TONY Ralston has admitted that lengthy VAR check stoppages are making it more difficult for Celtic to produce their high-intensity style of play - but stressed that he and his team mates must adapt to the new technology in order to enjoy another successful season.
Ange Postecoglou hit out at the delays to play which VAR is causing in a lengthy rant following his side’s 4-2 victory over Dundee United in a cinch Premiership match at Parkhead on Saturday.
The Greek-Australian was upset that it took referee David Dickinson so long to arrive at decisions on the Alexandro Bernabei handball incident and the Craig Sibbald foul on Giorgos Giakoumakis in the first-half.
Ralston, who set up Kyogo Furuhashi for Celtic’s third goal in the final minute when he flicked a Matt O’Riley corner on to the striker, confessed that he and his team mates are finding the frequent pauses in play frustrating and problematic.
“It was hard,” he said. “Especially the way we want to play. It’s quick and it’s intense. The game is very stop start. But this is what we are going to have to deal with.
“Look, this is the game we are in now. It has been implemented and we need to deal with it. The referees are going to make their decisions and that will be that. We just need to deal with it and, again on Saturday, the boys done that.
“You need to stay focused at all times no matter what happens. Whether it is VAR or it's a bad a decision, or whether it is the opposition slowing the game down.
“These are all factors in the game that we need control mentally ourselves which we all do and we are used to now. We focus on ourselves. We don’t try and let the outside noise affect us.”
Scotland internationalist Ralston and his fellow Celtic players certainly remained focused on Saturday after United substitute Dylan Levitt had netted an 87th minute equaliser against them.
The 23-year-old believes their latest fightback – Furuhashi and then Liel Abada struck late on to sew up the three points and maintain their advantage over Rangers at the top of the table – augurs well for them going forward.
“These things happen and it is about how you react,” he said. “We had three minutes to react in that moment and we did it. And we’ve done it before.
“And it’s something we’ll need to keep doing as well because football is always going to challenge you. We were challenged in the game and we overcame it. We’ll be challenged again in the future and we'll need to do the same.
“We always believe. You have seen it before and it is no coincidence. It is part of what we do and how we work as a team. As long as we keep that, we will be fine.”
Ralston added: “That’s the team spirit we need to have. We are a squad, not just a team of 11 players. We have got boys who sometimes don’t even come into the squad and they are there every day in training, so we are a collective and we have success together.
“It’s not just about one or two people. We’re a club and a squad that is in it together and it was shown again with Kyogo going on and getting the potentially winning goal. Things like that show there are not any egos or any sort of heroes. As long as we keep that, we’ll go in the right direction.
The defender wants Celtic to collect maximum points from their final two games before the break for the Qatar 2022 finals – they play Motherwell at Fir Park on Wednesday night and Ross County at Parkhead on Saturday – and pick up where they left off when club football resumes in December.
“Our aim is to win every game we play,” he said. “Not just until the World Cup, but after that as well. We’ll get to the World Cup, we will refresh and we will go again after that.”
