The title race was looking a bit more difficult for Celtic as Brendan Rodgers’ side looked like they were about to drop more points against Motherwell at Fir Park.
A toothless first half saw Celtic fall behind to a Blair Spittal screamer in the 43rd minute and, in truth, the goal was always coming.
Celtic lacked creativity in the final third as Nicolas Kuhn and Daizen Maeda struggled to make an impact on the game and such was Kuhn’s inability to make anything happen, he was hooked in the 61st minute.
But two Adam Idah goals and Palma’s late strike saw Celtic leave Fir Park with all three points as they were in danger of falling further behind in the title race.
So with that in mind, here are three things we learned as Celtic struggled in the first half to battle back to a 3-1 win against Motherwell…
Matt O’Riley is really struggling at Celtic
The Danish international midfielder was largely anonymous in the first 45 minutes of this crucial Scottish Premiership fixture.
According to Fotmob, O’Riley was rated at 7.1 which is not up to his usual high standards. But for a late attacking surge, O’Riley was rated at a struggling 6.6 for much of the match.
With a passing accuracy of just 77%, O’Riley struggled to put his stamp on the midfield alongside captain, Callum McGregor.
More alarmingly, the Dane only had one shot on goal, three touches in the Motherwell penalty box and was also dispossessed four times in the match. And one out of six crosses reached its intended target.
O’Riley also lost six of his eleven ground duels but did win three out of three of his aerial battles. The Celtic fans must be concerned at the recent form of their midfield playmaker because, without his nous and vision, the team seriously struggles to create.
Liam Scales and Maik Nawrocki found wanting for Celtic
Maik Nawrocki got the nod ahead of Stephen Welsh for today’s fixture and partnered with Liam Scales at the heart of the Celtic defence, one glaring issue was clear.
Both defenders seriously lack pace. In a first half littered with Motherwell counter-attacks, Scales was caught out of position as Theo Bair outpaced and skinned the Irishman to coolly tuck away a finish that was rightly ruled out for offside.
The Motherwell attacker gave both Celtic defenders a torrid time in that first half as Motherwell took advantage of the high defensive line that clearly wasn’t working.
Nawrocki was eventually hooked in the 61st minute and replaced by Cameron Carter-Vickers who was just returning from a hamstring injury.
There’s still fight in this Celtic team yet
Finally, Brendan Rodgers looked like he was struggling to get a tune out of these Celtic players. It wasn’t until the team went 1-0 behind that they really came out in the second half and went for Motherwell.
With Rangers going five points ahead yesterday afternoon, the fans would have expected their heroes to come out of the traps firing. Just how far off it were they?
The title is still in our hands but looking at the fighting and battling second half by this Celtic team, maybe, just maybe the title race is not as straightforward as some may think.
However what cannot be denied is that Celtic must start games much, much better. With Hearts still to come at Tynecastle, Rodgers’ side will need to be on it right from the first whistle.
In other news, ‘No doubt’… Mark Guidi makes Ange Postecoglou claim on Celtic’s summer transfer business
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