NO EURO HANGOVER
Joe Hart and his Celtic team mates returned to action today after their physically and mentally draining Champions League meeting with holders Real Madrid in Spain on Wednesday night.
There was no European hangover – they recorded a 4-2 win over Dundee United at Parkhead that increased their lead over Rangers at the top of the table to seven points.
That will be reduced to four again if the Ibrox club beat St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park tomorrow.
Still, Ange Postecoglou can be satisfied with the level of performance which his charges produced after their midweek exertions in the Bernabeu.
Yes, Celtic left it late – it took a last minute Kyogo Furuhashi goal and a Liel Abada strike in injury-time to sew up the three points.
But the hosts dominated the 90 minutes, created a glut of chances and deserved to triumph.
Postecoglou made seven changes to his starting line-up; Anthony Ralston, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Alexandro Bernabei, Jota, David Turnbull, Sead Haksabanovic and Giorgos Giakoumakis all came in. There was no drop in standard.
The Greek-Australian has the strength in depth he needs to negotiate all three domestic competitions and enjoy another successful season.
VAR TOO LONG
Dundee United suffered from a bad VAR call last weekend when Tony Watt was ordered off for a challenge on Sean Goss in the cinch Premiership match against Motherwell at Tannadice.
The Tayside club appealed to the SFA and the red card was reduced to a yellow earlier this week. Watt was on the bench for the league meeting with Celtic at Parkhead today.
But United benefitted from the new technology this afternoon. They were awarded a penalty after falling behind to an early Haksabanovic goal.
David Dickinson’s control room colleagues spotted that Alexandro Bernabei had handled the ball in his own area and the referee gave a spot kick after watching a replay of the incident on a monitor in the tunnel.
Steven Fletcher made no mistake from 12 yards out and levelled the game.
United may have ended up losing at the end of the 90 minutes. But their manager, players and supporters will have a more favourable view of VAR after this outing than they did before.
Still, the SFA must strive to reduce the length of time it takes to make decisions.
They system needs time to perfect here. It was always inevitable there would be teething issues. But there is far, far too much standing around at the moment and it is killing the flow of matches as well as the atmosphere.
SUPERB SEAD
Haksabanovic has shown exactly why Postecoglou was so keen to bring him to Scotland back in August with his performances for Celtic in the past couple of months.
The Swedish-born Montenegrin internationalist has played with great energy and no little invention both out wide and in the playmaker role for the Scottish champions.
But the 23-year-old had not netted going into the United game. He finally opened his account with a well-taken first-half double.
He turned in a Jota cross from a few yards out for the first and pounced on a weak headed clearance from Aziz Behich for the second. They promise to be the first of many for the winger.
Having cost just £1.7m, the skilful and powerful winger has proved to be another outstanding Postecoglou signing.
He received a standing ovation when he was replaced by Abada in the second-half.
