Come tomorrow, there will be only one person on the pitch capable of taking the game away from Celtic, and that’s Craig Thomson. Yesterday, Ronny Deila appeared to echo this sentiment when he “joked” that the team has been practicing with ten men.
Except I don’t think it was a joke.
I’ve long lamented our inability to react well when we lose a man in a crucial game. I said a few months ago that this won’t have escaped the attention of the MIbbery. I fully expect any number of appalling decisions to go against us tomorrow.
Frankly, it’s the only way Sevco are going to get anything from the game.
Thomson is the perfect choice for this, of course. Mr Experience, he’s also Mr Dodgy Decisions and if he makes a few howlers tomorrow they’ll be chalked up to his usual tendency to get key calls wrong. If he’s the best Scottish football has in terms of its officials then that’s not good, is it?
He’s useless, as he proved over and over again at every level from Scottish football to international matches. Regan has defended him repeatedly against allegations that he’s a clown masquerading as a Grade One official; the sheer number of interventions on his behalf is pretty telling in itself.
I wouldn’t have the guy refereeing a kid’s five-aside game.
Several Celtic players have been quite outspoken about Thomson’s general uselessness. Watch out for Craig Gordon and Leigh Griffiths coming under special “scrutiny” tomorrow and watch out for Broony’s card being marked early. If I was the kind to bet on such things, a couple of early yellow cards for Celtic players is something I’d stick a big chunk of change on.
The newspapers have been building momentum for Sevco; this is seen as some kind of defining moment for them. That’s one of the reasons I worry. Last time we played this mob there was no expectation level over there; they were dreadful and in a bad spot and they knew it. They didn’t even have a permanent manager going into the game.
This time the circumstances are different, because the media assumes they are climbing whilst we’re slipping. If there’s a way for the MIbbery to give that process a nudge they won’t hesitate.
We are going to have to be careful tomorrow, with every tackle and every 50/50 ball. Our players need to hold their discipline and their nerve, especially our defenders. I want our players to play to win, and to win well, but they should bottle the aggression. There’s no need for it. This is a lower league opponent and we should act accordingly.
I’m not worried about their team. I never have been. But I am concerned about the prospect of an Honest Mistake costing us the game. That’s always been my biggest fear here, and the news that Thomson was getting the match didn’t exactly thrill me.
I hope we really have been practicing with ten men, and I hope it’s simply over-doing it in terms of our approach. We are going to win this game, and go on to secure the double.
But the Mibbery won’t make it easy for us.