Standing in, or walking to, the right place

I watched Moussa Dembele’s goal on Saturday again. Danny Wilson left his post which gave the Celtic striker the opportunity. The weight of his mistake was immediately apparent to the Newco player, who swung his fist into the turf three times.

Wilson made a mistake which will damage his reputation, but in violently punching the pitch, he was acknowledging the error, and its consequences. You’ll seldom see a player displaying this level of dissonance getting grief from a team-mate.

Compare that to the reaction to Scott Sinclair’s goal. Newco had two central defenders on Dembele. As the move developed, Tavernier was on Sinclair, but the Celtic midfielder jogged 10 yards clear of his marker.

Just as Stuart Armstrong played the ball to Patrick Roberts, Tavernier looked around, but not in the direction of Sinclair, who was already free. When Sinclair converted Kiernan yelled at Tavernier

Part of the game is just standing in, or walking to, the right place. Failure to do this isn’t an indication of lack of talent, more, Newco have not done the basics on the training ground.