Alfredo Morelos weekend incident highlights a worrying trend for the Celtic support

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One of the biggest cheers inside Celtic Park on Sunday was reserved for the moment when Alfredo Morelos picked up his second red card in as many weeks.

The Colombian hothead was dismissed for a second booking in the 95th minute of the Glasgow derby meeting. The fact that the incident got such a big cheer, perhaps only beaten by Odsonne Edouard’s goal on the afternoon, with us trailing 2-1 and about to lose, signals the worrying position that the Celtic support have fallen into.

We’re all guilty of enjoying the forward’s remarkable inability to score against us. But the truth is that he’s become such a pantomime villain that we’re in danger of letting him take away the emphasis of all the other important stuff that is going on.

Celtic fans must almost forget about Morelos

Despite his awful finishing and subsequent red card, Morelos would have barely cared about the cheers as he walked off the pitch. Why? Because his team were winning the match.

The narrative of him continually failing against us has been enjoyable. But we’re in a rocky place if it’s still the main thing many are concerned with while we trail in the dying embers of a derby clash.

Overall, there was a strange atmosphere around Celtic Park on Sunday. That was best reflected in the award of our first-half penalty, which was greeted exceptionally mildly by our support’s wonderful standards.

Of course the team have a lot to do with that. Their two recent derby performances have left a hell of a lot to be desired. Neil Lennon and his men must take enormous responsibility for that. They need to up their game in the remaining two league derby clashes this season.

But the Celtic support need to re-establish their place a little too. It will be less important in March’s Ibrox clash as we’ll only have around 800 fans in the stadium. But when the game returns to Parkhead post-split we must make the place an intimidating arena again.

Last season, so much was made about the fortress of home derby clashes given the reduced allocation. This season it seems like the away teams have found the way to get a result: frustrate the home support and get them on their players backs. We can’t allow that to happen again. Whether Morelos is involved or not.