In my preview of Sunday’s League Cup match at home to Ross County I wrote that “……it couldn’t get much worse………could it?”
I think we can all agree it did.
Celtic were awful disproving any theories that recent limp form was simply limited to big European nights or some of the better domestic opposition.
There’s no point in trying to delve into tactical deficiencies or individual shortcomings on the night.
It was just more of the same from what we’ve come accustomed to in recent weeks thanks to insipid, uninspired play and disinterested personnel.
In the end we got beat 2-0 by a team who can’t buy a win in the league and hadn’t won a game against top flight opposition in months.
Our historic 35 win streak in domestic cup competitions came to an end in a rather pathetic manner and the feeling was at full time that the excuses were done and it was time to face reality.
Eliminated in three cup competitions by the end of November, 2 wins in 10 and four straight home defeats for the first time since 1958.
Add to that the fact we sit 11 points behind league leaders Rangers – with our two games in hand being of little comfort considering how we’re playing – and that we’ve conceded 30 goals already in 23 games across all competitions compared to 41 in the entirety of last season which spanned 53 games then, all in all, it’s been a bit of a disaster.
This, of course, boiled over with fans waiting outside the ground to let their feelings be known on Sunday evening which resulted in scenes the likes of which haven’t been witnessed at Celtic Park since the height of the ‘Sack the Board’ campaign back in early 1994.
Whilst frustration is completely understandable some of the behaviour and songs on show was embarrassing but I’m not going to waste time castigating fans.
The fact is I think we all expected Neil Lennon to be either sacked or to walk on Sunday evening.
Neither happened.
Instead, if anything both the board and the manager appear to be doubling down.
Dermot Desmond has flexed his whiskers and has intimated that he won’t be ‘threatened by yobs’ in a stark reminder that he is the true power bearer at the club meanwhile Neil Lennon has confirmed he’ll be the manager until he’s told differently and Peter Lawwell has reminded everyone that there’s a historic ‘Quadruple Treble‘ in the offing.
All of this appears to have simply made those sabre rattling for change even more apoplectic.
And to make matters somehow even worse we’re off to the San Siro tomorrow night in the Europa League.
It’s a totally pointless game in that we literally have nothing to play for.
We’re already out after four games meanwhile Milan still need to secure their place in the Last 32 with Sparta Prague sitting only one point behind them in third.
Under normal circumstances, you’d expect us to field a weakened side but the current circumstances are anything but normal and to to do that would likely invite a hammering which will, of course, do little to improve the current mood music.
To be quite honest Neil Lennon needs a result.
A win looks virtually impossible but if he can somehow conjure up even a draw then the wolves will be kept from the doors for another few nights at least.
That seems fanciful though considering our currently porous defence, blunt forward line and virtually non-existent midfield even when we do go with the preferred starting eleven.
Also, take into account the fact that Milan have suffered only one defeat in sixteen so far this term which sees them sit top of Serie A with 23 points after nine games and second in our Europa League group with seven points after four games.
They’ve scored 35 goals across those sixteen games with 17 conceded which means they can be got at but can also score.
Lille certainly got at them three weeks ago as they inflicted a 3-0 loss and the Rossoneri’s first defeat since the 8th of March but they’ve bounced back with a four-game unbeaten run since which has included a 3-1 win away at Napoli and a 2-0 win over Fiorentina at the weekend.
Starman Zlatan Ibrahimović is also in form and he already has eleven goals this season with three coming in the recent four games run mentioned above.
So all things being equal we probably couldn’t be playing them at a worse time.
Safe to say it’ll be a backs to the wall job with Lenny no doubt hoping we can hit them on the break so I’d expect Mohamed Elyounoussi and Edouard to be deployed in a 3-5-2 with the former being asked to sit deep and the latter likely occupying the halfway line all evening.
But who can say and no team selections or formations would surprise you at this stage.
Anything else other than a heavy defeat would be seen as a good result but no doubt there will be an element out there who are praying for just that in the hope that it’ll expedite a managerial change.
Whatever happens tomorrow night the drama is far from over and even if we do get slaughtered it will be argued that it’s not a fair game to base the manager’s future on.
Either way, watch this space.
....Always A Tim! 