Celtic fans will be keen to move on from a frustrating 2-0 loss to Heart of Midlothian last weekend that has dominated headlines due to the officiating on display.
The SFA has charged Brendan Rodgers for his comments regarding John Beaton’s role in the decisions that went against the Bhoys at Tynecastle, namely Hyunjun Yang’s red card and Tomoki Iwata’s penalisation for a handball, which were both given with the help of VAR.
Nevertheless, we won’t know the outcome of his citation until the 28th of March. This could result in the Irishman being banned before his side head to Ibrox to face Rangers on April 7th.
Earlier in the week, Celtic’s attempts to see Yang’s dismissal rescinded proved unsuccessful, and the South Korea international will now miss the upcoming Scottish Cup tie at home to Livingston alongside our clash against St Johnstone on March 16th.
Undoubtedly, there has been an extended post-mortem of what proved to be a controversial afternoon in the capital, which has left the Hoops two points behind Rangers in the Scottish Premiership title race.
Moving forward, progressing past David Martindale’s is now the order of the day for Rodgers, and hopefully, we can recover from events in Edinburgh to book our place at Hampden come full-time on Sunday.
Peter Grant adds further fuel to Celtic VAR controversy
Former Celtic midfielder Peter Grant has added further fuel to the VAR controversy Celtic were involved in against Hearts.
Speaking on the Go Radio Football Show, he hinted that Alex Cochrane, who was the recipient of Yang’s challenge that led to his red card, was lucky not to have been sent off at Tynecastle for a series of persistent fouls.
He explained: “VAR is a joke. For guys to go and watch the screen and get it wrong again when they’re getting a get-out-of-jail card is ridiculous.
“The thing is, there was a few decisions, the left-back (Alex Cochrane), I think it was Matt O’Riley getting away from him, he trips him, it’s a stonewall booking and he doesn’t book him.
“One minute later, the same scenario: the same defender pulls someone else down, and he still doesn’t get a booking, so it’s not just the high boot; there were so many bad decisions, it was terrible to watch.
“Listen, I know the pressure the guys are under, but it’s worse pressure for them now because VAR has come in. Now, they’re getting caught out, but the problem that we’ve got now is they’re not admitting they’ve got it wrong. That’s the biggest problem.”
Celtic will be keen to move on from recent events
Controversy is an emotive subject within Scottish football; however, it will be nice to move on this weekend as the Bhoys take on Livingston, barring any more contentious VAR calls being made this Sunday.
Celtic have a chance to step closer to claiming silverware this term if they can navigate past the Lions, who come to Glasgow keen on pulling off a scalp in front of a large home crowd.
Rodgers’ men know that nothing less than a victory will do as they set their sights on ensuring their name is in the hat for the semi-final draw next week.
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