Stephen McManus - Conduct Unbecoming

N'Guemo should not be offered a perm contract and I've been saying that all season, not just a reaction to last night.

How we couldnt put the ball in the net was unbelievable. I dont like the terms luck and bad luck because for me, to use them as a legit excuse in sport or life is looser talk.

 

For those who mentioned this thread making Stephen McManus a scapegoat I just want to put on record that that is not why I started the thread. I don't blame Stephen McManus for us losing last night!

If I was going to 'scapegoat' anybody for last night's disaster I would scapegoat Georgios Samaras. The chances he missed last night were sitters and the sight of him starting to run off with his hand raised in celebration when the ball didn't even go in the net would have been laughable if it wasn't so annoying and sad.

I just think that the tackle Stephen McManus made last night was SO bad that it deserved highlighting and merited discussion. I still believe he should make an apology to Andrew Driver as when you watch it again in slow motion it is closer to an assault than a football tackle. Not the sort of thing I want or expect from a Celtic captain. He deserved his red card and I hope he feels deeply embarassed today about what he did.

 

I have to repeat myself here, maybe you read me already, I dont know

Bad Tackle? YES
Professional foul? YES
Warrant a red card? YES
Did use two feet? No
Did he leave his feet in the tackle? No
Did he tackle above his shin guard? No
Was Driver injured? No

Mick knew he was beaten for pace and took him down. It took a consultation with a linesman to get it upgraded to a red card. No way, imo, is that tackle an assault or intent to injure the player. If he wanted to be malicious he would have went in with two feet and off his feet, he did neither.

 

Well I thought it was an exceptionally bad challenge. Worse than the average bad tackle you'll see imo.

Anyway, the bolded bit, that says more about the incompetence of the referee than anything else. I'm glad Mick got the red card as it would have been laughable if he'd got away with a yellow card for that.

 

tackle was terrible...simple as.

 

It was a disgrace no doubt about it and he fully deserved his red card. You could clearly see as he approached he had no intention of doing anything other then taking Driver out.

For me the worst part is that we still had about 90 seconds left in the game and at that point we still were getting balls into Hearts box so basically due to his selfishness he denied us at least one last opportunity to get a goal.

There are times when a player gets a red card and you stand up for your player but there is no defending what McManus did last night.

 

Thought he won the ball tbh

 

He got booked. What I really remember was the assassin look in Hartleys eyes lol. It was 100% calculated to shake Feguson up badly and worked.

 

Tired, crap, stupid and frustrated tackle?

Yes.

Reckless? Assault?

Get a grip.

If he'd done it at 1-0 up in injury time instead of down we'd all be on here saying it was a 'clever foul' and he 'took one for the team' and if he'd let driver speed away and score we woulda been saying he should have taken him out.

Mick cant win with certain fans and never will.

 

Aye Driver's left ball

 

Assasin look? C'mon to * Gunt, thats a bit dramatic.
Did he look like this?

 

Just seen the "tackle" on tv. It was a shocker, cynical as * but a red card is fair and just punishment.
The hysteria is aimed at him because... well it is him. I bet N'Guemo, McGeady, Maloney etc wouldnt attract this madness.

 

Speaking only for myself here.....that's not true.

 

I'm not including the whole support here, but I firmly believe some fans HATE McManus.

 

I don't think our fans HATE Mick, I think there's 2 or 3 things going on here.

1. Home Grown player syndrome - Home grown players always seem to get more stick when things aren't going well. Barry Ferguson got pelters at Ibrox when things weren't going well at Rangers and you can see that the players taking the most flak for us this season have been Broonie, Mick, Caldwell and McGeady. It just seems to be the way of things.

2. Mick's captaincy - Every man and his dog can see Mick is NOT a captain. I think a lot of people get frustrated with his lack of on-field leadership and give him grief off the back of it.

3. Mick's form - The guy is just not playing well. If you're not playing well you're always going to come under fire from fans. Even more so when the team as a whole is struggling as well.

All that said, I'm sure the majority of Celtic fans realise that he is one of us and still have a liking for him. Even if they don't think he's much use as a player. If he left Celtic I'm sure only the most hard hearted of supporters wouldn't wish him well when he went.

 

It was a cynical tackle to stop Driver scoring, end of ! Red card , yes. But thats it ! We lack pace in the two most important areas of the pitch, centre backs and strikers ! Heid and Mick have the turning circles of an aircraft carrier. As for the Danny Fox being caught upfield issue, yes i agree he didn't have his best game, but everyone has off days and he has been pretty consistent up till now. But he was caught upfield a couple of times late on because Paddy "Superstar" McCourt dribbled in to a blind alley, instead of laying it to Fox. Yes, his dribble and shot were great but he has to learn to pick his moments. Or if he loses it , get his * back and defend !

 

Cynical tackle thats all.

It wasn't a leg breaker, cant believe all this crap over a tackle.

 

spot on