The Celtic manager has definitely changed his stance from his early call against Rangers, as he risks an SFA charge for remarks he made regarding VAR.
When Rangers forward Cyriel Dessers robbed faltering Celtic defender Gustaf Lagerbielke back in September of last year, refereeing technology saved his blushes.
The massive Nigerian forward then found Kemar Roofe, who scored the game’s first goal and threw a boisterous Ibrox into a frenzy before the strike was disallowed by VAR.
When you consider that the Celtic defender appeared to catch the Rangers striker before tumbling after being outmuscled to the ball, it is a pretty amazing play.
Huge cheers from Rangers fans for now-former manager Michael Beale were heard during the pivotal time in the game, which saw Celtic win 1-0.
After Celtic’s 2-0 loss to Hearts, Brendan Rodgers was a little less irrational in his remarks about the referees and a little more forgiving of them.
Rodgers said to BBC Sport following the game, “Rangers will probably say it was never a foul.” “I believe that the referees obviously saw it that way because there were enough officials to examine it.”
This stands in stark contrast to the statements made by the Celtic manager following the two instances in which VAR interfered against Hearts, resulting in the disputed handball penalty award for Hearts and Yang’s now-upheld red card.
Playing the classic “for the good of the game” card, the Celtic manager called the referees “incompetent” and went on to say that football is now being refereed “off the pitch.”
Brendan, please save us from the holier-than-thou rhetoric.
VAR can only be a significant issue when rulings go against Celtic, but fortunately, the football gods have a way of balancing these things out over the course of a season.
This is not to argue that the referee erred in making these rulings against Celtic, but it does imply that you cannot be taken seriously if you can justify a point of concern in one area but not another.
That kind of biased perception is undoubtedly a part of being a fan, but as for the managers, there’s a good reason Brendan Rodgers might be seated in the stands when his team plays Rangers next month.
The Celtic manager has been accused of “dog-whistling” to pro-Rangers conspiracies in order to divert attention from his own failings, so it’s possible that the aforementioned footballing karma is also in full force.
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