BRENDAN Rodgers last night criticised the "unfair" pressure that referees are subjected to when they take charge of Celtic games and praised the standard of officiating in Scotland.
The Parkhead club’s last two matches, against Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Sunday and Alloa on Wednesday evening, have been overshadowed by controversies over refereeing decisions.
There were calls for Erik Sviatchenko to be red carded during the Ladbrokes Premiership match in the Highlands on Sunday and for Craig Gordon to be sent off in the Betfred Cup quarter-final at Celtic Park on Wednesday night.
Read more: Rodgers relaxed about Celtic No.1 spot as De Vries and Gordon vie for supremacy
However, Rodgers believes that scrutiny of disputed incidents involving the Scottish champions is vastly disproportionate to those of their rivals.
Of the Gordon incident, he said: “I thought the referee in that instance, and in the overall game, was outstanding. There are two players behind the ball so it’s a yellow card. The referee called it absolutely perfect.
Read more: Rodgers relaxed about Celtic No.1 spot as De Vries and Gordon vie for supremacy
“What doesn’t help is afterwards when the video footage is shown 14 times. We played at Inverness and Sviatchenko’s tackle was shown 26 times. And the second one is excluding it being shown post-match.
“I saw similar games with similar profile over the course of the last week, where a player arguably should have been sent off, and the video was shown twice.
“Yes, Celtic is a huge club with massive interest in it. But Craig’s incident is just a mis-timed tackle. He’s not reckless, he’s over-stretched. The kid takes a bang, goes down, gets up and gets on with the game. I don’t think it was a sending-off.
“I know modern day football is about sensationalism, but there are certain key incidents in the game where TV and video is not used. But it gives people something to talk about and everyone has an opinion these days.
“It's modern day football and news has to be covered, but I just think as a whole let's not complicate it. The referee was very good so let's give them praise and not highlight something like that.”
BT Sport screened both the Inverness and Alloa games live and Rodgers admitted he would like to hear the satellite broadcaster's outline the reasons for their coverage. “It would be interesting," he said.
Meanwhile, Rodgers revealed that he had been impressed with the quality of Scottish referees since arriving in Glasgow in the summer and expressed his concern at the abuse they can experience after they have taken charge of Celtic fixtures.
"I think it is so unfair on the referees I really do,” he said. “I think they have such a hard job to make a decision at that moment in time. The (Celtic v Alloa) game will get passed off as 'he should've been sent off' from what I'm hearing and the questioning I seem to get on it. That's my general feeling.
“But nobody has ever said: 'The referee was great'. Alan Muir was outstanding in his game. He didn't have a lot to do, but what he did do he dealt with very well. That never gets highlighted.
Read more: Rodgers relaxed about Celtic No.1 spot as De Vries and Gordon vie for supremacy
"Nothing is said on it, how he refereed that game, which is very, very good. In my experience up here, in the main I think the referees have been very, very good.
"I haven't seen so many games up here. I am obviously just involved in them, but I think they have been very good. They have been very conscientious. I see an integrity in their work. They're giving honest decisions from what I see and they manage games very well."
Rodgers added: “It is easy in the aftermath of an event to analyse something 26 times and 14 times and say, ‘yeah, he got that wrong’. There aren’t many coming out and saying that they got it right. I think they do very well.
“I haven’t been here long but in the short time I have been here I think in fairness to them, they do their best and I can only give an opinion on what I have seen.”
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