Victory over Hibernian yesterday afternoon saw Celtic maintain their 9-point advantage at the top of the table going into the International Break. Second half strikes from Jota, Oh, and Hakšabanović sealed the points after Josh Campbell’s penalty had given Hibs a half-time lead.
The award of Campbell’s penalty was one of several talking points during the half time podcast as Paul John Dykes , Sean Connolly, Lawrence Connolly, and Kevin McCluskie dissected the opening 45 minutes.
PENALTY TO HIBS
There was a consensus of opinion in agreement that the award of Hibs penalty was the correct decision. Sean led the discussion stating simply that “The penalty is a simple one. He (Starfelt) has pulled the jersey and that’s a penalty.”
Paul went further adding “There is no point to pulling his jersey whatsoever. It was just slack, it was complacent and he’s put us in a situation where we’ve got to come out and really go for it in the second half.”
Lawrence and Kevin were also in agreement on this one as the shirt pull from Starfelt was clear as day and completely unnecessary from the Swede.
YOUAN SEES RED
Elie Youan’s red card was next up for review and was not quite so clear cut as the Hibs penalty award, however, Sean did his best to guide us through the decision making process.
“The second yellow card is a little more complicated.” He said “The rule for that with dangerous play is when somebody gets kicked in the face, somebody’s supposed to get a yellow card. If it’s a high foot above chest height then it’s the player that raises his foot that get the card. If it’s low, as in the players lowered his head then that’s supposed to be a yellow card to the player that’s lowered his head.”
“For me that one was right in the borderline between those two. I think the ref’s just taking a long time to think about it because he could couldn’t really make up his own mind. He just went ‘well I need to give a yellow card to someone so I’ll just go with the guy that has done the kick instead of the one that’s lowered his head.’”
“It’s a borderline call and I’d be upset if it was a Celtic player.”
Lawrence, however, took another view on the decision, raising the question that perhaps Youan should have been sent off earlier following his foul on Carl Starfelt that earned the Frenchman his first yellow – “He’s up in the air, he’s going studs in and he’s late and out of control.”
The awarding of the second yellow may have been borderline, but as Lawrence said, Youan’s dismissal may just have been a matter of time in any case.
TURNBULL IN / TURNBULL OUT
Refereeing incidents aside, the loss of Hatate to injury and subsequent introduction of David Turnbull also filled several minutes of discussion.
Kevin McCluskie spoke about the loss of energy levels and dynamism in midfield when Turnbull is on the park, “I’m not Turnbull’s biggest fan as a Celtic player. I think he’s a very talented player but for me he just doesn’t fit the way that we want to play the game. He’s too slow on the ball, he’s not got the same energy levels and that’s what we’re missing with Hatate not being there.”
Sean followed by adding that Turnbull was “at fault in three separate ways for the conceding of the throw that led to the Hibs goal.”
However, Paul did comment that Kevin has a habit of highlighting deficiencies in a players game only for the opposite to happen later in the game, and predicted that Turnbull would score a screamer in the second-half.
The screamer may not have arrived, but Turnbull did have a hand in all three goals as Celtic dominated the second 45 minutes.
KEVIN MCCLUSKIE
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