Celtic’s disciplinary record against Motherwell could land the club with an unlikely world record after picking up four yellow cards from four fouls!
Steven McLean was the man in charge of yesterday’s match with the visitors also receiving a penalty although Kelvin Wilson avoided any further punishment for bringing down Jamie Murphy in the penalty box.
Charlie Mulgrew found his name in McLean’s book just past the hour mark for a clear foul that probably deserved a word of warning but no-one else in the stadium expected to see a card.
Four minutes into the second half Beram Kayal found himself in a similar situation as the referee flashed another card at the Celtic midfielder with Henrik Ojamaa booked in the 55th minute for a foul on Wilson.
The main card display was to come in the 75th minute when Murphy went down in the penalty box with McLean pointing straight to the spot. Victor Wanyama picked up a yellow for dissent while Forster was also booked for pointing out that Tom Hateley had placed the ball in front of the penalty spot.
Without even looking at the position of the ball McLean booked the Celtic keeper who followed up his card by saving Hateley’s penalty.
Two minutes from the end of regulation time Keith Lasley was booked for fouling Mulgrew with the visitors picking up two bookings for seven fouls against Celtic’s four from four.
McLean does prefer to referee by showing cards to players, in his previous SPL clash on December 26 between Kilmarnock and Hearts he handed out two yellow cards to Kilmarnock from 11 fouls with Hearts collecting three from seven fouls.
Celtic’s discipline this season has rarely been a problem even in the Champions League when they’ve found themselves without possession for long periods.
In the 2-1 win over Barcelona Celtic committed nine fouls with only Miku picking up a yellow card, in the Nou Camp Celtic committed 10 fouls with James Forrest the only booking.
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For the last time, the board of directors need to find us a way out of this country.
Correctamundo yogi. We need out for good of our future. Going nowhere is this corrupt backwater. We deserve a bigger and better stage that befits our stature and standing. Time Desmond and Lawwell were proactive and instigated our departure. CFCLCO
Corruption and incompetence always go hand in hand.
Are you Dallas in disguise
The penalty decision was very poor, as was the referee’s general display. Although I don’t think he can be blamed for booking players for dissent at the penalty. Bookings for Mulgrew & Kayal both clear fouls, no matter first foul or not I wouldn’t argue about either, just badly timed.
The placing of the ball is similar to the corner kicks as long as it is covering part of the area it’s deemed legal. While I agree it looks wrong, worse at corners I don’t see any advantage….free kick specialists prefer 20-25 yards rather than 8-18 yards distance.
I’d be more concerned that we were not creating clear cut chances, forcing the keeping into action instead we were going nowhere fast. The penalty at least woke the crowd & team up, we moved the ball quickly for the goal.
Our constant changing of formation was a concern, at one point we seemed to have no central midfield at all which is nonsense. All we needed was pace / width yet we were almost grid-iron like in changing line-ups with so many players being moved around.
Kayal is light years away from the player who first arrived and was linked with Man Utd…not even a pale shadow of the players he was. I’d be happy to see him moved on as he offers little nowadays.
Williebhoy were you actually at the game?
Celtic created as many chances in a long while in the 1st half, game should have been over at half time, as for your ruling on where the ball can be placed, the ball was in the exact same place as big Sami placed the ball v rangers match 2 seasons ago, Craig Thomson asked him to put the ball in the foot , do unless there has been a rule change there can’t be 1 rule for some!!
I wonder if “Williebhoy” was actually at yeterday’s game, and if he was, why he wasn’t watching some of the action? In fact, Kayal had a good game and is now getting stronger again after his injuries. Joe is right, Forster was booked without the ref (poor display) even looking to see where the ball had been placed.
Agree, Kayal is looking better with each game!
have to disagree about kayal willie, i agree that he has looked a shadow of the player he was, but he has been badly injured. players don’t become bad overnight, imo he just needs time to regain his fitness, sharpness, and confidence. given a proper run of games i think he’ll get back to where he was. also given that wanyama seems to be off to the epl shortly, and the other 2 central midfielders are glass hips brown and ledley – getting rid of kayal now would be crazy. especially as he has shown what he is capable of. i would say emilio is a worse culprit for not regaining past form, as he has had a good long run of games since injury without regaining his form.
not one person has pointed out that the refs brother turned his back on scotland to play for northernireland it surely cant be anthing to do with the fact that he is a protestant and he chose the north rather than the republic
Amen!!!!!!
Find out the facts about why mcgeady couldnt represent scotland before mouthing off, clown
Regardless if its first foul or not the law states that every booking is on the merit of the foul conceded. A player should never be booked for persistent fouling unless the last tackle is a yellow card offence. This is somethin refs in the UK do not follow
OMG WORLD RECORD! Sevco will be gutted.. As hard as they try, they could never beat that record 😉
grow up
Simply my opinion on Kayal, not impressed with him compared to his very best form. Recall he was chasing shadows v Athletico Madrid last season prior to his injury. Madrid were hugely impressive though…then got injured v McCulloch a month or so later.
Re the ref booking Forster, it’s a common tactic at penalties to delay the kick by any means, usually moving the ball so I can understand why he was booked. I’d be moaning plenty if a keeper did similar v Celtic, no matter where the ball was placed. When a penalty is awarded you want to take it quickly or delay if you are on the receiving end.
Ref made plenty of mistakes, but so did all the players (poor passing, decision making, finishing etc), management…fortunately it all worked out fine.
Hope the panel looks at the dive though and takes some action, might not be possible as he “dealt” with the incident.
It is beyond doubt that the standard of refereeing in Scotland is poor. The question in Scotland is, are they poor, or bent? The closed door secrecy, protection from criticism, and superiority complex of the ref “fraternity” system does nothing to improve either situation. If inadequate skills are to blame The system protects against any criticism of the ref, but not to exposure, as can be testified to by the spectator, and the “All seeing eye” of the many cameras. If the ref has a “leaning”. Then another, more powerful, “All seeing eye”, is to blame! Either way, bent or inadequate, the system needs a clear out!
The ref was zombiefied or maybe am just paranoid (again) HH
I wasn’t at the game but I watched it all on a good stream. It’s a lot easier to reflect honestly after you’ve picked up the 3 pts, that’s for sure lol
Technically its 4 fouls and 2 yellow cards for a start – Mulgrew’s is a yellow all day btw. Flashing a yellow for dissent is common nowadays and the bhoys should know that, especially bhig Victor who needs to stop picking up “silly” cards and could of cost us a last 16 spot due to his “silly cards” habit.
Its a dive all day, something that Bale and McGeady got no credit for was “expecting” contact, so if that’s the way the officials want to see it then it a dive.
The ball was NOT on the spot either and the players had every right to complain – the booking of Forster simply went hand in hand with the giving of the penalty in that the Ref was not remotely interested in the rules and more interested in “ramming” it up Celtic and their fans. I would of preferred one of the players to of been booked for “ramming” it up the Ref after bhig Forster saved it coz that was pure class and you just felt the Ref giving it the proverbial spew!!
Overall I though we were ok, but wasteful in the last 3rd AGAIN at home but thoroughly deserved the 3 pts as Randolph was the MOTM.
HH 1NL YNWA
when will the celtic board start to complain about the refs in scotland last 3 home games they have been a disgrace mclean who went to ibrox with his scarf intact and his brother as well . time for celtic to get out of this corupt country and play in england if its good enough for the welsh teams to play in the premier league we should be allowed as well so lets go speak to efa i am sure we will be made welcome and see how sottish football does with out us hail hail x