Contrary to popular belief yesterday, the result was not inevitable when Nir Bitton was sent off for Celtic yesterday.
The scoreline was 0-0 at the time and with just over 25 minutes to play. Rangers had barely troubled Vasilis Barkas and barely did so even after the sending off.
But in order for us to keep ourselves in the game and continue to be a threat, the right subs needed made.
You could understand Shane Duffy coming on. Celtic needed another centre-back to cover for Bitton’s departure. You could also see the logic in Scott Brown coming on for Ismaila Soro. The Ivorian was on a booking and his aggression needed to be toned down. Another red and it was certainly all over.
But the one that gets to me yesterday was the decision to bring on Mohamed Elyounoussi for David Turnbull. I wasn’t furious that Turnbull came off. Quite the opposite. I thought he was tiring as was getting a touch more sloppy in the second 45. Making that decision looked to be a shrewd one to keep things fresh for the final half hour. Especially with the amount of running that was ahead of us.
However, why on earth Elyounoussi was brought on whilst Mikey Johnston was left out altogether was bemusing. I’m not saying that Johnston would’ve come on and netted a winner. That would be premature nonsense.
But Celtic needed good ball-carriers when they were down to 10 men. There is nobody with quicker feet than Johnston in the Parkhead ranks. If ever there was a player who could’ve carried the ball in tight situations it was him.
Celtic boss didn’t help himself in leaving Johnston out
It’s not as if Mikey was injured either. Lennon never confirmed anything of the sort in the build-up.
Lennon will likely point to Elyounoussi’s two major chances after he came on of course. The Norwegian saw a half-volley dip just over the crossbar before he had a glorious late chance to play Odsonne Edouard in during stoppage time. But he didn’t manage to pull either opportunity off.
James Tavernier was one of several Rangers players who were tiring the longer the second half went on. For him to see the much slower and less creative Elyounoussi will have been a huge relief for him.
If he had looked over to the touchline and saw Johnston coming on, it would’ve been a different ball-game. He would’ve known that he would have to sit deep. Even then there were no guarantees he was going to be quick enough to deal with Mikey.
I said last week that Lennon should’ve isolated Tavernier with Johnston for the final 30 minutes of this one. Especially given how ropey the Englishman is when defending one-v-ones.
Yes, Celtic got up the pitch on several occasions after the sending off, but we needed a game-changer. A player who could go past Rangers defenders and get them bamboozled. That sub was Johnston, yet he never made the squad yesterday. That’s despite appearing in four of our last five domestic matches before yesterday (Transfermarkt).
Again, there were no guarantees we were taking anything from the game with Mikey in there. Let’s nip that in the bud. But it seemed the obvious sub, and Celtic’s attacks suffered from a lack of pace in the closing stages.
In other news, I’ve taken a look at four major recent changes that will likely spare Lennon from the sack.
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