Celtic facing significant test in next five tough fixtures
After yesterday’s shambolic showing at Ibrox, Celtic now face five tough looking fixtures that could define our season…
Before yesterday’s collapse at Ibrox Celtic had beaten Dundee (1-0) on Flag Day at Celtic Park before putting on a show down at Rugby Park with an impressive 5-1 victory against a Kilmarnock side that subsequently has shown that they are in real trouble this season under Neil McCann.
Next up for Martin O’Neill’s side was a trip to Tannadice, where Celtic lost twice last season, so the 4-0 Premier Sports Cup victory was satisfying enough in a match here Jim Goodwin’s side hit the woodwork FIVE times.
The LASK games came next with Celtic building an impressive 3-0 first leg lead to take to Austria where we opened the scoring though Callum McGregor before frustratingly collapsing to a 5-4 aggregate defeat to once again exit the Champions League at the Playoff stages.
Back then to domestic duties, Martin O’Neill’s side got the three points against Falkirk at Celtic Park with a 2-1 victory before a more comfortable midweek win over Aberdeen (3-0) again at home.
Two narrow away wins followed, coming from behind to beat St Mirren 2-1 in Paisley before a 1-0 win against St Johnstone up in Perth last Wednesday night.
So domestically Celtic has been Dundee (H), Kilmarnock (A), Dundee United (A), Falkirk (H), Aberdeen (H), St Mirren (A) and St Johnstone (A). A Premier Sports Cup exit followed at Ibrox yesterday with Celtic being outplayed from start to finish in a 3-0 defeat, a result that certainly did not flatter the Rangers.
The four teams at the bottom of the Scottish Premiership at the moment have all lost to Celtic, Kilmarnock (bottom), Falkirk (2nd bottom) and Aberdeen (3rd bottom) in the league and Dundee United (4th bottom) in the Premier Sports Cup.
Celtic have still to face the Rangers, Hearts, Motherwell and Hibs in the league this season and the first test will be against the latest Ibrox club at Celtic Park on Sunday afternoon, in a game that will have no away supporters present, following the recent SPFL ruling.
As well as playing the Rangers, Celtic will also take on Motherwell at Fir Park and Hearts at Celtic Park in our next five games which start with a Europa Cup opener against Ferencvaros on Thursday night and there’s also a trip to Lisbon to face a Benfica side who mauled Hearts in the playoff round, in this run of five challenging games for the Hoops.
So it’s fair to state that yesterday’s game, in which Celtic failed miserably and the next five to come, represent a tough challenge for the club with Martin O’Neill, Shaun Maloney and the players really needing to raise their collective game significantly if we are to avoid some really damaging results that could derail the season even further.
Play like we did yesterday and we could be in real trouble in the both the league and the Europa League in a season that has already seen Celtic exit the Champions League and the Premier Sports Cup.
It’s time for Celtic to get their act together.
