“Frustrating” did not quite cover this one! But the end result is that we have now probably thrown away what advantage we had gained on Wednesday, Our opponents will have enjoyed that, and will have received a boost. For us, it was simply an awful afternoon.
It is of course very easy to blame the referee, the opposition and the penalty taker, but the fact is that the whole team and management must take a share of the blame. It is all very well to say “We had all the game, but couldn’t score”, but being able to score is a vital part of the game, and we really have to practise more at the breaking down of a packed defence. We will, sadly, get an awful lot more of that this season.
The real fault lay in the fact that we didn’t score in the first half. We did not work the goalkeeper enough, and we played too much into their plan by our persistent passing the ball across the park. This “patient build up” gave Livingston every opportunity to regroup and to be ready for us. It is also not a Celtic way of playing. We needed more getting round the back of the defence, and more desire to shoot from a distance. McGregor and Turnbull, normally so deadly, were a little short of their best today, and oh! how we missed Tom Rogic!
The annoying thing was that when things were clearly not working, we didn’t change it, or at least we didn’t change it early enough. Jamesie Forrest should have had a lot longer, because he is a player who definitely can run at a defence, rather than alongside and parallel with them, and I feel that he might have made a difference.
There was little wrong with the defence but then again, they were never under pressure. I wish however that Joe Hart would use his hands oftener. On two occasions today he got himself into trouble unnecessarily, although I did love his sliding tackle on the half way line to keep the ball in play.
The North Curve and the Green Brigade? Normally they have no greater admirer than myself, but could they not have made their point without the unnatural silence at the start? Did that help the players?
Bobby Madden? Dreadful, but he cannot really be blamed for the loss of the points. He gave us the opportunity to win, but we couldn’t take it. Which brings us very neatly to the real villain of the piece -poor Georgios Giakoumakis.
It is a fair bet that he will be having an awful weekend, not helped by the tons of abuse directed at him on social media. Let me not add to it too much. He did have an awful game even before the penalty kick which had neither power nor direction, and could not even make amends at the death, but I hope and trust that he will have better days for us. Let us see whether he can bounce back. And let us all rally round and support him!
But the blame has to be shared. We put pressure on ourselves by not scoring early on, and Ange must get to work on strategies to break down a packed defence. League titles are won by teams who can do that!
Titles are not won in October. There is a long way to go yet. On Thursday we face a different challenge. Ferencvaros will certainly not play with eleven man and the team bus facing the ball!
David Potter
