Scott Brown was quick to shut down Kris Boyd after he questioned why Kilmarnock weren’t awarded a penalty in the first half of their clash against Celtic.
Brendan Rodgers’ side suffered a 2-1 defeat after a very poor second-half display, even though Matt O’Riley had opened the scoring.
At half-time, Kris Boyd was bizarrely ranting and suggesting that Celtic defender Alistair Johnston handled the ball when he fell over and proceeded to block a Kilmarnock shot from inside the penalty area.
Scott Brown was quick to tell his Sky Sports colleague that ‘VAR did a good job there’, as he told Sky Sports Football (10/12/23 at 12:55 pm).
The man with the best response, to nobody’s surprise, was Chris Sutton because he read out the specific handball ruling to Kris Boyd, which shut him down once and for all.
You can read it all below, with no bias at all from the former Rangers striker.
Kilmarnock penalty shout against Celtic
“They should have had a penalty,” said Boyd. “I can’t, for the life of me, work out why this isn’t given as a penalty kick?!
“He has blatantly handballed that on the line. The other arm is on the deck. Yes, he is unlucky. He falls across and then, that is a penalty kick.”
Brown responded: “I am definitely saying ‘no’. I think VAR has done a good job there. He has turned his back and he is just trying to block it.”
Sutton was then asked his thoughts and he issued the best response: “Well, if you want a balanced opinion, which you clearly hadn’t had at half-time from one particular person.
“The ball which touched the upper proportion of a player’s arm will not be considered a handball. There we are. We have put that one to bed.”
First league defeat for Celtic
That first-half display in Perth last week was heavily criticised by Rodgers, well, the second-half performance against Killie was far worse.
Celtic just didn’t cope with the pressure and they had no control, which is a big worry given that the manager has expressed his frustration already at some of the performances.
On paper, it might be the first league defeat of the season, but some would argue that this has been coming.
A number of fringe players were, once again, handed starts again and it’s fair to say that they will probably now remain fringe players until the January transfer window opens.
It’s not an ideal time for the Bhoys to lose because it’s the first defeat of the season during a busy month and some big fixtures on the horizon.
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