Celtic - Home 29th August - Discussion Thread

[Jay]

I'm giving up reading threads in the club section on here due as I cannae be arsed reading some of the absolute shite that gets posted, so apologies if I'm just repeating anyone...

 

Anyway, don't want to comment too much on the game as there's not much to say. We looked tired after midweek and void of ideas. Celtic were by far the better team and if they hadn't won the penalty I don't have any doubts they'd have forced a goal eventually anyway.

 

As for the penalty, it looked a plain dive from where I was. I'm not going to start foaming at the mouth about it though, because I was quite happy when Jim O'Brien was winning us penalties last year, or Jamie Murphy dived in the last minute to win us a penalty at Ibrox. What does get on my box is the fact that, again from where I was, Maloney looked as though he could have scored if he'd wanted to - he had a least as good a chance of scoring from where he was than the player hitting the penalty. So why go down? Because he knew by doing so he'd not only win the penalty, he'd get Steven Saunders sent off.

 

That's what does my nut in. Going down to win a foul - be it in the box or out of it - isn't particularly good, but it's part of the game. But throwing yourself down knowing it's going to get a fellow professional red carded is fucking pathetic. How should Maloney's antics be looked at any differently that what McGregor and Lafferty did, pretending to be headbutted in order to get a man sent off?

[Jay]

It was a 2nd yellow mate.

 

I didn't see the ref flash a yellow card. Looked like he'd given a straight red to me.

[East_Stand_Al]

It was a 2nd yellow mate.

 

 

Just watched it back was a straight red.

[GazzyB]

My apologies, livescore.com had it down as a 2nd yellow.

[Andy_P]

I seem to be in the minority here but I don't think it was quite as miserable as is being painted.

 

I take the view that when it comes to Old Firm games its about sneaking points. The style in which we manage to do that I'm not overly fussed. I've seen enough games where we've been absolutely sensational yet come out of it with fuck all so I'm not going to be overly negative or harsh on them when we've not played well yet its still taken a large helping hand from a referee to undo us.

 

Aye Celtic got pumped in Europe too but they have resources and capabilities far beyond our means and whilst we're not a bad a team by any manner of means it doesn't guarantee we're always going to reach a certain level of performance.

 

It rankles more the manner of the defeat. You almost knew what the end result was going to be before Maloney even got into the box. Haven't seen a replay as yet but Brown has rightly questioned McDonald's positioning which must have been around 30 yards behind play and there also appeared to be a further covering defender so the red card was rubbing our nose in it.

 

It's been a disappointing and morale sapping few days but hopefully if Brown can get a couple more in, as he said he was hopeful of doing on the radio, then there's still a decent season for us to be had I believe.

[postiejim]

I'm giving up reading threads in the club section on here due as I cannae be arsed reading some of the absolute shite that gets posted, so apologies if I'm just repeating anyone...

 

Anyway, don't want to comment too much on the game as there's not much to say. We looked tired after midweek and void of ideas. Celtic were by far the better team and if they hadn't won the penalty I don't have any doubts they'd have forced a goal eventually anyway.

 

As for the penalty, it looked a plain dive from where I was. I'm not going to start foaming at the mouth about it though, because I was quite happy when Jim O'Brien was winning us penalties last year, or Jamie Murphy dived in the last minute to win us a penalty at Ibrox. What does get on my box is the fact that, again from where I was, Maloney looked as though he could have scored if he'd wanted to - he had a least as good a chance of scoring from where he was than the player hitting the penalty. So why go down? Because he knew by doing so he'd not only win the penalty, he'd get Steven Saunders sent off.

 

That's what does my nut in. Going down to win a foul - be it in the box or out of it - isn't particularly good, but it's part of the game. But throwing yourself down knowing it's going to get a fellow professional red carded is fucking pathetic. How should Maloney's antics be looked at any differently that what McGregor and Lafferty did, pretending to be headbutted in order to get a man sent off?

 

To be honest Jay we have been void of ideas for most of the season.

[East_Stand_Al]

My apologies, livescore.com had it down as a 2nd yellow.

 

 

No apology needed mate, even had it been a 2nd yellow he was booked because samarras jumped 3 feet in the air tucked his knees up and dived to the ground because saunders looked at him funny. For reasons known only to mr macdonald he gave us a free kick and yet booked saunders. Strangest decision of the day.

[another number]

Totally agree, the team just looked out of ideas and jaded in general. I think we just need to draw a line under this game and Europe, have the international break and come back in 2 weeks fresh.

