Tolerance wears thin after latest Efe gaffe
FOR a professional footballer, booing is an occupational hazard, an unpleasant part of the job. In a macho environment, some wear the abuse like a badge of honour. The discomfort starts when booing gives way to mocking and pity.
Efe Ambrose doesn’t practise mistakes. They just happen.
No one believes he trains like Paolo Maldini for 20 minutes before succumbing to moments of catastrophic misjudgement.
Yet in Dublin on Saturday, a pocket of Celtic supporters arrived at a different conclusion.
The Nigerian sliced a hapless own goal into his own net in a 3-1 defeat to Lionel Messi’s Barcelona in the International Champions Cup. Minutes later he was booed by his own people.
It felt like the snapping of a straw. The death of patience.
One mistake is human. Two careless. More than that — and poor Efe has had a few — tolerance wears pretty thin.
The result is what happened in the Aviva Stadium. An ugly manifestation of the worst tendencies of football supporters.
Ambrose is not the worst player in the world.
Celtic paid £900,000 for his services with a plan to use him as a holding midfielder. As Victor Wanyama’s replacement when he left.
Somewhere along the line, he became a reluctant centre-half.
It wasn’t in his nature to complain. If he had, he might have saved himself and Celtic a few sore faces. Yet, in gently chastising the boo boys, Brendan Rodgers outlined the selflessness which led player and club to the current juncture.
‘Whatever his faults are, he’s a real good guy who gives his all for the club,’ said Rodgers.
‘He devotes his life to Celtic. He prepares well, he trains well, he doesn’t cheat. He trains every single day. He’s a man who wants to get better.’
The player who benefited from and got better after abuse from his own fans has yet to be found. It’s counterproductive and embarrassing. Yet exaggerated shows of support to cancel out the boo boys serve only to highlight the fact an abnormal situation has developed.
Ambrose has now arrived at a critical juncture. People accept he is a good man doing his best and that his best simply isn’t enough. And the response to that is pity, sympathy and a sharp intake of breath every time he gets the ball.
For Rodgers, this realisation now poses a problem against Astana. He needs solid, reliable defenders and currently they are thin on the ground.
A clean sheet against Astana is all Celtic need to progress to the play-off round of the Champions League.
It sounds easy on paper. On grass it’s far harder.
Kolo Toure is short of fitness and sharpness. Jozo Simunovic isn’t ready. Erik Sviatchenko is a doubt.
Mikael Lustig didn’t travel to Dublin as a precaution but could come in from right-back.
Unlike Barcelona, the champions of Kazakhstan have no Lionel Messi. No Luis Suarez.
They are renowned as poor travellers. Away wins in Europe are as rare as hen’s teeth.
Yet they created chances against a Celtic central defence featuring Ambrose and Eoghan O’Connell at its heart. Rodgers has been around the block long enough to know Wednesday night is unlikely to be the straightforward home win some expect.
Ambrose could deliver a clean sheet against Astana. Yet supporters tense up when he receives the ball. They believe he has a mistake in him most games.
Some of this feels uncomfortably like a witchhunt. Ambrose is routinely lampooned even when he does nothing wrong and plays well. But, for Celtic, the Champions League is no laughing matter. It’s a deadly serious business worth £16million.
The stakes are too high for reckless gambling.
‘Astana are a very good side and we had a good result over there and we scored the away goal,’ said midfielder Nir Bitton, an injury doubt after going over on his ankle in the early minutes against Barcelona.
‘But nothing is finished. Every 90 minutes in football is different and we need to make sure we play our best to go through to the next level.
‘In football you never know. The only thing I’m sure of is that we will try to do our best and, hopefully, we will go through.
‘We don’t think about the past. We think about the present. We think about right now. We had a good result away from home and if we want to go to the Champions League, then we need to get through these kind of games.’
If the fans who booed their own player merit only contempt, it’s natural to feel for the rest.
A crowd of 47,900 paid up to €80 to see Messi, Suarez and 90 minutes of football.
Celtic and Barcelona fulfilled their contractual obligations to organisers in Dublin. No more and no less.
The world’s best player jogged around for 45 minutes and put the tools away. The same could be said of both teams.
In the second half alone there were more subs than you’d find at Faslane; 21 in all. It was good knockabout fun for 45 minutes; then everyone lost interest.
A marvellous curling Arda Turan effort in 11 minutes opened the scoring for Barca from 20 yards.
When Celtic drew level in 29 minutes, it was a horror moment for Barca defender Jose Martinez. Taking an awful first touch to a pass along the six yard line from his keeper, the ball skewed towards Leigh Griffiths, who netted.
It was a very Efe-esque mishap. And yet the man himself would not be out-done, slicing a low Juan Camara cross into his own net from an impossible angle.
Barca made it 3-1 when a Suarez cut-back ran through the legs of Ambrose for Mohamed Munir to score.
In truth, the boos for the Nigerian were brief; as if common sense prevailed. But the damage was done. Whether Rodgers can risk one player blowing up the roof against Astana is now the question.