Callum McGregor feels Celtic didn’t get what they deserved from yesterday’s disappointing goalless draw at Easter Road, where the frustration of dropped points was ultimately negated when the news came through our title rivals had conspired to surrender a two-goal lead at home to Motherwell, leaving the table ‘as you were’ after this weekend’s round of Scottish Premiership fixtures.
It may be a case of no harm done in the end; however, the lack of tempo and inventiveness was a concern in a game where many of the Celtic team looked heavy legged, despite most being rested in midweek as Ange Postecoglou surrendered European football to prioritise yesterday’s draw with Hibs.
Perhaps confidence has been knocked by two chastening European defeats and as such it may take a little time for Celtic to rebuild that and return to a domestic groove, yet McGregor, as reported in Daily Record, feels there is little to worry about and states there is no loss of momentum nor any title jitters in the Celtic dressing room.
“Obviously, when you get a bad performance during the week and a bad result and you follow that up with a draw at the weekend, then, automatically, that’s what people will go to, that there’s nerves in the game, but that’s not the case.
“I think we did enough and the players have been fantastic. We have to trust ourselves and stay on the track that we are on. All we can do is focus on what we are doing. It wasn’t so long ago we were six points behind and you have to win and win.
“You can’t affect what goes on outside of your own building. All you can affect is what you are trying to do. Do the right things, try to get better and have calmness and an assurance that what we are doing is working. We didn’t get what we deserved out of this game.”
If Celtic were the better team yesterday, in truth it was marginal, and whilst controlling much of that match the Hoops didn’t create enough to consider themselves deserving of a win. And if this downturn in form is to be addressed and not to impact on a title run-in, then Celtic need to awaken from the slumber exhibited at Easter Road. For McGregor however there is no cause for alarm whatsoever.
“There will be to and fro between now and the end of the season, I’m sure of it. There are still 10 games to go, so there’s three-quarters of the season done and the boys have been fantastic until now. So stay calm and be focused. Keep doing what we are doing and I think we’ll get there.
“You can only control what’s inside your building. If you start looking elsewhere, that’s maybe where the pressure comes. We can only concentrate on our training and matches. Whether you are six points behind, three points in front or one point in front or whatever, it doesn’t make a difference.
“Everyone plays the same amount of games come the end of the season, so the chances will tell you if you win the majority of your games, you’ll win the league. That’s all we can focus on. Not any other result, someone doing us a favour, anything like that. It’s purely down to what we do.”
And McGregor doesn’t feel there is anything to be concerned with in terms of tiredness in the group, pointing to the benefits of the manager’s rotating of the squad, but does feel the level of performance exhibited against Hibs will be enough to secure three points most weeks and the players must trust the process that got the Hoops to where they are now.
“I thought we were like ourselves and did enough to win. I don’t see tiredness within the group. The manager has chopped and changed recently, which should help us going into the latter part of the season.
“We did the things the manager asked us to and sometimes it just doesn’t fall for you. You have to try and not overthink it as well. The boys have been excellent so far. A lot of them have put in a lot of good performances over the piece, so we stay calm and trust the process.
“If you play like that most weeks, you’ll come out with enough points. But if we produce performances like that and chances like that, over the piece we’ll do enough.”
We’ll all have our own opinions as to whether the form exhibited at Easter Road would result in winning performances going forward, however for the Hoops to be sitting three points clear having returned from the winter break six points behind, then over the piece it would appear what Celtic are doing is working.
However, there is no glossing over the fact Celtic are now lacking both the zip and creativity they did just a few weeks ago. This could well simply be a small blip in a tough schedule and Easter Road is no easy ground to visit for Celtic after all, but yesterday Celtic cashed in a get out of jail card and they’ll need to regain momentum quickly rather than count on good fortune going forward.
Niall J
