Perhaps Gary Teale and St. Mirren do have grounds for feeling a bit paranoid; after all, it's only a week since Yoann Arquin was harshly sent off in Dingwall, and less than a month since Kenny Mclean's dismissal against Kilmarnock for doing something that only Willie Collum saw. And a relegation battle is bound to fray everyone's nerves.
But Teale's post-match comments after the 2-1 defeat to Dundee were out of the ordinary, and they were out of order. Firstly, he was insistent that Gary Irvine's equalizer was offside, and that he had proof. "I'm struggling to interpret what the rules are. The linesman is looking along the line. If he can't get that decision right I'm not sure he should be there. I've looked at the pictures again and he's offside. It beggars belief. It's a straightforward call. I'm struggling for words in terms of what I can say."
Which is fine, except the highlights, even with the unhelpful angle provided by the TV cameras, show that Irvine was absolutely, categorically, not offside. It's a great call by the assistant. How on earth a professional with Teale's experience can claim otherwise is beyond me. If he's moaning that Irvine was offside earlier in the buildup, then he's playing silly buggers, because the offside rule has been interpreted in this way for years.
If that wasn't inexplicable enough, the caretaker-manager also laid into the referee over the decision to show Arquin a second yellow card for diving. "I thought both bookings were very, very soft. Was that maybe because we had the red card rescinded from last week? It's a very cynical way of looking at things."
Well, in this writer's opinion, the first yellow card was pretty clear-cut, as it was a late tackle not dissimilar to the one that the forward committed last week which resulted ultimately in his red card being downgraded to a yellow. As for the 'simulation', there probably is contact by James McPake, but Arquin does take a stride before theatrically collapsing to the ground; the (again, unhelpful) TV pictures are inconclusive but it is easy to understand the decision. And what on earth to make of the conspiracy Teale hinted at? He seems to be implying that it was revenge for the club challenging the dismissal from last Saturday, which is just bizarre.
One could perhaps dismiss it as heat-of-the-moment stuff, but for the subsequent announcement that St. Mirren are demanding talks with the SFA over the standard of refereeing. Do the club think that the officiating is just generally poor (in which case it's the same for everyone), or do they seriously believe that there's some sort of anti-Buddies vendetta amongst the refs? Maybe they're implying that they're all Morton fans? Sorry, guys, but St. Mirren really aren't significant enough that anybody would be arsed to be biased against them.
By the way, this madness was preceded by a perfectly decent game, in which the home side spurned plenty of chances. There was another terrific goal from Kenny Maclean, who is thriving now he is playing in his best position. There are signs here that St. Mirren could yet overtake Motherwell, and that Teale could be a pretty decent coach, if he takes the tinfoil hat off. LS
County couldn't quite stifle Celtic
After covering St Johnstone-Partick last week I didn’t think football could get much worse. It didn’t, but it was a close-run thing.
From the outset it was clear that County weren’t going to throw men forward at every opportunity; who could blame them after they shipped five the last time Celtic visited Dingwall? To be fair to the home side, they executed their game plan pretty well. Celtic’s attackers were generally restricted to playing in front of the defence and midfield shield and they were unable to get in behind to take advantage of the lack of pace in the heart of the County backline.
The biggest problem for the home side was that their inability to hold onto possession for any significant periods of time, which meant that they were under almost constant pressure. Kris Commons' deflected goal was ultimately all that Celtic needed, with the tired Staggies struggling to build any attacking momentum. Perhaps they would have considered a point from this match to be a bonus in their relegation fight, but they are four points adrift of St. Mirren and their situation seems to worsen by the week.
The biggest concern for Celtic will be the difficulty they had in breaking County down. If their strikers find a bit of form then they could well open up a comfortable gap at the top, something they have yet to do this season. Their struggles were epitomised in the second half when Leigh Griffiths was through on goal, only to be denied by Reguero. The ball rebounded to John Guidetti, who showed all the poise of a man with a rank recent goal scoring record, and rattled the ball straight at Jamie Reckord with the goal at his mercy.
If Celtic lose Commons and Virgil van Dik this week then there may well be the first real title race in Scotland for years. But their fans will be content with wins like this which stretch the lead at the top and so allow them to put all of their time and effort into not caring about Rangers instead. IM
Taylor's absence leaves Aberdeen vulnerable
To any of you who followed the editor's suggestion on Twitter and put your mortgage on Aberdeen, my deepest condolences to you and best wishes on finding new accommodation...
St Johnstone were not at their best last Tuesday at Inverness and injuries were taking their toll. If anything, though, this provided a chance for others to seize their first team opportunities. This was exemplified by the great performance of youngster Chris Kane, following a recent return from a loan spell at Dumbarton. (Out of interest, does anyone know why the town is spelled 'Dumbarton' but the county is 'Dunbartonshire'? Answers on a postcard please...)
It also looked like the biggest injury miss for either side was actually Ash Taylor, and that observation was reinforced when Andy Considine - reverting to central defence in Taylor's absence - failed to head clear a Steven MacLean cross from the right flank, allowing Simon Lappin to smash home on the volley.
While Lappin isn't exactly prolific in front of goal, Aberdeen's second half equaliser came from a more reliable source. A head flick from David Goodwillie was nodded on by Adam Rooney, who promptly unleashed a 25-yard screamer into the top corner. That's 20 goals this season already for Rooney, who signed for Aberdeen exactly one year ago to the day.
Whether you think this was one of the games of the season in the Premiership so far probably depends on a number of factors - your own aesthetic sensibilities; whether you had a vested interest in either of these teams; and whether the result has now made you homeless... How it only finished 1-1 is anyone's guess, with so many other chances for both teams to score.
