There’s simply no other way to describe it.
A 2-0 win over Motherwell kept the dream of an unbeaten campaign alive, but there may yet be a price to pay as opponents now routinely look for varied and interesting ways to injure Celtic players.
Yesterday, it was Keiran tierney on the end of an assault;
Suffice to say if his leg had been firmly on the floor, then it wouldn’t be shaped the way it is this morning.
Ryan Bowen ran over to Tierney, and , as you can see, booted him. Nothing more, nothing less. Tierney collapsed, in agony, and the referee booked the Motherwell man, presumably because he didn’t have it in is power to sentence him to thirty days in the brig.
Not surprisingly, the BBC match report, written by Chris McLaughlin, failes to even mention the challenge. We’ll see if their flagship football programme later today discusses it in depth , as they usually do when referees get it wrong.
The SFA provide the referees, and the referees are answerable to them.
Before someone gets hurt, the club has to make a formal complaint.
Either that, or sign some bruiser with combat experience and no respect for human life and play him in midfield.
There’s an interesting correllation here.
The support are being provoked by the police who seem intent on building up a video library of possible suspects to raid when there’s nothing else to do at five in the morning-they were at it again yesterday-, and the players are being provoked by the opposition on the park who are being allowed to practice their bar room brawling for an hour and a half whilst being encouraged by the officials.
Paranoid ?
Or just pointing out the facts.
One fact worth noting is that Bowen was the only player booked yesterday.
Apart from that, although its a serious concern, the game went pretty much to plan. Moussa Dembele scored from a penalty to settle the nerves, which won him man of the match, and James Forrest finally scored a solo effort which should have won him the champagne, but didn’t.
Despite desrcibing it as a “spirited performance ” on the Motherwell website , there was little doubt that manager Mark McGhee set out not to lose seven more goals this week, and Celtic just wanted to win.
To use a military phrase again, it was a matter of getting in, getting the job done and getting out with minimum casualties.
Post match, Brendan Rodgers was a little more diplomatic than he should have been over the tackle.. claiming that the pitch may have been to blame, but he’ll look at it later. An early contender for knob of the week, but we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt for now.
Ah, the pitch. We may now be on the point of spotting what Brendan really wants. He’s hinted that the pitch may be to blame for the tackle on Tierney;
“I thought it was a result of the pitch. It looked bad but I’ll give the benefit of the doubt to him.”
and went on to say he’s not happy with it, and wants a new one.
‘It is a concern for me. When we’re trying to entertain supporters and play a level of game, the pitch is vital. But we’ll get it organised, we’ll get it sorted I’m sure.
‘Hopefully the pitch could go down in the summer. That’s what we should do. It’ s an old pitch here, so we need to modernise the field. We actually go away to some grounds and play better because the pitch is better. This here slows us down.’
Does he have anything in mind ?
‘Yes. We need a Desso.’
A what ?
Perfecting the natural sport pitch
DESSO GrassMaster® is a hybrid grass system that has more than proven itself at Premier Leagueand NFL clubs, multifunctional stadiums and renowned events such as the Football World Cup, Rugby World Cup, UEFA European Championships, etc. The playing quality is the favourite of top players around the world. Stadium managers choose the system that will give them the highest ROI for their stadium.
Discover the applications and read how football, rugby and American football clubs have been successful with Desso hybrid grass fields.
What is DESSO GrassMaster® hybrid grass?
A DESSO GrassMaster ® hybrid grass pitch is a 100% natural sport grass pitch reinforced by millions of Desso artificial turf fibres.
- with a patented technique, specialised installers inject 20 million Desso artificial turf fibres in a natural grass mat
- the natural grass roots intertwine with the 20 cm deep injected artificial turf fibres
- result: a high-tech, stable pitch that can take 3 times as much playing than a normal, natural grass pitch
Hybrid grass: the benefits
At the top levels, you need a grass mat that scores. In terms of both sport and business. An unplayable pitch means loss of revenue. To address that issue, Desso developed the DESSO GrassMaster® hybrid grass system: a reinforced natural grass pitch that can cope with both top-level games and events.
Playing quality of perfect natural grass
- optimal ball roll, ball bounce, interaction between player and pitch, grip and slidings
- uniform pitch quality, no loss of quality in goal areas and in the central playing axis
Stronger grass pitch for intensive use
- natural grass roots deeper and is anchored more strongly thanks to the 20 cm deep injection of artificial grass
- training, matches and more teams on the same hybrid grass mat
At least 3 x more playable
- artificial turf fibres stabilise the grass mat => no sod sections that come loose, no sinkage, etc.
