Celtic lost 3-1 at home to Ferencvaros in their Europa League opener on Thursday, four days after a hammering at Ibrox, and the mood around the club has gone somewhere it has not been for a while. Martin O'Neill now has three days to find a response before Rangers arrive at Celtic Park on Sunday.
The performance had almost nothing in it to hold on to. The midfield lost track of runners. The defending was loose. The passing was safe when it needed to be brave and inaccurate when it tried to be. Celtic had 62.5% of the ball in the first half and went in 2-1 down, which tells you most of what you need to know about what they were doing with it.
The goals they gave away
The first was soft. Celtic dragged themselves level with a moment of actual quality and then went straight back to the habits that had cost them the lead. The goal just before the break was the kind poor sides concede: hesitation over a loose ball, a weak attempt to stop the cross, then complete confusion in the box.
The third had a sourness to it that supporters will not forget quickly. Daniel Arzani, who came to Celtic and left again without leaving a mark, found himself in acres of space on the left after a counter-attack. Colby Donovan had gone up and was still sprinting back when Arzani took his time and bent the ball into the top corner.
Two forwards, no threat
Camilo Duran started through the middle ahead of Kasper Hogh. In the whole first half he touched the ball eight times. A few weeks ago Duran looked like a player enjoying his new life in Glasgow. On Thursday he looked like a passenger.
Hogh's record before he arrived was genuinely impressive. Goals against Manchester City, twice, plus Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan, Sporting, Porto, Jagiellonia and a hat-trick against Olympiacos, all for Bodo/Glimt. Since his £11m move he has scored in one of eight games and has begun to look awkward, heavy on the first touch and starved of anything to feed on. Getting the best out of him is O'Neill's problem to solve.
Callum McGregor, usually the one who drags Celtic through nights like this, looked lost. Afterwards he said the team is a little bit broken at the moment, which was a franker assessment than anything else offered from inside the dressing room.
Where does O'Neill go now?
O'Neill spoke about frustration and psychological damage and promised to get the group together for Sunday. The words were right. The delivery was flat. He set out where Celtic had been deficient without sounding like a man who had the answers in his pocket.
This is the manager who restored order last season after the club fell into chaos, whose squad were beaten by nobody down the title run-in and who has fixed worse than this before. That version of Celtic was hard to watch at times and impossible to beat. It feels like a long time ago now, even though it is not.
Five goals conceded against LASK, a miserable afternoon at Ibrox and now this. Rangers will see a wounded animal on Sunday and will know that a second win inside a week would change the shape of the season. The backlash theory exists for a reason, but somebody at Celtic Park has to supply the fight first.
Match facts: Celtic 1-3 Ferencvaros, Europa League league phase opener, Celtic Park, Thursday 17 September 2026. Former Celtic winger Daniel Arzani scored the third. Celtic had 62.5% possession in the first half but trailed 2-1 at the break. Celtic host Rangers in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday.
0 Comments