Journalist Tam McManus was left frustrated with the officials in Celtic’s Scottish Cup game on Monday night.
Ange Postecoglou withdrew his Japanese midfielder, Reo Hatate, at the break which was possibly a sign of him worried about the yellow card he had picked up.
Are you worried about Hatate's form?
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Hatate was shown the yellow in the first half after a lunging tackle on Kieran Freeman with the Japanese midfielder’s studs certainly showing as he went into the challenge.
The midfielder’s enduring a dip in form which has seen him fail to score or provide an assist since the early stages of February with an assist against Motherwell in the league (via Transfermarkt).
And with the 24-year-old struggling to make a positive impression on the pitch, McManus questioned the referee’s decision to keep him on the pitch:
“But for me Hatate could easily have seen red for that tackle. No consistency whatsoever from officials. Infuriating for fans,” tweeted McManus.
TIF Thoughts on the incident…
And we think it was a great decision from Postecoglou to remove the 24-year-old at half-time as the midfielder certainly gave the referee something to think about with the diving lunge.
Perhaps this is a sign of the midfielder looking to make an impression on the game having entered somewhat of a slump after his electric start to life at Celtic.
With the youngster struggling to find the form he showed earlier in the year, we are interested to see whether Postecoglou opts to drop Hatate for a few games or whether he wants the midfielder to play his way back to form.
In other news: ‘I cannot get my head around’ – Mark Guidi shocked at what’s been said about Celtic 24 y/o