REFLECTIONS ON ANOTHER "BAD DAY AT THE OFFICE" FOR CELTIC
- By LIAM McBRIDE
- 29 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Tannadice: Dundee. It’s approaching ten to two on a Sunday afternoon. A shining sun bows down on the city of discovery. Celtic are enduring another tougher than necessary away day, this time against Jim Goodwins’ Dundee United. Incidentally, a side that had won just four league games at home all season (one of which was in the reverse fixture).
Martin O’Neill’s men are yet again trailing and in need of another inspired comeback. They have made a name for being the late show kings so far this season but whether they can keep coming back to the well seems unlikely.
Liam Scales controls the ball on the edge of his box and plays a pass into the feet of a recently introduced Sebastian Tounetki. The Tunisian spots a plethora of Celtic players available on the right hand side and attempts a one touch cross to switch the play. Instead, he under hits the pass, feeding the ball to Emmanuel Agyei. He is unable to control it perfectly but in a duel with Benjamin Nygren, it’s United’s player who comes out on top. An all too familiar story.
A lobbed pass through reaches goal scorer Will Ferry. The Irishman plays a low cross to the feet of Max Watters. He has his shot blocked but soon after, Agyei is running onto the ball in plenty of space. He connects beautifully, striking the ball through Scales’ legs and by an onlooking Sinisalo. As soon as the net is found, a sense of doom impedes on the East End of Glasgow. While five in a row has never looked plain sailing this season, a defeat at Tannadice sends the prospect further away than ever.
Celtic "Just Didn't Create Enough": O'Neill
Martin O’Neill spoke after the game, saying, “The first goal was going to be vital in the game and we probably didn't create enough and maybe we didn't adjust in the second half to conditions but that's taking nothing away from Dundee United - they deserved to win.”
Yet, he remained defiant, stating, “It is a setback at this particular time of the season and you can't really afford to do that but we are not finished yet.”
Thanks to Hearts and Rangers picking up wins on Saturday, Celtic now sit third in the title race, five points behind the league leaders. It’s been mentioned time and time again this season, but the Bhoys only have themselves to blame for the position they find themselves in. Should Hearts or Rangers win the league on the final day, they’ll have to accept the situation and eat their humble pie.
Nevertheless, at the same time, had it not been for the inner implosion and on-pitch regression, these two sides wouldn’t have even been competition for Celtic. That’s not arrogance, it’s just factual and based on statistics. In three of the last four seasons, the Hoops have averaged 2.4 points a game. The outlier was Ange Postecoglou’s treble-winning side, which scored 2.6.
To put it into perspective, Hearts currently own a rate of 2.1 while Rangers have 2. That amounts to eleven points less across the course of a season. Not to mention that for two of the three seasons, the Champions have faced little competition, so have had little incentive to go all out in the closing weeks.
Nevertheless, these are different times and this current side is unrecognizable to the one which was narrowly knocked out of the Champions League by Bayern Munich.
From an immediate emotional sense, the loss to Dundee United feels like the nail in the coffin. Celtic have been hobbling along and edging over the line but have never really looked convincing. Of course, mathematically, it is far from that.
The Bhoys have still to face Rangers and Hearts at home, while the current top two will battle at Tynecastle after the split. All three sides will face Hibernian and Motherwell again, Hearts facing the Steelmen twice. In short, there is still a lot of football to be played. Celtic also have the returning Julian Auraujo, Alistair Johnson and Arne Engels to bolster the squad.
Yet, while the league remains mathematically all to play for, to approach the final seven games with optimism would be naive and in complete ignorance of the product served to date. Whether that be under Brendan Rodgers, Wilfried Nancy or Martin O’Neill, this team has never convinced.
Admittedly, Celtic have suffered on the injury front more than any of their rivals. Having three of your star players (Alistair Johnson, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Jota) missing for a full season is essentially unheard of. In that regard, they have had bad luck.
However, solely focusing on the merit of performances, the reigning Champions don’t deserve to be in a title race. Grinding out late results can be the sign of a good side if it’s the exception. In Celtic’s case, it's papered over the cracks of a bang average team that is incapable of exercising any sort of control in away games.
In a two-week period that saw two trips to Ibrox and one to Pittodrie on the domestic front, you would struggle to find a good performance between them. In this instance, you can cut some slack due to the incredibly tough fixture schedule that granted this period.
Beforehand though, they came from two goals behind to beat Kilmarnock away. That came just a few days after a late winner against bottom-placed Livingston and a last-dash equaliser against Dundee in the Scottish cup (albeit at home).
In an away trip to Hearts, Celtic came away with a draw in an ugly match during which neither team mustered up any periods of consistent good play. The list goes on. Falkirk, Motherwell, Dundee United, St Mirren, Hearts, Dundee and Kilmarnock. Some have brought late winners, others haven't. None have convinced.
Yet again, on Sunday afternoon, the Celtic midfield looked lethargic and uninspired. In the first half, Reo Hatate was the only one of the three willing to take the ball in tight spaces and progress the play. As soon as he moved back to right-back, all creativity was lost. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlin came on at halftime but was played at the deepest position of the three. With the visitors chasing an equaliser, putting your two most imaginative players further back seemed to make little sense.
In attack, Celtic were once again toothless. Kelechi Iheanacho showed some good touches but refused to engage unless the ball was played directly to his feet. The one time he did make a forward run, he forced a smart save from Ashley Maynard Brewer. That was as good as it got, though. Maeda continued to work hard but was unable to get involved in an attacking sense, while Yang’s crossing disappointed.
So on the eve of the first international break of 2026, Celtic have a fortnight to reflect. Their defeat is a blow but they remain in the fight. The question is, though, is this side capable of stringing together a perfect run till the end of the season? It will likely need to be near that to win the league. Would you even be confident in getting three points at Dens Park next time out? Time will tell but the signs are far from confidence-inducing.