[EasyWell]

I can understand most folk's frustrations after today's game, however I have no doubt that Thursday's game took a hell of a lot out of our players.

 

I couldn't fault our guys today for effort, it's just that they were knackered.

 

The difference between the 2 teams is that Celtic could make 5 changes to their team when we had to go with basically the exact same team. We don't have a big enough squad to compete on more than one level.

 

The international break couldn't come at a better time for us.

 

Don't lose the faith guys.

[Yir Elder]

I can understand why some folk are criticising the team for a disappointing performance today, but that only highlights how well we have been doing. To under-perform as we did yet only lose 1-0 to a dodgy penalty perhaps shows that we aren't that far way.

 

Yes the lads did look a bit tired today, perhaps if we hadn't been playing that mob we'd have made more changes. Injuries to Hammell and Jennings didn't help either, severely restricting our opportunities to make tactical changes late in the game.

 

Going forward we offered very little, and despite Shellic having plenty of the ball we defended in a very organised manner. It was going to take something special, lucky or controversial to overcome us. Being one of the bigots the controversial option was chosen!

 

To me Maloney is looking to go down most times he has the ball. He did it within 5 minutes on the edge of the box and then with 19 minutes to go to effectively win them the game. I know it, so do all of you guys, so how come refs never penalise him for diving? Its pretty pathetic that refs are still conned by the wee wank.

 

Still, not too despondant. If we can add some creativity to the side we'll do okay. The two week rest will help, although hopefully Hammell and Jennings will be okay.

 

Onwards and upwards.

[another number]

Broon says on the official Jennings was injured

[Tweed]

Always suspected we'd struggle today given our lack of resources and having played on Thursday. We seemed a yard off the pace and we looked mentally tired as well. Celtic have that bit more depth that although they also played on Thursday they had players of similar ability to bring in. I think given how poor we were at times the fact we dug in and kept them out until the 73rd minute is a great credit to the resilience of the team. But we really are struggling for creativity. Humphrey is great at creating space on his day (today wasn't it) but he doesn't utilise it that well. Hammell has a great cross on him on his day (today wasn't it). Murphy, Hateley and Forbes are good from dead balls but take that out and we don't have much. Overall this game was a good one to have right after Thursday as a fair chance we'd have lost it anyway and we can now go away and recharge the batteries and come back and have a good crack at St Johnstone, Aberdeen and Hearts. And for me it was a clear penalty, not sure if it needed the card.

[Finlay]

Broon says on the official Jennings was injured

 

Hopefully something very minor. Same with Hammell.

[Robyn]

To be honest Jay we have been void of ideas for most of the season.

 

It's three games in.

 

 

Main talking point of today was obviously the penalty but what really annoyed the hell out of me was Dougie McDonald, Maloney had hardly started to fall and that bawbag had the whistle in his mouth dying to give the penalty. Craig Brown said it himself after the game on the radio, he said himself he thought the ref was in an awkward area to give the foul/penalty instantly.

 

I don't think the game was that bad as a few have made out. Yeah, we looked poor but taking Thursday into account we we weren't as horrible as we have seen in the past (with no excuse!).

 

We will benefit from a bit of time off and I am sure we will be ready to get going again come Perth.

 

MON THE WELL.

[East_Stand_Al]

I can understand most folk's frustrations after today's game, however I have no doubt that Thursday's game took a hell of a lot out of our players.

 

I couldn't fault our guys today for effort, it's just that they were knackered.

 

The difference between the 2 teams is that Celtic could make 5 changes to their team when we had to go with basically the exact same team. We don't have a big enough squad to compete on more than one level.

 

The international break couldn't come at a better time for us.

 

Don't lose the faith guys.

 

And yet in both games we have seen only 3 subs used all of which occured in todays game, whats the point of a squad if we don't use them.

[star sail]

That's what does my nut in. Going down to win a foul - be it in the box or out of it - isn't particularly good, but it's part of the game. But throwing yourself down knowing it's going to get a fellow professional red carded is fucking pathetic. How should Maloney's antics be looked at any differently that what McGregor and Lafferty did, pretending to be headbutted in order to get a man sent off?

 

 

It is part of the game. It won Celtic the match today. If we are going to get upset by this we are going to continue to be very frustrated as supporters.

 

Looking at it from a Motherwell perspective he should never have been in that position in the first place and for Saunders to lean on him like that was niave. Teams like Motherwell have to be very smart not to make it easy for the ref to make these decisions. The bigger concern for us is that we are losing these soft goals. Sort out our own problems and then let those things outwith our control take care of themselves.

