BBC pundit James McFadden has claimed that Celtic “deserved” to take a point at Livingston and highlighted our ability to break teams down.
Celtic showed real character at the Tony Macaroni Arena last night. Neil Lennon’s men were 2-1 down with moments to go after big errors from Fraser Forster and Christopher Jullien. The normally reliable duo should’ve dealt with both moments better as they threatened to ruin our unbeaten domestic run in 2020.
However, Tom Rogic stepped up to slot Celtic 13 points clear at the top of the Premiership with only nine games remaining. It came after a second half of pressure that didn’t result in too many efforts flying in on the Livi goal.
But speaking via the BBC’s live text coverage of the game (04/03, 22:05), McFadden believes the draw was fully merited:
“Celtic weren’t breathtaking in terms of creating chances, but they wore Livi down and deserved to get back into the game for the speed and tempo and keeping up the pressure.”
McFadden makes a key point
McFadden actually makes an interesting point here that’s even made me rethink my own summary of the game.
It’s easy to watch us struggle to break down teams and think we aren’t playing well. However, you also have to take into account how mentally draining it is for the opposition.
Think of how often Celtic were switching the play tonight and moving the Livingston defence around. Yes, Gary Holt’s side headed clear almost everything that came into their penalty area. However, with the amount of off-ball running they had to do, the Hoops must’ve mentally been breaking them down.
Then, right at the death, a fine run by Odsonne Edouard and cut-back to Rogic was enough to secure us a point. Would that move have cut Livi open at the start of the second-half? It’s highly doubtful.
If you take into account how much we had Livingston penned in and the speed with which we moved the ball, you can understand the view that we deserved something at least. But the fact is it was far too close for comfort, and we were nowhere near at our best.
Yet can you really argue? Dropping points isn’t anywhere near the disaster elsewhere in Europe that it is in Scotland. Neil Lennon will surely just be elated to extend the lead at the top, and so he should be. It wasn’t vintage Celtic, but in a title-race, all that matters is the points gap. On that front, it was a good night for us.
Do you think there’s something in McFadden’s assertion? Do Celtic mentally wear teams down before they strike? Give us your verdict in the discussion forum below.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
