Celtic, Hamilton and officials all deserve headlines
12th January could turn out to be a big day in SPL campaign
Where do you start after an evening like that?
Do you begin with praising Hamilton for grabbing a point that few predicted?
The Accies were gifted a farce of a goal from the officials but once their noses were in front, they worked their socks off trying to keep it. Goals change games and the opener turned this match on its head but Hamilton then grew into their lead as the evening carried on. Hamilton were well marshalled, they had solid lines at the back and they broke forward with intelligence and pace when they could.
Do you start with criticising Celtic’s passing, passion, formation and substitutions?
Celtic were hamstrung in having to play Anthony Stokes up front by himself and this is not a position that suits him. The Irishman’s touch is abysmal which means he cannot play that role. The thing is though, he was given no support all game.
Paddy McCourt was positioned to play in the hole behind Stokes but McCourt kept dropping too deep, allowing Stokes to be isolated and outnumbered. The quality of the ball Celtic were trying to play into the box was also not suitable for Stokes. Too many whipped balls from Mulgrew and not enough cut-backs from the full-backs. Anthony Stokes never helped himself…but he never really stood a chance tonight.
Some of the Celtic subs also raised a few eyebrows with Biram Kayal once again looking like the main man in midfield.
Lennon was keen to show the midfielder that he was not subbed because of a lack of quality in his position but Joe Ledley should have been subbed for Scott Brown.
It was also a night where the enigma that is Paddy McCourt never really got going. As already stated, he dropped far too deep at times to be effective but he never got any passing going all night. Perhaps McCourt is thinking his team-mates never made a move for him and he was left with too much to do but McCourt was akin to being a man short tonight.
Do we praise Celtic for keeping going in the face of extreme provocation?
It could have been easy for Celtic to feel sorry for themselves. The opening goal of the game was an atrocious decision by the ref and linesman and the Hamilton tackling was more than robust in the first half. Celtic had most of the ball but very little chances in the first half, yet even then, they shouldn’t have been behind. Busy defending, bad luck and terrible decision making saw Celtic trail.
In the second half, even after being reduced to 10 men with the debatable sending off of Jamie Forrest, Celtic pushed at it. They left space at the back which Hamilton may have benefitted from but they kept plugging away and plugging away.
Even after Collum inexplicably booked Niall McGinn for an alleged dive in the box, Neil Lennon’s side kept attacking and pressing.
Even after grabbing an equaliser, Celtic immediately turned their attention to grabbing a winner and only the eagle-eyes of a linesman denied Celtic a winner. The ball did arc out of play so Celtic cannot have any criticism of that decision but they can question why the same level of diligence was not offered to them in the first half.
Or do we start with the abysmal performances of the officials?
You may have picked up on the subtle mention of Hamilton Accies goal being rather questionable. As said, goals change games and this invalid goal gave Accies a massive lift for the rest of the game. Who knows how the game would have panned out if the correct decision would have been made?
Jamie Forrest made a mistake in giving Willie Collum the opportunity to red card him but when compared to the non-booking challenges that Collum oversaw in the first half, it was the wrong decision. It was a forward’s challenge from Forrest and no doubt someone will be able to point to a ruling that justified the decision but few people would have argued about a booking.
Having sent Forrest off, Collum gave himself no option but to send off Hamilton’s McAllister for a late and lunging challenge.
We’ve mentioned the non-penalty award for the foul on McGinn and Collum had no option but to award Celtic a penalty for the challenge on Emilio Izaguirre. Such was the madness of the final moments, we’ve not seen the penalty incident since it occurred live, so it wouldn’t be fair to if the red was justified. We’ll play nice and give Willie the benefit of the doubt.
And there you go, we’ve spent that long wondering what aspect to tackle first, we’ve went through it all and that tells you the story. All of these stories can justifiably be the main story of the match. The celebrations of the Hamilton bench indicate Billy Reid’s pride and joy in his team’s performance. The Celtic conundrum hovers between bitter disappointment in two silly points dropped but pride in battling on and not chucking it in the face of such adversity.
And Willie Collum….well, if the SFA were a reasonable organisation, he would have been demoted long before now. The performance of the officials will no doubt be praised in the post-match report for making big decisions in a tough atmosphere but in all reality, the officials were abysmal.
One positive for Celtic from the night was the performance of Emilio Izaguirre. The player has been one of the most notable Celtic players this season but he was nothing short of incredible this evening. Hampered with having a traffic cone placed in midfield in front of him, Izaguirre was the man who dug Celtic out of troubles at the back and pushed them forward at all times. The only problem may be in whether Izaguirre stays at Celtic for too long.
