Earlier today, I posted an article that slipped under the radar because of the resignation of the Ibrox chairman, John Bennett. In it, I said that today didn’t need to be about flashy football—what mattered most was getting three points and entering the Champions League with a fully fit squad, with some players rested and ready to go.
I wouldn’t say I predicted a flat performance, but I’m satisfied with what we got—a scrappy win, which was exactly what we needed.
Was it untidy? At times, yes. The passing lacked sharpness, and the movement wasn’t as fluid as we’d have liked. But the new boy, Arne Engels, certainly did himself a favour. He got on the scoresheet, controlled his area well, and generally looked the part. It was a solid outing for him.
I was also impressed with Liam Scales, who was absolutely brilliant today. He justified his inclusion over Auston Trusty, who will get his chance but will have to fight for it. Trusty isn’t being sidelined, but Scales is making a strong case for himself at the moment.
It was great to see Engels step up and take the penalty confidently. And let’s not overlook our goalkeeper equalling a 119-year record, something that deservedly got him a shoutout.
But what was most pleasing was Luke McCowan’s performance when he came on.
There are moments in football when you feel a special happiness for a player, and this was one of them. A lifelong Celtic fan scoring his first goal for the club—it’s massive for him, and you could see what it meant.
Despite Aberdeen’s win today we’re top on goal difference; everyone knows I was rooting for them. It keeps the pressure on the other club across the city, who now face an eight-point gap to both us and Aberdeen. They can’t afford to drop a single point tomorrow, or they’ll find themselves in even deeper trouble.
Naismith’s side is bottom of the league with just one point from their first five games, and—unsurprisingly—he had plenty to say for himself after the match.
To give him credit, he didn’t claim that Hearts’ penalty should have stood, but his logic—if you can call it that—was that because the first wasn’t a penalty, the second shouldn’t have been either. Completely flawed reasoning, in my opinion.
I’ve always had a bit of an issue with the handball rule. It’s not well explained, it’s not well understood, and more often than not, it leads to confusion on the pitch. Today’s refereeing display was one of the worst I’ve seen in a long time. With two major decisions to make, the referee got both wrong, and VAR overturned them. Yet I wouldn’t be surprised if that same referee is back in charge of one of our games soon.
I’ve got a piece going up tomorrow on refereeing, mostly focusing on last week’s comments by Willie Collum. But after today, Steven, who reffed this match, needs to answer for his performance. He gave Hearts everything, with no hesitation in awarding them a penalty, and yet when it came to our own shout for a spot-kick, he waved it away without a second thought.
It’s shocking what some of these officials get away with. At least VAR was there to overturn both decisions. I can’t recall the last time a referee made two major errors like that, both benefiting the same team, and both being reversed by VAR.
In the aftermath, Naismith said his piece and I was not surprised. He was never going to give Celtic credit for winning, and he’s always going to come up with excuses for why his side lost.
Meanwhile, others will be out there howling at the moon, shouting about conspiracies and the usual nonsense. Let them. It won’t change the fact that their club is eight points adrift of us and Aberdeen, and a single point behind Dundee United, going into tomorrow’s game at Tannadice. It’s a must-win match for them now.
For Celtic fans, the landscape looks bright.
We saw today that our new signings are going to be massive assets. Engels had a strong game in midfield—solid, composed, and impressive for his debut. And when Luke McCowan came on, he injected energy and intensity. His decision to take the shot that ended up in the back of the net, coming off the inside of the post, was a moment of class. He deserved the goal, and it was the perfect way to finish what had been a bumpy day.
The only real disappointment for me was Adam Idah’s disallowed goal. Ruled offside, I’d like to see it again before making another comment, but it was a good piece of football. The cross from Luis Palma was inch-perfect, and Idah stuck it away like a natural penalty-box player. That should lift his spirits, even if the goal didn’t stand.
Today wasn’t a vintage Celtic performance. It wasn’t a dazzling display like we’ve come to expect under Brendan Rodgers. But sometimes, football is about grinding out a result, and that’s exactly what we did. We had to be patient, we had to be determined, and we missed a couple of chances we’d have usually put away. But, as I said in my earlier piece (the one that got lost in the news deluge), the only thing that mattered today was three points—and we got them.
Now we shift focus to Wednesday.
It’s the biggest game of the season so far: the first match in the Champions League group stage, at home.
I can’t wait to see the lineup, to watch how we approach the game, and to find out if we can kick off the campaign with three points. This is what we’ve been building towards, and I’m optimistic about our chances.
Just to point out James we are 7 goals to the good on Aberdeen in 1st place .