Aberdeen missed the chance to regain the Premiership top spot, and while Derek McInnes didn't feel his side deserved anything more than a point from the match, I think a draw was a fair result for both teams. Well done also to the Dons support for selling out its allocation of tickets for a Friday evening match in Perth. Next for the Red Army? On to Hampden. MI
Attack is not Motherwell's best form of defence
Jackie McNamara's selection for this one was a bit odd, and it might have come back to bite him had Dundee United been playing a decent team. Henri Anier, given his full debut against his former club, struggled as a lone striker (not a surprise, given that he was always best at Motherwell when partnering John Sutton) and clearly lacked fitness - which McNamara knew, given he said pre-match that he would only get an hour out of the Estonian. United's three goals came only after Anier had been replaced by Nadir Ciftci. Starting Ryan Dow and Aidan Connolly ahead of Gary Mackay-Steven and Chris Erskine was a surprise too.
However, the Terrors were playing a Motherwell side who still have no idea how to defend; they've conceded eighteen goals in their five matches this month. If Charlie Telfer's two strikes were tricky to prevent, Jaroslaw Fojut's goal displayed the problems in the backline. Simon Ramsden loses Fojut, and is then blocked off by a United player. No defender attacks the ball, and neither does Dan Twardzik, even though it is only 5 yards from goal when it reaches the Pole's head. Craig Reid might have got in to pressurize Fojut, were it not for the fact that he was talking to the referee and had his back to play when the corner was taking! Proper head-in-hands stuff. Perhaps the United players were embarrassed by how easy it was, as none of them went to celebrate with the goalscorer. Either that, or Fojut has terrible body odour.
There were some chinks of light for Motherwell; the directness of Stephen Pearson made them more dangerous going forward and John Sutton was a handful all afternoon. Pearson had a very good penalty appeal denied in the first half - at least, I think being kicked in the knee warrants a penalty. But the referee didn't. He did, however, think Sutton's first half effort crossed the line (it didn't) - and then changed his mind; apparently he thought the assistant said "goal" when he actually said "play on". Because, you know, it's hard to distinguish between the two.
Motherwell won't climb away from the teams below them unless they tighten up at the back, though. United, meanwhile, will have to play better than this if they are to win their League Cup semi against Aberdeen next week. LS
Pascali does Kilmarnock more harm than good
Some might have seen Saturday as redemption for Manuel Pascali; Killie's Italian captain was in the headlines a few days ago for yelling "f*** off!" as he left the pitch at half-time to the sound of abuse from his own fans when Killie were beaten at Dundee. This reminded me of the Only An Excuse sketch where a bunch of supporters are giving Neil Lennon dog's abuse, then pause in shock and horror when he gives them the finger, prompting shouts of "Polis! I'm offended!"
Pascali, who earlier had a goal disallowed, seemed to have won the game for Kilmarnock with his late strike, only for Frederic Frans to bundle home an even later leveller for Partick Thistle. Luckily, Frans was just onside...because Pascali was too slow to get out after a corner was cleared, and played the Belgian on. It has to be said that he was culpable for Ryan Stevenson's early opener too, as he was far too slow to get out and close the former Ayr man down. So make up your own mind as to how 'redeemed' he was.
The last few days sum up Partick Thistle beautifully - a 5-0 demolition of Accies, followed by a performance so bad that Josh Magennis managed to score against them. The Jags haven't won two league games in a row in the last season and a half; that's why they're only ninth in the league. LS
Accies' top six spot looks under threat
ICT's victory over Hamilton moved them just a single point behind Aberdeen and means that they hang on in with the teams at the top of the league for a wee while longer. And yet comparatively little has been made of the Highland side’s success in the league this season when you look at the other sides around them. The Dons have garnered a lot of media attention as they continue to chase Celtic, and quite right too; results are good, crowds are up and their squad looks strong for seasons to come.
But currently Caley Thistle and Dundee United are not far behind in the league, and their performances and results are pretty comparable. This is not meant as a slant on Aberdeen but more on the press who don’t seem fussed about the other sides. It’s easy to focus on the Dons and everything they are doing well at just now but let’s get more positive about our game and start shouting about the other teams in the league who are doing well, eh?
Meanwhile, Hamilton’s record under Martin Canning doesn’t look great so far. Four games ending in four defeats is a run that needs to be rectified as quickly as possible. Instead of looking above them a lot of Accies fans will now be glancing nervously over their shoulders as they sit only seven points ahead of Dundee, who they face at Dens Park on Saturday. Should Dundee win they will be but a mere four points behind Hamilton which was unthinkable a couple of months ago, and Accies' top six spot will be under threat. Whilst all Accies fans would have bitten your hand off simply to survive this season, a fair number might now be disappointed if they were to fall out of the top half at this late stage.
On a more positive note for them, 5,000 fans took advantage of the 10p entry fee at New Douglas Park, with supporters of many clubs were represented including Rangers, Celtic, Dundee United and Carlisle as well as a healthy 500 or so fans in the Caley Thistle end. Whilst the result didn’t go the way of the home side there was certainly a significant uptake on the offer as you would imagine. Hopefully a few of those in attendance will have been persuaded to come along in the future. AS
Martin Ingram (MI) is our Aberdeen Correspondent. Legend has it that he is the tallest man in the Red Army. He writes regularly for Aberdeen fanzine The Red Final..
Iain Meredith (IM) is technically a Rangers fan, but these days he tends to support them ironically. He only agreed to help with this blog because now he can tell his wife that he's "only watching the game to help a friend out".
Lawrie Spence (LS) has ranted and spouted his ill-informed opinions on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007. He has a life outside this blog. Honestly.
Andrew Sutherland (AS) occasionally writes for When Saturday Comes. He would never miss an ICT match unless he was offered a date with the lead singer of CHVRCHES...who he would then take to said ICT match.
No comments:
Post a Comment