Red card's don't turn matches- performances do

Celtic's convincing 4-1 win over St Johnstone wasn't due to the red card for Graham Gartland- it was caused by the emphatic second half display from Tony Mowbray's side.

It's easy to point to Gartland's sending off as the turning point in the match but every supporter has despaired as they watch their side fail to take advantage against ten men.

Equally we have all rejoiced at how our team has found that extra something despite being a man short to battle their way to victory.

There are examples all over the game of ten men winning with the most recent coming in the Milan derby when Inter Milan played for over an hour with ten men before increasing their lead then being reduced to nine men in injury time.

Inter had set the early pace but showed a 'dogs of war' attitude to dig in and keep Milan at bay with the effect of David Beckham and Ronaldinho nullified by great marking.

Without making any direct comparisons St Johnstone had no answer to the wide play of Paddy McCourt and Aiden McGeady who stretched the Perth defence creating the openings that Celtic eventually capitalised from.

The major concern for Celtic is that they seem to need to create five or six chances for every goal that they score.

Georgios Samaras was the main culprit yesterday missing two 'bread and butter' chances before burying a great volley to put Celtic in front.

The Greek striker was then booked for celebrating amongst the same supporters who had been cursing him earlier after over running the ball in the penalty area.

While Celtic won the match there was again some highly debatable refereeing from Willie Collum, another referee benefitting from being personally groomed by Hugh Dallas.

Collum performs with all the dramatics of the young Dallas in the days before the man from Bonkle became the most important 'personality' in Scottish football.

Collum had two borderline penalty incidents in yesterday's game and you wouldn't need to be Mystic Meg to guess which way the decisions went.

There was minimal contact in the penalty box in the 11th minute as Steven Milne tangled with Darren O'Dea and Glenn Loovens.

That was enough to have the excitable Collum off and running to the penalty spot but midway through the second half he failed to spot a trip on Paddy McCourt from Gary Irvine as the Celtic substitute darted into the penalty box.

St Johnstone's penalty claim was weaker than the foul on Marco Fortune by Falkirk's Steven McLean last week, one was given one wasn't.

Those type of marginal decisions have hammered Celtic over the last few months but with the kitchen sink, plus Paul McGowan, being thrown at St Johnstone there was no denying the hoops as they cut Rangers lead down to a more manageable seven points.

Four classic goals all had their own magic about them as the resilience of the St Johnstone defence and inspired goalkeeper Graham Smith was worn down.

Whether the game is a turn around in Celtic's Fortune's (ouch) for the season remains to be seen with games against Hibs, Hamilton and Kilmarnock coming up within seven days.

Three wins in those games will reduce Rangers lead further and just as importantly give the squad a surge of belief and confidence.

With Jos Hooiveld poised for his debut and Morten Rasmussen about to sign from Brondby January could turn into a significant month as Mowbray puts his stamp on the side.

Just as they did at the Wembley Cup against Spurs and in the Co-Operative Cup at Falkirk Celtic's back up players showed that they are upto the mark.

Missing for a variety of reasons yesterday was the following useful looking XI: Lucas Zaluska; Mark Wilson, Stephen McManus, Jos Hooiveld, Danny Fox; Scott Brown, Landry N'Guemo, Ki Sung Yeung, Shaun Maloney; Kki Mizuno, Scott McDonald

Paddy preparing for the ultimate highlight

Paddy McCourt is desperate to prove that he can be a big game Celt.

Two wonder goals in four days has transformed the image of the former Derry City star from enigma to contender.

No one has ever been in any doubt about the 25-year-old's ability, a scan through YouTube quickly uncovers a catalogue of wonderful solo efforts that has left defenders chasing shadows and scratching their heads.

Until Wednesday at Falkirk the venues had all been LOI grounds with McCourt playing for Derry City or Shamrock Rovers or from last season's Celtic reserve side.

