As Andreas Hinkel said after the recent draw with Falkirk there have been a lot of strange decisions against Celtic this season.
Continuing that theme tonight was another below par performance from Iain Brines littered with puzzling decisions which all went one way.
Tony Mowbray is responsible for the problems and failings of the Celtic team such as why Artur Boruc allowed a striker a free header in the six yard box from a corner and how Georgios Samaras manages to head over the bar from similar distances.
Mowbray’s future rests on decisions like that.
Brines however appears answerable to no-one although it’s no surprise that he no longer gets matches from UEFA and that Scottish referees will be watching the World Cup and later stages of the Champions League on television.
Throughout the entire match Brines gave puzzling decisions culminating in disallowing a ‘goal’ from Darren O’Dea just before half time.
From his vantage point outside the penalty box he disallowed the ‘goal’ without any appeal or claim coming from the Hibs players.
Earlier on he had penalised Samaras for nothing more than an ordinary challenge on Graeme Hogg that allowed the striker to turn the Hibs captain and head for goal.
Into the second half and Paul Hanlon flies into a two footed ‘challenge’ on Andreas Hinkel and escapes without as much as a word in his ear from the now lenient Brines.
There were no other dangerous fouls from the Hibs players but they could put in fouls in telling areas knowing that there was no prospect of a booking with Brines content to award a free-kick without even speaking to the offender.
Celtic’s finishing was woeful with a number of chances created and missed, these matters are for Mowbray to address and be held responsible for.
With Celtic pushing forward for the winner substitute Ki Sung Yeung was fouled 25 yards from goal but rather than get a last chance from a set piece Brines waved play on.
Hibs quickly fed the ball to Anthony Stokes who pushed it into the path of substitute Danny Galbraith whose low shot across Boruc found the corner of the net.
An evening of strange decisions in a strange season from our match officials.
As Hinkel said after the draw with Falkirk: “As a player you give your best, but here, week after week, there is something happening.
“It’s not really my thing to say something about referees but once again we had some strange decisions. Not just the penalty- look at the situation when Artur had a free-kick given against him.
“It hurts when we don’t take chances but it just seems to be one thing after another at the moment.”
Lets not cloud the big issue by deflecting blame on the ref.
Plain and simple this team wont win anything this season if we continue in this piss poor vein of form! We created chance after chance to bury Hibs!
Everyone knew it wasn't a goal, no one celebrated did they? Conspiracy theories are stupid, this team and Manager simply aren't good enough.
The 2 wide men could not get the ball over the 1st man.
The ref however was a disgrace, yes we are rubbish but I have never known so many goals to be dissallowed in one season. As for the decision at the end…………..
Whats the point, you can't compete with that.
Point one….Galbraith was off-side IMO..but no flag.
Point two…..
Shouldn't have mattered…we should have had them buried long before it….
When will it end O Lord ??
I think it does matter.
When your team are not at the best you need a neutral ref.
Rangers are not great but they are not shedding points due to bent decisions.
Thats the difference.
Tam
Funny no one was saying these things after the ordering off on Sunday were they??
Alan,
Why would be "saying these things after ordering off on Sunday"??
Are you trying to be controversial or at the wind-up?
Sunday's ordering-off was cut and dried…were we supposed to thank the 'ref for that or something?
Whilst we are our own biggest enemy by not taking our chances and beating teams comfortably…we've always had and always will have a problem with officialdom…the majority of them favour (or fear ) Rangers ….that's a fact…END OF.
Just beacuase you are paranoid doesn't make biased officiating a fact.
The standard of officiating in Scotland is awful but all teams get bad decisions.
Blaming the refs is fun but a distraction.
Alan if you're life is so sad that all you have to do is irritate Celtic supporters….do me a favour …go and annoy someone else.
Message to Joe McHugh….
My apologies for getting involved with this numpty…
it won't happen again.
I'm so sorry – I'll leave you lot to wallow in your paranoia.
Joe…..not blog Joe!!! Calling someone a numpty for having an opinion, is both ridculous and immature.
The bottom line is, as Alan said, it is a distraction from the real issues within the club. As it's gone before and will in the future, decisions go for and against you. Sometimes l don't know how a referee can sleep at night after he sees that re-run…….in a word shameful!
Just in case any referees' use this blog, Tesco are now doing a free eye test…….YES! Free……so dip into that bung money and get the specs you deserve….hahaha
celtic fans are hilarious! the bhoy at the end wasnt fouled! you just cant blame yourselfs for being shit! refs are more likely to fear you lot! remember hugh dallas!
Davy Ross:
I agree with Joe,
Any Ranger's fan who comes on here to get his 30 seconds of fame by insulting Celtic supporters, is a NUMPTY.
Hail Hail
There were three marginal decisions in this match which all went the same way.
On another day the O'Dea goal could easily have been given, again there was contact on Ki but the foul wasn't given.
Television evidence so far hasn't been decisive on the pass to Galbraith, it could have been offside.
Celtic have many many failings, problems and issues, however that doesn't mask the fact that this season there has been an awful lot of baffling, or strange, decisions given against them.
300 People is paranoia, whereas the 40000 people in Paradise last night could clearly see there was something wrong with Ian Brines' performance. "Ian Brines one of the best referee's in Scotland" – says who? Mike McCurry?