Everyone connected with Celtic will be keen to park the fallout from our defeat at Tynecastle last weekend as the Bhoys focus on trying to claim a domestic double.
The Scottish FA has charged Brendan Rodgers for his comments on the officials after dubious decisions went against Hyunjun Yang and Tomoki Iwata in the controversial loss.
The Irishman’s official hearing won’t take place until later this month, something he has vowed to fight ‘vigorously’ with the help of the club.
Rodgers stated: “My job is to defend the team in the club and that’s what we’ll do, we’ll defend it vigorously. When the date comes, we’ll go from there.”
Due to Yang’s dismissal, Celtic had to play out the majority of the affair against Heart of Midlothian with ten men, adding another layer of difficulty to one of the toughest fixtures in the Scottish Premiership calendar.
Despite outscoring the hosts on Expected Goals and big chances created with a man down, the Hoops weren’t able to cut through Steven Naismith’s outfit and subsequently missed the opportunity to leapfrog Rangers in the league standings.
Nevertheless, the dust has now settled on recent events, affording Celtic some breathing space to prepare for our Scottish Cup tie against Livingston this afternoon.
Liam Scales says Celtic learned important lessons at Tynecastle
Republic of Ireland international Liam Scales has been a mainstay under Rodgers and has indicated his side have learned some lessons from their defeat against Heart of Midlothian.
Speaking ahead of the Bhoys’ clash against Livingston, the former Aberdeen loanee highlighted the battling qualities and resilience required after receiving a red card and how he and his teammates can use that experience to adapt in future scenarios.
He stated [Cited via The Celtic Way]: “Looking back on that game, the only thing we can do is accept that we’re down to 10 men and play a certain way to win with the 10 men.
“That’s what we’ve worked on, so we’ve learned a lot from it, definitely.”
Celtic will now be focused on their important run of fixtures
There haven’t been many weeks that have felt longer than this one; however, defeating Livingston to enter the hat for the Scottish Cup semi-final draw would be an excellent way to round off a chaotic few days.
St Johnstone travel to Parkhead next weekend as we resume our title challenge before the international break, which will offer some time to reflect ahead of the final stretch of the season.
Celtic are in sink-or-swim territory, and it is vital we set ourselves up nicely for the business end of the campaign by ensuring our next two matches yield positive outcomes.
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