Yet another ridiculous Celtic narrative is being pushed after last night

By David Walton

March 15, 2022

Celtic fans have been used to every win they get being tainted by over-analysing certain decisions that have gone our way.

Raith Rovers being denied a penalty at Celtic Park. Jota’s winner at Pittodrie potentially being offside. Dundee failing to get a penalty at Parkhead too.

Not all of the above were even injustices. But it feels as though Celtic simply can’t enjoy a good win without there being some sort of controversy labelled to it. And last night appears to have been no different.

For Reo Hatate has been deemed as lucky to stay on the pitch by Premier Sports and BBC pundits as well as Dundee United boss Tam Courts. They’ve all been pushing the ridiculous narrative that he was fortunate to stay on the pitch.

Firstly, you have Michael Stewart and Chris Sutton both state the player was “fortunate” in their half-time analysis yesterday [Football Scotland]. You then had Craig Levein state on BBC Sportsound that Hatate “got away with murder”.

Then you had the Dundee United manager popping up hinting that the player should be retrospectively banned. This being on the basis that Ryan Edwards was done for similar earlier this season [Daily Record].

Celtic star Reo Hatate got exactly what he deserved – a booking

It’s absolutely crazy to think Hatate was lucky to have stayed on the pitch yesterday. Firstly, he tries to pull out a touch and does so as soon as he realises that he wasn’t going to win the ball.

Secondly, Hatate is controlled in how he goes in for the challenge. He doesn’t make contact with the player and he certainly doesn’t go in with excessive force.

Given some of the treatment the Celtic players have been subjected to, it’s embarrassing that this is even a debate. Ridiculous that, even on a night where we were in absolutely no danger, this is being spoken about as some sort of key moment.

Hatate was late. That was his only crime. He had a rush of blood with the adrenaline going through him as he tried to put pressure on. His challenge wasn’t dangerous or excessive. It was late. Therefore, a yellow card is always going to suffice.

It’s also extremely poor of the Dundee United manager to talk about retrospective bans. Even if he doesn’t directly call for it, it’s effectively what he’s hinting at here. It’s difficult to know what benefit he would get from Hatate missing a few games.

But it’s all irrelevant anyway. The challenge didn’t warrant any more than a yellow card. That’s really where the debate needs to end.

In other news, There was something about Tannadice that Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou wasn’t impressed with