Almost as effortlessly as he slips past defenders McCourt has transformed his party pieces into the Celtic first team to leave Tony Mowbray with some major decisions to make over the next couple of games.

A fit again Aiden McGeady will stroll into the Celtic side without question. Filling the other places will be more of a dilemma with McCourt and McGinn competing with Shaun Maloney for a place giving the manager the option to play Maloney as a striker.

CENTRE STAGE

This week's matches against Rapid Vienna and Rangers will go a long way towards shaping Celtic's season with McCourt hoping to swap last season's cameo roles for centre stage.

He said: “I hope that there's more to come for me. I don't want to come in, score two goals in two games then not be seen again for six weeks.

“Without a doubt, it would be the ultimate highlight for me to play against Rangers. At the moment it's only one game at a time, my progress has been good over the last few weeks and hopefully I can kick on again.

“I watched all of the Celtic-Rangers games last season as a supporter. It was good to go and watch them but it would be nothing like pulling a shirt on and playing in one and hopefully getting the right result.

AMAZING

“Scoring my first goal at Falkirk was a dream come true. I sat up that night remembering as a young boy how I'd dream of doing that for Celtic. For it to happen was amazing.

“I hope to be playing every week but at the minute the manager has told me that there are wee things that I need to improve on.

“There's a big European game on Thursday, hopefully I can do well in that match then I can look at the game against Rangers.

“It's the managers decision, if he thinks that I'm ready to start at Ibrox then so be it. If he doesn't then I'll respect his decision, we all trust in him and hopefully he'll make the right decision.”

The frenzy of the Rapid rematch and a game against Rangers aren't for the faint hearted.

FORMULATE

Thoughts about the team to face Rangers on Sunday won't begin to formulate for the Celtic boss until his players clock in for training on Friday morning.

The emergence of McCourt and McGinn as first team contenders is a welcome boost for the squad, especially with Marc-Antoine Fortune ruled out with injury.

If the 'Derry Diego', as I was texted on Saturday afternoon, adds to his goal tally over the next two games then some exciting chapters in the Paddy McCourt story are about to begin.

Evening Herald article

Paddy McCourt moves up a level

The mystery of Paddy McCourt was opened up to a wider audience last night as the former Derry City man scored his first top-team goal for Celtic.

Fittingly it was his signature goal, drifting clear of chasing defenders then finishing the run with a simple flick of his foot to loft the ball out of reach of the despairing goalkeeper.

BBC highlights from Falkirk

That type of goal was a regular feature in Celtic TV's goal of the month as McCourt lit up reserve fixtures with his special gift.

A search around YouTube will bring to life a number of memorable solo efforts.

Fleeting first team appearances have helped add to the 'legend' of McCourt as he hugs the ball finding time in the game whilst others around him run faster and faster.

IDENTICAL

Gordon Strachan and Tony Mowbray have made almost identical comments about McCourt, the ability is not in question but there have been plenty of comments questioning his fitness, discipline and ability to become a 'team-man'.

After his goal at Falkirk Tony Mowbray said: "We know what Pat can do, at Wembley against Spurs he did something very similar but missed the target. Tonight he scored and he's more than capable of doing things like that, we see it every day in training.

"If football was only about your dribbling ability Pat would play every week, only probably McGeady can dribble like McCourt.

"There's more to the game than just dribbling and doing wonderful things. Pat has got plenty of things that he needs to add to his game to be a regular in the side."

NAKAMURA

It's probably too far fetched to compare McCourt with the departed Shunsuke Nakamura but the departed Japanese star hardly had the complete game.

The qualities that Mowbray would like to add to McCourt's game are similar to those demanded of Nakamura who enjoyed great success without having a turn of pace or being particularly industrious.

What Nakamura did have was time. Time on the ball, time to pass, time to hold onto the ball and vision to see passes beyond the capabilities of most.

There's no doubt that Nakamura was a luxury player. At Celtic, for four years, a team was fitted around him to give him scope to exercise his talents and influence games knowing full well that tracking back and work rate would never be part of Naka's game.

