| Match Pictures | Matches: 1997 – 1998 | 1997-1998 Pictures |
Quick Review
An embarrassing defeat which maybe suggested more about the previous defeat to Rangers than the game itself. Blinker's red left the team a man down – his red more than likely over-compensating for his poor performance against Rangers. Oh … and there was Willy Young refereeing as usual behind the pace of the game._
Trivia
- The loss to Rangers in the previous game had dropped the Celts back to third in the league behind Hearts and Rangers.
- Jock Brown was facing increasing flak for the sacking of Davie Hay and the delay in signing Paul Lambert. It didn't help that he chose the pages of Celtic View to blank all criticism and come out with a level of blandless rarely seen outside of a Dulux Emulsion paint factory. Both these events plus the sacking of Danny Crainie and the apparent difference on Tosh McKinlay's position between Brown and manager Jansen's views caused an increasing rift between Brown and the fans and Jansen. It didn't help that both Hay and Crainie went public with their version of events.
- The fallout from McKinlay's head-butting of Larsson on the training ground carried on with Jansen informing Tosh that he was not in the first 16 players in the first team squad and was not part of his future plans. Tosh had been named as part of Craig Brown’s Scotland squad for the France ’98 European Championship and he was clearly anxious to get games. McKinlay had also parted company with his agent Raymond Sparkes that week too. Despite Stephane Mahe being suspended for this game following his red card at Ibrox, McKinlay was told that he would not be in the squad to replace the Frenchman.
- Motherwell were bottom of the League coming in to this game and were going through an injury period with only 14 fit players.
- Celtic were without first team squad Gordon Marshall (shoulder injury), Stewart Kerr (thigh muscle), Stepane Mahe (suspended), Malky MacKay (hamstring), Stuart Gray (loan to Morton), Phil O'Donnell (twisted knee), Tommy Johnson (thigh muscle strain)
- Work had started on the south west corner fill in.
Teams
Celtic (4-4-2): Gould; Boyd, Hannah (Wieghorst 59min), Rieper, Stubbs; McNamara, Burley, Lambert (Annoni 79), Blinker; Larsson, Donnelly (Thom 71).
Motherwell (5-3-2): Woods; Christie, McMillan, Philliben, Craigan, Ross; Hendry (Weir 82), Valakari, McSkimming; McCulloch (Arnott 55), Coyle.
Scorers: Coyle (28) 0-1; Weir (90) 0-2.
Yellow cards: Rieper, Wieghorst (Celtic); McMillan, Christie, Ross, McSkimming, Hendry, Valakari (Motherwell).
Red card: Blinker (Celtic).
Referee: W Young (Clarkston).
Attendance: 48,010.
Articles
- Match Report – see below
Pictures
Stats
| Celtic | Motherwell | |
| Fouls | 20 | 26 |
| Shots on Target | 12 | 3 |
| Corners | 10 | 2 |
| Offside | 3 | 4 |
Celtic find well dry again
Scotland on Sunday 16/11/1997
Celtic 0 Motherwell 2
AS one of the very few men on this planet who has conceded a penalty in a World Cup final, Wim Jansen knows a thing or two about self-destruction. He will have recognised all its hallmarks in this desperate and unexpected defeat.
The rest of us recognised the twist of this afternoon only too well. It was familiar for anyone who has witnessed Celtic's flawed pursuit of the league championship these last three years. Opportunities, manic desire and periods of extreme dominance – particularly in the first half hour – were theirs.
But so too were misfortune, hot-headedness and error.
The match began with a clutch of assaults and near misses on Motherwell's goal and ended with Mickey Weir tapping in to an empty goal, and home supporters draining prematurely from the stands. In between Regi Blinker got himself ordered off in a haze of stupidity and Celtic lost both their shape and the initiative.
"The referee is under intense pressure from an intimidating crowd but I thought that he was really strong," said Alex McLeish, referring to Blinker.
McLeish's team, cobbled together in the wake of an injury crisis, contained three 21-year-olds, a 23-year-old and Lee McCulloch, who is 19. The response to the early buffeting and emotion that boiled around the stadium was exemplary.
"I tried to get the message to them not to punt it and to use the extra man. I'm really pleased with the work we put in. The work ethic is a most important thing for us this season," McLeish said.
How typical Celtic should encounter this banana skin on a day when Rangers presented them with an opportunity by dropping points. The Celtic players will be put through a training session today, to begin the build-up to Wednesday's Old Firm game.
"We know it will be hard to prepare ourselves following these two defeats," Jansen said. "We know we have to change some things."
These might well involve an alteration in midfield where Paul Lambert's calm and steady play served to highlight the impetuosity of those around him.
Lambert was a casualty, substituted in the 79th minute after some bruising moments. He had his eyes opened to several new aspects of football during his time in Germany. They will have been popping at some of the old madness of the Premier Division here.
Lambert's team-mates began as if desperate to get apologies for the Rangers game in at once and their sheer vim nearly brushed Motherwell away within 10 minutes.
Celtic could have scored six times in this period. Henrik Larsson headed one cross against the bar and nodded another in, but was judged offside. The striker incurred a nosebleed in the process, re-opening a certain training ground wound.
Craig Burley slipped when clean through and a Blinker cross eluded three team-mates on the line. Before that, Alan Stubbs had padded forward like a great big policeman, first to almost knock Stevie Woods into the West Stand with a free kick, then to head against Simo Valakari on the line.
If Stubbs was fortunate to be playing, having almost fractured an eye socket against Rangers last Saturday, Blinker was extremely so given his insipid Ibrox display. He will be lucky as a Lottery winner to escape censure from Jansen after this. A bout of pawing with Kevin Christie ended with the Motherwell player prostrate in the 35th minute and the Dutchman banished. Willie Young indicated an elbow had been used.
What compounded Blinker's folly was his team had just lost a goal and were in a bewildered state. Owen Coyle's shot from the edge of the box had promised little danger but a double deflection, the last off Stubbs' knee, took the ball past Jonathan Gould. It was Motherwell's first meaningful attack.
Willie Young is clearly an addict of opprobrium. Three weeks ago he was booed from the pitch at Ibrox and here he was blithe in the face of the anger of Celtic fans. The red card, a disallowed Burley goal and two penalty denials a minute into the second half were all part of this fearless official's canon.
Motherwell grasped their chance magnificently, packing their box like a bunker and chasing every cause. Up front they treated every opportunity to break as if it were treasure and were rewarded in the last minute when Dougie Arnott's careful ball was knocked into an empty net by Weir.
Celtic had the possession but never the composure to retrieve the game, even before Weir scored. Their best chance in the second half was a Marc Rieper header wide. Rieper ended up playing centre forward and seemed pretty alien to some of the subtleties of that position. His afternoon, like Celtic's, finished in the wrong territory.
- Manager Interview
Wim Jansen, post match:
"We started well against Motherwell and in the first 20 minutes we should have scored enough goals to make the rest of te game easy for us.
"We then lost a silly goal from a free kick and shortly afterwards had a man sent off, which forced us to re-organise.
"I do think the match turned around on the period when Motherwell scored and Regi was sent off. We tried absolutely everything to score a goal in the second half but nothing came off.
"It will be harder to prepare for the Rangers game on the back of two defeats but we most come together.
"Everyone has talked up Old Firm games but I always say that the next game is the most important. We lost at Ibrox after a good run and we know we have to win every game in the race for the top.
"Even when people think that games are easy – like Saturday's when we were at home to the bottom team in the league – they are not. In soccer there really are no easy opponents and we found that out to our cost."