That one started very poorly today and was looking in the first 45 minutes of the match that it would be another one of those days the Celtic supporters would have to endure. The early VAR call by Andrew Dallas to direct David Dickinson to the monitor to review the Greg Taylor handball incident, once again proves the “interpretation” fault that lies within the technology at hand.
That first-half was a reminder of the awful football that is used at times within the Scottish Premiership to try and thwart Angeball. But look at the final results… it’s madness on these managers’ part to employ this type of game management style when they still get hammered the vast majority of the time.
As always, we showed that there is no hiding place and no guarantees when you put ten-men behind the ball and play anti-football. That first half was as pathetic from St Mirren as it was from us. He’s a decent manager as well Robinson but that low-block tactical set-up is just so boring and worn out now it’s a wonder he keeps doing it against us.
On the other decision in the first period of the match, it was 100% a red card for Charles Dunne who sold his team down the river. For me, my initial reaction was that it was a free-kick and having seen it back, I would stick by that decision. However, my issue with this yet again is the inconsistency shown by one Andrew Dallas in the VAR room, whom I seem to recall had given this to his favourite team from Ibrox not that long ago…
🤐pic.twitter.com/V9e5nic8kI https://t.co/H86LLrUdMx
— 🍔 Gastro Celtic 🍀 (@Gastro_Celtic) March 5, 2023
Now compare…
Great hustle from Kyogo – Charles Dunne off 🟥 pic.twitter.com/ApPFM6Ar4r
— Fitzy (@Fitzy__07) March 5, 2023
Me thinks Baby Dallas is at it!
But to avoid any grey areas: I think both are freekicks.
But what about that second-hand recovery and renaissance from Ange Postecoglou and his intrepid Celtic side? First off, Liel Abada is solid gold and we should be fighting tooth and nail to keep the little Israeli at Parkhead as he’s worth his weight in goals. He totally changed the dynamic of the match and had St Mirren backtracking and on the back foot continually.
The goals were great and showed a real determination and grit to go from one down to an erroneous VAR call, to finishing the game 5-1 against a tricky side at times. Liel’s goal was the pick of the bunch for me and highlighted just how important our whole squad is. The bench this season has been an absolute revelation and has helped us out of a hole on several occasions.
Today will have been another hammer-blow for the 11-year-old club across the city; especially after the energy sapping defeat to us just last week in the League Cup Final. It’s another big step on the road to Two-in-a-row and will give the squad an even bigger boost as we chase down that elusive Treble. We started poorly but showed, as we always do, that this team just doesn’t know when it is beaten. It was a five star showing in that second half from the Bhoys and sets us up nicely for the visit of Hearts midweek in the Scottish Premiership.
Paul Gillespie
