DIRE CELTS GET DESERVED DOING

Here are some worrying statistics: 1 away win our last 7 SPL games, 17 away games played – only 8 won and 33 points dropped this season. Those are the facts are Celtic were deservedly beaten 3-1 at Motherwell today after a performance which made a mockery of Neil Lennon and Charlie Mulgrew’s comments about no Celtic players being nominated for Player of the Year.

Celtic made the expected changes as the likes of Ambrose, Wilson, Commons and Ledley were ‘on holiday’. Tomas Rogic made his first start in a while in midfield, Tony Watt was deployed on the wing and Rogne and Mulgrew were the center-halves.

The game began with Motherwell missing a sitter, Hutchinson missing when it seemed easier to score. Kayal then had an effort saved, before James McFadden went on a mazy run before shooting wide. Celtic than had our best spell of the game, Randolph saving a Mulgrew free-kick before denying Hooper from close range after a brilliant Watt cross set Hooper up.

Celtic took the lead in the 40th minute, and again it was down to fine play from Tony Watt, who took advantage of a defense error to cross over Randolph to Gary Hooper, who after hitting the bar with his first attempt rammed the ball into the empty net for his 29th goal of the season. However, Motherwell were level on the stroke of half-time, Lasley setting up Ojamaa, who fired home at the near post. So at half-time it was 1-1.

Only five minutes into the second half, Motherwell were awarded a soft penalty when Mulgrew was adjudged to have tripped Ojamaa. Michael Higdon stepped up and slammed the ball home. Things went from bad to worse five minutes later, when Higdon – who may have been offside – forced Lustig into conceding an own goal to make it 3-1 to Motherwell, to be honest Forster should probably have done better with the goal.

Forster then stopped Celtic from being really embarrassed, firstly saving from a deflected Humphrey shot, then saving from McFadden when it seemed easier for McFadden to score. Celtic’s only real chance came when sub Anthony Stokes hit the post late on but Motherwell ran out deserved winners.

There was always a fear Celtic might ‘down tools’ after winning the league, but I doubt many were expecting a performance as bad as today’s. The only player who can come out of it with any credit is Tony Watt, who worked tirelessly on the wing and was at the heart of the few good things we done today. As for the other fringe players, Rogic played quite well in the first half then faded, whilst Rogne wasn’t very good in defence. To be honest, neither Rogne or Mulgrew played well and I’d doubt if either of them will play at the back in the cup final. Forster continued his recent run of poor form, Kayal started well but faded whilst the likes of Wanyama and Samaras were very quiet.

Now on to the manager, I know this site sometimes has a reputation for criticising Neil Lennon but in this case it’s deserved. His substitutions were odd, doing the usual desperate tactic of throwing on Paddy McCourt to try and save the game, and the fact that Dylan McGeouch ended up playing right-back is just baffling. Why were Atajic, Keatings and Gershon on the bench but not used? This seemed an ideal game to play them in. I’m also a bit concerned about the players being given ‘holidays’ whilst the season is still ongoing. Allowing the likes of Ledley the chance to go to Dubai – then tweeting – about it is a slap in the face to the supporters. The fact that after the game Lennon admitted another five players are off tomorrow means that next week’s trip to Dingwall to face Ross County is almost certainly a write-off. Although who knows, perhaps our youngsters will show more fight than the highly paid first team squad.

Finally, the stats at the beginning of the article show how poorly at times Celtic have played domestically this season. We are playing a dangerous game giving players a ‘holiday’, you can’t just turn form on and off and there is still a huge domestic game to come. It’s beginning to look more and more like the cup final will play a huge part in determining the future of Neil Lennon too, as the cracks cannot constantly be papered over by stating ‘we beat Barca’ ad nauseam. The players seem to not be motivated by what Lennon is doing, it’s up to him and them to try and find a solution before the cup final, as defeat – and only 3 trophies out of a possible 10 won in four seasons – in that game would not be tolerated by a support which seems to be getting increasingly dissatisfied and could mean that the discussions between Lennon and the board at the end of the season become a very tense affair.