In the run up to Christmas last year, Celtic were under relentless pressure to keep winning in order to stay within touching distance of theRangers. Simultaneous to that pressure, were a number of injuries to key players and a bit of adversity in terms of one or two disappointing results.
In Scotland, the Hoops had been held to a dreadful 0-0 draw at home against Livingston at the end of October, while in Europe they had been narrowly, yet disappointingly, beaten by Bayer Leverkusen in November. Faced with a few doubters, media hyperbole surrounding the drop in performance level, and a need to achieve perfection – the Bhoys stood up to be counted. They won five of their six games in December, grinding out results and finding a couple of last minute winners.
The next few matches have a slightly similar feel about them, on a much smaller scale. Of course, Celtic are now the ones in the driving seat in the league and we can still qualify from the Champions League group with two wins at home. However, the recent defeats at St Mirren and Leipzig have already got the media asking Ange Postecoglou whether he feels there has been a drop in performance or not. Those results are added to dropped points against Real Madrid and Shaktar Donetsk, as well as ONLY beating Motherwell 2-1. Some doomsday forecasters have even been quick to state that Celtic have won one game in their last five.
In reality, we were outstanding against the European champions and deserve huge credit for the way we approached that fixture. We were even better in Poland against Donetsk and should have won that game by three or four goals (hardly the sign of a toiling team). A number of changes were made in Paisley and it was a rare poor performance, leading to our first SPFL defeat in 38 games. The Motherwell game was a victory, but sure why can’t all games be 9-0? Although, the Leipzig performance and result were indeed very bad.
A title race always brings pressure. A few defeats in quick succession, regardless of context, also fuel the fire in Scottish football. However, the main similarity with last Christmas can be found among the list of absentees. Celtic captain Callum McGregor will be sidelined for some time, David Turnbull is out with tonsillitis, Giakoumakis has yet to start a game since his return from injury, Carl Starfelt is still a couple of weeks away from fitness, Aaron Mooy has just been out and may not be fit yet, Carter-Vickers trained today but is not guaranteed to start.
Celtic had no problem coping with injuries, the necessity to win consecutive games, or the critics doubting them last year. It’s now time to do the same over the next few matches.
