Former Celtic striker Chris Sutton has slammed other teams in Scotland for their excuses after Motherwell’s complaints over two penalty decisions for the Hoops.
The first came during the Betfred League Cup final. With Celtic 1-0 up, Cedric Kipre put an arm over Scott Sinclair who tumbled in the area. The Hoops were given a penalty – which was scored by Moussa Dembele – and Kipre saw red.
The second came during their subsequent Premiership encounter, which Motherwell led through a Mikael Lustig own goal. This time it was Callum McGregor who went down in the box under a challenge from Andy Rose, and Sinclair converted to secure a point for Celtic.
Sutton has now slammed Motherwell for their continued complaints regarding the incidents, and insisted that teams must focus on themselves to break Celtic’s current monopoly of success in the Scottish game.
In his column for the Daily Record, Sutton said: “A week of whining from Motherwell about two penalty kick decisions that didn’t go their way. But enough of their moaning – it’s the green-eyed monster which is at play. The more Celtic win, the more desperate opponents are becoming and it’s excuse after excuse while not giving Celtic the credit they deserve.
“The urgency with which other clubs want it to finally happen is now entertaining. Seeing how irate some people are getting rather than concentrating on their own job in hand. You can see the resentment creeping in.
“Any side going to challenge has to show a consistency against the rest of the teams but the Premiership is a league where all the other clubs are taking points off one another. For other teams who want to take the scalp of Celtic my advice would be to not leave things to chance. Don’t give referees a decision to make. Blaming everyone and everything else won’t help. Taking personal responsibility will.
OPINION
This column is classic Sutton, but as with many of his outspoken opinions, in many ways he is right. Sutton says what other people won’t, and in this case, you do feel as though other teams are getting desperate. Celtic have now gone 66 domestic games unbeaten, and to be part of a team that has failed to stop them on several occasions, that must be so frustrating. But, the truth is that Celtic haven’t been on their best form for all of those 66 matches. There have been times when they have been susceptible, and no one has taken advantage. The longer teams focus on small things such as penalty decisions, the further Celtic will widen the gap between them and the rest.