Hearts crash as Celtic run rampant
Jamie MacDonald
HAD Hearts been awarded their second-minute goal, the context of this game would certainly have been different.
Whether the final outcome would have changed is highly unlikely. Celtic were simply untouchable and, on this evidence, will not be stopped in their pursuit of the Scottish Premier League title.
Neil Lennon labelled his team’s performance “devastating” while acknowledging the key players Hearts were missing on the night, such as Marian Kello, David Templeton and Ian Black. However, those three could have played and Celtic would still not have been halted.
Hearts rightly harboured a sense of injustice after Stephen Elliott’s second minute header clearly bounced over the goal line with no goal given. Thereafter, they were simply swatted aside by a rampant Celtic side on their way to a record 16th consecutive victory in all competitions. It was their 13th in succession in the league.
Goals from Scott Brown, Victor Wanyama and Joe Ledley had the visitors 3-0 ahead at half-time, with Gary Hooper completing the scoring after the interval.
Paulo Sergio accepted responsibility for the defeat, the Hearts manager perhaps reflecting on the unusual 3-4-3 formation he employed. It did not work, there was no disguising it, but Celtic gave the impression that nothing would have stifled them in any case. The first half in particular was a display no team in Scotland could have lived with.
“What do you want me to say? I’m just going to say we have been very unlucky in the last three games,” said Sergio. “The referee hasn’t seen the goal today. We didn’t get a penalty in Inverness or on Sunday (against St Johnstone). At the moment, we have no luck it seems. I don’t want to take any credit off Celtic’s win. They are a strong team. I have to remember we had a strong start, our strategy worked, we scored, and Celtic got lucky because only the referee hasn’t seen a goal.
“My players lost focus and concentration and Celtic scored. We tried to get back into the game and Celtic scored again, Samaras took a bad touch but it worked. We push harder and lost another counter-attack goal. Then it’s 3-0 and the game is over. Celtic are a strong team. We tried to change but the heads went down. That should not happen. After the first ten minutes of the second half I decided to rest some players and give others more minutes to keep them sharp, because it was too easy for Celtic.”
Injury denied Hearts the services of Templeton and suspension precluded Black, while Rudi Skacel was relegated to the substitutes’ bench. Kello’s exclusion continued, with Danny Grainger, Andy Driver and Mehdi Taouil returning to the starting line-up.
As expected, the game started at a frantic pace. Hearts had the ball over the line inside two minutes when Driver’s corner was redirected across goal by Andy Webster for Elliott to nod goalwards. The ball struck Ledley and bounced down behind the line and up before Celtic’s goalkeeper, Fraser Forster, clawed it away. Television pictures proved the ball crossed the line but Andy Tait, the Main Stand assistant referee, did not raise his flag to signal a goal.
Sergio felt the ball struck Ledley on the arm and he was therefore expecting a penalty if the goal was not to be awarded. “I’ve seen the pictures so I know it was a goal, but I could only see the ball bounce and my players celebrate. I saw a handball, a penalty, but nothing happened.”
It took just 33 seconds for Celtic to ruthlessly exploit Hearts’ misfortune. Sergio and his technical team were still protesting about the goal they were denied when James Forrest’s cross rebounded off Georgios Samaras into Brown’s path, and the Scotland midfielder produced an emphatic first-time finish beyond Jamie MacDonald.
Before 20 minutes had passed, Celtic had doubled their advantage. Charlie Mulgrew’s corner was cleared by Marius Zaliukas, returned by Forrest and, after a ricochet, Wanyama reacted first to blast the ball high into the Hearts net. There might have been a third when Zaliukas scuffed Mulgrew’s cross and the ball bounced perilously close to the goal before dropping behind for a corner.
At that stage Celtic were totally dominant and it was no surprise when they did score for a third time on 31 minutes. Not for the first time this season, Zaliukas was to blame for conceding possession which led to a goal being lost. He gifted the ball to Brown under no pressure, the midfielder fed Hooper and eventually the ball reached Samaras. The Greek forward evaded Ryan McGowan’s challenge to clip a precise cross to the back post where Ledley headed into an empty net.
The second half began with Hearts looking more purposeful, however Ledley’s shot rebounded off the post and struck Grainger before going behind on the hour mark. The resultant corner was delivered by Mulgrew, headed downwards by Wanyama and converted by Hooper from close range.
Four-nil did not flatter Celtic and MacDonald prevented a fifth with an impressive save from Samaras’ long-range drive. The visitors saw out the game comfortably under very little pressure from Hearts, who were resigned to being second best on the night.
“We could have scored the early goal and lost 6-1,” admitted Sergio. “I can’t say we would win if the goal was allowed but you have to agree the game is different and harder for Celtic if they are behind. My goalie made only one save but they scored four, that is how a big team plays. I have to say, for everybody, this defeat is my responsibility.”
Lennon felt last night’s display was Celtic’s finest at Tynecastle during his tenure. “It was probably the best in my time as manager,” he said. “I thought we were devastating, powerful, quick on the counter-attack and the intensity and quality of the play was exceptional. There is a long way to go but the players are growing and that was a big test for us. I feel for Hearts a bit because they lost some big players before the game, but they caught us on a good night.”
