When the media isn’t criticising our fans today and trying to put words in the manager’s mouth, the aftermath of the Kilmarnock game has seen a large part of the focus on Reo Hatate’s tackle rather than the excessive rough play by Kilmarnock players.
Joe Wright’s elbow to Adam Idah and Liam Donnelly’s dangerous swing toward Kasper Schmeichel were both only met with yellow cards, leading to some frustrated head-shaking among Celtic fans but no real surprise. As if on cue, pundits like our friend The Village Idiot leapt at the chance to criticise Hatate while letting Kilmarnock’s transgressions fade into the background.
For perspective, Joe Wright’s elbow on Idah left the Norwich striker visibly hurt, yet it was quickly brushed off by the referee and pundits after the yellow card. Similarly, Donnelly’s swing at Schmeichel, which seemed intentional, was met with a mere booking.
We all know that Boyd has made a career out of stirring the pot, especially when Celtic is concerned. His rhetoric predictably paints Hatate’s tackle as reckless, overlooking the far more physical approach taken by Kilmarnock. To put it bluntly, they tried to kick us off the park yesterday, something most of the media are happy to ignore.
The frequency with which The Village Idiot overlooks rough play by other teams only to condemn Celtic players has more than earned our contempt for him and his consistently antagonistic commentary. The tendency to amplify any controversy that might cast Celtic in a negative light while downplaying or ignoring the same in rival clubs has become a pattern among him and other pundits, sparking a fair amount of frustration among our fans.
Adam Idah’s withdrawal from international duty due to an injury sustained during the match further emphasizes the severity of Kilmarnock’s physical approach. Idah took several heavy knocks over the course of the game, not just that elbow to the face, and while football is a contact sport, there’s a line where physicality starts to look like sanctioned violence. This distinction is all the more relevant when Celtic players, like Hatate, are painted as aggressors over routine tackles while blatant elbowing barely warrants a mention for the hacks.
Fans are right to ask why certain teams seem to escape stricter scrutiny for violent play, while Celtic is held to a different standard. Repeatedly allowing roughhouse tactics undermines the sport’s integrity and fosters an environment where one team is painted as reckless while others escape criticism. Sure, it’s what we’ve come to expect from these people but we should never just accept it even it has become “normalised.”
A lot of people are making themselves look foolish with this Hatate line. Not even McInnes himself, who was quick to condemn our fans – more on that later – thought that it was a red card, and he said that right after the game after panting journalists posed the question to him hoping to generate further controversy. He was having none of it, and when even he isn’t going to stir the pot for his own benefit, you know he realises that some of his footballers were lucky to escape the red. The media would rather ignore that too.
With Robertson on VAR no chance of any reds yesterday…
To be honest all three (Donnelly, Wright And Reo) could’ve gone…
And probably would’ve gone for an early bath in Europe for sure !
Watch the maiming effort ramp up fron Sevco sympathetic players of our opponents in the run up to The Glasgow Derby in The League Cup Final…
Because as sure as ‘rangers’ are as dead as dead can be – It’ll fuckin well happen !
There should have been 3 red cards yesterday: 2 for Kilmarnock players and one for Reo.
The Killie player ought to have been off after 11 minutes and that would effectively have killed the game for them, so there was no way VAR was going to look at the assault on Adam Idah.
Both Killie players used elbows and there was at least one other example of it from them in the game.
This is obviously a deliberate tactic and Celtic should be calling them out on it, since it is a tried and tested approach from McInnes going back over the years, and may have contributed to Kieran Tierney leaving the club as a result of getting no protection from deliberate violence against him.
I’m pretty sure that the obvious escalation in severity in the tackles employed against us yesterday was a reaction to
some of the elements of our fan base expressing their Democratic right to free speech in the midst of yet another ‘Poppy Porn’ Extravaganza.
Kilmarnock players have history for employing the ‘Agricultural School’ of defending against us. First they try to cut the legs off you then attempt to plant you in the ground. They need no encouragement.
When Jozo got sent off at Ipox in 2018 for his elbow on morelos…. Wee tory Fud Ross on the line shouted red card red card….. No one from VAR or the lines were shouting that yesterday when Idah received one…. I wondered if Walsh never sent Reo off to even things up, ie 2 wrongs make a right, a poor refs way of correcting his errors.
I’d agree with the sentiments of most comments. Either all 3 are reds or none of them are.
Tbh though I didn’t see much wrong with the challenge on Idah. The defender never took his eyes off the ball & as is always the debate you have to use your arms to build momentum & height. It wasn’t a clear intentional elbow to the face but did cause significant damage which is where the grey area comes.
Is outcome more important than intent or is intent more important than outcome. Intent is the most significant for me as that is where it can become dangerous for the receiving player.
The elbow on Kasper was the worst as it was over nothing. He could have went past without touching him but decided to throw out his elbow to strike Kasper in the chest. So intentional but with very minor damage to our player.
Hatate was rash, but you could visibly see him trying to pull his leg back after initial contact. So no intent & player didn’t have significant injury. Out of the 3 this is the “least” red imo.