2017-08-26: Celtic 1-1 St Johnstone, SP

Trivia

• Back to the league, Celtic just qualified in the week to the Champions League Group stages for second year in a row.
• Celtic 2nd in league, drop pts for first time this season and were close to losing the game until McGregor's goal. St J should have had a man sent of and maybe have lost a penalty later on, but also unlucky for them they could have gone two ahead at one point. Celtic mostly dominant but struggled against an admittedly good St J team.
• St J player should have been given a straight red or ref/linesman missed it but a yellow for an off the ball punch to the face? Strange one.
• Ralston started, and was partly responsible for the conceded goal, but really Gordon is mostly at fault.
• Celtic though retain the long unbeaten domestic run record. Excellent work, but as this game proved it was hard fought for, and not easily achieved.
  
• Sadly it's internationals so no Celtic games for a couple of weeks.
• Callum McGregor knocked back by Scotland manager Gordon Strachan for a place in the Scotland squad, despite widespread calls for a call-up. Disappointing, but Strachan (an ex-Celtic manager) has a narky attitude and as with his stints elsewhere, has again gone against the grain. WGS’s reign is ending ignominiously. Get's knocked back a second time after he wasn't picked again after some drop out, many put it down to WGS' usual narky attitude.
• Kieran Tierney is the only top-class defender at Celtic, according to ex-Celts Alan Stubbs. Many disagree as Simunovic is also class.
• Graeme Souness insists a lack of challenge from Rangers has made Celtic weaker, and this will be proved when Brendan Rodgers’ side enter the Champions League group stages
• In Champions Lge: Celtic draw Group B – Bayern, PSG, Anderlecht
• Transfers:
  Next week is last week for Transfer window.
• Nadir Ciftci has signed for Plytmouth Argyle (loan)
• Linked with various players, a striker (from Arsenal), but Celtic deny it.
• Brendan Rodgers insists Jozo Simunovic is not for sale despite the move to sign Coetzee.
• Report: Spartak Moscow interested in Celtic’s Jozo Simunovic
  
• Rumour: Marseille interest in Dembele, £25m price tag.
• FC Copenhagen’s chances of signing Erik Sviatchenko reduced this week after the Danish side were forced into looking for a replacement striker following injury to talismanic hitman Federico Santander. So might have to pass on him.
  
• Rivaldo Coetzee transfer to Celtic off due to injury, failed medical check. Disappointed for him and Celtic still on look out for Central Defender but time is running out.
• Ajax Cape Town confirmed Rivaldo Coetzee’s move to Celtic is off after he failed a medical. The proposed deal, believed to be worth around £800,000 was called off following an underlying foot injury. Ajax Cape Town confirmed the deal was off on their official site. A statement on the club’s web site said: “The injury has not hampered Coetzee to date having not missed out on any competitive action either for his club or the national team."

Review

“We always want three points but we accept the point." – Brendan Rodgers

(kevtic of KDS)
Honking ponderous first half. The goal was a stinker. Although Gordon takes the blame someone in that ever decreasing circle needed to just take control and get it to eff. None of those involved came out of that situation well. Put two genuine centre halves in there and i think the ball would have been launched before it got to critical stage. But it's part of Rodgers philosophy and this won't be the last goal we lose like that. Although I've only seen it at the game Gordon appeared to make up for the gaff a bit with the save from the header in the 2nd half which should have been 2-0 to SJ.

Last 25 mins we battered them and we should really have won the game. Some excellent goalkeeping particularly the one from Hayes header and just plain bad luck denied us. Collum's many failings have already been covered. I don't think I've ever seen a game where Collum doesn't get in the way of the play. His positional sense is non-existent.

Looking at it objectively, should have won over the 90 but it's been a tough week but we recovered well from being a daft goal down to play some fantastic football and on another week would have run out 3 or 4-1 winners.

Special word for Sinclair who had a fantastic run in the 1st half that he should have done better with but in the 2nd half he was almost unplayable. That poor full back was turned inside out. If he had just delivered one decent cut back we'd have been cruising but he was immense in the 2nd half.

Unbeaten run continues but a few of our failings exposed and it's clear what needs addressed in the next week. There's no excuse for not addressing those concerns with our current resources.

(McStay of KDS)
We were garbage. Collum and his linesmen are cheats. Not a good mix.

Gordon obviously to blame but Ralston being terrified of a forward pass (KT's often guilty of this too) didn't help. Pathetic from Gordon though. Outside of the boot dink like he's effing Ronaldinho.

McGregor should start more games. Armstrong too. Armstrong offers something none of our other CM's do in that he drives forward with the ball and takes men on. Brown and Ntcham are too deep and slow of tempo that I wouldn't play both of them in domestic home games. European games absolutely but in games like today one of them should make way for a more creative, attack minded player in McGregor or Armstrong.

