What a weekend that was.
First, we went from the panic of being a goal down at home to Livingston and then another panic of them actually getting a second and threatening to take a point from Parkhead.
The defence was being questioned, the shape was being questioned, the manager and the captain were being questioned. For five Premiership wins in a row, there were certainly a lot of negative points being highlighted.
Yet fast forward 24 hours and all of a sudden it was one helluva weekend. Rangers dropped points at Easter Road against Hibernian as they were held to a 2-2 stalemate. Celtic, for the first time this season, now have the advantage in the title race, regardless of how narrow it is.
However, there’s a more pertinent point to be made from those games. Celtic managed to beat Livingston three days after facing St Mirren away from home. Rangers, meanwhile, failed to win after their Thursday night match against Lincoln Red Imps in the Europa League second qualifying round.
It’s no surprise then that the Ibrox side stumbled at a tough venue having played just several days beforehand. It’s the old challenge of trying to win after Europe that could hold a key in this season’s title-race.
Last season, Celtic won an incredible 12 of 13 weekend matches that occurred directly after European matches. Rangers, meanwhile, won 10 of their 13 weekend matches directly after Euro competition.
A week of big importance
That shows exactly why it’s so vital for Celtic to continue that level of form domestically this season. There can be no blips when we return from Riga this week and face Hibernian on Sunday. Last season proved that doing so could be extremely costly to either side’s title challenge.
It’s going to be an extremely telling week in that respect then.
Celtic will face a stiff Riga outfit in Thursday’s Europa League third qualifying round on the same night as Rangers travel to Holland to face Willem II.
Both sides will then come back home, with Rangers traveling to Fir Park on the same day Celtic host Hibs. A win for the Hoops will be a positive sign after having to make the sizable journey to Latvia, and will win them a key psychological battle in succeeding where Rangers failed on two counts – seeing off Hibs and winning after traveling in Europe.
These little battles matter. It’s all about the psychological fight this season, and Celtic can take a positive step in that regard with two wins out of two in the coming days.
But between now and mid-December, it’s essential the club manages to continue to pick up wins after European performances. History suggests not doing so would be dangerous. Perhaps even fatal.
In other news, the idea of this Celtic youngster departing the club seems bizarre after comments he made last week.
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