Celtic glad their right-back was Cha Du Ri
Some Korea advice for Neil Lennon
In many ways, Celtic have been unlucky in the games that they have dropped points at home of late. The Glasgow side have dominated their opponents and certainly had the lions share of possession and chances. In saying that though, if you fail to take your chances, you won’t win matches and the pressure was certainly building on Celtic and Neil Lennon.
Given that the hoops were desperate for a goal, the pairing of Murphy and Samaras was a bit of a surprise and the dup never worked. Murphy won a few headers early on but any hope or promise evaporated quickly. Samaras never hid and was always willing to receive the ball but there is no confidence left in the player by himself or the fans and a parting of the ways would be for the best.
St Johnstone had no intention of making a contest of it, preferring to lie deep and frustrate Celtic in the hope of grabbing a point. There is always the chance of catching Celtic on the break and the Perth side had the ball in the box a few times but St Johnstone were fairly poor. However, on the 90 minute mark, it looked as though they have achieved their goal.
There didn’t appear to be much concern when Cha Du Ri cut inside but out of nowhere, the South Korean swung his left foot at the ball and it sailed into the net leaving Parkhead stunned. The full-back seemed to enjoy the goal and ran directly towards the Celtic dug-out, tearing off his strip as he ran. In this case, the late booking for a Celtic player was justified.
St Johnstone took this as a wake-up call and poured men forward for a long throw but Celtic defended it strongly and broke at pace. Olivier Kapo, making his debut, placed an excellent pass into the path of
Ki Sung Yueng who finished confidently and wrapped up the three points for Celtic.
The Celtic fans would have been delighted with the win but few would have been fooled about the overall quality of the team, there is still a lot of work to be done before Celtic are out of their form slump.
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Cha & Ki certainly gave Lenny a fair bit of breathing space. The outcry that would have ensued had Celtic failed to win a 4th home game on the trot would have been akin to an avalanche and, without exaggeration, could have been the beginning of the end for Lenny. When was the last time any Celtic team, no matter how poor, went 4 games on the trot without a win at Celtic park?
He lives to breath another day. The true mark of any manager’s worth is how they respond and react in times of adversity. Show us that you are up to the job Lenny and prove the doubters, of which I admit I am among, completely wrong.