Aaron Mooy will certainly be enjoying his cup of coffee this morning as he reflects on the weekend events at Tynecastle where Celtic completed the four day home and away double over Hearts to move into the semi-final of the Scottish Cup where Inverness Caley Thistle, either Falkirk or Ayr United and The Other Mob will be in this evening’s draw.
A Glasgow Derby in the semi-final would certainly be my preference for that one which you can watch this evening on BBC Scotland after the fourth quarter final match is over.
Celtic came out of the traps flying in the first few minutes with all three Celtic midfielders having decent attempts on goal inside the first two minutes. Reo Hatate’s effort was well saved, Callum McGregor’s was just too high as it sailed over the bar but Aaron Mooy sweet first time strike gave Celtic the early breakthrough that Ange Postecoglou was looking for and set up what ended up being a comfortable 3-0 win for Celtic.
Why VAR never asked the referee to look at this is very surprising 😮 pic.twitter.com/qSf5BwKkfy
— Get Involved Referee! | The Podcast (@GetInvolvedRef) March 11, 2023
Not even the astonishing decision by Willie Collum on VAR not to look at the Andy Halliday tackle on Alistair Johnston – as clear a penalty kick as you could expect to see – indeed apparently in the commentary on Hearts TV they all reckoned it was going to be called back for a spot kick – could spoil Celtic’s day.
However in the cold light of day on a Monday morning surely Celtic should be asking the question – yet again – about the way VAR always seems to give any benefit of the doubt to those playing against Celtic while the opposite is true across the city. Compare and contrast Collum’s penalty call at Ibrox last weekend when not even theRangers fans were asking for it – to the stonewaller on Saturday which Collum didn’t even think merited another look for referee Kevin Clancy.
Collum was never a great referee but these days, since theRangers sent that letter of complaint about him to the Scottish FA, he is entirely unfit for purpose and Celtic should be making that point this morning.
Had Celtic lost on Saturday then this would be the major talking point this morning so it is important that after a win we should be highlighting these dreadful decisions to the Scottish FA who will be well aware of the current events in Spanish football regarding the manipulation of referees, although the difference in Scotland is that no money needs to change hands as they all seem happy to do it for nothing! Just as well Ange was warned about all of this in his first day in the building!
A reluctant Aaron Mooy spoke to the media at Tynecastle on Saturday afternoon after Celtic’s 3-0 Scottish Cup win over Hearts. That was probably the least enjoyable aspect of his visit to the Capital as he pointed out. The Socceroos midfielder did though provide a great insight to his own personal Celtic experience.
“Is this the happiest I’ve been in my career? I don’t know, listen, Celtic is a demanding club. Whenever I play I’m under pressure to perform and win. That’s what supporters expect,” Mooy said, as reported by Scottish Sun. “It’s enjoyable because you feel everything at this club. The support, the pressure. Everything you can feel in football, you feel it at Celtic.
“There’s a feeling of relief when you win more than exhilaration. Especially in big games, that’s the first thing you feel — it’s not joy or happiness, because you just did what you were meant to do. That’s something I’ve not experienced before in my career. I do enjoy it. When we have a good game, my coffee in the morning tastes better,” the Socceroos star said.
“Until the game is won, I don’t enjoy it that much until the whistle goes and we’ve done our job. I hate this bit, doing press conferences! But the heightened senses here really energise me. I’m getting a bit older so I’m trying to maximise everything I’m doing. Celtic is a club where you feel the support, you feel everything. I’m just taking it all in,” Mooy added.
On the subject of winning a Treble, Mooy was at least prepared to discuss it, rather than follow the usual line from the manager, players and staff, that it’s all about one game at a time and the entire focus is on Hibs this weekend.
“It would be amazing to win all three trophies, obviously,” Mooy admitted before returning to the script, adding “but we’re just taking it one game at a time, we can’t look too far ahead. We want to do it, we want to win every game we play in.
“It was the perfect start for us to get a goal so early. You can’t ask for more. I thought we did the job that we came here to do. We played well in some stages of the match and it’s not always like that away from home. So you have to be resilient. We did that and passed the test well. It’s hard to say if we’re playing the best football since I came here. As long as we keep winning, that’s our job.
“The supporters and everyone else can decide on that stuff. We just go out there, do our movements, do our jobs and try to win the game. In this team, there are good players everywhere. You make the runs and they see you. The system creates chances. Hopefully I can get some more.”
One other point on match officials. Liel Abada dived in the League Cup Final and was booked, absolutely no complaints about that decision. I happened to catch the Sportscene highlights last night and Fashion Sakala dived in a very similar fashion, inside the box. No penalty was given but no card was issued. And if you didn’t see the highlights The Other Mob were unimpressive to say the least.
Hope we get them in the semi-final draw and enjoy your coffee Aaron.
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