Greg Taylor has proven himself a valuable player since joining Celtic in 2019, establishing himself as first-choice left back.

Taylor started this afternoon’s match against St Mirren at the SMiSA Stadium and was booked for an off-the-ball incident involving Shaun Rooney.

Would be great to know what interpretation of the rules see a player (Taylor) getting a yellow for being kicked…pic.twitter.com/aWcQBwMKL0

— 🍔 Gastro Celtic 🍀 (@Gastro_Celtic) August 25, 2024

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Why Taylor was booked remains a mystery, as Rooney appeared to swipe at the Celtic left back in what should have been deemed a violent conduct incident off the ball.

With VAR watching on, why Rooney wasn’t sent off for the incident remains a mystery.

Taylor was simply running back towards goal when Rooney took an unnecessary swipe at him.

Celtic supporters will rightfully have been confused by the whole incident, especially given the classic “book both players” approach despite Taylor seemingly doing nothing wrong.

This incident adds to the ongoing criticism of VAR, which appears to be inconsistently applied, often only being used for certain incidents at certain times.

This begs the question: if Taylor had been injured during the incident, what would have happened?

Only booking players for such actions sends a very poor message to opposition players against Celtic, suggesting that they might get away with similar behavior in the future.

With the Glasgow derby looming large, we can only hope officiating improves. Celtic players have been sent off for far less in the past.