2010-01-16: Celtic 1-1 Falkirk, SPL

Match Pictures | Matches: 2009 – 2010

Trivia

• Celtic go 9pts behind the Huns; Rangers won. We have a game in hand.
• Celtic sold 4 players in the week past (Robson, Caldwell, Flood, Killen); we bought Hooiveld
• O’Dea returns to Celtic after loan spell; Ki debut in match.
• There was controversy in 82 minutes when Celtic were pressing for a winner and Falkirk earned an unlikely free-kick on the edge of the Celtic penalty area when Boruc was inexplicably judged to have stepped over the line taking a kick-out (See Match Pictures).

Review

We blew. After selling Caldwell, fan’s popular choice O’Dea returned to Celtic and was involved in a botch up which put us one behind. We huffed and puffed to equalise but created little in terms of shots on target and deserved little more. Entertaining football with Ki putting in some good crosses but not much is happening. We are getting desperate at times and falling behind.

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Celtic manager Tony Mowbray:

“There was a few changes to the team, some enforced and some by choice, but the balance of the team wasn’t particularly great.
“Ultimately, we’re left a bit frustrated, but I can’t question the desire to go and get the victory. The way the team drove on to get the victory against a Falkirk side who are hard to break down.
“Great credit to Falkirk for the way they defended, but obviously we’re disappointed not to have taken all three points.
“I’m not here to make excuses, we get judged by the results.
“If the team wasn’t performing, I would be more concerned, but we move the ball about and get it into fantastic areas, but we need to work on improving that final ball in the box.”
Falkirk manager Eddie May:

“I’m delighted to come to Celtic Park and take the lead and to play in the manner that we did.
“Make no mistake, Celtic are a very good team, especially at home and we made some chances and got a few breaks.
“It’s almost a whole new team since the start of the season – there’s not too many players left who were here at the start of the season, but the ones who are do a fantastic job and we’re slowly trying to adjust the club in a different direction.
“I think we look a half-decent team and physically, we’ll stand up to people. We can pass the ball and I think we have good quality. “When you come here, Celtic are keen to win the league or come in second, so it’s a fantastic point for us.”

Celtic 1 Falkirk 1: Reasons to be fearful at Parkhead

Richard Wilson (The Herald)
Published on 17 Jan 2010
Tony Mowbray can only keep reaching for the assertions that sustain his self-belief.
But then the more familiar they become, the less weight they carry. This was a game when some familiar inadequacies struck at the heart of the Celtic manager’s work, and his defiance afterwards, delivered in amenable enough tones, will soon begin to sound like a lament.
His team had to come from behind, but then fell short of claiming the triumph, despite creating enough chances to win. This scenario has recurred so frequently this season that rather than being an idiosyncrasy, it is beginning to resemble a character flaw.
Celtic are now nine points behind Rangers, albeit with a game in hand. There is enough time left in the transfer window to bring a new impetus to the squad, although Mowbray rejected a claim that he is interested in John Utaka of Portsmouth. But the sense of doubt that has come to define so many of the team’s performances seems immune to the manager’s denial.
“Listen, the team was fine,” Mowbray said. “If I thought there was major surgery to do, I’d be more concerned. The players have enough quality to turn these tight games into victories. We’re not far away from being a team that wins convincingly.”
In re-shaping his side, Mowbray revealed something of the way he sees this team applying his own values and imperatives. Ki Sung Yeung made his debut at the base of a midfield diamond, the effect of which was to free up Aiden McGeady, allowing him to roam from a position behind the two strikers. Defensively, though, Celtic remain stricken by a lingering capacity for calamity.
With Darren O’Dea and Stephen McManus at centre-back, the unsound nature of Celtic’s defending this season persisted, like a nagging regret. It was brutally exposed, almost casually. A long kick by Robert Olejnik reached O’Dea on the edge of his own box. He took one touch before being so heedlessly brushed aside by Carl Finnigan that the defender resembled nothing more than an afterthought. Finnigan then kept his nerve to drill a low, hard shot beyond Artur Boruc.
Celtic seemed consumed by uncertainty, while a thin disgruntlement carried round the ground. When Marc Twaddle’s cross was laid into Flynn’s path by Finnigan, and the midfielder hit a curling shot that Boruc turned round the post, the home side looked on the verge of a dark predicament. McManus lasted only half an hour before a calf injury forced him to trudge off, grim-faced, to be replaced by the 18 year-old debutant Josh Thomson.
Glenn Loovens, through illness, and Danny Fox, with a groin injury, were ruled out beforehand, so the Celtic defence was already trying to come to terms with itself when Andreas Hinkel had to clear Pedro Pele’s header off the line after just five minutes. With the powerful figure of Enoch Showunmi, Falkirk’s new signing from Leeds, occasionally causing consternation to ripple through the back line, and Finnigan dropping deep to augment the midfield, the game was stirringly balanced.
What revived the home side was a piece of exquisite opportunism by Georgios Samaras. Having collected a pass from Zeng Zhi, the Greek striker’s nimble footwork planted a small doubt in the mind of Pele, before a surge of speed took him beyond the Falkirk defender and his left-foot shot flashed past Olejnik.
The goal came four minutes before half-time, and restored a kind of clarity to Celtic. After the interval, there was a greater command to their play, but also moments of individual distress. Late on, Boruc overran the 18-yard line before kicking from his hands, resulting in a free-kick to Falkirk. But Jack Compton, the young substitute, lifted his shot over the bar,
McGeady’s quick feet and jerking movement created space for a shot just inside the area, leaving two Falkirk players flailing, but his finish was blocked by Olejnik. Then Zeng Zhi sent a cross into the penalty area that Samaras could only brush forlornly with his head.
Such an anxious urgency came to define Celtic’s play that when Fortune felt the presence of Brian McLean at his back in the penalty area, the striker fell with the kind of flourish that referees consider an admission of guilt, and Alan Muir denied frenzied claims for a spot kick.
“The referee was brave enough to make a hard call,” said Falkirk manager Eddie May. “I thought Brian caught him and we’ve seen those given. It was the bit of luck you need.”
When Paddy McCourt’s biting effort was tipped wide by Olejnik, the game seemed content with its outcome. Celtic have now drawn twice with Falkirk, the bottom club, and for all Mowbray’s optimism, that is a damning indictment.