Celtic’s dominant 3-1 win over St. Johnstone yesterday rightly encouraged many supporters. Kyogo Furuhashi, Nicolas Kuhn, and James Forrest were among the Hoops’ goals in an afternoon full of positives.
The little Japanese centre-forward had a few strikes disallowed for offside as he rattled the bar in the second half. Right-back Alistair Johnston bagged a wonder goal but it was later ruled out.
At the end of the game, the officials added seven minutes, much of this time being attributed to countless VAR checks.
While this has hugely cost the Celts in games gone by, manager Brendan Rodgers thinks the amount of times Chris Graham had to get involved from Clydesdale House yesterday is a positive for his side.
Speaking after the game, the gaffer wasn’t as annoyed at the officials as he had been in previous matches: “[There were] lots of VAR decisions today but that’s also a compliment to the team because we had so many aggressive moments in the game so there’s lots of parts of the game to be looked at in that aspect”, he said (Clyde 1 Superscoreboard).
“So that’s a good sign for myself.”
Due to go on trial by the SFA, not next week but the one after, Rodgers knows he has to remain tight-lipped regarding officiating.
If he wasn’t under duress, one wonders whether he would have commented on the handball on the line that denied his side a penalty in the first half.
It should’ve been a clear spot-kick based on the evidence that Tomoki Iwata was penalised a fortnight ago.
Things may have been different regarding the boss’ thoughts on VAR and the like if Celtic failed to take their chances in the manner they did, but such a worry is now needless and The Bhoys will remain top of the table for the international break.
