Yet another drab and dour performance from Celtic in Dundee has this afternoon handed theRangers their first major trophy since reformation in 2012.
The Hoops’ have been off the pace all season, and in another typically frustrating and hardly convincing outing, it has handed those down the road the title in early March – something you’d think would be incredibly unfathomable last season given the excellence of Celtic this time last year.
It feels incredibly repetitive speaking about these types of game as they’ve happened all too often this campaign; and one man in particular, Callum McGregor, has often been at the forefront of media duties, thrust into action all too often to reflect on dismal displays.
Cal Mac was one of the better players on the pitch today, but he will know first hand more than anyone that once again, the performance wasn’t good enough; venting his frustrations in the post-match interview,
Speaking to Sky Sports, McGregor said: “It’s a sore one. To be so dominant in the game, when in the first half it was shot after shot, just sums up where we are at the minute in terms of lacking that wee clinical edge that we’ve had in seasons gone by.”
We’re going to look at ourselves in training and next season we come again. That’s what champions do — we have that mentality. We’ve been so used to success.”
“It is disappointing, our first half performance was good where we created a lot of chances, second half we still created a lot of chances as well, but it is sore.”
McGregor was reminded that Celtic had 27 attempts at goal at Tannadice, but as has been the case throughout much of the season, it was to no avail – with Celtic now not registering more than one goal in 12 of their 32 league games.
“We’ve been getting the numbers quite regularly in terms of chances, and like you say we just haven’t been putting them away – for whatever reason that is, maybe confidence in front of goal – it probably sums up the season a bit. We have to keep working, we are where we are in this moment so we have to keep trying, keep getting better and turn those dominant performances into wins.”
“To be fair to Siegriest he was excellent, he was excellent up here at the start of the season as well and made a lot of good saves, so there is a bit of that involved but for our own personal point of view, we look to try and convert some of those chances at least so it is a difficult one to take.”
The inevitable nine-in-a-row question came up next; a question the Celtic hierarchy and squad knew had been coming for some time. Today was the day for questions to be bore, and as a local lad with Celtic connections, McGregor made his frustrations known that theRangers had wrapped the league up on a personal level as well as a professional one.
“Like I say, it is a sore day. We are hurting, I’m sure the fans will be hurting as well and that’s the end of the nine-in-a-row tenure for the club but we have had a setback and we have to come back again. The reason why we’ve been so good is when you have a setback you come back even stronger, so that’s where we are at the minute and we have to look at ourselves. We’re going to look at ourselves in training and next season we come again. That’s what champions do — we have that mentality. We’ve been so used to success.”
Great words from the Celtic stalwart, but actions do speak louder than words; and fans will be increasingly disappointed if something doesn’t happen over the summer to kickstart the fight back for the title.
Callum McGregor is one of the biggest culprits this season. He’s been dire.