It is often said that League titles are won not by playing champagne football, but rather by the grinding out of results when you are not at your best on difficult grounds against determined opposition in unhospitable conditions in November.
This one ticked all the boxes for that statement, but we emerged victorious and we remain seven points ahead with only Ross County between us and the enforced break (which I am struggling to find anyone in favour of, incidentally!)
That’s the camera angle they used confirm offside 🤣🤣🤣🤣…..beyond a joke pic.twitter.com/UY2BvDIKYQ
— Stephen Maher (@mugsymaher) November 9, 2022
And of course VAR played its part. The Jota decision was clearly the wrong one. One can forgive a linesman for getting that one wrong for it was tight, but it is less easy to be sorry for the VAR man in his mysterious studio somewhere. Although the BBC pundits weren’t sure, the commentator Liam McLeod was, and the goal should certainly have stood.
The Maeda goal was an example of Motherwell clutching at straws about that throw in, but it was a legitimate goal, and both the Maeda goal and the Jota non-goal were superbly taken after superb passes from the Celtic midfield. Oh, and I thought that Motherwell’s Josh Morris might well have received a different colour of a card!
The first goal was away at the far end from us and you really needed a few play-backs on TV to see how good the contribution of Matt O’Riley was, and how good was the reading of the game by Kyogu! Like Saturday, he simply had the ability to be in the right place at the right time, and what a great skill that is in a football player! And didn’t you just love his celebrations at the end? And who needs that silly World Cup anyway?
In general terms, Celtic had a better first half than a second half. (Why incidentally did Carl Starfelt wear gloves in the first half but discard them at half time?) Several players – notably O’Riley and Mooy, had an outstanding first 45 minutes, but faded ever so slightly in the second half as Motherwell came more and more into the game. But once again, Ange got the substitutions correct – David Turnbull, in particular – and we earned the three points.
A certain amount of credit to Motherwell who have improved immeasurably since the League Cup game of three weeks ago, and certainly put up a fight last night. I still don’t like their ground though. Difficult to access, small toilets and I always fear crushing at the exit – and those of us whose buses were parked near the Liberty Steel works had a long walk! Full of Scottish industrial history, but not a great experience on a wet and windy November night. Livingston and St Johnstone are far nicer places to visit.
And then we saw the BBC highlights on TV. At another ground we saw cannons being fired by soldiers and the implication that the war dead all supported one particular club. Those of us whose fathers and grandfathers fought in those dreadful wars found that offensive!
David Potter
🇯🇵💚 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗝𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 strikes again!
Our #UniqueAngle of the goals from Lanarkshire as the Champions took all three points!#MOTCEL | #cinchPrem | #COYBIG🍀 pic.twitter.com/4DuY8R0BPU
— Celtic TV (@CelticTV) November 10, 2022
Very fair article as usual David though I disagree about Motherwell’s display. I thought they were pretty poor and plugged right into the tactics teams use now when they play Celtic. First, waste as much time as possible to break up the play even when the team is losing as referees will not do very much, if anyhting, about it.Second, fall down as soon as a Celtic player comes near, preferably either near your own goal to stop attacks or near the Celtic goal so that balls can be hoisted into the box with the chance to score as scoring through open play is rarely going to happen. Third, engage in some outrageous ‘tackling’ as the tackle by Morris last night showed following the equally outrageous tackle by the Dundee Utd player on Saturday. Finally, if all that fails, there is always VAR to help out. I was against introducing it in Scotland until there was a fundamental change in the refereeing culture, and in the SFA, and some semblance of accountability was introduced. Parachuting VAR into this culture without radical change was always going to operate against Celtic in terms of more ‘honest mistakes’ being made only this time they do not even need to use that phrase as the technology is neutral so what is Celtic’s problem they ask? Well, how about the fact that it is still human beings using discretion to interpret action on the park, individuals embedded in a discredited and biased culture in the eyes of Celtic supporters.
Interesting comments on Fir Park. One of my golden memories was seeing Celtic win the league there in 1966, a Bobby Lennox goal in the last minute. I can still hear the ecstatic roar of delight echoing down the decades both at Fir Park, and in Central Station after the match. As an experience, it was as uplifting as seeing Bob Dylan for the first time! Looking forward to reading The Celtic Rising at Christmas.