As expected Celtic were trounced in the San Siro last night.
After a mesmeric opening 15 minute spell where we went 2-0 up and should have scored more we once again conspired to lose and then some.
Tom Rogic took advantage of slack Rade Krunic play to open the scoring on seven mins and then another seven minutes later Odsonne Edouard doubled the lead with a fine dinked finish after a wonderful defence-splitting pass from Ryan Christie.
In between those two strikes, Rogic was inches away from getting a second and Callum McGregor missed a certainty at point-blank range.
But after that whirlwind start, normal service was duly resumed on 24 minutes as Ryan Christie needlessly hacked down Krunic on the edge of the box resulting in Hakan Calhanoglu burying the freekick and then less than 120 seconds later Samu Castillejo equalised as Celtic were a shambles at the back which is just par for the course these days.
We had chances in the second half but at the back remain absolutely dreadful and Milan added two more through Jens Petter Hauge and Brahim Díaz and for the second time in the group we threw away a two-goal advantage and for the third time threw away a lead.
Quite simply we can’t defend and the record now is shocking with 17 goals conceded in five Europa League games which embarrassingly means we have conceded more goals than any other team playing in European group stage football this season and are three off equaling the all-time most goals lost.
It also means we’ve only won two from eleven games as Neil Lennon’s awful run of results continues.
After the game, the manager talked up the team’s performance and even praised the centre backs and it appears now he’s retreated into his own wee world.
There was never any doubt he would survive last night no matter what the result but any more slip-ups in the coming weeks and you’d have to imagine that it’s goodnight Vienna for Lenny.
On Sunday we entertain St.Johnstone who after a poor start to the season under new manager Callum Davidson have begun to turn things around.
They suffered seven defeats in their opening ten league encounters but including League Cup games they are now unbeaten in their last ten with six wins and four draws.
In the league, they won 5-3 at Hamilton Accies and at home to Kilmarnock 1-0 as well as securing draws at home to Dundee Utd (0-0) and Motherwell (1-1) and away to Hibs (2-2).
They also toppled Motherwell 2-1 away at Fir Park last weekend in the League Cup second round the day before our disastrous exit at home to Ross County.
Over the recent ten-game unbeaten run they have scored an impressive 23 goals but that’s slightly misleading as five came in the Accies game and seven in a league cup home thrashing of Brechin City.
What isn’t though is the fact they have kept four clean sheets in that time and outside of the Accies and Hibs games have only conceded four goals.
Veteran striker Steve May is the top goalscorer with nine so far four of which have come in the league but also in impressive form are veteran midfielder David Wotherspoon and young Ali McCann who recently gained his first full caps for Northern Ireland.
There’s plenty of food for thought here.
Of course, if we show up and produce close to what this squad is capable of we should be blowing them away but there hasn’t been much sign of that recently as our bewildered manager continuously tinkers with line-ups and formations.
We’ve now leaked 27 goals in ten games which is an astounding stat and underlines how frankly pathetic our backline and goalkeepers have been this season.
Vasilis Barkas got his first run out in a while last night and continues to fail to impress and has yet to make any save of note.
No matter who is played at the back they look petrified and can’t do the basics.
But at least Odsonne Edouard is showing signs of life again so maybe he can be our saviour.
The fact is we need somebody to step up and soon.
For our under-fire manager, it really is win or bust on Sunday
Let’s hope it’s the former and that we can finally get some sort of run going.
....Always A Tim! 