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Comments
There are 24 comments to this article
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Portsmouth 657
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 02:01 PM23# Not to Mention- McManus Dive and Forsters big jessie impersonation to get a Hearts player booked.
donald marr
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 09:49 AMIt says a lot about the quality of the Celtic players characters that they did not come clean to the referee.
columbo
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 09:35 AMwe slip and slide, and we fall in love, and I just cant seem to get enough of, ..................................., 2 Scottish clubs, 2 dubious owners, both in danger of going bust, sure there is something else in common with them but maybe someone else can remind me
Portsmouth 657
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 09:03 AMMore chance of hibs staying in the league than that referee giving hearts a goal.
Johnny Jambo
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 08:17 AM#9 Graeme H - MOST is not enough and whilst I totally agree with you about the Sky pictures that is not goosd enough the officials need to have that view and they were either unsighted in the case of the Linesman or in the wrong position, ie not in line with the ball and the goal line so could not give the goal based on a hunch that it may have been over the line, why don;t we just accept we were well and truly beaten by the better team and stop blaming others.
Johnny Jambo
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 08:14 AMAll those who say "If Hearts had been awarded that "goal" things would have been different, are of course absolutely right it would ahve been Hearts 1 Cetic whatever, so competely different. But two things, 1. The officials had a difficult job to see it and 2. Celtic were a very good side and overran a very poor Hearts team. Is it not time we started to look at things from the officals point of view, yes they make mistakes but this was not a mistake they just couldn't see it IMO. Get your maroon tinted glasses off and look more objectively at the situation. I am a Jambo and have been for a long time and suffer disapointment the same as the rest but we were totally outplayed and in general the officials had a reasonable game so we have no one to blame but ourselves, the players should be professional enough to get over the early diapointment, after all they still had a full games worth of time to get another goal or more.
Black Five
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 07:13 AMAnyone who did not see the ball over the line and bouncing further before the goalie clawed it away must need a white stick !!! It did alter the whole course of play and result may have been different . However what it did show was how bad Hearts are .There are a lot of people out there who think they`re better than they are .I saw Webster as the only man with a clue .Let`s name the gulty and who for me are well below the standard we would expect of a Hearts player .We`ll start with Cpt .Calamity .He`s a disaster waiting to happen .Time he was off to the circus where he belongs .Backies .Hamill and Grainger flatter to decieve .Neither are remotely in class of Wallace who the bears stole .Mid field was rubbish .Taoul runs about with wee deft flicks and again flatters to decieve .His actual contribution is nil .Not in class of Rudi and how Sergio had him out beggars belief .Black was sorely missed .Elliot tries but for me is too small and not reallly the real deal .Another I feel the Jury`s out on is our goalie .I`ll let him off for now till he gets a decent run but Kello is miles ahead .I just have a doubt that Hearts are too big for him .More suited to a lower premier or 1st Div .Time will tell . So at end of day robbed again by refs but in some way a blessing in disguise as a reality check .
pfhs77
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 11:20 PMSmall Picture Caption: 'Hands up what Hearts player wants paid this week' Just a wee bit of fun lads....give the banter....to take the banter! Hearts were outplayed by Celtic and to convince yourselves that the goal standing would have changed the game but sorry they still would have pumped at least the 3 in. Cant quite believe Zaliukas is on 17k a week! HICARAMBA!
ahmnaedaftyahmajambo
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 10:24 PM@9+11 YOUR AN ARISHOLE BLINDED BY YOUR TEAMS MEDIOCRE ATTEMPTS TO HANG ON THE COAT TAILS OF THE BIGOT BROS HMFC EDINBURGHS BIG TEAM XXXX
ahmnaedaftyahmajambo
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 10:20 PMPENDING MOD WTF DOESNT THIS CABBAGE PAPER LIKE THE TRUTH
ahmnaedaftyahmajambo
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 10:19 PMComment removed by moderator
zemmam
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 05:12 PMHa Ha Ha Ha - In Vlad we trust.
John H
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 04:23 PM4 Facts only. No goal in the Derby disallowed but one should have been. How standing in front of the keeper is not interfering with play is beyond belief and a case of violent conduct that was seen by the ref but went unpunished until the compliance officer stepped in meant that day your lot received the breaks and not for the first time with cheat CT.
GraemeH
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 03:57 PMDragonlord. Oh dear. So if Andy Walker or Craig Burley says its a goal we should always believe him? I have no idea what point you are trying to make over the linesman guessing the ball did not cross the line. I have no doubt that if he had seen the all of the ball cross all of the line he would have given a goal. Yes, football is about opinions. But for key decisions referees have no "benefit of the doubt". If they are unsure they cannot give the decision. Oh, and why would it be a penalty and red card? Ledley made no attempt to play the ball with his hand - it hit off his hip if anything.
Dragonlord
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 03:02 PM9# I thik if you listen to the TV commentators you would know that was a clear goal. If I remember correctly one even stated something like if the linesman isn't sure he can't guess. So it;'s OK for him to guess it didn't cross the line then? The ball crossed the line and even IF you think it didn't then why was a penalty and red card not given?
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