[Yabba's Turd]

No apology needed mate, even had it been a 2nd yellow he was booked because samarras jumped 3 feet in the air tucked his knees up and dived to the ground because saunders looked at him funny. For reasons known only to mr macdonald he gave us a free kick and yet booked saunders. Strangest decision of the day.

Saunders booted samaras and deserved his booking , still think we're in need of a midfield creator

[Maxi]

Broon says on the official Jennings was injured

 

TV reported it as feeling unwell.

[CoF]

Depressing familiarity about the weekends football. Celtic beat us at walking pace after being humiliated during the week in Europe, Rangers scrape a result at Ibrox in the usual workmanlike way and the rest of the results are as unpredictable as ever with teams trading points with each other. Result Old Firm 1-2 in the league and this well fan struggling to keep his enthusiam up for the forthcoming SPL season. How I wish we were still in Europe.

 

 

That sums it up for me as well. Still feeling pretty scunnered about Thursday night and the league table looks familiar already.

[East_Stand_Al]

Saunders booted samaras and deserved his booking , still think we're in need of a midfield creator

 

 

I've looked at it several times and don't see that. I saw him try to get the ball.

[Lobey_Dosser]

Today was dire.

 

While the hangover from Thursday may be a fator, it shouldn't paint over the cracks. We offer very little composure on the ball and have no craft or guile in order to unlock defences. As much as I like Craig Brown, the long ball tactics won't do us any favours this season.

[foghorn]

It is part of the game. It won Celtic the match today. If we are going to get upset by this we are going to continue to be very frustrated as supporters.

 

Looking at it from a Motherwell perspective he should never have been in that position in the first place and for Saunders to lean on him like that was niave. Teams like Motherwell have to be very smart not to make it easy for the ref to make these decisions. The bigger concern for us is that we are losing these soft goals. Sort out our own problems and then let those things outwith our control take care of themselves.

 

 

What a naive comment - 3 players at full pace in the heat of a match and you are not to make a challenge of any sort? The ref was 40 yards behind so his decision was "easy" anyway IMO Agree, we have to sort our problems in as how easily we give the ball back to the opposing team.

[El Grew]

Today was dire.

 

While the hangover from Thursday may be a fator, it shouldn't paint over the cracks. We offer very little composure on the ball and have no craft or guile in order to unlock defences. As much as I like Craig Brown, the long ball tactics won't do us any favours this season.

 

Totall agree with you on this one Lobey. This game had 0-0 all over it from the outset with two poor teams but Celtic deserved to win in the end - they had 70% possession and more efforts at goal than us. But we could still have nicked a point but for the inability again of our two centre-backs to defend.

 

Folk are on here foaming at the mouth about the penalty and Maloney this and Maloney that. They should get over it. It was a stonewall penalty. If it had been at our end I'd have been demanding the same outcome. What they really should be foaming at the mouth about is the part our two centre-backs played in it or rather didn't play in it. Craigan and Reynolds are among the poorest central defenders in the SPL and their performance today was just awful. Reynolds can forget all about getting a move out of FP because he's going to be here as long as Craigan's been so he'd better get use to it.

[foghorn]

Totall agree with you on this one Lobey. This game had 0-0 all over it from the outset with two poor teams but Celtic deserved to win in the end - they had 70% possession and more efforts at goal than us. But we could still have nicked a point but for the inability again of our two centre-backs to defend.

 

Folk are on here foaming at the mouth about the penalty and Maloney this and Maloney that. They should get over it. It was a stonewall penalty. If it had been at our end I'd have been demanding the same outcome. What they really should be foaming at the mouth about is the part our two centre-backs played in it or rather didn't play in it. Craigan and Reynolds are among the poorest central defenders in the SPL and their performance today was just awful. Reynolds can forget all about getting a move out of FP because he's going to be here as long as Craigan's been so he'd better get use to it.

 

Watch this space

[mfc]

celtic where there for the taking the day but browns tactics cost us getting anything out the game.there defence is pretty ropey anyway but with them having a new goalkeeper and left back making there debuts we shouldve been testing them a lot more than we did.the 3 in midfield of lasley,hately and jennings isny working there to alike with none of them offering any real creativity or goal threat its time for 1 of them to make way.we badly need a left winger in the team that way allowing murphy and sutton to be through the middle at all times cause having either of them stuck out wide is doing us no favours.we were pretty solid defensively when brown came last season but we seem to be going back to giving away daft goals the build up to celtics penalty was piss poor defending to get beat by a simple ball through the middle isny good enough.i hope we get away fae these long aimless punts up the park cause its gonna be a long struggle this season if we dont