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Celtic Are Playing So Well Right Now That Even The Refs Can’t Stop Us.

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I thought there were two massive things that came out of that game yesterday; the first is that VAR is going to challenge us, because it still run by the usual suspects and we saw a staggering example of their bias in the decision not to award us a penalty.

The second thing is that we’re not going to let that stop us from doing the job and putting the points on the board. That performance yesterday was gritty, determined and at times brilliant. It was a triumph for all the qualities Ange has instilled in this team.

We saw two penalties given against and conceded three goals at Tynecastle. There are not many Celtic teams I’ve watched in my lifetime who could have stood up to their rough-housing and the dire officiating and still come out of that game with a win.

Even over on the Ibrox forums, they were impressed by that in spite of not wanting to be. They know that this is a Celtic team unlike anything they’ve seen before; capable of digging in deep when it matters and playing devastating football at the same time.

AngeBall, at its root, is the philosophy that we have enough about us to overcome adversity no matter what form it takes. We scored four times yesterday, all of them from open play, and we had the ball in the net another twice. (And nobody has adequately explained why they didn’t count; oh the usual suspects have had their say but still …)

So even with Hearts scoring three times and the officials chopping two goals off, we still won the match. That is impressive and scary for the rest of the league. That is especially scary for fans who are watching their team stumble from one bad display to another right now even as we start opening up the gap at the top again.

We have scored fourteen goals in the last three games. The winner at St Johnstone has done just what some of us said it would; it has re-fired this team and brought their confidence back. Some of them are just flying right now and you can see it.

Even when we’re facing difficult conditions and adverse circumstances – even when we’re facing blatant cheating – we have enough power to win. Ange has fashioned one Hell of a mentality at this club, one which does not buckle. One which does not break.

Those three points yesterday would have been massive even if they hadn’t come in a weekend where the Ibrox club dropped more. The manner of that win has given us all a further lift. What a team this is turning into.

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  • Martin says:

    We were crap yesterday. And still scored 6 perfectly good goals and had a penalty shamefully denied. We could’ve had 7. At tynecastle. Whilst being well short of our usual standard.

    Think on that….

  • Chris says:

    James
    Everything you have said has merit but eventually inexplicable decisions by the match ref and var ref is going to cost us.
    The CEO or chairman has to say something publicly, the way that sevco do.
    Otherwise its inevitable that biased refs will continue to cheat.

  • Tam says:

    Every club paid for this VAR technology and these clowns have already messed it up

  • Johnny Green says:

    It was a good gritty performance, not a great one, so let’s not get carried away again. We are 4 points in front, and we must maintain and hopefully increase that gap. We did not see the St Mirren defeat coming, so we cannot be complacent in any way. There is still a long way to go, let’s enjoy the ride.

  • David O'Neill says:

    Var not awarding penalty for hand ball was… “blatant cheating” And!! it backfired on the cheating refs BIG-TIME 🙂 CELTIC still won. BUT! because the cheats didn’t award penalty for a blatant handball for Celtic they couldn’t award sevco for a barely touched handball against Livi 🙂 var looked at it they so wanted to award but couldn’t 🙂
    If Celtic got that blatant handball penalty thru var guaranteed sevco would have got their barely touched handball penalty.
    Cheat backfired =KARMA

  • Bennybhoy57 says:

    So happy for Greg Taylor coming off the bench and getting his first, and the match winning goal. Brilliant.

  • Roonsa says:

    Even Brother Madden said was a penalty. LOLZ!

  • Jim says:

    So this is how VAR will work.

    It’s double jeopardy for us and any of Sevco’s opponents.

    If the hun on the pitch doesn’t spot anything against us, the hun on the camera will.

    Dodgy penalties will be discovered by hun-on-the-camera. Blatant penalties for us will be waved away by hun-on-the-camera.

    A technology that literally cannot fail to improve decisions unless it is managed by corrupt people will lead to worse decisions in Scotland.

    I understand why Ange doesn’t focus on this stuff (although you could see the disbelief on his face when the hand ball was ignored) but the club should be giving it to them good and proper over what happened yesterday otherwise they will keep on being as blatant as they like.

    Great focus and will-to-win shown by the lads.

  • Kevan McKeown says:

    Hard tae believe we were watchin the same hearts mob that totally shat it in their game against rangers a few weeks ago, shankland never kicked a ball in that game either. Same as their cup final. Bet yer arse they’ll no play another game like that this season. No unless the opposition wear Celtic tops.

    • Martin says:

      Hearts play 5 games a season. The 4 against us and a token one vs Hibs at Swinecastle when their fans are unhappy, just to calm them down. Imagine if they bothered playing the rest of the games? They might actually achieve something.

      Personally I’d like to see them relegated again. Almost all sectarian abuse I’ve ever been victim of came from Hearts fans. Maybe I’ve been lucky with the true huns I’ve encountered, but they’ve always done good natured stuff with me. Hearts fans have said appalling things about me, my family and what should be done to us. And they looked like it was an important part of their belief.

      I wish them all the (bad) luck in the world.

  • Michael McCartney says:

    Great victory, This Celtic team has a lot of skill, grit and togetherness a lethal combination. Big Ange should be proud of what he’s building.
    One last point, what happened to showing us the line across the park at an offside decision.
    Sky showed it to justify that Hearts 2nd goal was onside which was the correct decision but failed to show it to justify Abada’s goal being chalked off. Let’s hope the use of VAR improves, I wouldn’t count on it with some of the biased clowns officiating in Scottish Football.

  • Michael Collins says:

    I was just going to write something similar Michael, but you beat me to it.

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