Following Livingston’s slog, David Martindale loses it all for Celtics, and the manager tells flop he could have defended better.
Furious Livingston manager David Martindale says his team’s defense against Celtic was egregiously ignorant, and he believes he could have performed better.
After conceding against Brendan Rodgers’ team at Parkhead merely SECONDS into the second half, the Lions coach was furious. Within a minute of the restart, Kyogo scored the first goal for the Hoops, capping an impressive first forty-five minutes of play. Shortly after, Liam Scales scored another goal for the winners, securing three Premiership points and keeping Livi five points behind at the bottom of the table.
Martindale acknowledges that his players’ lack of focus cost them dearly and expressed his shock at it. “The first goal is just terrible,” he declared. We got off to a criminal start to the second half. Even Kyogo’s movement wasn’t very good. However, in our opinion, it’s only fundamental. Although Luiyi de Lucas, the center half, has him, he simply lets him walk off of him and put the ball in the net.
We also made it too easy for Luis Palma to enter. We were completely destroyed, their fans started singing, and the moment we lost, the game was over.
“That is the game’s narrative, and we didn’t really give Celtic much of a hand. It is very disappointing to throw it away because we were leading at the half.
“We lacked experience. To be clear, I’ll add that you also need to consider Celtic’s player standard. Luiyi has to defend it at the back post even though Palma has had an incredible start for them. I believe I could have made a defense.
Although Martindale was not unhappy with the outcome, he thought his team should have been awarded a penalty following a handball by Paulo Bernardo in the first half.
He was also devastated to see defender Tom Parkes go down with a concussion in the first half after he blocked Cameron Carter-Vickers’ thunderbolt shot.
“I’d need to see the handball slowed down,” stated Martindale. His arm was allegedly inside, but I’m not sure if that means it was below the shirt line.
“I believe it struck his hand, but I haven’t seen it clearly enough to say if it’s a penalty or not. When he came off, Parkesy was in a bad place, but he’s improved since then.
“He looks happier now, even though it was a fierce shot.” Had he stayed on for the full ninety, he most likely would have assisted us. Parkesy’s presence would have prevented the first goal from occurring.
