There was something so special about what Celtic managed to do against Dundee United yesterday.
When Nir Bitton was sent off with around 10 minutes to go, it looked like the game was dead. It looked as though our chances of getting 3 points were all but over. However, instead, Liel Abada popped up with a last-gasp goal to grab a vital 3 points.
Celtic fans could’ve been forgiven for also feeling a bit of déjà vu. After all, it hadn’t been the first time this season we had been down to 10 men before going on to bag a late winner.
Indeed, it was a carbon copy of our 2-1 win at Ross County back in mid-December. In that one, Carl Starfelt was given a second yellow with just over 10 minutes to go. A similar time in the match and a similar case of the opposition being given a huge boost for the closing stages.
However, instead, Anthony Ralston nodded home in the 97th-minute to grab what was, again, another colossal 3 points for the club. That’s 4 points gained from positions in which we were playing against determined opposition with a man down.
Let’s compare that to last season. Celtic were given 3 sendings off all campaign. 2 came in differing games against Rangers at Ibrox. We went on to lose both 1-0 and 4-1 respectively. The only other was a sending-off for Scott Brown in a 2-2 draw against Livingston back in January 2021. Just like the red cards in the Premiership this term, we had around 10 minutes or so in that game to nick the points. We failed to do so.
Ange Postecoglou has instilled some extra fight into this Celtic team
It’s not just the fact that Celtic have gone on to win these games against Ross County and Dundee United. As much as that symbolises the character instilled, it’s just a byproduct of it. Even the nature of how both games panned out after the sendings off tell its own story too.
After the red card for Nir yesterday, did you honestly feel any danger? Did you think United looked likely to create on the counter? Did they look like troubling Joe Hart and heading back to Tayside with an unlikely 3 points? Absolutely not. They could barely get the ball off of Celtic, and it continued to be seige after seige towards the Dundee United goal.
It was the same in Dingwall too. After going a man down, Postecoglou’s men appeared to find some inner steel to grip a hold of the game. Perhaps it’s down to the dominance Celtic’s midfield continued to have on the game. But even so, it only added fuel to what had previously looked like a Celtic side that was going to drop points.
We’re not saying that ideally we lose a man every game in which we’re not playing well. We certainly don’t want to make a habit of going a man down and doing things the hard way. But it’s reassuring for supporters to know that a red card doesn’t automatically mean dropped points like it did last season.
Ange doesn’t panic and neither does his team. They know they have the quality even at 11 vs 10 to get the goal we need to win the game. We have too much quality for teams in Scotland to cope with us if we have the right mindset.
That showed against United yesterday and it showed in Dingwall last month too. Hopefully, of course, we don’t need to see too many more examples in the coming weeks!
In other news, Nir Bitton discusses his experiences of leading a pre-match Celtic huddle; lauds Callum McGregor
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