Celtic’s Bad Day At The Office but we have all week to think about Aberdeen writes David Potter in his review of today goalless draw against Livingston at Celtic Park…
No doubt about it, this was a disappointment, but it was also a salutary lesson that Leagues and Cups still have to be won through hard work, effort, and in particular, conviction.
Today the cutting edge was certainly missing, We were up against a team who rarely threatened and who packed their penalty box with players. Not pretty football, but Celtic should know how to deal with this because we might get a lot more of it this season yet.
Possibly, there are two reasons why we didn’t win to-day.
One was the poor shooting. Everyone else will tell you that Liam Kelly in the Livingston goal had a good game. So he did, but Celtic made it easy for him with weak shooting, often shooting straight at him, and that was particularly true in the first half.
The other reason was Celtic’s predictability. What happened to shooting from outside the box, a tactic that was outstandingly successful in the “Invincible” season? What happened to the idea of trying to lob the ball over the defenders’ heads and allowing nippy forwards like Forrest and latterly Burke to get between the defender and the goalkeeper? We did have a certain amount of bad luck now and again, and on another day, some of these shots on goal might have gone in, but sadly, it didn’t happen.
The stars were the central defenders, but I question whether there needed to be three of them. Several of our midfield – Brown and McGregor in particular, put in loads of effort but were still a little off, whlle one has to question whether Tierney and Rogic are as yet at full fitness. Ryan Christie was probably our best player, but Odsonne Edouard was occasionally rather anonymous. Jonny Hayes certainly brought something to the team in the second half, and Timo Weah looked as if he might have done something as well if he had been on longer. James Forrest had the beating of the defenders but his crossing was not always as accurate as we would have liked.
So a disappointment, but not a disaster. Sadly I heard a few boos at the end. It was not as bad as all that, and that attitude cannot help the players who will themselves be aware of the shortcomings of today’s performance.
We now have a week to prepare for Aberdeen in the semi-final. There will be no leeway in that game. A goalless draw may well lead to a penalty shoot-out and our history in penalty shoot-outs is far from encouraging. So let’s find ways to break down difficult defences!
Livingston? A well organised defence, and they have done well to stay in the Premier League. They almost scored in the first minute. In retrospect, it might have been better if that one had gone in. Celtic would then have known at an early stage that they were in for a fight, and we might have ditched that “everything will be all right” complacent attitude.
It was a good attendance today in spite of the indifferent weather. There were loads of school and Church parties of children, some from Ireland and some from England, as well as Scotland. They are the fans of the future. I also met a few Colombians, who were at pains to disown Alfredo Morelos. It was a pity that they all got a disappointment.
But let’s be philosophical. Such things happen. We must however learn from this. We have all week to think about Aberdeen.
David Potter
