Celtic Diary Wednesday October 2

Perhaps its just as well I missed taking part in the Etims podcast last night. I’d have felt a wee bit stupid this morning.

Sitting in 108, where just in front of me, Scott Brown bundled Brazilian drama queen Neymar off the ball in what seemed a fairly harmless chalenge. There was a wee bit of surprise in the stand around me when he was given his marching orders.

As you can imagine, any immediate post match rant would have been at the expense of Barcelonas image of  the perfect football team. Instead in the cold light of day, Scott Brown, Celtics captain and most experienced player, let the team, the club and the supporters down.

He pushed Neymar over, then he went out of his way to kick him, and finished with a knee in the back of the head. All of which is against Rule 14,  section a,paragraph 2 which clearly states

” don’t be a knob. ”

Especially in front of the referee. If you have any further doubts, have a look at it here;

Brown makes a tit of himself and lets us all down

Brown should have known better. But its not the first time he should have known better, though it should be the last. Take the captaincy off him, and make him earn his place in the team all over again. On form, and playing to his strengths, he is a tremendous asset, with his enthusiasm and commitment inspiring those around him.

Last night, again, he was a liability.

Barcelona move the ball around quickly, and that saps the energy from the opposition. Its hard enough to keep up with them with eleven players. Losing one makes it nigh on impossible.

Kevin McCarra, football journlist with the Guardian and one time Etims podcast guest-look for it on here, its a great chat- had this to say, when he was on Talksport radio this morning;

“He is the captain and that is a terrible example to set. A great deal of damage has been done to Celtic through that.”

Its hard to disagree. So I won’t.

As a result, he won’t feature in the next game, the crucial home match with Ajax. So Celtic need to get used to not having him around, starting with the Motherwell game on Saturday.

He has , according to Kris Commons, apologised to the rest of the players, which implies a certain degree of guilt, and its time for him to make it up to the fans. By growing up.

So, where does that leave the campaign, now that Celtic have started with two straight defeats ?

Firstly, it was always going to be about getting the better of Ajax, and most of us would be happy with third place, giving us  European football after Christmas. This, in turn,  would allow the new players to gain experience and might even improve the co-efficient.

So, a home win next time out against Ronald de Boers side  could kick start the competition for us, followed by an away win in Amsterdam, -who could only manage a draw at home to  Milan  last night-  combined with two Barcelona wins over the Italians , would see Barcelona on 12, Celtic on six, Milan on four with Ajax adrift on one. A home win over Milan would ensure qualification. Two wins over Ajax, of course means the Europa league.

So its not all doom and gloom. Celtic have played very well in the two games so far, and there is actually a feeling that Lennons team are desperately unlucky to be sitting on no goals and no points. Well, there is from me. But then I wear these

and I suppose I could be accused of this

Meanwhile , Neil Lennon has indicated at further embarrassment for the club when he said he would appeal against the red card given to Brown. Might be an idea to watch the video first…

‘I don’t think Neymar does himself any favours the way he behaves at times. Our supporters are very respectful of great players.

‘Iniesta walked off to a standing ovation from the Celtic support. Neymar, after the incident, got booed every time he touched the ball.’

Which sounded a bt like  when Martin O’Neill criticised Celtic fans for demanding Celtic attack during the home game against Boavista in 203, for knowing nothing about football, before telling the world how knowledgable we were after booing Porto after they had dived and time wasted their way to a 3-2 win in Seville, in front of  several million fans  at the ground.

Which reminds me, what on earth are Celtic fans doing applauding the opposition anyway ? I can’t be the only one sick of foreign superstars telling the world what a great place it is to come and play. It should be an ordeal for them, not a career highspot.

I’ve written to UEFA this morning, asking if we can chuck darts at them from now on. Wouldn’t be any less irresponsible than a Scott Brown challenge.

The tifo , by all accounts looked good on the telly, which was the whole point, I suppose, but again, surely a picture of a pile of dead Barcelona players with darts sticking out of them would have at least made them look nervously into the stands before setting off down the flanks with the ball ?  We could even dress up  for these games.

Of course, some would say throwing darts is a bit extreme. In that case, a couple of  housebricks should suffice.

Its not supposed to be a nice day out for the other team. The crowd is supposed to put them off, not stand there applauding them afterwards.

Anyway, I believe the tifo upset the Green Brigade, who were a little peeved at not being asked to do one of their own, although to be fair, the club were always unlikely to approve of one that had the words ” Lawwell ” and “tosser ” in the display.

The clubs official site has a different take on events than the Diary, which makes me wonder if we were at the same game;

” Despite having the bulk of possession, the Catalans only fashioned five chances on target, and the majority of them came after Celtic were controversially reduced to 10 men when Scott Brown was given a straight red card by the referee.

Cesc Fabregas headed home the only goal of the game on 79 minutes, just a few minutes after two great chances for the home side – a shot from James Forrest that was superbly saved by Victor Valdes, and a Charlie Mulgrew header from the resulting corner that went agonisingly wide of the goal.

The manager, though disappointed at the final result and, in particular, the red card issued to his captain, was nevertheless proud of his players.

“I thought we were terrific,” he said after the game. “Our defensive shape was good, our discipline was good and we had a real spell there with James Forrest and Charlie Mulgrew with two great chances, although Valdes has made a wonderful save, but Charlie maybe should have done better with the header.

“Sami had a great chance in the first 10 minutes and Valdes again has come out and smothered it. We restricted Barcelona, we knew they would have possession for periods of the game but up until they scored we had the better chances.”

The talking point, and turning point of the match came just before the hour mark. Scott Brown fouled Brazilian forward Neymar as he surged into the Celtic half, and the French referee produced a red card, adjudging the Celtic captain to have kicked out at the Barca player.

It was a decision that stunned Celtic Park and left the Hoops with a mountain to climb. The Celtic boss thought it was a harsh decision which changed the game.

“It´s not a red card,” Neil Lennon said. “I´m not convinced there was any contact there and it has changed the game. There was a lot more going on in the game that warranted a lot more than what Scott got tonight.”

The 10 men of Celtic faced a tough, but not impossible task against the 11 of Barcelona, but it was one that the home side tackled with determination.

“It is really difficult playing against Barcelona with 11 men. It´s even harder with 10,” said the Celtic boss, “but we created two brilliant chances.

“The game got stretched in the end. We went for it – I would rather lose 2-0 going for it than see the game out 1-0 and you saw the quality of my goalkeeper in the end as well. We were always in the game right up until the last kick of the ball.”

Oh wait, they were right about Forster. He was magnificent, as was Efe Ambrose, as was Virgil van Dijk, and it would be unfair not to mention any of the others in the same breath. They all gave their all, even more so after Brown decided the game should become a handicap event.

I’m all for managers protecting players and not washing their dirty linen in public, and perhaps even now they are in the dressing room taking it in turn to stick pencils in Browns eyes, but I doubt it.

I’m away for a lie down.

It was Bobby  Carroll who was the player in yesterdays picture puzzle, arrived at with a picture of a bobby grip, used by women to keep their hair in place, and men for virtually everything else, and a wee blast from the past with singer Carol Decker, of the eighties band T’Pau, who disappeared up their own arses after a couple of  hits in the eighties.

Heres todays clue.