Well, that wasn’t in the script.
Celtic suffered a rather stunning away defeat to Livingston yesterday which also saw the hoops endure their first domestic defeat of the season in the process.
A tough game was expected on Livingston’s artificial surface, a ground where Celtic were held to a 0-0 draw last season and where the West Lothian side had also toppled Rangers 1-0 last term.
But after the high of Thursday nights dominant 2-0 win over Cluj in the Europa League we really did come back to earth with a bump with a result no one saw coming least of all probably Livi who had never beaten us in sixteen previous encounters between the two clubs.
Not only that but with Rangers predictable 5-0 thumping of a Brian Rice’s pathetic Hamilton Accies side later on that afternoon at Ibrox – something I did predict pretty accurately – we also surrendered our season-long position at the top of the league for the first time with the Govan side going two points clear at the summit.
We can discuss tactics and team selections all day long but the fact is the critical factor in this loss was Ryan Christie’s wild challenge on Scott Robinson at the 26 minutes mark which rightly led to a straight red card.
Christie has been superb this season weighing in with an incredible eleven goals from midfield but this rush of blood was costly not only on the day but will see him suspended for the next two matches also.
Despite being down to ten men we generally controlled the first half with Livingston unable to take advantage of their numerical superiority due to being set-up to contain and sit deep.
But they came out more offensively in the second half and we were soon behind and it all started after Ajer ventured forward into midfield and ran into two Livi players and then ended with Robbie Crawford’s reverse pass catching out the whole central defence and releasing Robinson to smash home past Fraser Forster.
On 73 minutes with Celtic pushing for an equaliser a long punt up the field from Livi keeper Matija Sarkic evaded big Christopher Jullien and allowed Lyndon Dykes to chip over Forster and secure the points.
Bayo was thrown on for the exhausted-looking James Forrest not long after the first Livi goal and Jonny Hayes and Ntcham came on for the struggling Bolingoli and Brown after the second but none of the changes made any difference.
Truth be told Celtic could have played until midnight and not scored and it was one of those days where the side was undone by Christie’s moment of madness and the mental and physical fatigue from their exploits on Thursday evening.
For me, you have a squad for a reason and you have to utilise it. We didn’t do that yesterday and paid the price.
Big Jullien and Ajer also had their poorest games in a Celtic jersey at the back as they struggled with the physicality of the opposition and become increasingly frustrated. The usually cool, calm and collected Jullien in particular really got caught up in his personal duel with Lyndon Dykes and by the end had lost the plot and was close to getting his marching orders.
Inevitably there’s been the usual overreaction on social media in the wake of the defeat.
But we’re only eight league games into the season and after six straight wins as much as it’s disappointing to have dropped five points from six it’s hardly terminal and there’s a lot of water to go under the bridge between now and May.
It’s also only our second defeat from twenty games in total this season with fifteen wins and three draws.
Of course, the best way to remedy defeat is to go back out there and win but alas another putrid international weekend is now soon to be upon us as Scotland jet out for a likely hiding in Moscow on Thursday night before a turkey shoot the following Sunday at home to lowly San Marino.
So we won’t be back in action for another twelve days yet.
Between now and then we have to hope the likes of Kristofer Ajer, Callum McGregor, Ryan Christie, James Forrest, Mohamed Elyounoussi and Odsonne Edouard come through the international break unscathed and then get back to winning ways when newly-promoted Ross County come calling at Celtic Park on the 19th of October.
....Always A Tim! 