Celtic’s win against Kilmarnock at Parkhead showed the supporters just how Brendan Rodgers wants to play football at the club.
It was fast, attacking, possession-based and free-flowing football that carved open the SPFL strugglers and it was football that the fans had seen some glimpses of.
It was great to watch. But that wasn’t what Kenny Miller was talking about after the win. The former Rangers striker is still seething that Luis Palma‘s goal was allowed to stand as he believes the referee missed a blatant offside in the lead up to the goal.
Miller said [Clyde SSB], “So my question about the [offside] rule is, what’s Stewart Findlay meant to do? Not play the ball?
“But then it [the Palma pass] might not actually be for him [Reo Hatate], it might be for someone else, so he lets it go and somebody gets it, who is onside and scores.
“He has to play the ball. Is it deliberate? Absolutely, but Hatate is a yard away from him. He’s passing the ball out the pitch away from the danger or maybe out for a corner.
“It hits the player and goes straight to the Celtic player [Palma] who scores. They’ve got to look at the rule and make it really, really clear because that goal stands because of the rule. But he was a direct influence on the goal.
“It’s just ridiculous. He’s [Hatate] offside. The defender gets punished in that situation by getting the clearance wrong.”
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The point Kenny Miller is missing about the Celtic goal
There has been a lot of too-ing and fro-ing over this goal all week. And I’ll be honest, I was surprised that the goal wasn’t given offside. After all, VAR has a knack of going against Celtic since its introduction.
However, the point Miller is missing is this. Aside from the Kilmarnock player gifting possession to Celtic, the ball Palma hit was played off Hatate. The Celtic midfielder made no attempt to take it. In fact, he was actively trying to get out of the way of it.
That’s why the goal was given. Hatate wasn’t interfering with play and the ball was played off a Kilmarnock defender.
The long and short of it is this. Celtic were absolutely dominant over Kilmarnock. The 3-1 scoreline flattered the Ayrshire side as it could have easily been six or seven.
The Palma goal aside, Celtic deserved the three points. Nothing less. And whilst Miller continues to moan about a perfectly legitimate goal, Brendan Rodgers‘ men sit comfortably at the top of the league table.
In other news, Paul Lambert says Celtic have a player that’s so good he could ‘play with his suit on’