‘Barely any contact,’ Rodgers slams Dallas

BRENDAN RODGERS did not believe that Olivier Ntcham deserved a second yellow card in the goalless draw at St Mirren.

Speaking after reviewing the incident which saw the French midfielder – the hero of the Glasgow Derby win a fortnight ago – sent off in the first half by Andrew Dallas, the Celtic manager reckons there was little contact and the referee got it wrong.

“Olivier had tracked back and conceded a free-kick just before, so I don’t know if that was in the referee’s mind,” Brendan said.

“I think he is going across to slide in and block it, so when the guy goes down it looks like a tackle. But if you look at it again, there is barely any contact. So to get another card for that was disappointing.

“I don’t like to go on too much. It is a difficult game for them to manage. There were quite a few incidents tonight where their view of the game was quite different from most.”

Brendan was left frustrated at the loss of two points and was somewhat annoyed at the way his players started to match.

“We didn’t start the game well. We missed too many passes and didn’t move it quickly enough.

“I was disappointed with the sending-off, but the game didn’t change much. If anything, we had greater control with 10 men.

“The players gave everything on the back of an international break.

“St Mirren were always going to be spirited in Oran Kearney’s first game. It’s another clean sheet, it’s a point.

“We wanted three, but we just have to move on to the next game.”

Brendan perhaps should have anticipated that Dallas was itching to send Ntcham off and was always likely to do so if given a chance. A substitution would have been a better bet before that was allowed to happen surely?

David Potter’s thoughts on last night’s match can be read HERE.

????️ Brendan Rodgers speaks to @CelticTV after tonight's draw in Paisley. #STMCEL pic.twitter.com/LjdSZtfkBl

— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) September 14, 2018

The Celtic Star’s match report – see HERE.