Our effing about at the back has threatened to cost us plenty of times. Hopefully a wake up call for some to stop being so careless back there.

I don't care what Brendan says re Bitton. That header MacLean had in the second half sums him up. Nowhere to be seen for the initial chance then literally just stands and watches it at his feet instead of getting it to eff. If Jozo is fit enough for the bench then he should be starting the game. We shouldn't be playing a right back and a centre mid at CB while our best CB sits on the bench watching.

I thought Brendan got it wrong at HT too. He should've took Ralston off for McGregor, went 3 at the back and kept Forrest on.

Do whatever it takes to get Paddy in please. I'll go insane if I have to watch a full season of Forrest and Hayes rotation. Roberts in, Forrest backup and Hayes can collect the cones at Lennoxtown or fulfil the Danny McGrain/Amido Balde role at HT.

St Johnstone are a bunch of hacking, time wasting, shampooehawks.

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Celtic 1 – 1 St Johnstone: Callum McGregor rescues point

Callum McGregor celebrates his equaliser. Picture: PA
RONNIE ESPLIN
Published: 16:58 Saturday 26 August 2017
http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/competitions/premiership/celtic-1-1-st-johnstone-callum-mcgregor-rescues-point-1-4543173Celtic’s long unbeaten domestic run was under threat from St Johnstone until substitute Callum McGregor’s late strike earned the home side a 1-1 draw.
READ MORE – Rumour Mill: Tierney is top target for Man Utd| O’Halloran not Rangers’ ‘type’| Roberts deal in the balance
The Hoops, unbeaten in 52 previous games against Scottish opponents, went into the Ladbrokes Premiership encounter on a high after reaching the Champions League for the second successive season in midweek and being drawn against Bayern Munich, Paris St Germain and Anderlecht.
However, a slack clearance from goalkeeper Craig Gordon left Steven MacLean with time and space to knock the ball into the net.
Saints, the last Scottish side to beat Celtic in May 2016, survived a second-half onslaught until the 80th minute when McGregor, on for Anthony Ralston, eventually got the breakthrough with a low drive.
Both sides remain unbeaten in the league after four games, but it is Aberdeen who sit top of the table after their 4-3 win at Partick Thistle.
The afternoon did not start well for St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright, who had to turn to his bench after only a minute.
After around six minutes of treatment midfielder Murray Davidson was carried off on a stretcher with a head knock following an aerial duel with Hoops skipper Scott Brown and Aaron Comrie, the 20-year-old defender making his first Saints start.
Liam Craig took Davidson’s place and Saints looked comfortable enough as the game unfolded.
In the 21st minute Brown set up James Forrest at the edge of the box, but his low drive was well-saved by Saints keeper Alan Mannus down at his right-hand post.
However, the Perth side were not finding themselves under any sustained pressure and indeed on a break just on the half-hour mark Craig fizzed a shot over the bar.
The McDiarmid Park side went one step further with five minutes to go in the first half when Gordon’s nonchalant clearance was blocked by Craig back to the unmarked MacLean, who turned and from 12 yards casually stroked the ball past the Celtic keeper.
Celtic took some time to reassert themselves and, deep into the six minutes of time added on at the end of the half for Davidson’s injury, Scott Sinclair slalomed past four defenders but his drive from 16 yards was saved by Mannus.
Home boss Brendan Rodgers replaced OIivier Ntcham and James Forrest with Stuart Armstrong and Jonny Hayes for the start of the second half and in the 53rd minute Armstrong forced Mannus into a fine fingertip save under his bar with a 20-yard drive.
The treble-winners stepped up the pace, but Saints could have made it 2-0 when a brilliant cross from defender Brian Easton found MacLean, whose header from point-blank range was saved by Gordon, with the Saints striker toe-poking the loose ball into the side-netting.
McGregor replaced Ralston before Tom Rogic, amid relentless pressure, zipped a 30-yard drive inches past a post.
The Australian international and the Hoops support then claimed unsuccessfully for a hand ball when his drive was blocked in a packed St Johnstone penalty area.
There was uproar among the Hoops support in the 71st minute when MacLean was only booked by referee Willie Collum for lifting his arm at Celtic left-back Kieran Tierney.
Mannus made a terrific save from Leigh Griffiths’ powerful drive from the edge of the box, but he had no chance when, during yet another Celtic attack, the ball broke to McGregor and from 16 yards he fired past a throng of players into the net.
The final stages were frantic.
The home side kept driving forward and, from a quickly-taken Tierney free-kick, Sinclair struck the bar with an angled drive.
Mikael Lustig headed off the bar from a Griffiths corner and Mannus made a save at his back post from a Hayes header, with Saints hanging on through three tense added minutes for the point.

