I guess now we all know how Motherwell fans felt at the weekend.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I don’t want to say “that’s fucked it ” but the events in the latter stages of the 2-1 defeat at home to Lazio in the UCL means that there isn’t really anything else to say.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
VAR, by definition, there to assist referees in case they make a clear and obvious error checks all the goals, well, most of them, scored in the UCL, something which makes football unique in that different rules are applied to the sport at different levels, decided that Dazen Maeda made contact during what we would normally call a fresh air swipe at the ball, which made Luis Palma offside when he scored.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Lazio then, predictably, took advantage of mental slackness in the Celtic team and scored a late winner.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
My point about VAR is that it should be an aide for referees, and not an adjudicator.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
If the referee thinks its a goal, or an offside, then that’s that.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
If he’s not sure, or any of his assistants aren’t sure, then they…and he, and he alone, has a look at the footage.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I’ve thought of a name for that system…video assisted refereeing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The match itself was yet another tale of so near so fucking many miles away.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The reaction of sme sections of the support has been embarassing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We didn’t lose because we didn’t spend millions on a left back. Or any other player, for that matter.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The system, still in it’s infancy , should have recorded it’s first win last night.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Celtic played some good football, which wasn’t out of place at the highest level.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But there was one thing, for me, that was missing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
And it was missing in the Feyenoord game as well, though I am hoping it’s down to a lack of confidence rather than a lack of planning.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There was no one in either game to take the side and haul it over the line.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A McNeill, an Aitken or a Brown.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Whilst Calum McGregor can do that domestically, the time has come for him to do it at a higher level. When a team is there for the taking, we need someone who can decide at what point we take them, and inspire others to move in for the kill, to coin a phrase.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Some of you criticise the board for not investing, yet overlook the long term contracts given to last seasons key men.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
That shows ambition, as no doubt had they not been secured we’d have been moaning about how we can never build a team.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Yes, we thought we were going somewhere last season, and yes, it looks like we’re starting all over again, but the key elements are there, and the policy of buying young and developing does work.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Those players have committed their development to Brendan Rodgers and the coaching team.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The disappointment this morning will take a while to shift, but there are little green shoots that when they take hold will be worth waiting for.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Probably.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I’ll leave the caption competition until tomorrow, because for some reason I don’t feel like laughing, and therefore, neither should you.<\/p>\n
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I guess now we all know how Motherwell fans felt at the weekend. I don’t want to say “that’s fucked it ” but…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":18053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/etims.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/76830e4c7026513b788f6636dc4095b6.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2J7If-4Ov","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18507"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18507"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18508,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18507\/revisions\/18508"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}