Canada ??, you on the sauce again James?
Points of order, Mr Speaker, Sir! It’s Aberdeen who are second on goal difference and ‘…tomorrows game in Canada…’?? Are you using the Speech-to-Text thing to write this? If so then it hasn’t grasped your accent yet.
Michael, and Andrew beat me to it.
Just one other comment James, Palma was off side when received the ball before the pass.
Got to say I thoroughly enjoyed some of today’s game and had to endure other parts.
As you stated, James, the penalty decisions were correct and Arne’s effort was super-cool. I’m so glad it was him that took it as it looked as though Reo might and I think his confidence is shot right now so probably best all round. I thought Arne strolled that today and it augurs well after the huge loss of MOR. Luke McCowan’s goal was excellent and he’ll remember it for lots of reasons. A supporter who ran out for his 1st match in the Hoops and gets an excellent goal and the opposition won’t be lost on him as he’ll know all about Naismith and the ‘huns without the bus fare’ in general. Very happy with the 3 pts and Kasper making a cracking save to maintain his League form having yet to conced. Aye, it’s ANOTHER great day to be a Tim.
Oh and Bratislava on Wednesday night. Well let’s face it, we’ve yet to hit top form except in patches and Wednesday would be the perfect time to put on a top performance. We’ve got a very decent squad and when it all comes together we can give ANYONE a game. A final nod to Liam Scales who had a cracking game. I’ve been a major doubter about many aspects of his game, going backwards too often, stray passes, caught in possession but virtually none of that today. Come on Liam, bring consistency to your game, starting today. HH
Aside from the VAR points, the fouls – the professional fouls specifically – seemed to bring about a card (deserved) for Kuhn yet no cards for what seemed 2 equally bookable offences by Hearts in the 1st half. A shambolic ref display.
Palma was offside, but Idah put the cross away like a baller, and that is an encouraging sign.
The ref was a fanny; up to the usual Scottish standard.
A decent performance after an international break.
We will get much better, hopefully starting on Wednesday.
I’m glad you enjoyed Liam Scales display James. He’s becoming a real Celtic player with every game.
Since the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, Slovan Bratislava have won the
Slovak F A Championship 14 times (1993 – 2024). If Celtic eliminate
the sloppy play, they showed in patches, in the Hearts game; they will be hard to beat. It will be tense at the start.
I watched the Trump/Harris debate. Trump is going to stop the Russian
War in Ukraine before inauguration etc. Harris told Trump; Putin would eat him for breakfast. Not another cannibal! The spectre of Putin biting porker Trump, made me smile.
I agree the ref was inconsistent in general, but the two penalty decisions had to be reviewed by VAR as it was difficult to tell at first glance if they were deliberate handballs or not, plus hand positions etc.
I found it encouraging that the outcomes in both cases were in full compliance with Willie Collum’s presentations last week on the new definition of hand balls.
That the handball ‘rule’ is subjective in a footballing country dominated by cheating with whistles, flags and monitors really compounds fairness on an industrial scale…
Personally speaking – I’d rather it to be handball is handball come what may and if it hits your hand then tough tottie a penalty it shall be unlucky or not –
That way these cheats with whistles, flags and monitors simply don’t have an avenue to pick what is and what isn’t a penalty !
Clach, I have to disagree. The WHOLE point of the rule was if you “play” the ball with your hand/arm it’s a foul, otherwise it’s not. “Play” in this context is to gain advantage, to stop your opponent or by having your hands high or wide in unnatural circumstances and ALL pro footballers should know this, as should refs, and then act accordingly. Steven, reluctantly as you could see, got both decisions right after, surprisingly, Muir (on VAR) alerted him. This is exactly how VAR should work, to give refs the chance to review split-second decisions and get the correct conclusion. Liam Scales was turning quickly towards the ball and Shankland (quite possibly intentionally) headed it straight onto his upper arm so he couldn’t avoid it. No penalty. Penrice, looking straight ahead, threw both hands to deflect the ball. Penalty. (unless you’re Connor Goldson, or any of ‘that’ shower, of course) but that’ll stop as there’ll be too much scrutiny on these sort of decisions. They’ll (refs) still break our play up and all the rest of their little tricks but major decisions will, and need to, improve in general, especially against us and for ‘them’. Well, that’s how I see it! 🙂
I’m not sure if there’s an implication that the ref was biased against Celtic yesterday, but if that was the case then surely he’d have stood by his original decisions after reviewing the incidents on the monitor. Does everyone realise that the decision to overturn his first instincts were his and his alone?