Celtic winger Mohamed Elyounoussi was the only player to come out of Livingston who can hold his head high.
Celtic potentially surrendered top spot in the Premiership with a shocking 2-0 defeat to Livingston at the Tony Macaroni Arena. It was the Hoops’ first defeat of the season, with Ryan Christie’s red card putting us at a disadvantage from the start.
Goals from Scott Robinson and Lyndon Dykes sealed the points for Livi. As you can imagine, not many Celtic stars were able to come out of West Lothian with pride.
One of them who could, and perhaps the only one, was Elyounoussi. It was just his fourth start for the club, and it certainly wasn’t a game where he starred in. But it was a match he put 100% into.
When Celtic had some of their rare dangerous moments, Elyounoussi was at the heart of it. He was direct for 90 minutes and bombed beyond Nicky Devlin with ease at times. His directness and power on the ball won us some set-piece opportunities too.
He also forced Livi goalkeeper Matija Sarkic into a good near-post stop with a fine effort. Say what you want about the rest of the team today, but Elyounoussi gave it all he could.
Celtic didn’t do enough to take anything from the game
In the main, the rest of the starting XI couldn’t match Elyounoussi’s work-rate. The likes of James Forrest, Odsonne Edouard, and Christie cost us massively. Christie’s red aside, Celtic should’ve had enough of a threat to create more than we did.
It got desperate with Vakoun Issouf Bayo coming on. Celtic went direct immediately after going 2-0 down, but nothing stuck. Granted, we didn’t look too sharp at the back either. The goals today were extremely soft, and Kristoffer Ajer in particular continued his poor form of late.
Not enough players matched the determination of Elyounoussi today. There seemed to be a casualness about the way we performed, especially in the second 45.
This was likely shown in Neil Lennon’s decision to keep the on-loan Southampton man on the pitch. He was, by some distance, the outstanding flair player today. That, however, also isn’t saying too much.
It’s a game Celtic have to try and get over during the international break. We simply can’t afford another slip-up anytime soon. And, once again, it’s helped change the mood amongst supporters so suddenly from Thursday night’s euphoria.
A nasty day at the office. It won’t be any consolation to Elyounoussi, but he’s the only one who can be satisfied with what he tried to produce.
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