I held off on reviewing this one in the immediate aftermath mainly because everyone was losing all perspective including myself.
To be honest I wasn’t so much angry as vaguely disappointed as truth be told I wasn’t surprised.
Kilmarnock are an effective team under Steve Clarke who has done an incredible job there – it’s just a shame more of the locals don’t turn out to see it – and via keeping together the squad that worked so tirelessly for him last season he has a bunch of players who you feel would run through walls for him.
Losing the late goal was one of those things. I believe Chris Burke wanted to play it short so as to waste time for a point and with the Celtic defence switched off he was instead encouraged to swing it into the box where ex-Celtic defender Stuart Findlay got his head to it first and sealed the points for the Ayrshire club in dramatic fashion.
What was far more concerning was the preceding 90 mins where once again Celtic looked one-paced and totally devoid of ideas.
As was the case in the last two games – and most others before that come to think – the constant obsession with continuously recycling the ball from side to side in defence whilst the opposition sit in their own half and watch was once again on show.
Simply put our opponents know what we are going to do and are set up to deal with it.
Scott Sinclair got a rare start but is now a shadow of his former self, lacking any self-belief and looking somewhat disinterested.
Jack Hendry was put back into the starting line-up after Benkovic pulled up with an injury in the warm-up and that pretty much sealed an end to Celtic’s run of five previous clean sheets.
Hendry is a Dundee calibre defender running around in a Celtic shirt. It really is that simple. And he seems more aware of it than anyone else.
Ntcham was of course suspended with McGregor, Rogic and Forrest on the bench with Brendan bizarrely opting to revamp the entire midfield featuring Brown alongside Christie and Mulumbu with the aforementioned Sinclair out on the right. It proved completely ineffective.
Mulumbu had a decent enough first half but then got sucked in by ex-teammate Aaron Tshibola’s tough tackling in the second half and lost the plot. Looking like a red card waiting to happen he was hooked on 70 mins for McGregor.
Mikey Johnstone produced more of the same with a lot of effort but little to no end product. He went off on 79 mins for Edouard but French Eddy hardly got a touch of the ball and his baron spell continues.
Celtic somehow took the lead via chaotic defending in the first half as Broadfoot sliced a speculative Tierney cross resulting in Greg Taylor cracking it off his own post and Leigh Griffiths swooped to conquer as he headed Celtic into a 34th-minute lead.
We should have got a penalty as Boyata was wrestled to the floor by Broadfoot also in the first half but Craig Thomson was having none of it.
In the second half, Kilmarnock pressed and rather than taking advantage of the extra space in their half Celtic retreated into their own shell instead. On 64 mins Burke lashed in the equaliser from 25 yards showing the kind of endeavour which is non-existent amongst Celtic’s personnel at the moment.
And then the ending but I’ve already discussed that.
Al in all an awful day with the only bright spark being Lewis Morgan’s substitute appearance for Sinclair on 65 minutes. He looked bright and effective showing the kind of determination and desire that is generally lacking at the moment. Ryan Christie also produced a moment of sublime skill in the second half as he weaved his way into the box and almost curled into the net only to be denied by a superb save from Jamie MacDonald.
Anyway onto Wednesday night we go as we play St.Johnstone at McDiarmid Park in the League Cup quarterfinal. They got taken apart 5-1 by Rangers on Sunday so, in theory, should be there for the taking but then they probably think the same about us.
Brendan has been cuttingly honest in the last few days admitting that Celtic fans “should be worried” which has raised some eyebrows but for me, he’s just being honest.
It’s our worst start to the league in 20 years since the days of Dr Jo Venglos. Though the real issue is our away form. We’ve played eight home games this season winning seven and drawing one with 16 goals scored to three conceded. Away, however, it is only two wins from eight with three draws and three losses. Nine goals have been scored away and seven conceded. Though six of the goals we have scored came in the two away wins to Alashkert and Partick Thistle.
Rugby Park and Tynecastle will be tough places to go this season but we should still fully expect to win there no matter if it’s on plastic or how long the grass is. But I also fully expect other clubs around us to drop points at those grounds as well.
I’m not panicking just yet. But I’m close.
1998 – 1999: THE HANGOVER AND DR. JO.
....Always A Tim! 