Some Celtic fans have been reacting to Sam Cosgrove’s challenge on Kristoffer Ajer yesterday.
The Aberdeen striker, who had equalised for the Dons in the first-half, was given a straight red card for his reckless lunge.
Cosgrove clearly left the ground and wasn’t in control of the challenge on Ajer. It seemed over-aggressive at the time, and replays don’t help him much either. Still, it’s caused a bit of stir from fans of other clubs and traditionalists who feel the challenge would’ve been fine back in the day.
It’s fair to say these Celtic fans aren’t jumping on that train of thought, however. Reacting to the tackle on social media, here’s what some in our fanbase had to say:
https://twitter.com/paperbhoy/status/1208424997183803392
https://twitter.com/tirnaog09/status/1208665392283111425
https://twitter.com/bcondie92/status/1208537304798826496
https://twitter.com/hAllmhurin1/status/1208438686192455680
Cosgrove let himself down in a generally poor performance
The red card was poor from Cosgrove, but it pretty much summed his performance up on the day. Yes he did manage to plant a header in to make it 1-1 heading into half-time, but that covers his full contribution.
Yet again, he was largely snuffed out by Christopher Jullien and Ajer. He barely caused any trouble, and didn’t manage to hold the ball up whatsoever and relieve Aberdeen of pressure. It’s too easy to point at his goal and pretend he had a good game. He was seriously outclassed for the majority of it.
His frustrations then must’ve boiled over with that challenge on Ajer. It’ll be a debate we hear much about all week, but if you compare it to the Ryan Porteous challenge on Borna Barisic on Friday night, then this also has to be a sending off.
You can argue that Cosgrove only went in with one boot, but his feet leave the ground. If he had slid along the grass and took the ball just as strongly, you couldn’t say it’s a red. After all, he would’ve been in control of his tackle. But that wasn’t the case, and anyone moaning about it is just looking for an excuse.
It wouldn’t have changed the game anyway. If we’re being honest with ourselves, Celtic were always strolling to victory after that Edouard goal.
Cosgrove and Aberdeen will probably do their best to appeal it, but if this gets overturned it’ll be a huge surprise.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