- better drainage thanks to the sandy build-up and vertical artificial turf injection
Multifaceted sport infrastructure
- faster recovery of reinforced natural grass mat can be covered for non-sport events
- no extra maintenance in comparison with natural grass
Long-term returns for stadiums
- custom grass mat to match busy sport/event schedule
- better control over the condition of the pitch
Discover the applications of DESSO GrassMaster hybrid grass pitches
Liverpool FC experienced a lot of problems with its pitch at Anfield Stadium. Jud Poynton, Stadium Manager at Liverpool FC: “We couldn’t get the pitch stable. […] The problem is that the stands have got bigger which reduces daylight and gives more shade in certain areas. It also reduces ventilation. These factors have contributed to the pitch’s struggle to grow grass and get an effective root zone.”
“When the pitch failed again in the winter of 1999-2000 I, together with the Chief Executive, decided we had to look at the Desso GrassMaster system”, says Poynton. The Anfield pitch is now considered one of the best pitches in the English Football League. Poynton: “Quite a few clubs have visited us to look at the pitch and were very enthusiastic.”
That explains it then. At least the manager knows what he’s talking about.
One can only wonder what the reaction to spending money will be when its put to the board…
“The players were technically very good on a very, very difficult surface.
“Moussa gets the penalty, uses his body really well, draws in the foul. The second one’s a great bit of play. I thought [Forrest] was outstanding. He gets a really good second goal.
“We were much better second half, used the sides better. [We] maybe could’ve scored two or three more goals.
“In the main, very pleased. Another clean sheet. Defensively we were strong. Another good victory.”
Another interesting stat from the game is that both sides committed nine fouls.
That, in itself is a damning statistic for the referee.
Wim Jansen, the forgotten man of Celtic management was at the game yesterday.
He deserves thanks for killing the atmosphere at this particular gentlemans evening…
What is it about that lot ? Greatest team, greatest pub, greatest whatever…anyway, that party would have been laugh a minute, with the flute band still wanting paid and the wives cowering in the cellar.
Wim Jansen, who also knew that an unhappy Henrik Larsson was available for next to nothing, changed the club on the pitch that year. He gave us back our pride, and for that he must be lauded.
There’s your man to unveil the tenth flag right there.
Jansen only did one season at Celtic, and if there’s a story to be told, then this picture should accompany it..
Jock Brown to the forefront, as he was pretty much whenever he could be in those days… Wim Jansen at the back…
Meanwhile, Hayden Atkins ( I don’t know either ) has given us the shock news that Gary Monk, currently Leeds boss, could be the surprise boss of “rangers ” next season, and he’s given us his opinion on why it could happen..
As aforementioned, Rangers are expected to get Champions League football in the very near future and this could prove extremely tempting.
Despite struggling to keep pace with Celtic for the majority of the league campaign, Champions League football certainly isn’t out of the offing and a place in the Europa League is also up for grabs.
Despite struggling to really challenge for the SPFL title this season, there’s no doubt that in a couple of years time, Rangers are going to be one of the kingpins in Scotland once again.
The rivalry between them and Celtic is truly needed for Scottish football to get the airtime and when Gers get that financial investment again, there’s little doubt they’re going to be up there once again.
They need an ambitious, passionate young manager who is going to take them forward again and Garry Monk could very much be that man.
Thats brilliant. Even Chris Jack, Matt Lindsay and James Traynor will bow at the altar of the worlds most incisive sports writer.
Thats worth an OBE, an MBE and a free shot at the goat
by anyone’s standards.
No diary yesterday, work and all that, but the picture from Friday drew probably the highest standard of replies to any caption competition, and I’d suggest reading all of them if you fancy a chuckle.
Caption ‘Police Scotland show off the confiscated weapons from the averted ‘Perth massacre’.’
And not from the car used by Bonnie Parker and Clyde Darrow as they went on their road trip after all.
Today…
Here in Stoke there’s a by election next week, and UKIP serial liar paul nuttall ( and he sure as hell ain’t getting no capital letters ) is one of the candidates.
His fibbers have been well documented, even appearing in book form..
and it seems to have got to him…
Whats happened to the poor soul now ?