I can't help but feel for Tony Mowbray. But what I want to talk about is why MacLean was not booked for taking off his shirt and running to the crowd. I thought that was an automatic booking as happened with Rasmussen a couple of weeks ago. MacLean should also have been booked for kicking the ball away as McGeady was. Two bookings is one red but that only applies to O' Dea. It is so blatant it is outrageous.
I am beginning to think Tony is cursed. We are so much all over teams and don't win and Rangers grind things out. What the Keane and transfers have shown to me is how much people hate Celtic and just pander to the majority view. Even Pat Nevin now makes me sick.
If O'Neil had given us Curtis Davis on loan I would have thought there was a possibility we could have caught Rangers. Then again if we do get close the referees will see to it it doesn't happen but with our defence we will always lose goals so they may not have to bother. I am now really convinced to win any tight league race requires Celtic to also beat the SFA.
I'm on the fence about Mowbray. I appreciate that he inherited a poorly motivated, mediocre bunch of players, but all he seems to have created is a bunch of poorly motivated, slightly better players. He clearly can't prepare players for these games since you never know what Celtic team will turn up... the one with shite attackers or the one with shite defenders or neither or both. I stand by my prediction that the gap will increase, not shorten, between now and the end of the season (or whenever the league is effectively finished).
ReplyDeleteSo the league is a lost cause but I would be satisfied if I felt that there was clear progress. There already has been from an entertainment perspective but there are many other areas where we need to improve.
I'd give him to the end of the season and see where we stand. But I won't be impressed with us winning the last few games of the season and pretending everything is OK for next season.
In the meantime, prepare for the treble heading to Castle Greyskull. Rangers are under-estimated. They beat Hibs 4-1 at Easter Road and 3-0 at Ibrox - in spite of not needing to win either game. We would have won neither - in spite of needing to win both.
Even at 2-4 you still thought that Celtic could throw it away.
ReplyDeleteTM's substitutions are baffling.
Instead of strenghtening midfield he brings on 2 strikers. Naive or what?
We are just not good enough and he does not have the sense to change his "philosophy" regarding how to win matches.
No team can win matches if it is not sufficiently organised at the back. This is not playing defensive football but building from a position of strength with a strong central core in defence and midfield.
At WBA, TM came out with the same mantra about wanting to play football in a certain way, whilst the opposition regularly came away with 3 points. He has not learned and seems incapable of doing so.
We will always have to play against 12 men, every Celtic team has had to do that. Why is the club not putting pressure on the SFA? Why are the players not putting pressure on the referees during a game.
The league is lost and we will lose the next one if we do not change. At what point do we say enough is enough.
Totally agree, Billy, that both the Club and, especially, the players should dispute decisions instead of just apparently accepting them. Time and again you see a bad decision against Celtic and the players hardly say a word. The "goal" that was disallowed against Rangers at Celtic Park was a case in point - one or two complaints then nothing. Neil Lennon would have hounded the officials for the rest of the game. The attitude comes from Mowbray I think. It's another reason why The Forces of Darkness will win the league. Smith and his players would never stand for it.
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