Celtic drew 1-1 with Motherwell on Saturday afternoon as Ange Postecoglou’s men dropped points at home for the first time this campaign.
Callum McGregor opened the scoring in the first half although Kevin Van Veen cancelled it out in the second.
Despite late Hoops pressure, the match ended in a stalemate but it’s not all doom and gloom.
In terms of when the Hoops can mathematically win the title, today’s events do not change anything.
Should Rangers win tomorrow, Celtic’s lead will be reduced to a 10 point one with five games to go.
When the Hoops were previously 12 clear, they would’ve had to have waited until there are three games left for them to be officially champions.
This remains the case with a 12 point lead therefore in terms of over-arching consequences, today’s match has few.
Although fans may be unhappy with a draw, Celtic can afford to have afternoons like today’s due to the previous work they have put in.
Moreover, it was somewhat of a depleted squad that faced off against the Steelmen today and positively, the Hoops can still win the title in the second game back after the split in spite of a draw.
I am going to be blunt and honest about today’s game. Ange is fully responsible for the dropped points today! I know some people will say the players didn’t perform and were below par and I accept that. However there were 2 major decisions that Ange made that were instrumental to us being well off course today.
The first decision he made and Ange has done it numeral times this season was to play a less effective player in Maeda on the left instead of Haksabanovic. With Jota injured today and Haksabanovic’s favoured position is on the left, he has come off the bench and scored crucial goals this season playing in his favoured position. Ange done the same last week at Kilmarnock with Jota. I would think that both Jota and Haksabanovic will be disillusioned and maybe even pissed off that this is continually happening. As Jock said “play your best players in their best positions”, it’s not rocket science!
I have been saying for nearly a year now, Maeda should not be played on the left ahead of Jota or Haksabanovic. There are games where Maeda is effective, but not against a team with 10 men defending. Against teams like that you need players to beat a man, get in behind and play a good ball to a striker or midfielder, play a killer pass or produce a bit of magic like Jota and Haksabanovic have done numerous times this season. Add to that, that if Maeda does get a second touch (as often after his 1st touch a defender gets the next one) it is to bring it under control or it’s a tackle. Today has proven me to be correct as Maeda offered nothing all game and the amount of times he gets the ball on the left and plays back to Taylor is unbelievable for a forward player!
The second big decision Ange made today and got completely wrong was playing Iwata. I have to say that Iwata played well, however as I pointed out above with a team with 10 men behind the ball defending you need players that can play a killer pass or get in behind on the wing a play in a striker or midfielder. NOT A HOLDING MIDFIELDER AGAINST A 10 MEN BEHIND THE BALL TEAM!
I hope Maeda moves on in the summer so that Ange will not make us less effective by playing Maeda ahead of better players that can play in the left wing position. Also with Abada and Forrest injured why not play Maeda on the right? He isn’t effective on the left so move him to the right to be the same, however by doing that you are playing a more effective player in Jota or Haksabanovic in there favourite and best position. I point you back to Jock Stein’s quote above!