BBC

By Tom English

BBC Scotland at Celtic Park

From the section Football 84

Celtic midfielder Callum McGregor equalises with a firm strike from just inside the area

Callum McGregor's late strike rescued a point for Celtic as they came from behind to extend their unbeaten run in domestic football to 53 games.

St Johnstone took the lead just before half-time through Steven MacLean, who took advantage of a Craig Gordon error.

The visitors defended stoutly and troubled Celtic on the counter, and MacLean sent a free header wide.

Substitute McGregor saved the champions, though, drilling low and hard into the corner of the net.

The equaliser was a reward for Celtic's relentless pressure in the second half, with Scott Sinclair and Mikael Lustig both hitting the woodwork.

St Johnstone might also have been reduced to 10 men, with MacLean seeming to catch Kieran Tierney in the face with his arm, but the St Johnstone striker was only booked by referee Willie Collum.

The visitors held on to claim their point, though, with defender Steven Anderson and goalkeeper Alan Mannus leading their resistance.
St Johnstone midfielder Murray Davidson
St Johnstone midfielder Murray Davidson was carried off and taken to hospital after a clash of heads

A day of drama had the most unfortunate beginning when Murray Davidson suffered a horrendous head injury in an aerial challenge and collapsed to the floor. The St Johnstone midfielder was knocked out. These were worrying moments as medics from both sides tended to Davidson, taking five minutes to get him on a stretcher and away to hospital, Celtic Park applauding as one as he left.

Thankfully, before the game concluded, Davidson was said to be recovering.

Liam Craig came on to field and his team pressed hard, denying the champions easy space. Even when Tom Rogic – man-marked by Paul Paton – broke free, the visitors scrambled effectively. Leigh Griffiths had a shot into the side-netting, James Forrest had a weak shot easily dealt with.

Saints were comfortable in the beginning. Michael O'Halloran had earlier created Celtic some bother down the left when scampering free and squaring for David Wotherspoon, who shot unconvincingly at Gordon.
St Johnstone striker Steven MacLean
St Johnstone striker Steven MacLean scored his second goal of the season with his strike at Celtic Park

The Celtic goalkeeper soon entered the narrative of the game in a very major way. MacLean's goal was a self-inflicted wound by Gordon, who was jaw-droppingly lackadaisical in clearing his line. In gifting St Johnstone the ball, he gave them a present of a goal, MacLean turning it in.

There was confusion, and silence, inside the stadium. Was MacLean offside when he scored? No, said Willie Collum and his assistant. Was Gordon out of his mind in doing what he did? Unquestionably, yes. MacLean hesitated and then celebrated. The hush from the Celtic fans continued awhile.

Celtic, flat by their own standards until they motored later on, mustered something before the break when Sinclair came slaloming in from the left before putting in a tame effort on Mannus' goal. Brendan Rodgers made changes at the break, removing the ineffective Olivier Ntcham and Forrest and parachuting in Jonny Hayes and Stuart Armstrong.

Armstrong had a shot tipped over by Mannus as Celtic pushed to preserve their unbeaten domestic run. They had a mountain of possession, but nowhere near their usual level of accuracy. They pushed forward but lacked their surgical ability to cut open a defence.
Referee Willie Collum
Referee Willie Collum was the centre of attention when he booked Steven MacLean for a challenge on Kieran Tierney

On the hour, their chances of salvaging something from the game should have been made all the harder. Saints had a glorious chance to make it two. Brian Easton's cross from the left was met by MacLean, just five yards out from goal. Either side of Gordon and it was in. Instead, he directed his header straight at the Celtic goalkeeper and fluffed the most inviting of chances.

Celtic were a jittery mess whenever they were put on the back foot. How Rodgers must be counting the minutes before his full array of centre-halves are available again. Jozo Simunovic was fit enough to sit on the bench at least.

The game quickly became a contest of Celtic attackers versus St Johnstone defenders. Sinclair was a fine leader for the home team, getting on the ball and dragging them forward. Celtic had a penalty shout turned down, then they had Kieran Tierney dumped on his backside by MacLean. The striker was lucky he wasn't sent off.

With 10 minutes left, St Johnstone buckled and broke, McGregor, a second-half substitute, tried to play a one-two with Sinclair in the Saints penalty box. The ball instead broke off Anderson and into McGregor's path. The midfielder whacked in the equaliser.

Saints were hanging on to the cliff edge by now. Sinclair hit woodwork. So, too, did Lustig. Mannus then denied Hayes from close-range. Saints survived, just. A hard-earned point for Tommy Wright's team, one that keeps their momentum going nicely. For Celtic, a battling response on a difficult day at the end of a fine week.