Celtic’s bid to defend the title took a serious blow after the 2-0 defeat to Dundee United at Tannadice this afternoon.
Martin O’Neill saw his Celtic team go down in Tayside with barely a fight as a second-half double from United meant the Hoops travelled back to Glasgow empty-handed.
Celtic now sit five points behind Hearts and two behind Rangers as O’Neill laments the latest defeat that sparked the travelling Hoops support to have a go at the visiting Parkhead board members.
Your INSTANT REACTION to that loss 😡
Is the title race over?
Martin O’Neill ‘concern’ after fan scenes in Celtic defeat
The Celtic boss was not happy as O’Neill fielded a question about the angry scenes where the travelling Hoops support confronted the Parkhead board at full time.
Journalist Jonathan Sutherland asked on BBC Radio Scotland, “What is your message to the Celtic faithful tonight, Martin, because obviously they’ll look at this.
“There were quite angry scenes actually, in the stands from a section of the Celtic fans. They were hurling a bit of abuse at some of the Celtic board members. A real sense of dejection tonight.”
O’Neill replied, “I mean, that’s nothing new. So you’re bringing up something here that has been there the minute that we don’t have a good result.
“Of course, people resort to these particular things, right? Okay? And yeah, we disappointed an awful lot of people here today.
“We disappointed the supporters who made their way here for a start. And secondly, I mean, we disappointed people who support us from a distance.”
And speaking about the defeat in general, the Celtic boss said, “We had a lot of possession in the first half. We seemed to be camped outside their penalty area.
“We couldn’t penetrate them and really I thought the second half, I thought, if we get going, we should be able to create one or two chances, but that didn’t materialise.
“They got the goal and deserved to win the game. So of course, it’s a concern. I think I said to you before the match started, this was going to be a difficult afternoon for us. Really difficult.
“I thought that in the second half we probably didn’t adapt, maybe to conditions and things like that and yeah, of course, it’s a big blow to us.”
Celtic’s uphill title struggle
Celtic now have two fixtures to play before the top-six split happens in just over three weeks’ time.
With only 21 points left to play for, it looks like Celtic’s run of pulling off miracle comebacks has finally come to an end.
Martin O’Neill has suffered his first-ever defeat against United in his entire Celtic career and it seems like this could be the one that could be devastating to the Hoops’ title hopes.
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