As for Hamilton, Billy Reid will point to countless breaks and luck that have went against his side this season and will be looking to drum the benefits of this point into his side. Hamilton Accies need to start moving up the table and this point cannot be wasted, Billy Reid needs to have his team turning up every match. It is unlikely Accies will take anything from Ibrox on Saturday but from there on, Accies fans should feel very aggrieved if their players do not match the intensity and effort they showed tonight.
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While they’re all worth mentioning, the referee’s performance had a hand in all the other talking points and has to be the main headline.
The officials dictated the game with their atrocious decisions.
Original Video- More videos at TinyPic
Original Video- More videos at TinyPic
Agree on some pointsbut McCourt beinga man short? Rewatch the game,along with Izy the only attacker to get pass marks, created nearly everything we did positive, some beautiful passes into the box which we wasted.
You’re probably right Jason but a lot of it was he fact that no one moved for him or tried to make space for him.
Asking Paddy McCourt to beat 5 or 6 men every time is unfair on him and almost impossible – his team-mates had to help him out by making space and opening up room for him. If there is no movement, there is not a lot that Paddy McCourt can do. So…that comment probably wasnt meant to be as critical of him as it probably sounds….but aye, fair point.
Regarding Hamilton Accies goal, it was the correct decision and I will explain why using the Fifa regulations.
The Celtic Goal Keeper could see the Free Kick getting taken.
The Hamilton player never (1)interfered with the ball
The Hamilton player never (2) interfered with an opponent.
An finally (3)He, personally, never gained an advantage.
Standing in an Offside Position is not an offence its only when one or a combination of the above three happens, so as per FIFA Directive its a goal.
Now opinions are like arseholes, we all have one, but the fact remains the above edict is from FIFA and that is what Referees and their assistants work to.
I have to say that the referee was harsh in sending of Forrest, the ref will point to the player ‘leaving the ground, to make a tackle after the ball has gone. We’ve seen Craig Thomson in the past sending Kevin Thomson off for similar tackles and it’s clearly something the refs are clamping down on. Me personally, a booking would have been enough and no one would have batted an eyelid had that been the case. The second red card was a no brainer, a shocking challenge that fully deserved the red. Finally the penalty incident, was definitely a penalty and the rules again state that the player must be sent off for denying a clear goal scoring opportunity.
As for the last minute drama, it wasn’t a disallowed goal as it never was a goal. The flag was up in plenty of time and TV clearly showed the ball going out before coming in. No doubt Celtic will point to the officials again, perhaps they might recall Collums harsh sending off in a game against St Johnstone & Celtic last year that dramatically changed the game in Celtics favour, or perhaps even linesman Tom Murphy who managed to call TWO Rangers goals offside incorrectly in seasons gone by against Motherwell & Aberdeen, both games that Rangers ultimately dropped points in. I’m sure those officials have been involved in many other controversial moments in their career, thats simply the nature of the game.
I’ll say one thing though, I hope Celtic carry on with the oppressed and downtrodden mantra that surrounds the club, it brilliantly deflects away from the deficiencies that are clear for all too see at Parkhead. If Lennon thinks his team were brilliant last night and couldn’t fault their effort or football, then thats music to my ears.
One final point, it’s no use raising your game against the big teams like Rangers if you can’t follow that up against the smaller teams in the league.
Quagmire:
Well, the FIFA version of the rules tends to disagree with what you said. No mention of when the ball’s played, only that:
‘“interfering with an opponent” means preventing an opponent
from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing
the opponent’s line of vision or movements or making a gesture or movement which, in the opinion of the referee, deceives or distracts an opponent’.
Examples 6&7 are most clear and make no mention of ‘when the ball is played’.
http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/generic/81/42/36/lawsofthegame%5f2010%5f11%5fe.pdf
Haha, funny how night’s last “goal” wasnt a goal chopped off because play had stopped but the now mythical Boyd strike at Fir Park was a goal chopped off – you lose your argument with your bias there Quags – whistle had clearly gone long before Boyd put the ball in the net that night. The DaMarcus Beasley strike at Aberdeen – thats a different matter. The match report said the late strike by Stokes was correctly ruled out.
As for the offside shout, the player from an offside position has ran across the ball and attempted to make contact with the ball – that is classed as interfering with the ball.
Celtic were also denied a stone-wall penalty when McGinn was booked for an alleged dive. Skelton was also allowed to run riot in the first half, his over the top tackle on Kayal was ridiculous and he wasn’t even booked.
Celtic were poor but they deserved to win and actually did enough to legitimately win the game last night – they just weren’t good enough to turn the one point into 3 with everything they were facing. Having only one fit striker who cant play as a lone striker is not good enough for Celtic and they won’t find it any easier on Saturday against a team that will raise their game and will have expectations from the game.