A few weeks ago, I remember coming out and saying that people were going overboard when discussing Rangers start to the season. People were jumping all over the fact that it was their worst start in the league since 1989.

Sure enough fast forward to today and Rangers are now in second place in the Scottish Premiership, leapfrogging champions Celtic in the process.

We now have pundits and supporters clamouring to tell us that Celtic are now in a crisis and that they’ve now endured their worst start to a league campaign in twenty years!

Again I urge caution before people state The Hoops are in crisis and start writing off Brendan Rodgers and his squad.

Yes they no longer have that air of invincibility that they once had. Yes they had a terrible summer transfer window. Yes they’ve lost two games and drawn another, which leaves them six points behind impressive league leaders Heart of Midlothian.

But we are only six games in. Against Steven Gerrard’s Rangers, the Celtic team showed that when they’re up for the fight then they can dominate any domestic fixture. It’s all about finding the motivation to go to places like Tynecastle and Rugby Park and matching the opposition’s desire to get a result.

As Celtic have improved, other sides in Scotland have also become better and the champions become the biggest possible scalp.

Under Craig Levein, Hearts are flying and deservedly lead the Premiership race. Rangers, Kilmarnock and Hibs have improved dramatically. Livingston have come up and are picking up positive results too. Pretty much any team in the top flight can pick up points against any other team in the league (well except for Dundee).

The Hoops can no longer just expect to turn up to a game and get all three points. They need to earn it.

Now for me, they still have the best squad. The midfield in particular can dictate any game when they are on form.

I do believe the defence needs more strengthening and the attack needs more depth too. But in the forward line they can call on Leigh Griffiths, who can be prolific in The Premiership, and Odsonne Edouard who has a great skill-set.

I don’t think the club done themselves any favours with how they dealt with matters during the transfer window. They clearly needed to act earlier in the window but didn’t and lost out in the Champions League qualification.

You then have the manager coming out after the loss to AEK Athens and basically blaming the board:

The time could be right for a Scott Brown or a Kieran Tierney to stand up in the dressing room, have a pop at any underachievers, state what it means to play for Celtic Football Club and explain what’s expected of each and every single player that puts the Hoops jersey on. Sometimes a manager can’t be as brutal as a fellow teammate.

I fully expect Celtic to win more matches than they lose. For me, they are still the favourites for the league title. Now if we get to Christmas and they’re still in sixth place then I’ll think they’re possibly in crisis!

They’re in a bit of a rut at the moment but I’d certainly not call it a crisis nor would I dare write them off.

Posted on September 26th, 2018 by scott
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