With transfer funds getting tighter and tighter Mowbray has to get the maximum from his squad, if McCourt can have anything like the influence on Celtic that Nakamura had then everyone will be happy.

PREMIERSHIP

McCourt isn't a stranger to Mowbray, with West Brom promoted to the Premiership he attempted to take McCourt from Derry to the Hawthorns.

If the then West Brom boss felt that McCourt could play in the Premiership then he can surely accommodate him in a Celtic side likely to dominate most of their domestic matches.

Mowbray added: "I tried to buy him for West Brom, Celtic jumped in at the last minute and prised him away from us.

"He has to work on the other side of the game when we don't have possession. He has to work hard on his fitness levels, concentration, discipline but when he has the ball you wait for him to do something brilliant."

AGATHE

Tracking back has never really been McCourt's thing but an element of that has been added to his game. Didier Agathe adapted his game similarly to such an extent that he was re-invented as a right back rather than a right winger.

Without the burst of pace that is normally expected of wingers McCourt has been tried in a more central role on a few occasions by Mowbray as he attempts to match the teams requirements to the special skills of the 25-year-old.

At Celtic no allowances are given, the demands are constant with no margin for error. A fixture list that includes Rapid Vienna and Rangers over the next ten days won't cut any slack.

McCourt is now at the stage where it's now or never for his Celtic career, if he continues to make an impact over the next fortnight some exciting times lie ahead, in front of audiences much larger than the diehards that followed last seasons reserve team adventures.

STATS STATS STATS STATS STATS STATS STATS

Without getting as stat obsessed as the BBC's Paul Mitchell, the Celtic team that beat Falkirk last night contained five former Dundee United players.

I've got better things to do with my time than trawl through Rothman Yearbooks or anything else but I'd be amazed if Celtic have ever fielded a team containing so many players brought from the same club.

Celtic team at Falkirk: Zaluska; Caddis, Caldwell, McManus, Wilson; Flood, Crosas, Robson, McCourt; McDonald, Killen.

Rapid red herring

Falkirk 0-4 Celtic match report

Guilleme Beuzelin on trial at Celtic

Former Hibs midfielder Guilleme Beuzelin made a surprise appearance for Celtic in tonight's 1-0 win over Cork City.

The French midfielder was released by Coventry City at the end of last season and had been offered training facilities by Tony Mowbray.

That situation has clearly moved on with Beuzelin making an appearance for Celtic in a side managed by Neil Lennon and Danny McGrain.

Beuzelin was one of Mowbray's first signing's as manager of Hibs and was a key part of that Hibs side helping to bring through Scott Brown, Kevin Thompson and others.

As a free agent the 30-year-old is able to sign for a club outwith the transfer window and has clearly made an impression on Mowbray.

Celtic's midfield options have been reduced by the departures of Shunsuke Nakamura, Paul Hartley, Massimo Donati and Simon Ferry with only Landry N'Guemo being brought in although Chinese skipper Zheng Zhi has also been signed by the club.

On the park Paddy McCourt scored the only goal of the match with a spectacular first half solo effort after receiving a short corner from Graham Carey.

The fixture also marked the return from injury of Barry Robson but it will be the appearance of Beuzelin in a Celtic jersey that will be the main talking point from Celtic's trip to Cork.

Celtic XI: Dominic Cervi, Mark Wilson, Ryan Conroy, Declan Gallagher, Josh Thompson, Marc Crosas, Paddy McCourt, Barry Robson, Koki Mizuno, Paul McGowan, Graham Carey

Subs: Anton Kurakins ( Paul McGowan, 29), Jason Marr (Josh Thompson, 46), Guilleme Beuzelin (Marc Crosas, 46), Luca Santonocito (Koki Mizuno, 76), Daniele Giordano (Dominic Cervi, 82), Kristanis Vallers (Declan Gallagher, 82)

The great Liam Miller mystery