3 games is probably what some of us would have expected (or even hoped for), but maybe not in the order we ended up with. I’d like for us to not have to bounce back so often, but we know this season is about results and getting points wherever we can.

Changing the football philosophy and half of the personnel at the club mid-season just isn’t going to happen. We budget for 10th and we’re getting what we paid for. Traditionally the teams that outperform their small budgets are the ones that avoid injuries and can field a consistent line up. It’s a sad day when some of our own fans seemed just as disappointed with our equalizer than some of the Celtic fans were.


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[claretband]

Anyone see Craigan squaring up to Sutton in the post match? Really thought he was going to deck him live on air!


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[Ya Bezzer!]

Just watched the highlights.  Some finish from Johnson.

[Shaka]

4 hours ago, claretband said:

Anyone see Craigan squaring up to Sutton in the post match? Really thought he was going to deck him live on air!


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I like Craggs & Sutton together. Craggs always goes for the wind up, forgetting he cant handle it himself, so when Sutton replies Craggs bites everytime! 

[GazzyB]

49 minutes ago, Shaka said:

I like Craggs & Sutton together. Craggs always goes for the wind up, forgetting he cant handle it himself, so when Sutton replies Craggs bites everytime! 

If I wasn't a Motherwell fan I'd probably find Craggs a horrific pundit, his ramblings are Schmeichel-esque at times!

 

Quite like Sutton, he's controversial at times for the sake of it but far far better than anything Michael Stewart offers.

[numpty]

44 minutes ago, Ya Bezzer! said:

Just watched the highlights.  Some finish from Johnson.

It is, though the keeper's messed up his angles too, should have had his far corner well covered from there. Perfect example of a good shot on target always having a chance, though.

[stuwell]

Last night I thought it wasn’t a penalty but on highlights it was. Nothing wrong with their second either - just a wee tug and a bit of 50/50 - but the defender didn’t dive to the ground to cheat the referee unlike what Celtic players have done in the past. 

Very happy with the result. 

[GazzyB]

Just watched the highlights and Robbo's interview. A reeeeaally poor goal to give away from us, about 5 or 6 guys that could've done better. Also you can question Robinson's managerial talents, but his interviews are and have always been top class. He is honest without publicly calling anyone out. Between his comments midweek about moving out some players that have come in and his comments tonight about certain players not being fit and not "buying into being a professional footballer" you would think he means guys like Donnelly aren't quite giving 100%. Also inspiring comments for Livingstone and the other young boys about getting up to the standard of fitness required. He also said that we pressed Celtic instead of sitting off them, and he's absolutely right. The overall performance wasn't great, but we pressed Celtic as quickly as we could up the park and forced them into a lot of mistakes.

 

At 7.30pm last night I was in the "Robinson out" camp after seeing the lineup, very much in the "Robinson must stay camp just now"!

[TAM]

Having watched Robinson's post match interview, I was really interested in his comments about Livingstone.

He said the boy only gave him 60 mins and took cramp and needs to be fitter to play first team - I have a few issues with that in that he played 45 mins only on Monday and probably gave that his all and also if fitness is known to be an issue why haven't the physio and sports science team already been working with the boy on that? Thought it was wrong approach. He could have said the boy did well after being dropped in it and has room to improve, no more needed.

Also interesting that he mentioned the clamour from fans to have Livingstone in the team - perhaps Robinson has been having a look on here?

[steelman1991]

6 hours ago, claretband said:

Anyone see Craigan squaring up to Sutton in the post match? Really thought he was going to deck him live on air!


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Really wish he had - Sutton is a typical arrogant, domineering 'old firm' fanatic. Sutton was  correct in his observations on the incidents in question, but clearly accepting that someone might have an alternative view point, is beyond his limited intelligence. To deliberately, mock and attempt to demean a fellow commentator says it all about him - a f.....g wanker of the highest order.

[Kmcalpin]

46 minutes ago, TAM said:

He said the boy (Adam Livingston)only gave him 60 mins and took cramp and needs to be fitter to play first team - I have a few issues with that in that he played 45 mins only on Monday and probably gave that his all and also if fitness is known to be an issue why haven't the physio and sports science team already been working with the boy on that? Thought it was wrong approach. He could have said the boy did well after being dropped in it and has room to improve, no more needed.

My thoughts exactly.  There is a huge gap between youth football and first team football but you'd think that fitness wouldn't and shouldn't be one of them.  Surely thats down to the sports science team?  If a player is being  given all the advice and help necessay from the managerial staff and ignoring it then thats a different matter; but thats not the case here.  Puzzling. 

[Neilwell86]

Got some sympathy for Livingstone, thrown into a game like that is never going to be easy, he gets an early booking and is then on the back foot the rest of the game, almost in a position he can't touch Hayes or he's off. Certainly not a game I will be judging him. As for Sammon, I thought he done okay. Few nice touches, got in about the Celtic defenders. Arguably offered more than Johnson until he got his goal. he certainly wasn't a waste of a jersey.  On Robinsons comments regarding fitness, surely he is referring to the difference fitness required in reserve football to first team competitive football against international footballers, which will only come with a run of games. the pace, power, strength of the game at that level is multiplied by ten. 

[ScottW1886]

4 hours ago, stuwell said:

Last night I thought it wasn’t a penalty but on highlights it was. Nothing wrong with their second either - just a wee tug and a bit of 50/50 - but the defender didn’t dive to the ground to cheat the referee unlike what Celtic players have done in the past. 

Very happy with the result. 

Last season that level of contact was sufficient for Sinclair and McGregor to be awarded penalties against us, so it seems fair enough that it's also a foul by Benkovic 

[weeyin]

5 hours ago, stuwell said:

Last night I thought it wasn’t a penalty but on highlights it was. Nothing wrong with their second either - just a wee tug and a bit of 50/50 - but the defender didn’t dive to the ground to cheat the referee unlike what Celtic players have done in the past. 

Listening to the Sportscence pundits last night saying "if shirt pulling is a free kick there would be penalties at every corner"

Yes! That's exactly what is says in the rules. Stamp out the pushes in the back and the shirt pulling in the box by applying the actual rules.

[Big Stall]

25 minutes ago, weeyin said:

Listening to the Sportscence pundits last night saying "if shirt pulling is a free kick there would be penalties at every corner"

Yes! That's exactly what is says in the rules. Stamp out the pushes in the back and the shirt pulling in the box by applying the actual rules.

Well, Brendan made his bed at the league cup final last season. He argued if Kipre so much as touched him, then the rules are that it is a penalty.

[Kmcalpin]

3 hours ago, weeyin said:

Listening to the Sportscence pundits last night saying "if shirt pulling is a free kick there would be penalties at every corner"

Yes! That's exactly what is says in the rules. Stamp out the pushes in the back and the shirt pulling in the box by applying the actual rules.

Absolutely.  Jersey pulling goes on week in week out and is rarely punished.  Danny Johnson was blatantly pulled to the ground last Saturday at Livingston in the box and no foul was given.  You just need to look at post match pictures to see the amount of jersey pulling that goes on.  Its a foul!