On the way to the game now, you wonder which version of Celtic is going to turn up, on Thursday night against Besiktas we saw two different Celtic teams, the first half one was slow and boring, and luckily for us Besiktas were not playing to a great standard either, and Big Sam was unlucky to not save the penalty, the Big man made the save, but the taker was first to react and knocked in the rebound. The second half was a the complete opposite, with the Celts chasing and fighting for every ball after we had made a couple of substitutions, and the victory was well deserved. We needed to get points on the board, which when looking at the Besiktas playing squad, it was not going to be an easy task, but we managed to get the three points, and that will hopefully give us a bit of confidence in the remaining games in the Europa League.
Yesterday against Kilmarnock Martin got back to selecting what he would see as his best team, although both Jota and Yang lack game time, and Ali Johnston is still out injured. After the game on Thursday night I expected a wee bit of tiredness to creep into the team, and as always with a Neil Mc Cann team, I expected he would set up to defend and hope for a counter attack, or better still a penalty kick. It certainly wasn’t a classic game, but it was a good victory for Celtic, despite the officials doing their best to hinder us at every opportunity. It’s been pretty clear since the start of the season, and especially in recent weeks, that the match officials would do their best to deny Celtic whenever possible, while at the same time trying to make sure that the Deid Club gats every possible help in their quest for silverware.
Just when we thought Big Kasper had got back on the score sheet again, the officials put a kibosh on the Celtic celebrations, and although John Beaton was in a good position when Mika Baur robbed Kiltie of the ball, and he actually waved play on, but strangely VAR, and in particular Grant Irvine got involved, so Beaton went to the monitor and made probably the quickest VAR decision in history to overrule himself and award a foul to Killie, I don’t think either of the two officials involved grew up in a household surrounded by Celtic scarf’s. Beaton had to overrule himself again later in the game when he awarded a free kick instead of a penalty kick when Tshibola handled in the box, unfortunately Benji managed to fail to convert our first penalty of the season.
So once again it looks like “Operation stop Celtic” is in full flow, with all the usual suspects to the fore, Beaton, Walsh, Robertson, Dickenson, and maybe the worst of the lot, Ryan Lee, how this guy managed to get onto the FIFA Referee List, I don’t think he was surrounded with Celtic scarf’s either when growing up, he officiated against St Mirren earlier in the season when he disallowed a Celtic goal for offside when the monitor failed to show the lines, he had a shocking game that night, and of course as expected, he managed to fail to see a Kung Fu kick by a Sevco player in the cup semi-final at Hampden against Aberdeen.
Back to yesterday, it was great to see Yang back in the team yesterday, he has become a very important player for us, and with Jota also back if gives us options on both wings. I have been happy with Big Sam Johnstone in goal as well, he had a great save right at the start of the game yesterday, and played his part in keeping a clean sheet, it’s also a bonus to have Big Cameron back at the heart of our defence. I also thought Big Kasper had a good game yesterday, and on Thursday night, he just needs a bit of luck in front of goal, and some better service, it’s no good being a penalty box striker if we don’t get him crosses into the box. The bad news from yesterday was the injury to Mika Baur, I hope I’m wrong, but it could be ankle ligament damage, young Mika has been outstanding this season, let’s hope it is just a knock and he’ll be back in a couple of weeks. We now have another International break, which is only break if you are not an International Player, I think it’s fair to say, there will be more players missing from Lennoxtown than are present. Role on November 21st and St Mirren at the home of the Champions.
Glasgow’s still Green & White.