Least I think those are the lyrics. Sadly no one bothered to tell Dundee Utd that. Instead what we were faced with at Tannadice on Sunday was perhaps the worst pitch I’ve ever seen in professional football. Now I’m not blaming the pitch for a woeful display from Celtic. They lost and deservedly so. No urgency, no desire, no ideas but the pitch was bloody awful. Seriously the SFA have got to do something about this. Fine them, deduct points? Harsh perhaps but there were patches of the park that were, in my opinion, unsafe for professional athletes to compete on. It was a disgrace but a bigger disgrace was yet to come.
With both Hearts and Rangers having won this weekend Celtic simply had to win. Any slip ups and whilst not mathematically impossible it would open up a gap that would be increasingly difficult to close. So to the game itself. The first half belong to keepers Sinisalo and Maynard-Brewer who both pulled off incredible saves to keep their respective clubs in the match. Half time 0-0 and with three points up for grabs the travelling fans must have expected an upping of their game from Celtic but instead we were treated to perhaps their worst performance in many years. At times reminiscent of the short but disastrous tenure of Wilfred Nancy they looked bereft of ideas, lacked creativity, imagination and more worryingly desire. Indeed the second half was a mere six minutes old when a ball whipped into the box evaded everyone and landed at the feet of the unmarked Ferry to score what will probably be the easiest goal of his career. Once again questions arise regarding Celtic's defending. A Maynard-Brewer mistake, from a shot by Hatate, evaded the keeper's grasp but bounced back off the post into the keeper's grateful arms, keeping the score at 1-0 to the Arabs. Sixty six minutes and failure to clear the ball properly led to United's second from Agyei. Only one team deserved anything from this match and only one got their reward.
I’m not going to bleat on about this but right now Celtic are a mess. We’ve managed to ride our luck which has kept us in contention in the league and onto the next round of the Scottish Cup but luck eventually runs out. There’s no hiding place for this team right now. They were an embarrassment to watch, hell I’m embarrassed watching replays (yeah no matter how hard I try I can’t find an alternative universe where Celtic played like Argentina and wrapped up the 3 points in the first ten mins). They were dire. Beyond dire. Truly shocking.
Celtic fans like to mock fans of the Rangers with a “you are nothing, you deserve nothing and you will win nothing” banner. It’s perhaps time for a little self reflection. On Sunday's performance Celtic deserve and will win nothing. Will there be a reaction before the international break? Perhaps, but serious questions need to be asked regarding the attitude of some of these players.
These young men are living the dream of countless young Celtic fans across Scotland, Ireland and beyond. To pull on that jersey, regardless of club, to be a representative of that club on the pitch should be enough motivation in itself but what we saw at Tannadice were a team who lacked more than motivation.
Have they blown their title aspirations? No, but now we’re playing catch up for second place never mind first.
In a couple of months Martin O’Neill will step down from his role as manager, and for young fans what will his legacy be? A trophyless season? Those of us old enough to remember do so fondly his first stint at the club with titles, trophies and cup finals to remember but season 25/26 - that’s another story. Of course I could end up with egg on my face and they might suddenly recapture their best form but my optimism is wearing thin.
These are grave times to be a Celtic fan. Both Rangers and Hearts keep winning, doing what they need too do but on Sunday in the City of Discovery we learned a lot about this current Celtic squad. Indeed, on many the shirts looked baggy and on most the weight of expectation seemed to be too much.
Til next time …
🐼 Gary Robertson is the TPQ Scottish football correspondent.
Dundee United also played on that pitch lol
ReplyDeleteBut I agree, not a good look for Scottish Football.
Think Celtic are done tbh. They haven’t got anywhere near the quality to pull this out of the fire. The board have truly effed this season up
ReplyDelete